The Mark of Cain

“Yes, I know. But Mr. Pinckney knows something of it, and he is very kind.”

“When a reporter is kind, it’s only for his personal benefit. The moment crime is committed, Avice, the reporters are on the job, and they never let go of it, until all suspects are freed or sentenced. But what they learn by their ‘detection’ is only for their paper; it is rarely given in testimony, or turned to real account.”

“Mr. Pinckney will help me, I’m sure,” Avice persisted. “And besides, he was in college with Mr. Landon, uncle’s nephew out West.”

“Landon? The chap you used to be in love with?” and Judge Hoyt made a wry face.

“In love! Nonsense! I’m as much in love with him now as I ever was.”

“And how much is that?”

“It’s so long since I’ve seen him, I’ve forgotten,” and Avice, who couldn’t help an occasional flash of her innate coquetry, smiled up into the stern face regarding her.

“Beg pardon, Miss Avice,” said Stryker, the butler, coming toward them; “but do you want to be in the drawing-room for the – the inquest, or upstairs?”

“I want to be right near the coroner and the jury. I want to know everything that goes on. Shall we go in there now, Leslie?”

“Yes, in a moment. What do you know of Mr. Trowbridge’s death, Stryker?”

“Me, Judge Hoyt? Nothing, – nothing at all, sir. How should I?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure. I merely asked. Where were you yesterday afternoon, Stryker?”

“It was my day off, sir. I was out all afternoon.”

“Oh, all right. Don’t take my question too seriously.” Hoyt spoke kindly, for the butler showed considerable agitation. He started to say something, paused, stammered, and finally burst out with, “I didn’t kill him, Sir!”

“Good Lord, Stryker, nobody thought you did! But don’t show such a scared face to the coroner when he questions you, or he may think all sorts of things.”

“What c – could he think?”

“Nothing that I know of. By the way, Stryker, now that Mr. Trowbridge is gone, you can take out that insurance policy, can’t you?”

“Oh, Mr. Hoyt, don’t speak of such things now!” and the old butler fairly wrung his hands.

“All right, I won’t. But when you want to talk it over, come to me. Is that your Pinckney, Avice, talking to Mrs. Black?”

“Yes; why, he’s interviewing her! See his notebook. She is telling him lots!”

“He’s getting what they call a ‘sob story.’ She’s working on his sympathies by pathetic tales of her loss. How does she treat you? All right?”

“Yes, except that she wants to be head of the house, and – ”

“That will settle itself. You won’t stay here, dear, you will come to me. We will – ”

“Please don’t talk like that now. I can’t bear it.” Avice’s brave, determined air forsook her, and with quivering lip, she looked imploringly at the man who gazed passionately into her troubled eyes.

“Forgive me, dear, I should have known better. But when I think of you, here, alone, save for a woman who is nothing to you, I want to carry you off where I can protect you from all annoyance or trouble.”

“I know you do, and I ought to feel more grateful, but I can’t seem to think of anything just now but – ”

“Of course, my darling, I understand, and it is all right. Only tell me what you want and I am at your orders, always and forever.”

“Then come with me to the other room, stay by me, and tell me what things mean, when I don’t understand. Listen, too, yourself, to everything, so you’ll know just what to do when the police fail.”

“Why are you so sure they will fail?”

“Because the case is all so mysterious. Because it will take a clever and skilled brain to find my uncle’s murderer.”

Avice spoke in low, intense tones, as if she were stirred to the very soul by her harrowing anxiety.

“Avice,” said Hoyt, suddenly, “have you any suspicion of anybody – anybody at all?”

“No! oh, no! How could I have?”

“But have you?” Hoyt scanned her face closely, noting the quickly dropped eyelids and firm, set mouth.

“Not a suspicion – oh, no!”

“A premonition, then? A vague idea of any way to look?”

“No – no. No, I haven’t.”

The first negative was hesitating, the second, positive and decided. It was as if she had instantly made up her mind to say nothing more.

Leslie Hoyt looked at her, and then with a gentle smile, as of one humoring a child, he said: “All right, dear. Come now with me.”

And together, they went to listen to the inquest held to determine the circumstances of the death of Rowland Trowbridge.

CHAPTER IV

THE INQUEST BEGINS

As Avice entered the drawing-room, she seemed to sense only a blur of faces. It was incredible that this should be the room where she had so often laughed and danced and sung in thoughtless joyousness of spirit. She blindly followed Judge Hoyt, and sat where he bade her, quite near the coroner and his jury.

The jurymen, though solemnly attentive to their duty, could not help their roving gaze being attracted to the splendor of their surroundings. The Trowbridge home was the perfection of quiet, old-fashioned elegance. Often Avice had wanted to introduce more modern furniture and decorations, but Mr. Trowbridge had firmly denied her requests. And so the old crystal chandeliers still drooped their festooned prisms and the massive doors were still of a soft, lusterless black, with fine gilt outlines of panelling.

Mrs. Black, too, often sighed for modern bric-a-brac and fashionable window draperies, but the will of the master was law, and the quaint Sevres vases and heavy hangings remained untouched.

Coroner Berg fairly fluttered with importance. Only lately had he been appointed to his office, and he assumed a knowing air to hide his lack of experience. He was naturally acute and shrewd, but his mind just now was occupied more with the manner than the matter of his procedure. He had studied well his book of rules, and it was with great dignity that he called for the police report on the case.

The testimony of the chief of police and the police surgeon set forth the principal known facts, which were, however, lamentably few. Even the coroner’s intelligent questions failed to bring out more than the story of the telephone message, the account of the finding of the body and the nature of the crime.

“Do you assume the assailant to have been right-handed?” Berg asked of the surgeon.

“Apparently, yes. But not necessarily so. The blade penetrated the victim’s left breast, and was most likely dealt by a person standing directly facing him.”

“Was the thrust directed with an upward slant or downward?”