Part 14

There was again a pause for some seconds. The Englishman then threw his cigar on the floor with an oath. "You can put the questions, and I will answer. But it must be also understood that you take no proceedings against me for any part in the case."

"It is very wise of you to make that condition. You have deceived the court, and committed perjury. It would cost you many years of your liberty if the arm of the law reached you. But we undertake not to proceed against you, if you will provide us with proof that Miss Frick, as she was then, had nothing to do with the robbery."

"Very well, I am willing. Ask, and I will reply."

"Who was it you photographed in the museum in front of the cupboard with the black diamond in her hand? I mean the photograph which you later on handed over to the court."

"It was the maid,--Evelina Reierson; wasn't that her name?"

"And you saw that she took the diamond and went away with it?"

"Yes."

"Was it quite accidentally that you happened to take the photograph? It was taken from the reflection in a mirror, was it not?"

"Yes, it was taken in a mirror. I came quite by accident into the museum, and she was so taken up with examining the diamond, that she did not notice my presence until I had already photographed her. I knew she was doing something wrong, and thought there would be no harm in photographing her."

"Why did you turn toward the glass, instead of taking the photograph direct? You stood behind her, did you not?"

"Well, yes," said the Englishman, looking suspiciously at Monk, whose face was immovable. "Yes, I did. It was by mere chance I turned my apparatus toward the glass."

"How did the diabolical idea enter your head to make use of the photograph as evidence against Miss Frick?"

"Diabolical or not diabolical, she had offended me, no matter how, and I revenged myself. I had never taken a photograph in a mirror before, and so I examined the picture with the magnifying glass. You know how interested I am in snap-shots."

"Oh, yes; and then you observed all that about the clock--the right and left hands, and all the rest of it?"

"Exactly; it occurred to me that it might turn out unpleasant enough for Miss Frick. So I waited till the case came before the court, and then I sent a note to the counsel for the defence, which told him how he could get his client off."

"How did you know Miss Frick had been to the pawnbroker's? Speak out; for the sooner this is over, the better."

"Well, I knew young Frick had got into difficulties--the young greenhorn would insist on playing high with me and my friends--and I knew, too, that he had written his uncle's name on a bill for four thousand kroners."

"And you did not help him? It would have been an easy matter for you."

"That's nothing to do with the matter. The sooner we are finished, the better. Wasn't that what you said? Well, he wrote from Hamburg to his sister, and begged her to pay in the four thousand kroners to a well-known bill-discounter. That is why she tried to raise money on her jewels. That failed, and so the bill-discounter applied to old Frick, who, without saying a word, paid the bill. He guessed at once that his nephew had forged his name."

"How did you get to know all this?"

"Well, that's nothing to do with the matter. It is enough for you to know that I had my interests to look after, and that one always finds helpers when one has got money."

"And then what about your relation with Evelina? How do you explain that?"

"To hell with you and your questions! Is it necessary for you to know any more? Well, never mind! I got to know of her relations with the actor; I surprised them once in the garden at Ballarat. After the arrest I sent her a letter wherein I professed deep sympathy with her case, and told her if she would deny everything and keep silent I would do my best to get her acquitted so that she could marry her lover.

"It was, then, to get money for him that she stole the diamond?"

"The actor, as you may guess, had seduced her, but refused to marry her unless she would provide money so that they could leave the country. He made a fool of her twice. I fancy, however, it was more for the sake of giving the child a father, than anything else, that made her so anxious to marry that fellow."

"He got the five thousand kroners, then? What did he do with them?"

"He succeeded in depositing them with a friend in Gothenburg, before he was arrested; but when he came there again his friend had vanished. In any case, he wrote to that effect, when he afterward tried to get money out of me. I told him, of course, to go to the devil."

"Will you write down what you have told us, and put your name to it? Remember, we must have a positive proof of my wife's innocence. That was the condition upon which we were to let you go, without mixing up the police in the matter."

We heard the noise and trample of feet on the deck, and the rattling of the chain cable when the anchor fell.

We were again in Stavanger harbour. Soon after a grating sound, was heard alongside the yacht, and the sound of many oars which were shipped.

"There is the boat from the gunboat," exclaimed Monk. "You have not much time for considering."

"You shall have the proof. I have something which is just as good as a written declaration."

"Wait a bit," said Monk, quickly. "I must go up on deck and tell the boat to wait. If the quartermaster does not see we are safe, he will no doubt search the yacht. If I know my good friend, Captain Holst, rightly, he must have already given some such order."

Monk went up on deck.

"Your friend, the detective, seems to think he is a devil of a fellow, since he has got the better of me this time," grumbled the Englishman, when we were alone; "but we shall meet again sometime, perhaps, when we are more equally placed, and then I shall pay him out."

"Monk knows well enough how to take care of himself," I answered reluctantly. I felt disgusted with the cold-blooded scoundrel. "You ought rather to hope you will never see him again."

The subject of our conversation appeared again at this moment.

"Now, Mr. Howell, where is the proof you speak of? You will no doubt agree that the sooner this interview comes to an end, the better."

The Englishman opened a cupboard, rummaged awhile in a drawer, and came back to the table with something which looked like a folded letter in his hand.

"Everything may be of use in time--that is the reason I did not burn it. Here is a letter from Evelina, written the same day she hanged herself. It will be more than sufficient for you. But it's understood that no difficulty will be placed in my way to leave, if I give up the letter?"

"You have our word of honour that no information will be given to the police, and that nothing shall hinder your departure if you furnish us with sufficient proofs of my wife's innocence."

The Englishman threw the letter across the table. Monk opened it and read it aloud:--

DEAR MR. HOWELL,--You are the only one who has shown any kindness to me in my misfortune, but all your kindness is wasted on a creature who is doomed to destruction. You warned me, long ago, against the wretch whom I believed in so blindly, but more than that was necessary to open my eyes.

He first persuaded me to steal in order to find the means for our marriage, and then he deserted me with the fruits of my crime. All the same, I was glad of your offer to get me acquitted, and thus enable me to marry the man I loved, not so much for my own sake, as for--

Then he deceived me again. I know that yesterday he left the country, and at the same time I learnt that my benefactress, Miss Frick, is accused of the crime which I have committed.

I know of course you will not let her suffer--you, who are her friend, and that of her family. But how can you prove her innocence without revealing that you deceived the court in order to help me, a poor girl whom you pitied?

I do not understand much of this kind of thing; but I see that my life is useless, and that there is one way in which I can prove Miss Frick's innocence without being imprisoned myself.

When you get to hear I am no longer alive, then cut off the lowest slip of this letter and send it to the authorities. I cannot rely on my mother. She has a suspicion it was I who took the diamond, and worries me every day to tell her what has become of the money.

At the bottom was written in large, but irregular letters:--

_I and no one else stole Mr. Frick's diamond, and sold it to Mr. Jurgens for five thousand kroners. I, and no one else, shall suffer for my crime!_

EVELINA REIERSON.

June, 18--.

I could not control myself any longer. "You are the greatest scoundrel that ever walked in shoes, Mr. Howell, or Davis, or whatever you call yourself!" I shouted, and rushed at him. I believe I should have knocked him down, if Monk had not quickly intervened.

It was hardly necessary, however, to strike him, for at my words he staggered back, as if stupefied, and leant against the wall.

Monk was the first to speak.

"You may thank my friend you have been warned, Mr. Davis; otherwise it had been my intention to let you find out for yourself that your forgeries and frauds have been discovered."

The Englishman was deadly pale. He opened a cupboard with trembling hands, took out a bottle, and poured himself out a large glass of cognac.

"Have you anything more to say to him? If not, let us go; I can no longer stand the sight of the scoundrel."

"All right," answered Monk, and we went quickly up the cabin stairs and into the long-boat which awaited us.

"You weren't going to tell him, then, that all his rascality had been discovered?"

"No, I wanted him to fall into the hands of the English police. But now he'll take good care not to put his foot on English soil any more."

"You ought to have warned me beforehand."

"It is not worth bothering about. For the rest of his life he will be a wretched exile, without money and without friends; I know he has already ruined his father, old Davis. He possesses nothing now but his yacht. It was by the skin of his teeth that he got away from his creditors in England this time."

* * * * *

Some months later, the following paragraph appeared in the paper:--

ANOTHER VICTIM TO THE DEMON OF GAMBLING

The well-known yacht _Deerhound_, which last year won the queen's cup at the Cowes regatta, has just arrived at Monaco. The owner, a certain Mr. Howell, sold the yacht, as he had lost all his money at the tables. He afterward continued to play, with the result that this morning he was found in the park with a bullet-hole in his head and a discharged pistol in his hand.

* * * * *

It was full summer, and the fruit trees stood white with blossoms, in the garden of Villa Ballarat.

A party of five people sat in the cool shade of the museum, while the warm summer air blew in at the open door.

"The hand of justice reached him sooner than we had expected," said I, when Monk had read these lines aloud.

"Peace be with his bones!" said old Frick, with unction. "Old Davis was a big scoundrel; but upon my soul, I think the son was worse."

"But what are you going to do now?" said Clara. "Cannot the matter be taken up again? I think it would be a great shame if the world did not get to know of all that has taken place; especially those who at the time threw stones at Sigrid."

"No one was found guilty," said Monk; "and I do not believe we could get the matter taken up again, except--" Here Monk glanced at his wife.

"All the people whose opinion I value," answered Mrs. Monk, softly, "know my story as well as I know it myself, and I shudder at the thought of appearing again in court."

"I have an idea," I exclaimed, "which solves the difficulty. I will write a novel about old Frick's diamond! The whole town will read it, of course. And then everybody will know about the affair."