Arsdale was somewhere about the house and Elaine had gone up-stairs when Donaldson, who had come out-doors to smoke, saw a man with broad shoulders and a round unshaven face step from a cab, push through the hedge gate, and come quickly up the path. He watched him with indifferent interest, until in the dusk he recognized the stubborn mouth which gripped a cigar as a bull-dog hangs to a rag. Then he hurried forward with hand extended.
"Good Lord, Saul," he exclaimed, "where did you drop from?"
"Hello, Don. I rather hoped that I might run across you here."
"I 'm ashamed of myself," answered Donaldson guiltily. "I did n't notify you that we had found him. But the last I heard of you, you were out of town."
"Oh, that's all right. Tung gave me the whole story."
"The rat! He made a lot of trouble for us."
"And for me, too."
"Still working on the Riverside robberies?"
Saul glanced up quickly. Then looking steadily2 into Donaldson's eyes as though the reply had some significance he answered,
"Yes."
"I wish you luck. And say, old man, I 've worried since for fear lest you lost a good opportunity for a hot scent3 the time I kept you out."
"I did. But I picked it up again by chance."
"You did? Have you caught the man?"
"No," answered Saul abstractedly. "Not yet."
He chewed the stub of his cigar a moment, glancing frequently at the house.
"Say," he asked abruptly4, "come down the road here a piece with me, will you?"
Saul led him to the street and far enough away from the cab so that their conversation could not be overheard, yet near enough to the electric light for him to see Donaldson's face clearly.
"I want you to tell me something about young Arsdale," he began. "Is he in the house there now?"
"Yes. And happy as a clam5 at high water."
"Has he talked any since he came back?"
"Talked? He's clear-headed enough, if that is what you mean?"
"Has he appeared at all worried—as though he had something on his mind?"
"Not in the slightest He's taken such a new grip on himself that the last few days are almost blotted6 out. You 'd never know him for the same boy, Saul. He's quit the dope for good."
"So? Remorse7!"
"Not the kind of remorse you mean, Beefy. This is the real thing."
Saul thought a moment. Then he asked,
"You told me, did n't you, that he had no money with him that night?"
"Not more than a dollar or so."
"He spent a lot at Tung's."
"The heathen probably robbed him of it!"
"Yes, but where did Arsdale get it?"
Donaldson started. There was something ominous8 in the question. But he could n't recount to Saul that disgraceful attack the boy had made upon his sister when returning for funds. It wouldn't be fair to the present Arsdale.
"I don't know," he answered. "What have you up your sleeve, Beefy?"
"Something bad," replied Saul bluntly. He lowered his voice: "It is beginning to look as though your young friend might know something about the robberies that have been taking place around here."
"What!"
If an earthquake had suddenly shattered the stone house behind the hedge, it would have left him no more dazed.
"I won't say that we 've got him nailed," Saul hastened to explain, "but it begins to look bad for him."
"But, man dear," gasped9 Donaldson, "he is n't a thug! He isn't—"
"If he 's like the others he 's anything when he wants his smoke. I 've seen more of them than you."
"Saul," he said, "you 're dead wrong about this! You 've made a horrible mistake!"
"Perhaps. But he 'll have to explain some things."
Donaldson took a grip on himself.
"What's the nature of your evidence?"
"There 's the question of where he got his funds, first; then the fact that all the attacks took place within a small radius10 of this house; then the motive11, and finally the fact, that in a general way he answers to the description given by four witnesses. He 'll have to take the third degree on that, anyway."
The third degree would undoubtedly12 kill the boy, or, worse, break his spirit and drive him either to a mad-house or the solace13 of his drug. It was a cruel thing to confront him with this at such a point in his life. It was fiendish, devilish. It was possible that they might even make the boy believe that in his blind madness he actually did commit these crimes. Then, as in a lurid14 moving picture, Donaldson recalled the uneasiness of the girl; the morning papers with their glaring headlines of the Riverside robberies, which he had found that morning scattered15 about the floor; her fear of the police, and the mystery of the untold16 story at which she had hinted. Take these, and the fact that in his madness Arsdale had actually made an attack upon the girl and upon himself, similar to those outside the house, and the chain was a strong one. The pity of it—coming now!
Yes, it was in this that the cruel injustice17 lay. Even admitting the boy to be guilty, it was still an injustice. The man who had done those things was outside the pale of the law; he was no more. Arsdale himself, Arsdale the clean-minded young man with a useful life before him, Arsdale with his new soul, had no more to do with those black deeds than he himself had. Yet that lumbering18 Juggernaut, the Law, could not take this into account. The Law did not deal with souls, but bodies.
To this day—what a hideous19 climax20!
Saul detected the fear in Donaldson's eyes,
"You know something about this, Don!" he asked eagerly.
He was no longer a friend; he was scarcely a man; he was a hound who has picked up his trail. His eyes had narrowed; his round face seemed to grow almost pointed21. He chewed his cigar end viciously. He was alert in every nerve.
"You'd better loosen up," he warned, "it's all right to protect a friend, but it can't be done in a case of this sort. You as a lawyer ought to know that. It can't be done."
"Yes, I know, I know. But I want to tell you again that you 're dead wrong about this. You haven't guessed right, Beefy."
"That's for others to decide," he returned somewhat sharply. "It 's up to you to tell what you know."
"It's hard to do it—it's hard to do it to you."
Donaldson's face had suddenly grown blank—impassive. The mouth had hardened and his whole body stiffened22 almost as it does after death. When he spoke23 it was without emotion and in the voice of one who has repeated a phrase until it no longer has meaning.
"I realize how you feel," Saul encouraged him, "but there's no way out of it."
"No, there's no way out of it. So I give myself up!"
"But it is n't you I want,—it's Arsdale."
"No, I guess it's I. See how your descriptions fit me."
Saul pressed closer.
"What the devil do you mean?" he demanded.
"Just this," answered Donaldson dully, "I can't see an innocent man go to jail."
To his mind Arsdale was as innocent to-day as though not a shadow of suspicion rested upon him.
"Are you mad?"
"Not yet," answered Donaldson.
Saul waited a moment. In all his professional career he had never received a greater surprise than this. He would not have believed enough of it to react had it not been for Donaldson's expression. Back of the impassiveness he read guilt1, read it in the restless shifting of the eyes and in the voice dead to hope. Then he said deliberately24,
"I don't believe you, Don."
"No? Yet you 've got as much evidence against me as against Arsdale."
"But, God A'mighty, Donaldson, why should you do such a thing?"
"Why should the boy?"
Saul seized his arm.
"You don't tell me that you've fallen into that habit?"
"Sit in a law-office and do nothing for three years, then—then, perhaps, you 'll understand."
Saul threw away his cigar. He studied again the thin face, the haggardness that comes of opium25, the nervous fingers, the vacant shifty gaze of those on the sharp edge of sanity26. Then he lighted a fresh cigar and declared quietly,
"I don't believe you!"
"You 'll have to for the sake of those in the house. They 've been good to me in there."
His voice was as hard as black ice and as cold. He looked more like a magnetized corpse27 than he did a man.
"I wish," he continued evenly, "I wish I might have been knocked over the head before it came to this. If I had known I had to face you, I would have let it come to that. But I didn't expect this, Beefy."
"If this story is on the level, you 'd better shut up," warned Saul. "What you say will be used against you."
"Thanks for reminding me, but things have come out so wrong that I can't even shut up. If you should go inside that house with the dream you sprang on me, you 'd drive the boy crazy and kill the girl. The boy has been in a bad way, but he's all straight again now, and yet you might make him believe he did these jobs when out of his head. And then—and then—why, it would kill them both! That's why I could n't let you do it. That's why you must n't do anything like that."
Saul did not answer. He waited.
"So I might as well make a clean breast of it. Do you remember when the last job was?"
"Last Saturday morning."
"Remember where you were at that time?"
"Why—that was the morning I went out with you!"
"Just so," answered Donaldson, his eyes leveled over Saul's head. "I hate to tell you, but—but it was necessary to do that in order to keep you away from headquarters."
Saul reached for his throat, pushing him back a step.
"You played me traitor28 like that?" he demanded.
"It was part of the game," answered Donaldson indifferently. Saul, fearful of himself, drew back.
The latter tried to reason it out. A man can change a good deal in a year, but even with opium it seemed impossible for Donaldson so to abuse a friendship. But he was checked in his recollection of the man as he had known him by the memory of that very morning. He had been suspicious even then that something was wrong. Donaldson had appeared nervous and altered.
"Donaldson," he burst out, "I 'd give up my rank to be out of this mess."
He added impulsively29,
"Tell me it's all a damned lie, Don!"
"No," replied Donaldson, "the sooner it's over the better. I 'm all through now."
Still Saul hesitated. But there seemed nothing left.
"Come on," he growled30.
Donaldson followed him to the cab. He was like a man too tired to care.
"Had n't you better make up some sort of a story for them in there?" asked Saul, with a jerk of his head towards the house.
"That's so," answered Donaldson. "Will you trust me for a few minutes?"
"Take your time," said Saul.
Donaldson went back up the path and found both Arsdale and his sister in the library.
"I 'll have to ask you to excuse me for to-night," he said. "I 've just had word from a friend who wishes me to spend the night with him."
They both looked disappointed.
"He 's waiting out there for me now."
"Perhaps you will come back later," suggested Arsdale.
"Not to-night. Perhaps in the morning. I 'll drop you a word if I 'm kept longer."
He spoke lightly, with no trace of anything abnormal in his bearing.
"All right, but we 'll miss you," answered Arsdale.
The girl said nothing but her face grew suddenly sober.
They went to the door with him and watched him step into the cab.
Saul had prayed that he would not return, and now looked more as though it were he that was being led off. He chewed his unlighted cigar in silence while the other sat back in his corner with his eyes closed.
Once on his way to headquarters he leaned forward, and clutching Donaldson's knee, repeated his cry,
"Tell me it's all a lie," he begged. "There's time yet. I 'll hustle31 you to the train and stake you to Canada. Just give me your word for it."
Donaldson shook his head.
"It would only come back on Arsdale, and that is n't square."
"Then God help you," murmured Saul.
The cab stopped before headquarters and Saul, with lagging steps, led his man in. The Chief listened to the story he told with his keen eyes kindling32 like a fire through shavings. He saw the end to the bitter invective33 heaped upon him during the last three weeks by the press. Then he began his gruelling cross-examination.
The story Donaldson told was simple and convincing. He had come to New York full of hope, had waited month after month, and had finally become discouraged. In this extremity34 he had taken to a drug. His relations with the Arsdales began less than a week ago and they knew nothing of him save that he had been of some assistance in helping35 young Arsdale straighten out. Arsdale had borrowed money of him, although doubtless he could not remember it, and had taken it to go down to Tung's. Feeling a sense of responsibility for the use the boy had made of this money and out of regard to the sister, he had done his best to help him pull out.
When pressed for further details of the crimes themselves, Donaldson admitted that his memory was very much clouded. He had committed the assaults when in a mental condition that left them in his memory only as evil dreams. The substantiation36 of this must come through his identification by the witnesses. He could remember nothing of what he had done with the purses, or the jewels and papers which they contained. He had used only the money.
An officer was sent to search his rooms at the hotel, and in the meanwhile men were sent out to bring in the victims of the assaults. It was for this test that Donaldson held in check all the reserve power he had within him. If his story was weak up to this point, he realized that this identification would substantiate37 it beyond the shadow of a doubt. This he knew must be done in order to offset38 Arsdale's possible attempt to give himself up when he should hear of this. As a student he had been impressed with the unreliability of direct evidence, and here would be an opportunity to test his theory that much of the evidence to the senses is worthless. From the moment he had determined39 upon this course he had based his hopes upon this test. Saul had made it clear that the descriptions given by the witnesses were vague, and now in the excitement of confronting their assailant they were apt to be still more unsubstantial. If he could succeed in terrifying them, he could convince them to a point where they would make all their excited visions fit him to a hair.
And so as each man was brought before him, Donaldson looked at him from beneath lowering brows with his mind fixed40 so fiercely upon the determination to force them to see him as the shadowy brute41 who had attacked them that he in reality looked the part. Two of the men withdrew, wiping their foreheads, after making the identification absolute.
The third witness, a woman, promptly42 fainted. When she revived she said she was willing to take her oath that this was the man. Not only was she sure of his height, weight, and complexion43, but she recognized the same malicious44 gleam which flashed from the demon's eyes as he had stood over her. She shivered in fright.
The fourth victim was a man of fifty. He was slower to decide, but the longer he stood in front of Donaldson, the surer he became. Donaldson, with his arms folded, never allowed his eyes to move from the honest eyes of this other. And as he looked he made a mental picture of the act of creeping up behind this man, of lifting his weapon, finally of striking. With the act of striking, his shoulders lifted, so intense was his determination.
The man drew back from him.
"Yes," he said, "I am sure. This is the brute."
It was two hours later before Donaldson was finally handed over to the officers of the Tombs, and Saul turned back reluctantly to give to the eager reporters as meagre an outline of the story as he could.
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1
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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7
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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10
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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14
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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16
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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18
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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31
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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substantiation
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| n. 实体化, 证实, 证明 | |
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substantiate
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| v.证实；证明...有根据 | |
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offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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41
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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42
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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43
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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44
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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