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Updated: July 22, 2025
Gard felt the blood leave his heart as he said the words, though there was no quaver in his voice. "If they should find her, don't let her identity be known if there is any chance of concealing it, not until you reach me. Don't let Miss Marteen know. Put another man on the hotel arrivals. She left St. Augustine Here " He jotted down times and dates on a slip. "Work on that. Keep the police off.
There was nothing for it but to break up the horde piece by piece and lose the compromising gems in unrecognizable fragments. The impulse was upon him to switch on the electrics and begin the work of destruction here in his stateroom at once. But he feared Denning; he feared Langley. Then his thoughts reverted to Mrs. Marteen. Where was she? Where was she hiding?
But the conclusion reached with relentless finality by that astute young man was far from being what Gard had feared. To the detective's mind the answer was plain his employer was guilty. The motive obviously concerned Mrs. Marteen. It was evident, from Mahr's efforts to gain access to that lady's safe, that she possessed something of which Mahr stood in fear or desired to possess.
Card's smile was enigmatical; his eyes were sad. His imagination pictured to him Mrs. Marteen as she had sat before him in her self-contained stateliness and announced with indifferent calm that the Vandyke had been but a ruse to gain his private ear. Gard rose, approached the picture, and for an instant laid his fingers upon its darkened frame.
Had he told them who it was who threatened him? Then Clifton knew that Mrs. Marteen was a Hang it! What possible right had he to jump to the wild conviction that Victor Mahr had been blackmailed at all? Because he was a friend of the lady's a pretty reason that! Did men make friends of Yes, they did; he intended to himself; why not that hound of a Mahr? Clifton did know something.
She had been allowed a moment with her mother, whose voice was no longer faint, but was regaining its old vibrant quality. The doctor entered smiling and grasped Gard's extended hand. "You said it," he laughed. "Whatever it was, you said it, all right. Mrs. Marteen slept like a child, and there's color in her face to-day. See if you can do as well again. I'll give you five minutes no, ten."
The buccaneer had outpointed him and taken the wind out of his sails, which now flapped ignominiously. The pause due to his mental rudderlessness continued till Mrs. Marteen herself broke the silence. "You appear to consider my attitude an inexplicable one. It is merely unexpected.
He had been staying with friends at Newport at the time. Had Mrs. Marteen been there? Of course! He took up the incriminating documents again and thoroughly mastered their contents, every turn of phrase, every between-the-line inference. Accidents could happen; he must be prepared for the worst.
Brencherly ran down the hall, the servant preceding him. As the door swung wide, Dorothy, followed by Teddy Mahr, entered the hallway. She stopped suddenly, face to face with a stranger. "Who are you? What do you want?" she asked, sudden fear and suspicion in her eyes. Brencherly explained quickly. "Mr. Gard employed me, Miss Marteen, to find your mother, if possible and she is here.
Was her scheming mind now following some new clew that must lead to the discovery of a hidden or forgotten crime the burial place of some well entombed family skeleton? He shivered. Mrs. Marteen observed him narrowly. "Mr. Gard is cold, Dorothy. Send for the tea, dear or will you have something else? Really, you look like the patient who should seek climate and rest."
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