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Here, indeed, was a new development of "the Oritoga mystery"; and so queerly does the mind depart from the actualities at such a moment that I found myself thinking, even whilst Gatton was talking to me, of the bold head-lines which would greet readers of the press in the morning and of the renewed excitement which would sweep throughout the length and breadth of the land when this dreadful alibi was proven.
Addison," he replied, "that it is these outstanding features of a case, these pieces which don't seem to fit, that are the most valuable clews. It's the apparently simple cases in which there is no outstanding point that are the most baffling." I laughed shortly. "One could not very well complain of the lack of such features in 'the Oritoga mystery," I said.
"My dear sir," I said, "unless you particularly want to figure in a very undignified light as a witness in a trial for murder, sit down and listen to me." Edward Hines hesitated, opening and closing his hands and glaring at me in a preposterous fury. "What's the game?" he demanded. "What are you talking about?" "I am talking of 'the Oritoga mystery," I replied. "The Oritoga mystery?"
If that were so, then the uncanny visitant to my cottage had pursued me to Upper Crossleys! Or could it be the fact that she had preceded me? Perhaps Gatton had not confided the whole of his ideas to me perhaps, as I had already suspected, the heart of "the Oritoga mystery" lay here and not in London.
"No," said the youth, now restored to the utmost good-humor by my undisguised admiration of his Don Juan-like qualities. "But the fact remains that I don't know her name to this day. What did you mean," he continued, "when you said that I was concerned in some way in 'the Oritoga mystery'?"
Addison," he said, "we should know all there is to know about 'the Oritoga mystery. But I think we should have advanced a long step towards this information if we could apprehend the Eurasian.
The fume-laden room seemed to swim around me as I looked down at the dreadfully contorted features over which was creeping that greenish tint which had characterized the face of Sir Marcus as I had seen it on the morning of the body's recovery from the hold of the Oritoga. "Drag him out," said Gatton huskily; "he may be alive."
"The crate was being lowered into the hold of the S.S. Oritoga at the West India Docks. It had been delivered by a conveyance specially hired for the purpose apparently, as the Oritoga is due to sail in an hour. There are all sorts of curious details but these you can learn for yourself. Don't trouble to call at the office; proceed straight to the dock." "Right!" I said shortly.
Addison," said he, "if you had told me this story before I had taken up 'the Oritoga mystery, for so I observe " drawing an evening paper from his pocket "the press has agreed to entitle the case, I should have suggested that your peculiar studies had begun to tell upon your nerves; but this voice on the 'phone and this empty house in which only one room was furnished, finally the green cat painted on the packing-case and the green cat which stands there upon the table have prepared me for even stranger things than your adventure of last night."
In these circumstances, judge of my feelings when, shortly after the premature discovery termed in the press "the Oritoga mystery," Mr. Addison one day presented himself at the Bell House! His avowed intention of calling upon Lady Coverly left me no alternative. Never in all his days, not even when he miraculously escaped the L.K. Vapor at the Abbey Inn, did Mr.
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