"It"s fine to see that you"ve learned not to drive a woman," she returned with grim irony. "It"s something to know at your age."
I smiled sympathetically upon her, and she continued:
"I might as well tell ye the whole of it, though I reckon my throat"s jist as like to be slit over it as not."
"I"ll never breathe a word of it," I replied fervently.
"I"d trust ye," she said. "Well, there was a gang across the street to-night--across from my place, I mean--and that sneaking Tom Terrill and Darby Meeker, and I reckon all the rest of "em, was there. And they was runnin" back and forth to my place, and a-drinkin" a good deal, and the more they drinks the louder they talks. And I hears Darby Meeker say to one feller, "We"ll git him, sure!" and I listens with all my ears, though pretendin" to see nothin". "We"ll fix it this time," he said; "the Old Un"s got his thinkin" cap on." And I takes in every word, and by one thing and another I picks up that there"s new schemes afoot to trap ye. They was a-sayin" as it might be an idee to take ye as you come out of Knapp"s to-night."
"How did they know I was at Knapp"s?" I asked, somewhat surprised, though I had little reason to be when I remembered the number of spies who might have watched me.
"Why, d.i.c.ky Nahl told "em," said Mother Borton. "He was with the gang, and sings it out as pretty as you please."
This gave me something new to think about, but I said nothing.
"Well," she continued, "they says at last that won"t do, fer it"ll git "em into trouble, and I reckon they"re argyfying over their schemes yit.
But one thing I finds out."
Mother Borton stopped and looked at me anxiously.
"Well," I said impatiently, "what was it?"
"They"re a-sayin" as how, if you"re killed, the one as you knows on"ll have to git some one else to look after the boy, and mebbe he won"t be so smart about foolin" them."
"That"s an excellent idea," said I. "If they only knew that I was the other fellow they could see at once what a bright scheme they had hit upon."
"Maybe they ain"t a-goin" to do it," said Mother Borton. "There"s a heap o" things said over the liquor that don"t git no further, but you"ll be a fool if you don"t look out. Now, do as I tell you. You just keep more men around you. Keep eyes in the back of your head, and if you see there"s a-goin" to be trouble, jest you shoot first and ax questions about it afterward. They talked of getting you down on the water-front or up in Chinatown with some bogus message and said how easy it would be to dispose of you without leaving clues behind "em. Now, don"t you sleep here without three or four men on guard, and don"t you stir round nights with less than four. Send Porter out to git two more men, and tell him to look sharp and see if the coast"s clear outside. I reckon I"ll slide out if no one"s lookin"."
"I"ve got some men on the next floor," I said. "I thought it would be just as well to have a few around in case of emergencies. I"ll have two of them out, and send Porter to reconnoiter."
"Who told you to git your men together?"
"A little idea of my own."
"You"ve got some sense, after all."
The reinforcements were soon ready to take orders, and Porter returned to bring word that no suspicious person was in sight in the street.
"I reckon I"d best go, then," said Mother Borton. "I don"t want no knife in me jest yit, but if there"s no one to see me I"m all right."
I pressed Mother Borton to take two of my men as escort, but she st.u.r.dily refused.
"They"d know something was up if I was to go around that way, and I"d be a b.l.o.o.d.y ghost as soon as they could ketch me alone," she said. "Well, good night--or is it mornin"? And do take keer of yourself, dearie."
And, so saying, Mother Borton m.u.f.fled herself up till it was hard to tell whether she was man or woman, and trudged away.
Whatever designs were brewing in the night-meeting of the conspirators, they did not appear to concern my immediate peace of body. The two following days were spent in quiet, and, in spite of warnings, I began to believe that no new plan of action had been determined on.
"Don"t you feel too sure of yourself," said d.i.c.ky Nahl, to whom I confided this view of the situation. "You won"t feel so funny about it if you get prodded in the ribs with a bowie some dark night, or find your head wrapped up in a blanket when you think you"re just taking a "pa.s.sy-ar" in Washington Square in the evening."
d.i.c.ky looked very much in earnest, and his bright and airy manner was gone for the moment.
"You seem to get along well enough with them," I suggested tartly, remembering Mother Borton"s stories with some suspicion.
"Of course," said d.i.c.ky. "Why shouldn"t I? They"re all right if you don"t rub the fur the wrong way. But I haven"t got state secrets in my pockets, so they know it"s no use to pick "em."
I was not at all sure of d.i.c.ky"s fidelity, in spite of his seeming earnestness, but I forbore to mention my doubts, and left the garrulous young man to go his way while I turned to the office that had been furnished by Doddridge Knapp. I hardly expected to meet the King of the Street. He had, I supposed, returned to the city, but he had set Wednesday as the day for resuming operations in the market, and I did not think that he would be found here on Monday.
The room was cold and cheerless, and the dingy books in law-calf appeared to gaze at me in mute protest as I looked about me.
The doors that separated me from Doddridge Knapp"s room were shut and locked. What was behind them? I wondered. Was there anything in Doddridge Knapp"s room that bore on the mystery of the hidden boy, or would give the clue to the murder of Henry Wilton? As I gazed on the panels the questions became more and more insistent. Was it not my duty to find the answer? The task brought my mind to revolt. Yet the thought grew on me that it was necessary to my task. If vengeance was to be mine; if Doddridge Knapp was to pay the penalty of the gallows for the death of Henry Wilton, it must be by the evidence that I should wrest from him and his tools. I must not stop at rummaging papers, nor at listening at keyholes. I had just this morning secured the key that would fit the first door. I had taken the impression of the lock and had it made without definite purpose, but now I was ready to act.
With a sinking heart but a clear head I put the key cautiously to the lock and gently turned it. The key fitted perfectly, and the bolt flew back as it made the circle. I opened the door into the middle room.
The second door, as I expected, was closed. Would the same key fit the second lock, or must I wait to have another made? I advanced to the second door and was about to try the key when a sound from behind it turned my blood to water.
Beyond that door, from the room I had supposed to be empty, I heard a groan.
I stood as if petrified, and, in the broad daylight that streamed in at the window, with the noise and rush of Clay Street ringing in my ears, I felt my hair rise as though I had come on a ghost. I listened a minute or more, but heard nothing.
"Nonsense!" I thought to myself; "it was a trick of the imagination."
I raised my hand once more to the lock, when the sound broke again, louder, unmistakable. It was the voice of one in distress of body or mind.
What was it? Could it be some prisoner of Doddridge Knapp"s, brought hither by the desperate band that owned him as employer? Was it a man whom I might succor? Or was it Doddridge Knapp himself, overwhelmed by recollection and remorse, doing penance in solitude for the villainy he had done and dared not confess? I listened with all my ears. Then there came through the door the low, stern tones of a man"s voice speaking earnestly, pleadingly, threateningly, but in a suppressed monotone.
Then the groan broke forth again, and it was followed by sobs and choked sounds, as of one who protested, yet, strangely, the voice was the same.
There was one man, not two. It was self-accusation, self-excuse, and the sobs seemed to come in answer to self-reproaches.
Then there was sound as of a man praying, and the prayer was broken by sobs; and again I thought there were two men. And then there was noise of a man moving about, and a long smothered groan, as of one in agony of spirit. Fearful that the door might be flung open in my face, I tiptoed back to my room, and silently turned the key, as thoroughly mystified as ever I had been in the strange events that had crowded my life since I had entered the city.
CHAPTER XVII
IN A FOREIGN LAND
I stood long by my own door, irresolute, listening, hoping, fearing, my brain throbbing with the effort to seize some clue to the maze of mysteries in which I was entangled. Was the clue behind those locked doors? Did the man whose groans and prayers had startled me hold the heart of the mystery?
The groans and prayers, if they continued, could be heard no longer through the double doors, and I seated myself by the desk and took account of the events that had brought me to my present position. Where did I stand? What had I accomplished? What had I learned? How was I to reach the end for which I struggled and bring to justice the slayer of my murdered friend? As I pa.s.sed in review the occurrences that had crowded the few weeks since my arrival, I was compelled to confess that I knew little more of the mysteries that surrounded me than on the night I arrived. I knew that I was tossed between two opposing forces. I knew that a mysterious boy was supposed to be under my protection, and that to gain and keep possession of him my life was sought and defended. I knew that Doddridge Knapp had caused the murder of Henry Wilton, and yet for some unfathomable reason gave me his confidence and employment under the belief that I was Henry Wilton. But I had been able to get no hint of who the boy might be, or where he was concealed, or who was the hidden woman who employed me to protect him, or why he was sought by Doddridge Knapp. Mother Borton"s vague hints seemed little better than guess-work. If she knew the name of the boy and the ident.i.ty of the woman, she had some good reason for concealing them. It flashed over my mind that Mother Borton might herself be the mysterious employer. I had never yet seen a line of her handwriting, and the notes might have come from her. It was she who first had told me that my men were already paid, and a few hours later I had found the note from my employer a.s.suring me that the demands were fully settled. Could it be that she was the woman with whom Doddridge Knapp was battling with a desperate purpose that did not stop at murder? The idea was gone as soon as it came. It was preposterous to suppose that these two could feel so overwhelming an interest in the same child.
How long I sat by the desk waiting, thinking, planning, I know not. One scheme of action after another I had considered and rejected, when a sound broke on my listening ears. I started up in feverish anxiety. It was from the room beyond, and I stole toward the door to learn what it might mean.
Again it came, but, strain as I might, I could not determine its cause.
What could be going on in the locked office? If two men were there was it a personal encounter? If one man, was he doing violence upon himself?
Was the heart of the mystery to be found behind those doors if I had the courage to throw them open? Burning with impatience, I thrust aside the fears of the evil that might follow hasty action. I had drawn the key and raised it once more to the slot, when I heard a step in the middle room. I had but time to retreat to my desk when a key was fitted in the lock, the door was flung open, and Doddridge Knapp stepped calmly into the room.
"Ah, Wilton," said the King of the Street affably. "I was wondering if I should find you here."