"He didn"t," said the boy, simply.
It was soon after that, that Hughes came to Pellbrook to report progress.
"That Charlie Young," he said, "he"s a queer d.i.c.k."
"Will he talk?" asked Stone.
"Talk? Nothing but! He tells the most astonishing things. He vows he"s in cahoots with Winston Bannard."
"That isn"t true!" Iris cried out "Win isn"t guilty himself, of course, but he isn"t mixed up with a man like Charlie Young, either!"
"Young says," Hughes went on, "that the note asking for the pin is in Bannard"s disguised writing. He says that Bannard put him up to kidnapping Miss Clyde and getting the pin from her so they two could get the jewels and----"
"What utter rubbish!" Iris said, disdainfully. "Do you mean that Mr.
Bannard wanted to get the jewels away from me? And have both his share and my own? Ridiculous!"
"It seems, Miss Clyde," Hughes stated, "that Young has part of some directions or something like that, as to where to find the jewels; and he made it up with Bannard to get the pin, which he claims is a key to their hiding-place, and the two men were to share the loot."
"I never heard such absurdity!" Iris" eyes blazed with anger. "Mr.
Stone, won"t you go and interview this Young, and tell him he lies?"
"I"ll a.s.suredly interview him, Miss Clyde, but suppose Mr. Bannard did have that paper--that receipt----"
"He didn"t! Why, if he had, why would he confer with that bad man? Why not by means of his paper, which is, you know, lawfully his, and my pin, which was bequeathed to me, why not, those two things are all that is necessary, find the jewels by their aid?"
"That"s the point," Stone said. "It does seem as if Young possesses some information of importance."
"Well," Iris went on, angrily, "now they"ve got the two of them there, why can"t you confront Winston with Young and let them tell the truth?"
"Perhaps they won"t," Hughes put in, "you know, Miss Clyde, we didn"t arrest Mr. Bannard without thinking there was enough evidence against him to warrant it."
"You did! That"s just what you did! There wasn"t any evidence--that is, none of importance! Mr. Stone, you don"t think Win guilty, do you?"
Here Iris broke down, and shaking with convulsive sobs she let Lucille lead her from the room.
"Of course she"s upset," Hughes said, with sympathy in his hard voice.
"But she"s got trouble ahead. I think she"s in love with Winston Bannard----"
"Oh, _do_ you!" chirped Fibsy, unable to control his sarcasm. "Why, what perspicaciousness you have got! And you are quite right, Mr. Hughes, Miss Clyde is so much in love with that suspect of yours that she can"t think straight. Now, looky here, Mr. Bannard didn"t kill his aunt."
"Is that so, Bub? Well, as Mr. Dooley says, your opinion is interestin"
but not convincin"."
"All right, go ahead in your own blunderin" way! But how did Mr. Bannard get out of the locked room?"
"Always fall back on that, son! It"s a fine climax where you don"t know what to say next! I"ll answer, as I always do, how did any other murderer get out of the room?"
"He didn"t," said Fibsy.
"Oho! And is he in there yet?"
"Nope. But I can"t waste any more time on you, friend Hughes, I"ve sumpthing to attend to. Mr. Stone, I"ll go and get that dime now, shall I?"
"Go ahead, Fibs," Stone returned, absently, "and I"ll go along with you, Hughes, and see if I can make anything out of your new prisoner."
Fibsy went first in search of Sam, and having found that defective-minded but st.u.r.dy-bodied lad, undertook to inform him as to their immediate occupation.
"See," and Fibsy showed Sam a dime, "you find me one like that in the gra.s.s, and I"ll give you two of "em!"
"Two--two for Sam!"
"Yes, three if you find one quick! Now, get busy."
Fibsy showed him how to search in the short gra.s.s of the well-kept lawn, and he himself went to work also, diligently seeking the dime Iris had flung out of the window in her irritation.
While Sam lacked intellect, he had a dogged perseverance, and he kept on grubbing about after Fibsy had become so weary and cramped that he was almost ready to postpone further search until afternoon.
They had pretty well scoured the area in which the flung coin would be likely to fall, and just as Fibsy sang out, "Give it up, Samivel, until this afternoon," the lad found it.
"Here"s dime!" he cried, picking it from the gra.s.s. "Sammy find it all aloney!"
"Good for you, old chap! You"re a trump! Hooray!"
"But give Sammy dimes--two--three dimes."
"You bet I will! Here--here are five dimes for Sammy!"
Eagerly the innocent received the coins, and scampered away, having no further interest in the one he had found.
Fibsy examined the dime, but could see no engraving on it, nor any letters other than those the United States Mint had put there.
The date was 1892, if that meant anything.
Carefully wrapping it in a bit of paper, Fibsy stowed it in his pocket and went into the house to await Fleming Stone"s return.
And when Stone did return, it required no great discernment to see that he was dejected and discouraged.
He received the dime with a smile of hearty approval, but it was quickly followed by a reappearance of the distressed frown that betokened non-success.
"What"s up, Mr. Stone?" Fibsy inquired.
"Not my luck," was the reply; "Fibs, we"re up against it."
"Let her go! What"s the answer?"
"Well, that Young is a hard nut to crack."
"Not for you, F. S."