The strain of the revelation had been too much. Snedden--a raving maniac--had reeled forward, wildly and impotently, at the man who had exposed him.
VI
THE BEAUTY MASK
"Oh, Mr. Jameson, if they could only wake her up--find out what is the matter--do something! This suspense is killing both mother and myself."
Scenting a good feature story, my city editor had sent me out on an a.s.signment, my sole equipment being a clipping of two paragraphs from the morning Star.
GIRL IN COMA SIX DAYS--SHOWS NO SIGN OF REVIVAL
Virginia Blakeley, the nineteen-year-old daughter of Mrs. Stuart Blakeley, of Riverside Drive, who has been in a state of coma for six days, still shows no sign of returning consciousness.
Ever since Monday some member of her family has been constantly beside her. Her mother and sister have both vainly tried to coax her back to consciousness, but their efforts have not met with the slightest response. Dr. Calvert Haynes, the family physician, and several specialists who have been called in consultation, are completely baffled by the strange malady.
Often I had read of cases of morbid sleep lasting for days and even for weeks. But this was the first case I had ever actually encountered and I was glad to take the a.s.signment.
The Blakeleys, as every one knew, had inherited from Stuart Blakeley a very considerable fortune in real estate in one of the most rapidly developing sections of upper New York, and on the death of their mother the two girls, Virginia and Cynthia, would be numbered among the wealthiest heiresses of the city.
They lived in a big sandstone mansion fronting the Hudson and it was with some misgiving that I sent up my card. Both Mrs. Blakeley and her other daughter, however, met me in the reception-room, thinking, perhaps, from what I had written on the card, that I might have some a.s.sistance to offer.
Mrs. Blakeley was a well-preserved lady, past middle-age, and very nervous.
"Mercy, Cynthia!" she exclaimed, as I explained my mission, "it"s another one of those reporters. No, I cannot say anything--not a word.
I don"t know anything. See Doctor Haynes. I--"
"But, mother," interposed Cynthia, more calmly, "the thing is in the papers. It may be that some one who reads of it may know of something that can be done. Who can tell?"
"Well, I won"t say anything," persisted the elder woman. "I don"t like all this publicity. Did the newspapers ever do anything but harm to your poor dear father? No, I won"t talk. It won"t do us a bit of good.
And you, Cynthia, had better be careful."
Mrs. Blakeley backed out of the door, but Cynthia, who was a few years older than her sister, had evidently acquired independence. At least she felt capable of coping with an ordinary reporter who looked no more formidable than myself.
"It is quite possible that some one who knows about such cases may learn of this," I urged.
She hesitated as her mother disappeared, and looked at me a moment, then, her feelings getting the better of her, burst forth with the strange appeal I have already quoted.
It was as though I had come at just an opportune moment when she must talk to some outsider to relieve her pent-up feelings.
By an adroit question here and there, as we stood in the reception-hall, I succeeded in getting the story, which seemed to be more of human interest than of news. I even managed to secure a photograph of Virginia as she was before the strange sleep fell on her.
Briefly, as her sister told it, Virginia was engaged to Hampton Haynes, a young medical student at the college where his father was a professor of diseases of the heart. The Hayneses were of a fine Southern family which had never recovered from the war and had finally come to New York. The father, Dr. Calvert Haynes, in addition to being a well-known physician, was the family physician of the Blakeleys, as I already knew. "Twice the date of the marriage has been set, only to be postponed," added Cynthia Blakeley. "We don"t know what to do. And Hampton is frantic."
"Then this is really the second attack of the morbid sleep?" I queried.
"Yes--in a few weeks. Only the other wasn"t so long--not more than a day."
She said it in a hesitating manner which I could not account for.
Either she thought there might be something more back of it or she recalled her mother"s aversion to reporters and did not know whether she was saying too much or not.
"Do you really fear that there is something wrong?" I asked, significantly, hastily choosing the former explanation.
Cynthia Blakeley looked quickly at the door through which her mother had retreated.
"I--I don"t know," she replied, tremulously. "I don"t know why I am talking to you. I"m so afraid, too, that the newspapers may say something that isn"t true."
"You would like to get at the truth, if I promise to hold the story back?" I persisted, catching her eye.
"Yes," she answered, in a low tone, "but--" then stopped.
"I will ask my friend, Professor Kennedy, at the university, to come here," I urged.
"You know him?" she asked, eagerly. "He will come?"
"Without a doubt," I rea.s.sured, waiting for her to say no more, but picking up the telephone receiver on a stand in the hall.
Fortunately I found Craig at his laboratory and a few hasty words were all that was necessary to catch his interest.
"I must tell mother," Cynthia cried, excitedly, as I hung up the receiver. "Surely she cannot object to that. Will you wait here?"
As I waited for Craig, I tried to puzzle the case out for myself.
Though I knew nothing about it as yet, I felt sure that I had not made a mistake and that there was some mystery here.
Suddenly I became aware that the two women were talking in the next room, though too low for me to catch what they were saying. It was evident, however, that Cynthia was having some difficulty in persuading her mother that everything was all right.
"Well, Cynthia," I heard her mother say, finally, as she left the room for one farther back, "I hope it will be all right--that is all I can say."
What was it that Mrs. Blakeley so feared? Was it merely the unpleasant notoriety? One could not help the feeling that there was something more that she suspected, perhaps knew, but would not tell. Yet, apparently, it was aside from her desire to have her daughter restored to normal.
She was at sea, herself, I felt.
"Poor dear mother!" murmured Cynthia, rejoining me in a few moments.
"She hardly knows just what it is she does want-except that we want Virginia well again."
We had not long to wait for Craig. What I had told him over the telephone had been quite enough to arouse his curiosity.
Both Mrs. Blakeley and Cynthia met him, at first a little fearfully, but quickly rea.s.sured by his manner, as well as my promise to see that nothing appeared in the Star which would be distasteful.
"Oh, if some one could only bring back our little girl!" cried Mrs.
Blakeley, with suppressed emotion, leading the way with her daughter up-stairs.
It was only for a moment that I could see Craig alone to explain the impressions I had received, but it was enough.
"I"m glad you called me," he whispered. "There is something queer."