第5章 BOOK I:AS SEEN BY TWO STRANGERS(5)

This was the street into which we had turned,in the wake of the handsome stranger they were trying at this very moment to identify with Brotherson.George had evidently been asked to point out the exact spot where the man had stopped,for I could see from my vantage point two figures bending near the kerb,and even pawing at the snow which lay there.It gave me a slight turn when one of them -I do not think it was George -began to rub his hands together in much the way the unknown gentleman had done,and,in my excitement,I probably uttered some sort of an ejaculation,for I was suddenly conscious of a silence in the room,and when Iturned saw all the men about me looking my way.

I attempted to smile,but instead,shuddered painfully,as Iraised my hand and pointed down at the street.

"They are imitating the man,"I cried;"my husband and -and the person he went out with.It looked dreadful to me;that is all."One of the gentlemen immediately said some kind words to me,and another smiled in a very encouraging way.But their attention was soon diverted,and so was mine by the entrance of a man in semi-uniform,who was immediately addressed as Clausen.

I knew his face.He was one of the doorkeepers;the oldest employee about the hotel,and the one best liked.I had often exchanged words with him myself.

Mr.Slater at once put his question:

"Has Mr.Brotherson passed your door at any time to-night?

"Mr.Brotherson!I don't remember,really I don't,"was the unexpected reply."It's not often I forget.But so many people came rushing in during those few minutes,and all so excited -""Before the excitement,Clausen.A little while before,possibly just before.""Oh,now I recall him!Yes,Mr.Brotherson went out of my door not many minutes before the cry upstairs.I forgot because I had stepped back from the door to hand a lady the muff she had dropped,and it was at that minute he went out.I just got a glimpse of his back as he passed into the street.""But you are sure of that back?"

"I don't know another like it,when he wears that big coat of his.

But Jim can tell you,sir.He was in the caf?up to that minute,and that's where Mr.Brotherson usually goes first.""Very well;send up Jim.Tell him I have some orders to give him."The old man bowed and went out.

Meanwhile,Mr.Slater had exchanged some words with the two officials,and now approached me with an expression of extreme consideration.They were about to excuse me from further participation in this informal inquiry.This I saw before he spoke.Of course they were right.But I should greatly have preferred to stay where I was till George came back.

However,I met him for an instant in the hall before I took the elevator,and later I heard in a round-about way what Jim and some others about the house had to say of Mr.Brotherson.

He was an habitue of the hotel,to the extent of dining once or twice a week in the caf?and smoking,afterwards,in the public lobby.When he was in the mood for talk,he would draw an ever-enlarging group about him,but at other times he would be seen sitting quite alone and morosely indifferent to all who approached him.There was no mystery about his business.He was an inventor,with one or two valuable patents already on the market.

But this was not his only interest.He was an all round sort of man,moody but brilliant in many ways -a character which at once attracted and repelled,odd in that he seemed to set little store by his good looks,yet was most careful to dress himself in a way to show them off to advantage.If he had means beyond the ordinary no one knew it,nor could any man say that he had not.On all personal matters he was very close-mouthed,though he would talk about other men's riches in a way to show that he cherished some very extreme views.

This was all which could be learned about him off-hand,and at so late an hour.I was greatly interested,of course,and had plenty to think of till I saw George again and learned the result of the latest investigations.

Miss Challoner had been shot,not stabbed.No other deduction was possible from such facts as were now known,though the physicians had not yet handed in their report,or even intimated what that report would be.No assailant could have approached or left her,without attracting the notice of some one,if not all of the persons seated at a table in the same room.She could only have been reached by a bullet sent from a point near the head of a small winding staircase connecting the mezzanine floor with a coat-room adjacent to the front door.This has already been insisted on,as you will remember,and if you will glance at the diagram which George hastily scrawled for me,you will see why.

A.B.as well as C.D.are half circular openings into the office lobby.E.F.are windows giving upon Broadway,and G.the party wall,necessarily unbroken by window,door or any other opening.

Dining Room Level With Lobby It follows then that the only possible means of approach to this room lies through the archway H.or from the elevator door.But the elevator made no stop at the mezzanine on or near the time of the attack upon Miss Challoner;nor did any one leave the table or pass by it in either direction till after the alarm given by her fall.

But a bullet calls for no approach.A man at X.might raise and fire his pistol without attracting any attention to himself.The music,which all acknowledge was at its full climax at this moment,would drown the noise of the explosion,and the staircase,out of view of all but the victim,afford the same means of immediate escape,which it must have given of secret and unseen approach.

The coat-room into which it descended communicated with the lobby very near the main entrance,and if Mr.Brotherson were the man,his sudden appearance there would thus be accounted for.