The Mask: A Story of Love and Adventure
another place."
The valet smiled. An insolent look passed over his sallow, angular
face. Dropping completely his deferential manner and fixing the two
women with a bold, familiar stare, he said impudently:
"You needn't wait till next time. I'll quit right now, _parbleu_.
It's a rotten job, anyhow."
Indignant, Helen pointed to the door.
"Go!" she cried. "The housekeeper will settle with you. Never let me
see your face again."
The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and went toward the door. As he
reached it, he turned round, a sneer on his face:
"You'll see me again all right, but ze circumstances may be different?
My lady may not be so proud ze next time."
With this parting shot, he went away, and a moment later they heard him
going up to his room to pack his things.
Ray turned to her sister. Reprovingly, she said:
"Weren't you a little severe with him?"
Helen shook her head. Quickly, she said:
"I never could bear the sight of the man. He is treacherous and
deceitful. I'm not at all sure that he's honest. It was only after
he'd been here some time that I learned he was formerly with Signor
Keralio. That was enough to set me against him. Like master, like
valet, as the saying goes, and it's usually a true saying. On several
occasions lately I have noticed things that seemed suspicious. The
fellow is more intimate now with Kenneth than I, his wife, have ever
been. Only the other day I discovered them in earnest and intimate
conversation. Directly I appeared they separated and Francois, instead
of continuing to converse on terms of apparent social equality, was
once more the fawning valet. I didn't take the trouble to ask Kenneth
what it all meant. So many singular things have happened since his
return, that this only adds one more to the list."
"May I come in?" said a voice.
Helen looked up quickly. It was Wilbur Steell who was standing at the
door with his head half in the room, laughing at them. The two women
had been so busy talking that they had not heard the sound of
approaching footsteps. With an exclamation of joy Ray jumped to her
feet and ran up to him.
"It's Wilbur--my precious Wilbur!"
Helen nodded approvingly, as she noticed the girl's enthusiasm.
Certainly her sister had changed. She was hardly the cold,
self-centered Ray of six months ago. With a smile she said:
"It's astonishing how a man can alter a girl--if he's the right kind."
The lawyer laughed.
"It works both ways. The right kind of woman can make a man change his
ways--even a hardened old bachelor. Who could have guessed that I
would ever fall in love?"
Helen sighed.
"What is love? We have it to-day; it eludes us to-morrow. A few weeks
ago I thought I loved my husband better than any being in the world.
To-day, I can hardly look him in the face. How do you account for it?"
Dropping into a chair, the lawyer look serious.
"I can't account for it, nor can I blame you. Kenneth has returned
from South Africa a changed man. Whether the wreck and the loss of the
diamonds affected his mind I do not know. Only a psychologist could
determine that. But he is not the same. Where is he to-night?"
Helen threw up her hands.
"Do I ever know?" she exclaimed wearily. "I haven't seen him since
morning, and don't expect to see him before breakfast to-morrow. He's
at his club or drinking and carousing, or in some gambling house
playing roulette. How do I know?"
"It is certainly a most singular case," said the lawyer meditatively.
"Mr. Parker and I have gone carefully over his accounts at the
Company's office. Everything is perfectly regular. There only remains
the missing diamonds. We have detectives working on half a dozen clues
but so far we have accomplished nothing. We have also gone to
Washington to get the secret service men interested in the case on the
ground that if the diamonds are here they were smuggled in and no duty
was paid. But we found the secret service men busy following up
counterfeiters. The country is being flooded with counterfeit $10
bills--a splendid reproduction, almost defying detection. It is
believed that the plates and presses from which they are made are right
here in New York and the whole secret service force is at work trying
to run the counterfeiters to earth. This is why our diamond case is
going so slowly. They are so busy following up the counterfeiters they
have no time for us."
Ray, much interested, leaned eagerly forward.
"A counterfeit ten dollar bill, did you say?" she demanded.
"Yes--it is a remarkable counterfeit. You would not know it from a
good one. Only an expert can tell the difference. But all these
crooks overreach themselves. Clever as they are, they usually leave
some mark which betrays them. For example, in printing this bill which
bears the head of Lincoln, they have spelled his first name
'Abrahem'--in other words, the engraver made an 'e' when it should have
been 'a.'"
Ray jumped up, quite excited. Her eyes flashing, she cried.
"Isn't that strange! I have a new $10 bill, and I noticed to-day the
queer spelling of Abraham. Wouldn't it be funny if I had one of the
counterfeits?"
The lawyer smiled.
"It wouldn't be funny; it would be a tragedy, considering that in a
short while from now I am to pay your bills. Where is the bank note?"
"I'll run up and get it. It's in my purse."
When she had disappeared, Steell turned to his hostess and said:
"Have you seen Signor Keralio lately?"
"Hardly--you know I dismissed him from the house."
The lawyer sat thoughtfully drumming his fingers on the table.
Musingly, he said:
"Somehow I have a hunch that that fellow knows something about the
diamonds. Does Kenneth ever see him?"
"I asked him the other day. He said he did not."
"That's strange!" exclaimed the lawyer. "It was only yesterday morning
that I saw them together in a taxicab."
"Where?" demanded Helen, surprised.
"Away uptown. I had business up in the Bronx. I was driving my car
and was near 200th street and going north when suddenly I had to steer
to one side to allow a taxicab to pass. There were two men in it. I
just chanced to glance inside and, to my surprise, I recognized your
husband and Keralio."
"What time was that?"
"Very early--about nine o'clock."
"What direction?"
"They were coming south."
"Then he must have been with Keralio all night, for he didn't come
home."
The lawyer was silent. Certainly here was a mystery which needed more
detective talent than he possessed to clear up. Yet he would not rest
until it was solved. To-morrow he would get Dick Reynolds busy, and
they would go to work in earnest. The first thing to find out was what
took Keralio and Kenneth to the Bronx.
"Does Keralio live in the Bronx?"
"I don't know," said Helen.
"I'll find out," said the lawyer, grimly.
At that moment Ray returned, holding out a new ten-dollar bill.
"I was right," she cried. "The name Abraham is spelled with an 'e.'
Do you really think this is a counterfeit?"
The lawyer took the bill and examined it critically.
"I have no doubt of it," he answered. "There are other
indications--the general appearance, the touch of the paper. Where did
you get it?"
For a moment the young girl was puzzled.
"Let me think. Where did I get it. Oh yes, I know. Francois gave it
to me."
"Francois!" exclaimed Helen.
The lawyer started and looked up in surprise.
"Francois, your brother-in-law's valet?"
"Yes--I wanted a $20 bill changed to pay for some things that came home
from the store, and he went out and brought me some old bills and this
new one."
The lawyer gave vent to a low, expressive whistle.
"Francois gave it to you, eh? Where is Francois?"
"I discharged him to-day for insolence," said Helen.
"He's gone!"
"Yes--he went shortly before you came in."
The lawyer jumped to his feet, a look of exultation on his face.
Quickly, he said:
"Didn't you say that this Francois was formerly with Signor Keralio?"
"Yes--he was with him for years."
The lawyer gave a wild whoop of joy.
"Then we've got it--at last."
"Got what?" cried the women.
"A clue--a clue!" cried the lawyer, excitedly. "Can't you see it?
Francois is hand in glove with Keralio--the master rogue who is making
this counterfeit."
"What do you propose to do?"
"Find where Keralio lives--then, perhaps, we'll find the lost diamonds."
CHAPTER XVIII
"This way," whispered Dick, as he darted swiftly from door to door,
"keep close behind me, and stick to the wall, or he'll see you."
But Francois was so utterly fagged after his long walk from the
Elevated road, carrying his heavy suitcase, that he worried about
nothing save his own discomfort. Unable to find a taxi, he had been
compelled to tramp the entire distance, and the fatigue of it had made
him peevish. He could have saved himself at least a mile if he had
taken a more direct road, but Keralio's orders were explicit. He must
always follow a circuitous route so as to throw possible pursuers off
the scent. There was no disobeying the orders of the chief, so on he
trudged, looking neither to right nor left, up one street, down
another, now crossing an empty lot, now darting through a narrow alley,
through the wastes and dreariness of Bronxville.
As he approached his journey's end, he accelerated his pace, going
along so fast that it was as much as Dick and Steell could do to keep
up with him. The night was dark and foggy, and at times they could not
see him for the mist. But as he came within the glare of each lamp
post, they could make out his lithe figure, scurrying along as if the
devil himself were at his heels.
"Let's get up closer," gasped Dick, who was winded from the long chase.
"I guess their den is in this neighborhood. He'll slip in somewhere
and we'll lose him if we keep so far away."
"No--he may see us," whispered Steell cautiously. "We can make him out
all right."
They increased their pace a little. The valet was less than two blocks
away, and once he actually stopped and looked around as if to see if he
was followed. Quickly Steell and Dick darted under a doorway, and,
seeing nothing to arouse his suspicion, Francois went on.
The lawyer was taking no chances to-night. It was too good a game to
spoil. That they were on the right trail at last he was morally
certain. Ray's experience had given him the first clue. After that it
was easy. For two days Dick had shadowed the valet, and seen him
changing crisp $10 bills in half a dozen different places. The lawyer
could have had him arrested at once, but he was after bigger game. It
was not enough to arrest Francois. He was only the tool. They must
get the man higher up, the man who employed him. That man, the lawyer
felt equally confident, was Keralio. He was the master counterfeiter.
The first step to take was to find out where the counterfeiting was
done, where Keralio had his plant, and the only way to do this was to
follow the valet to his master's secret den.
For several days they had shadowed the Frenchman constantly, until
to-night they were rewarded by seeing him start with a suit case in the
direction of the Bronx. They quickly gave chase, the lawyer confident
of results. It was not part of his plan, however, to hurry matters or
do things prematurely. To-night they would merely reconnoiter. They
would content themselves by watching the premises, seeing who came and
went, and trying to obtain a glimpse of the interior. If the evidence
was incriminating enough to make a raid successful, it would always be
time enough to call in the police. Keralio, he was also well
convinced, had something to do with the missing diamonds, and possibly