Argosy All-Story Weekly — 'The Metal Monster' — page 127: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

HOW MANY CARDS? packed the costume. All the other servants were below stairs, as was afterward proved, and the housekeeper was out. ‘“ Before I had time to try on the cos- tume I was called away for a moment, and when I returned, Iisa was not there, and my jewels were gone; the case was empty when I opened it.” ‘“‘ Had you opened it before at the trust company or when you reached home?” Mc- Carty rubbed his chin _ thoughtfully. ‘When was the last time you saw the jew- els, Mrs. Creveling?”’ ‘¢ Just a few moments before, in my hus- band’s dressing-room. .When he took the case from his safe for me he opened it. . I remember mentioning that I meant to have the stones reset almost immediately, and he tried to prevail upon me not to do so. They were very old, and their antique settings appealed to his artistic sense.””’ She spoke in that curiously remote tone without a trace of emotion in which she had alluded to her husband during the early morning’s interview. ‘I snapped the case shut be- fore I left his rooms and crossed to mine, and the jewels were most assuredly in it when I placed it on my vanity table.” “What did you do when you found them gone, and the maid, too?”’ Mrs. Creveling stirred as though to rouse herself, and it was with an obvious effort that she responded: ‘* But you see I did not discover the loss of the jewels immediately. Ilsa returned in about five minutes with the excuse that she had gone to her own room to take a headache powder; I did not realize until I thought it over Jater how strangely con- fused she appeared. I dressed in a leisure- ly manner with her aid, and it must have been twenty minutes at least after I re- turned to my room that I opened the jewel case. I must admit that her dissim-_ ulation was admirable; she seemed as as- tonished and concerned as the most inno- cent person in her position would have been, and I hesitated to accuse her; but when the detectives arrived I was com- pelled to tell them the exact circumstances of my loss, of course, and Mr. Creveling’s testimony against her completed the evi- dence. He did not wish to prosecute her -— 121 if she would return the emeralds, but I felt it a matter-of principle to see that she was punished.”’ | McCarty’s eyes rested speculatively upon the cold beauty of the woman before him, noting the implacable lines about the perfectly chiseled lips, and the stern, un- wavering gaze which met his own, and he nodded to himself as though in confirma- tion of some unspoken thought. Creveling would show no quarter to a mere thief, what revenge would she not take upon the murderer of her husband? With that strange pallor and the splendid lines of her immobile figure as she lay there she looked more like some marble statue of in- fiexible justice than a flesh-and-blood wo- man. Was it the “principle” alone of which she had spoken that kept her from breaking down now beneath the shock and strain, or was it some deeper motive that impelled her on, deeper even than the re- action from natural grief would have been? “What did Mr. Creveling testify to, ma’am? Just that the jewels were in the case when you took it into your own room?’’ McCarty asked. “No; that was a mere corroborativa of my own statement, but the door of his dressing-room was open, although I do not think that Ilsa knew he had returned to the house. None of the other servants did, for he had let himself in with his key and gone directly to his apartments just a few moments before I went to him for the jewel case. After I left my rooms and went down-stairs, he saw Ilsa slip out with some- thing concealed beneath her apron and go down the back stairs, not up as she had claimed; he came to his door and watched her, for the passing glimpse he had caught of her face made him curious, it was so white and strained. He was still standing there when I returned, and would have | mentioned her ‘strange demeanor to me then but he thought he heard her coming, as he explained later, so he closed his own door. I had passed on into my room with- out seeing him.” “He could testify, then, that none of the other servants nor anybody else had entered your rooms during your absence,’’ McCarty commented. “I wonder, unless If Mrs. ECOMRRIC OG Colin