Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 793 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Dick Doom in Chicago. 13: Sonia do so, and to take full charge until he ar- ved, ‘“‘ Ah, yes, I seo,” said Dick Doom, and thank- ing the landlady and her son for their kindness, he took the train soon after for Omaha, His stay there was of short duration, for he continued on to Chicago the same day. CHAPTER XXIV. WHEN DOCTORS AGREE. Tue Chicago chief of police had begun to won- der what had become of Dick Doom, when one morning the Ferret of the Golden Fetters entered his office. ‘* Ah! glad to see you, Doom. ““T had begun to think you had lost * gr mind trying to prove that Carroll suicide to bave been a murder case,” ‘“‘No, sir, I have been picking up tangled threads on the case, snouens ‘*‘ And have decided in favor of suicide?” ‘* On the contrary, chief, I am more than ever convinced that it was a case of murder,” ‘What have you discovered!” asked the chief, struck with the manner of the young ferret, ‘* Well, nothing to report yet, sir. **But I hope to be able to make a statement goon,” “uy hope #0.” ‘‘T have been West, or | would have called in to see you.” ‘‘T missed you.” ‘¢‘T am still at the Grand Pacific if you need me, sir,” and Dick Doom took his departure while the chief muttered: ‘* A very wonderful young man that, very. ‘*He has made bis mark young, and will be heard of again I am sure, . “If he doses make a murder out of that suicide, then I shall take off my hat to him as a phenomenon.” m the chief's office Dick Doom went to the eottage of Crumbs, Crumbs was away, but Jule was there, 50 the ferret sat down for a talk with her, He knew that be could get her to talk more freely without her husband being present, and go he said: ‘“‘Now, Mrs, Crumbs, as I told you, I wish to interest you in this affair, and will pay well for your services, ‘‘ Here is another payment in token of good faith, and I wish you to tell me all that you ean about Miss Carroll, her habits, her lovers, and, in fact, all that you can think of about her, “Tell me just why you went in search of her that night, and all that bears upon the case.” Jule’s quick eye caught sight of the figure one hundred on the bank-note handed to her, and therefore was more than anxious to please her questioner, So she told all she knew, the ferret making notes here and there. 3 At last he said: ** Do ron recognize this photograph, Mra. Crumbs : “ Well, yes, sir, I think it is Mr. Leffiagwell.” ‘* ‘You mean the present Mr, Carroll?” “* Yes, sir, and yet it does not now appear 80 like bim, as I look at it more attentively.” “Wherein does it differ?” “IT bardly know, sir, for it has his broad shoulders, long hair and beard, only the expres- gion is different,” ‘* Mr, Carroll wears long hair, then, now?” ‘* Well, yes, sir; be did when I saw him last.” ‘* And a long beard?” ‘Yes, sir,” ‘¢ What color was it?” “A yellowish brown, sir, very handsome in- deed, for he is & splendid-looking man as every- meey aye “Will you give me the address of the doctor, Mrs. Crumbs, who attended Miss ly” ‘¢ Certainly, sir; here it is,” and the address was handed to the ferret. “Tell your busband that I called, and will be here to-morrow. e is acquainted with the butler now at the Carroll mansion, I ef” “ Yes, sir. He knows him ve well.” “‘ Ask him to have the butler to-morrow at ten o’clock,” ig ll, sir.” From the cottage of Crumbs Dick Doom went to the doctor's. _ was fortunate in finding him at home, and said: ‘* Doctor, I am anxious to get certain facts from you, but I wish first your pledge that all I sa be taken in confidence, you may 1 me I will so consider.” ¥e a a ir what, sir?” Ps ve ot your patien . “Your tkne is valuable I know, 80 consider me a rich patient if you will and charge accord- ingly, only, for the good of all concerned, all said between us must be in confidence,” ‘* As I believe your motives honest, sir, I will 80 acre to your very remarkable request,” ‘* You are, I believe, sir, Mr. Samuel Car- roll’s physician?” ‘* No, sir.” ** Ab! I have been misinformed then?” ‘IT was Mr, Carroll’s family physician, sir, for years; but his son seemed to feel that another doctor might benefit his father more, sol was dismissed, **T see. ‘** But you were the physician called in at tho time of Miss Carroll’s murder?” ‘* Murder, sir? What do you mean?” ‘* Ah yes, suicide I believe?” ‘¢ Yes, sir, she committed suicide,” ‘* You were called in, I believe?” ** Yes, sir.” ‘* Will you describe the case to me?” ‘‘ May I ask your reasons for knowing?!” ** Not idle curiosity, rest assured, but a desire to Kei ee gal = 5 “ motive surely, ‘¢ Now, sir, the case?” : ‘‘ Well, I arrived to find that Miss Carroll bad been discovered about daybreak, | Sages in an easy-chair in the library, before the fire, with a dagger in her heart,” 6 be her position exactly, sir.” This the doctor did, ‘“* She was then taken to her room, but life had been long gone.” ‘‘ Now, doctor, was it ible that Miss Oarroll could kill herself with that knife, which was driven from the left side, you say, and to the hilt? **) would not have believed it possible, sir; but seeing is believing.” ** Would you take oath that herjhand held the dagger that entered her heart?” “* My God, sir, what are you driving at?” ‘“‘Answer my question,” was the stern re- sponse of the ferret. CHAPTER XXV. ON HIS ROUNDS. THe doctor was evidently surprised at the turn affairs were taking and regarded the ferret fixedly before he repli Then he said: ‘* Since you put it thus I will say that I would not swear to it,” ** Was Miss Carroll Jeft handed?” ** No, sir.” ** Was she ambi-dextrous?” ‘“She was not,” ‘“'Would she have attempted to to drive a dagger to ber heart with her left-hand?” **T should think not, sir.” ‘** Could she have driven nine inches of steel to the hilt?” ‘“ No, sir, now I look atit from your stand- point?” ‘“‘ According to your knowledge of her form, how much of that blade was in her heart, from the point where itentered her heart?” ‘* Well, sir, all of three inches.” ‘* Thank you, doctor, for your opinion. “But had you no thought that this might not have been suicide?” ‘*T confess that I had, but the Hyogo that her mother bad so killed herself, and that her jewels and the money in the safe had not been disturbed, caused me to feel that it surely could not have been a burglar who did the deed.” ‘* Well, sir, I am glad to get your views on this case, and I would like to veka if you ever qusnectes that it was in the nature of Miss Car- roll to have taken her own life?” ‘‘On the contrary, sir, I did not believe it sible, for I heard her say, when a friend of ers suicided, that sbe could never fly from sorrow oF pain by taking her own life, ‘Tf disappointed in love, she said, she would become a recluse, and if she became a chronic invalid then she would bear her sufferings to the end,” ‘* Sho said this?” ‘*'Yes, sir.” “To you?” ‘* Yes, when I told her of her friend’s death from baving been crossed in love,” ‘*] thank you, doctor, ‘* Please name your fee.’ ‘‘ Nothing, 1 assure you, sir, and if, as I be- lieve, your are on the track of a new feature upon this case, command me if I can serve you. Thanking the doctor, Dick Doom took his leave, and made his way to the home of Mr, Wheatley. eT, SSS ee cr rr cm < 5 That gentlemen greeted him in his courtly, pleasant manner, although a stranger. Then Dick Doom made known the reason of his coming. “T wish to ask you, Mr. Wheatley, about your friend Mr, Samuel Carroll?” ‘** Poor Carroll; is he very much worse?” “* Well, sir, I have heard that he was ill, yet is it serious?” “l very much fear 80, for we were the best- of friends and now we are as strangers, “His mind is unsettled by bis afflictions I am sure, for somehow he bade me not to visit. him any more, saying his son was all he needed now. * And you are not bis friend now?” ‘ His devoted friend, sir, only his son seemed to feel that his father was worried by my coming and I at once gave up my visits, ‘* It’s bis sorrows, sir, and he has bada weight: of them that would have killed most men,” ‘So I bave heard, sir. ** But my motive in calling was to learn all I could about Mr, Carroll's daughter’s death, as I am engaged in working out just such cases for the good of the public, ‘Now I have beard you were there on the occasion, and I would like to have your opinion of the murder.” ‘““My dear sir, it was a case of suicide, not rder.” ** Ah, did I say murder? “Well, might it not have been a murder?” “T feared that it was, sir, until we discovered the cause of the suicide,” ** And you knew the cause?” “Well, sir, to be frank with you, I think it. was a case of unrequited affection. “The affair is all over now, you know, and I do not believe I can do any harm in ee that Miss Clarice loved one whom she could not marry aod so ended her life, driven to it, per- hapa, from having inherited a morbid feeling of the kind from her mother, who died by her own hand, ‘That is all there is to it, sir.” “T thank you, sir; but it isa pity that in his last years Mr. Carroll bas been deprived of your friendship.” ** Well, it seems that he wishes nothing to re- mind him of the past, for the servants were sent. away, the horses and carriages sold, the library where the tragedy occurred was torn down and. the house was refurnished, “ Why, sir, Sam Carroll even co his family physician, so I cannot complain that he gavp up my friendship, even though I deeply de- plore it,” ‘* And his son?” ‘‘Ts a noble fellow and devotes himself to his father continuously.” ‘*That must bea blessing. to Mr. Carroll in his ill health,” “It is indeed, sir, and it was fortunate that: his son turned up as he did to cheer him, or the blow of bis daughter's death would have driven him mad I am sure,” “It was a cruel blow, sir, but let me thank ou for your kindness to me,” and Dick eft the bachelor home of William Wheatley muttering to himself as he walked along: ‘““Every servant dismissed, the library torn down, mansion refurnishod, carriages and borses sold, and replaced by others, his old friends given up, the doctor turned off, and bis son. alone his comforter, “This looks to me like a very strange case, indeed. “*To-morrow I will have an interview with the butler, and then I will have no one else to: interview, I guess, so can act as I deem best.™ CHAPTER XXXVI, THE NEW BUTLER, TRUE to the appointment made, Dick Doom when he went to the Crumbs cottage, found there the Carroll butler, who was introduced to him as James Belt, Crumbs and Jule retired while the ferret had a talk with the butler, who was a cunning- faced Englishman, ‘Mr, Belt, I wish to ask you if you are will- ing to accept another situation, that will pay you far better than the one you pow have “ Well, sir, I lives to make a living, sir.” 80 I thought, and I can offer you @ place as et. ‘To whom, sir?” ‘‘ Well, to myself, but I will be called away for quite awhile, so will have to leave you at the Grand Pacific, to await my return, “Of course you will bave good tone, but nothing todo until my retura.” ‘* Yes, sir, but my pay goes on all the same?” comicboo CS