The Blue Lights: A Detective Story - free ebook by Frederic Arnold Kummer

THE BLUE LIGHTS

A hasty examination of the sailing list showed her the astonishing truth. Richard was not on board....

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THE BLUE LIGHTS

BY ARNOLD FREDERICKS AUTHOR OF THE IVORY SNUFF BOX, Etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILL GREFÉ NEW YORK GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1915, by W. J. WATT &amp; COMPANY...

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CHAPTER I

THE big, mud-spattered touring car, which for the past hour had been plowing its way steadily northward from the city of Washington, hesitated for a moment before the gateway which marked the end of the well kept drive, then swept on to the house. A man, stoutly built, keen of eye, showing haste in his every movement, sprang from the machine and ascended the veranda steps. "Does Richard Duvall live here?" he inquired, curtly, of the smiling old colored woman who came to the door. "'Deed he do, s

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CHAPTER II

RICHARD DUVALL arrived in New York at half past one o'clock Thursday morning. Hodgman, Mr. Stapleton's secretary, had wired ahead the news of their coming, and the banker's limousine awaited them at the railway station. Fifteen minutes later they were ascending the steps of Mr. Stapleton's residence on Fifth Avenue. Duvall had not been to the house before. His previous interviews with the banker had taken place at the latter's office, in Broad Street. He had no time now, however, to observe the

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CHAPTER III

GRACE DUVALL'S first inclination, on finding herself en route for Europe, without her husband, was to send him a wireless, advising him of her movements. Then she decided, for several reasons, not to do so. Chief among these was the fear that such a startling piece of news would be likely to cause him a great deal of unnecessary anxiety. She knew that she could never hope to explain matters, within the limits of a marconigram. And then, too, it was highly inadvisable, she knew, to mention in a w

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CHAPTER IV

ON the day following that upon which she arrived in Paris, Grace Duvall sallied forth, determined to find out two things—first, the position occupied by Alphonse Valentin in the affair of the kidnapping; secondly, the identity of the man who had stolen the box of cigarettes from Valentin's room, and gone with them to the house in the Avenue Kleber. The latter incident seemed trivial enough, at first sight; yet she reasoned that no one would risk arrest on the score of burglary, to steal anything

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CHAPTER V

JOHN STAPLETON, the millionaire banker, accompanied by Richard Duvall, arrived in Paris early in the afternoon, and went at once to the former's house in the Avenue Kleber. Upon their arrival, Duvall waited for sometime, while the distressed husband and wife were closeted together upstairs. At last they descended to the library, and Duvall was presented to Mrs. Stapleton. The joy which her husband's arrival had caused her sent a new glow of hope to her careworn cheeks, and she greeted the detect

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CHAPTER VI

ALPHONSE VALENTIN came up to Grace and took her roughly by the arm. "Come with me," he said, and started up the street. At first she felt inclined to resist him. A signal to a passing gendarme, and she could have had the man placed under arrest. Monsieur Lefevre had taken care to provide her with credentials that would insure her obtaining instant assistance from any member of the police. Then another thought came to her. This man Valentin she very much desired to see. His position, clinging to

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CHAPTER VII

MR. STAPLETON was standing in the middle of the library, when Duvall entered. He turned to him excitedly. "Mr. Duvall," he said, "I have just heard news that I hope will restore my boy to me within the next twenty-four hours!" "From the woman who just left the house?" "Yes." "Who is she?" "An agent of the police." "Ah! Are you certain of that?" "I know only what she says." Duvall looked at him curiously. "What is the news she has brought you?" "A message from the scoundrels who have stolen the c

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CHAPTER VIII

AT the same hour that Richard Duvall was arranging with Mr. Stapleton his plan for the capture of the kidnappers the following day, Grace was closeted with Monsieur Lefevre, the Prefect of Police, in the latter's library, going over the affair in all its details. The Prefect was speaking, ticking off on his fingers the points in the case as he proceeded. "First, we have the impossible story of the nurse, Mary Lanahan. She seems to be telling the truth; yet I believe she is lying. In my opinion,

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CHAPTER IX

PROMPTLY at eight o'clock the next evening Mr. John Stapleton left his house in the Avenue Kleber, in a big French touring car, with François at the wheel. The car presented no points of peculiarity, being like a thousand others to be seen any evening upon the streets of Paris. It was of large size, high powered, and painted a green so dark as to be almost black. Mr. Stapleton sat in the tonneau, wearing a dark blue serge suit, and a Panama hat. In his left hand he clutched a small package, abou

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CHAPTER X

THE events of the Versailles road left Grace Duvall in a high state of good humor. The plan she had suggested had been a success—at least so far as her own part in it was concerned. How Monsieur Lefevre had fared, she did not yet know. She looked down at the brown paper package she held in her hand, and ordered Valentin to drive to the Prefecture. The day had been an eventful one. Immediately after breakfast Grace had gone to Mr. Stapleton's house and had a long interview with Mrs. Stapleton. Th

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CHAPTER XI

IT was close to eight o'clock next evening when Grace Duvall arrived at Mr. Stapleton's house with the package containing the money. She was accompanied, for safety, by two men from the Prefecture, who escorted her to the door. She had paid a previous visit to the house, during the forenoon; but Mr. Stapleton was not at home, and she was informed that he would not return until evening. Mrs. Stapleton she saw again; but her talk with the latter resulted in nothing. The poor lady was in utter desp

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CHAPTER XII

WHEN Richard Duvall returned to consciousness, an hour later, he lay upon a couch in Mr. Stapleton's library. A doctor, hastily summoned, was bending over him. Mr. Stapleton sat grimly in an arm chair. There was no one else in the room. "My wife! Is she here?" the detective cried, as he tried to rise. The doctor pushed him gently back. "Compose yourself, Monsieur," he said in a soothing voice. "You are not badly hurt. Merely stunned for the moment. A slight cut—that is all. You will be quite you

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CHAPTER XIII

IT was nearly ten o'clock when the taxicab containing Grace Duvall stopped alongside the road, at a point some four miles beyond the city, in the direction of Versailles. She had been unable to give the driver the exact location at which she desired to be put down, but had directed him to drive on until she told him to stop. The spot was quite familiar to her, owing to the hours she had spent in the vicinity with the searching party the day before. The taxicab driver seemed rather surprised to s

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CHAPTER XIV.

RICHARD DUVALL rose, the following day, with a less troubled mind than at any time since his arrival in Paris. His calculations of the night before had brought him to a definite conclusion. After breakfasting in the café of the hotel he returned to his room, and rang up Monsieur Lefevre. "I want the assistance of one of your men, Monsieur," he said. "Ah!" laughed the Prefect. "You are—what you Americans call—up a tree, is it not?" "Not at all. You have said that there existed between us a compet

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CHAPTER XV

THE few seconds that elapsed while Grace Duvall stood in the deserted studio in Passy, waiting for the arrival of the person who was ascending the stairs, seemed like eternities, so crowded were they with terror. What should she do—what, indeed, could she do? A dozen plans raced madly through her brain, confusing her, baffling her with their futility. That the missing boy was within the sound of her voice, she knew; for even as she stood trembling at the ominous footsteps on the creaking stairs,

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CHAPTER XVI

WHEN Monsieur Lefevre touched Richard Duvall on the shoulder, in the restaurant in the Boulevard des Italiens, he was filled with a very great feeling of anxiety, although he concealed it behind a mask of pleased surprise at the unexpected meeting. Since early the evening before he had had no word from Grace. He knew from Mr. Stapleton that she had left his house a short while after nine; but since then she had completely disappeared. The Prefect at first thought that she had been unable to keep

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CHAPTER XVII

RICHARD DUVALL, waiting with nervous impatience in the closet in François' room, at last heard a soft and guarded step upon the stairs. He drew back, his muscles tense, and gazed fixedly at the door. Although the room was dark, the glow of the street lamps from without, the faint light of the evening sky, sufficed, now that his eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, to enable him not only to recognize the chauffeur as he entered the room, but to follow his movements with little or no diffic

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CHAPTER XVIII

FOR a few moments after being left alone in the studio at Passy, Grace almost lost her courage. She knew that the man who had remained on guard in the room had received the danger signal—the red light—which told him that the plans of his confederates had miscarried. She remembered the instructions which the black-bearded man had given him. "If I do not meet you at Martelle's, take the boy to Lavillac. And before you do so, cut off his left hand and send it to Mr. Stapleton." The very thought of

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CHAPTER XIX

THE startling and dramatic entrance of Richard Duvall into Mr. Stapleton's library, ending with his announcement of the whereabouts of the kidnapped child, and his subsequent collapse, threw the entire party into confusion. Mrs. Stapleton started up with a scream, her overwrought nerves no longer able to resist the frightful strain under which she had for so many days been laboring. Her husband, who had completely forgotten the detective's presence in the house, in his anxious vigil at the telep

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CHAPTER XX

"There are a great many that I fail to understand," exclaimed the banker, chewing reflectively on his cigar. "However, now that the boy is safe at home, it really makes very little difference." "On the contrary, Mr. Stapleton," remarked Duvall, "it makes a great deal of difference. For instance, I understand that you have discharged the nurse, Mary Lanahan." "Yes. You say that she is quite innocent of any part in the kidnapping of my boy; but the fact remains that I don't trust her. I am informe

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