The Club of Masks By ALLEN UPWARD A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with J. B. Lippincott Company Printed in U. S. A. THE CLUB OF MASKS...

I had only just let myself into the hall of the quiet house in the respectable street beside the British Museum when my ear was startled by the subdued shrilling of the telephone bell overhead. Whether this was the first time it had sounded, or whether that alarming call was being repeated for the second or third time, I had no means of knowing, as I turned hurriedly to fasten the front door behind me. Cautiously, and yet as swiftly as I dared, I shot the bolts and began speeding on tiptoe up th

Instead of excusing myself I thought it the best plan to plunge into the account of what had taken place at the Domino Club, in the hope that it would absorb his mind. The alert physician made only one comment as I finished. “A case for Inspector Charles is pretty sure to be a case for me; but you didn’t know that.” He was out of bed the next moment. “Please tell him I am coming at once, and order round my car. And be ready yourself as soon as you can.” I needed no injunction to make haste. I wa

At this point I began to feel a touch of nervousness. I had faced the proprietress of the Domino Club without any, because she had not seen me even in my disguise. But the waiters had been going to and fro throughout the night. I had given orders once or twice, and I could not feel certain that my voice would not be recognized. I told myself that my fear was fanciful, and that the last thing that could occur to anyone’s mind was that a representative of the Home Office, engaged in the investigat

Inspector Charles , I could see, was deeply impressed by the sagacity with which Tarleton had solved the riddle of the dead man’s identity. It was a very simple step, but it is precisely the simple ideas that generally escape the trained mind of the official. “Doctor Weathered,” the Captain pronounced slowly. “I suppose there is no doubt of that being Wilson’s real name.” “Very little doubt, I should say,” my chief responded. “What do you think, Cassilis?” I endeavoured to take a judicial tone.

My chief made a swift search through the safe. The cash drawers were empty, and he gave me a significant nod. “Miss Sarah has been through the safe since the policeman left. A remarkable girl that, Cassilis! How did she come to know of the Domino Club?” I was as little able to answer the question as he was. Still, I had formed a vague theory in my own mind. “She rather gave me the impression of hating her step-father on her mother’s account,” I threw out. “Mightn’t she have watched him on her mo

It was at once evident that Sir Frank Tarleton had taken the measure of his opponent accurately. As soon as she felt the police officer’s touch Madame Bonnell’s confidence deserted her, and she collapsed in a state of mingled panic and bewilderment. “ Mon Dieu! But what have I done? What is it that I am accused of?” She looked imploringly from Charles to Tarleton and from him to me. It was the Inspector who answered. “Obstructing the officers of the law in the course of their duty is the charge

I waited with sickening apprehension for a few instants. “And the others?—the Zenobia costume, has that been traced?” I was driven to ask. “Not yet. There are several more places to be visited.” The respite gave me time to breathe. As I slowly descended the stairs, my mind became absorbed in pondering the news I had just received, and the use to which it might be put. The figure of Salome came before me as I had seen her the night before, pursuing the hooded Inquisitor, luring him to dance with

Inspector Charles presented himself at the house in Montague Street while Sir Frank and I were at breakfast the next morning. My chief ordered him to be shown in to us. The Inspector’s manner struck me as rather more reserved than it had been yesterday. It very quickly appeared that he was acting under instructions not received from the medical adviser of the Home Office. “The Chief Commissioner is anxious to know if you have any report to make as to the cause of death in this Domino Club affair

When I returned to Montague Street to lunch, my host was still out, and I had to sit down to the meal without him. No uncommon incident this, in the case of any member of the medical profession, and especially one liable to be summoned at any moment to cases of the most desperate nature. Yet I was uneasy at losing sight of the great man for so long just then. The investigation had reached a point at which I was desperately anxious to follow his every move, in order that I might guard the threate

I felt honestly sorry for the poor girl in spite of the vindictive attitude she had taken up just before. I had no doubt that she was quite sincere, and that she had unconsciously deceived herself as to her real feelings up to the last moment. Tarleton remained calm in the face of her outburst; when he spoke again his tone was courteous but businesslike—perhaps the most considerate one to adopt in the circumstances. “You have told Dr. Cassilis and me very little that we weren’t prepared to hear,

Tyberton Castle was less than an hour’s drive from Hereford by motor. I had to conceal my knowledge of the neighbourhood from Tarleton, who left the arrangements in my hands, and question the man who waited on us at breakfast as if I were entirely ignorant of where the Castle lay, and how to reach it. “No breakfast, no man,” was a favourite maxim of the physician’s, and he did full justice to the fresh trout, the kidneys and bacon, and the new-laid eggs put before us, while I had to force myself

It was one of those moments in which life seems to cast away the mask of convention and spring upon us like a giant fanged and armed for our destruction; one of those moments in which the bravest heart quails and the strongest hope withers to despair. My crime had been committed for nothing. Whether the death of that despicable villain lay at my door or not, I did not know, and it hardly seemed to matter any longer. Somewhere there was still in existence the weapon with which he had terrorized h

My first thought, when I knew that Violet’s confession was still undestroyed, was to hide the fact from her. I must spare her the torturing apprehensions that I felt myself. Fortunately she did not seem to be thinking of her own danger; at all events, she put no questions to me about the letters. Perhaps she took it for granted that I had secured them, or that they were no longer in existence. At all events, the possibility that they might be in other hands as dangerous as Weathered’s did not se

I sat fascinated. This was not the Violet Bredwardine I had known. The girl had sprung up into a woman, and the woman was making a brave fight for me more than herself. If my name came out she would be no worse off than she was already, as far as her connection with the death in the Domino Club was concerned. Her father would have to know that she and I had been friends in the past, but he need know nothing more. It was I who stood in danger. It would be useless for me to deny that I had drugged

I got little more out of my chief during the rest of the journey to town. The gold repeater came into action as soon as we were seated in the train, and I could only wonder what was the problem that was still baffling that keen intelligence. To me, I confess, the solution of the mystery seemed now to be well in sight. On our return to town I expected to find that Inspector Charles had ascertained the present whereabouts of the explorer of Sumatra. From him it should not be difficult to learn the

Sir Frank and I both sprang to our feet to go to the chiffonier. But it was useless to turn over the rubbish it contained. The bottle of upasine was not there. And either the sister of the explorer was a very perfect actress or she was as much surprised as I was by its disappearance. “Whoever can have taken it?” she cried, gazing at us as if not quite certain that we were beyond suspicion of the theft. “Both my maids have been with me for years, and I have never missed anything before.” It was a

Perhaps it may be wondered why I didn’t at once make a frank statement of my part in the mystery to my kind-hearted chief and throw myself on his mercy. I was withheld by more than one reason. In the first place I couldn’t feel sure that I should be believed. I had no means of proving my innocence. The circumstantial evidence against me was as strong as it could be. I had the strongest motive to kill the monster who was trying to put my secret to the basest use; I had been on the spot, and been

Sir Frank Tarleton had not given me all his reasons for not taking me with him to Paris. One of them, as he told me afterwards, was that I had made an enemy of Sarah Neobard, or, to put it the other way, I had made her regard me as an enemy. My chief believed that my presence would prevent him from obtaining any information from her or her mother. They would think he had come on a hostile errand, and they would obstinately hold their tongues, for fear lest anything they said might be used by me

The pale, weak woman had suddenly been transformed in Tarleton’s eyes into a heroine. He saw in her someone greater than himself. He was the official, salaried guardian of society, called upon to run no risks that a brave man ought to fear. But this forlorn woman, without a friend in whom she could confide, without support from public opinion or from the law, had taken into her trembling hands the task of delivering her sister women from a wretch whom neither opinion nor the law could reach. Mrs

When Sir Frank Tarleton walked into the room on his return from Paris the first thing he did was to put his gold repeater to his ear and make it ring out its musical notes. It was the sign of triumph. He told me everything just as I have described it. Then he transfixed me with a question. “I expect you to be as candid with me as Mrs. Neobard has been. Did you put this poison into Wethered’s cup along with the opium?” It was no more than I ought to have expected; no more than I had deserved. But