The.colonel turned the card over.It was addressed to Miss Viola Carwell at The Haven.
"So the book is out on her card," murmured the detective."I must look for her copy of 'Poison Plants of New Jersey,' and see if it is like the one Ihave."
"Were you speaking to me?" asked Jack, having finished his letter."No, but I will now.We've got to get busy on this case, and close itup.I've been too long on it now.Shag is getting impatient." "Shag?""Yes, he wants me to go fishing."
"Oh, I see.Well, I'm ready.What are the orders?"Two busy days on the part of Colonel Ashley and his assistant followed.They went on many mysterious errands and were out once all night.But where they went, what they did or who they saw they told no one.
It was early one evening that Colonel Ashley waited for his assistant in the library of The Haven.Jack had gone out to send a message and was to return soon.And as the colonel waited in the dim light of one electric bulb, much shaded, he saw a figure come stealing to the portieres that separated the library from the hall.Cautiously the figure advanced and looked into the room.A glance seemed to indicate that no one was there, for the colonel was hidden in the depths of a big chair, "slumping," which was his favorite mode of relaxing.
"I wonder if some one is looking for me?" mused the colonel."Well, just for fun, I'll play hide and seek.I can disclose myself later." And so he remained in the chair, hardly breathing the silent figure parted the heavy curtains, within, dropped something white on the floor, and then quickly hurried away, the feet making no sound on the thick carpet of the hall.
"Now," mused the colonel to himself, "I wonder that is a note for me, or a love missive for one the maids from the butler or the gardener, who too bashful to deliver it in person.I'd better look."Without turning on more light the colonel picked up the thing that had fluttered so silently to the floor.It was a scrap of paper, and as he held it under the dimly glowing bulb he saw, scrawled inprinted letters:
"Viola Carwell has a poison book."
"As if I didn't know it!" softly exclaimed the colonel.
And then, as he resumed his comfortable, but not very dignifiedposition, he heard some one coming boldly along the hall, and the voice of Jackoung asked:
"Are you in here, Colonel?"
"Yes, come in.Did you get a reply?"
"Surely.Your friend must have been waiting for your telegram.""I expected he would be.Let me see it," and the detective read a brief message which said:
"Thomas much better after a long sleep."
"Ah," mused the colonel."I'm very glad Thomas is better.""Is Thomas, by any chance, a cat?" asked Jack, who read the telegram the colonel handed him.
"He is - just that - a cat and nothing more.And now, Jack, my friend, I think we're about ready to close in.""Close in? Why - "
"Oh, there are a few things I haven't told you yet.Sit down and I'll just go over them.I've been on this case a little longer than you have, and I've done some elimination which you haven't had a chance to do.""And you have eliminated all but - " "Captain Poland and LeGrand Blossom."At these words Jack started, and made a motion of silence.They were still in the library, but more lights had been turned on, and the place was brilliant.
"What's the matter?" asked the colonel, quickly."I thought I heard a noise in the hall," and Jack stepped to the door and looked out.But either he did not see, or did not want to see, a shrinking figure which quickly crouched down behind a chair not far from the portal.
"Guess I was mistaken," said Jack."Anyhow I didn't see anything." Did he forget that coming out of a light room into a dim hall was not conducive to good seeing? Jack Young ought to have remembered that.
"One of the servants, likely, passing by," suggested the colonel."Yes, Jack, I think we must pin it down to either the captain or Blossom.""Do you really think Blossom could have done it?""He could, of course.The main question is, did he have an object in getting Mr.Carwell out of the way?""And did he have?" "I think he did.I've been trailing him lately, when he didn't suspect it, and I've seen him in some queer situations.I know he needed a lot of money and - well, I'm going to take him into custody as the murderer of Mr.Carwell."I Want you to - "But that was as far as the detective got, for there was a shriek in the hall - a cry of mortal anguish that could only come from a woman - and then, past the library door, rushed a figure in white.
Out and away it rushed, flinging open the front door, speeding down the steps and across the lawn.
"Quick !" cried Colonel Ashley."Who was that?""I don't know!" answered Jack."Must have been the person I thought I heard in the hall.""We must find out who it was!" went on the detective."You make some inquiries.I'll take after her.""Could it have been Miss Viola?"
The question was answered almost as soon as it was asked, for, at that moment, Viola herself came down the front stairs.
"What is it?" she asked the two detectives."Who cried out like that? Is some one hurt?""I don't know," answered Colonel Ashley."Mr.Young and I were talking in the library when we heard the scream.Then a woman rushed out.""It must have been Minnie Webb!" cried Viola."She was here a moment ago.The maid told me she was waiting in the parlor, and I was detained upstairs.It must have been Minnie.But why did she scream so?"Colonel Ashley did not stop to answer.
"Look after things here, Jack!" he called to his assistant."I'm going to follow her.If ever there was a desperate woman she is."And he sped through the darkness after the figure in white.
