HALF A TRUTH
Dancing was being resumed in the dining room as Kent appeared again in the doorway and he made his way as quickly as possible among the couples, going into all the rooms on that floor, but nowhere could he find Detective Ferguson.On emerging from the drawing room, he encountered the steward returning from downstairs.
"Have you seen Mr.Clymer?" he asked hurriedly.
"Yes, Mr.Kent; he just left the club, taking Detective Ferguson with him in his motor.Is there anything I can do?" added the steward observing Kent's agitation.
"No, no, thanks.Say, where is Colonel McIntyre?" Kent gave up further pursuit of the detective, he could find him later at Headquarters.The steward looked among the dancers."I don't see him," he said, "But there is Mrs.Brewster dancing in the front room; the Colonel must be somewhere around.If I meet him, Mr.Kent, shall I tell him you are looking for him?""I will be greatly obliged if you will do so," replied Kent, and straightening his tie, he went in quest of the pretty widow.He had found her a merry chatter-box in the past, possibly he could gain valuable information from her.He found Mrs.Brewster just completing her dance with a fine looking Italian officer whose broad breast bore many military decorations.
"Dance the encore with me" - Kent could be very persuasive when he wished, and Mrs.Brewster dimpled with pleasure, but there was a faint indecision in her manner which he was quick to note.What prompted it? He had been on friendly terms with her; in fact, she had openly championed his cause, so Barbara had once told him, when Colonel McIntyre had made caustic remarks about his frequent calls at the McIntyre house.
"Just one turn," she said, as the foreigner bowed and withdrew."Iam feeling a little weary to-night - the strain of the inquest," she, added in explanation.
"Perhaps you would rather sit out the dance," he suggested."There is an alcove in that window; oh, pshaw!" as a man and a girl took possession of the chairs.
"Never mind, we can roost on the stairs," Mrs.Brewster preceded him to the staircase leading to the third floor, and sat down, bracing her back very comfortably against the railing, while Kent seated himself at her feet on the lower step."Extraordinary developments at the inquest this afternoon," he began, as she volunteered no remark."To think of Jimmie Turnbull being poisoned!""It is unbelievable," she said, and her vehemence was a surprise to Kent; he knew her as all froth and bubble.What had brought the dark circles under her eyes and the unwonted seriousness in her manner?
"Unbelievable, yes," he agreed gravely."But true; the autopsy ended all doubt.""You mean it developed doubt," she corrected, and a sigh accompanied the words."Have the police any clew to the guilty man?""I don't know, I'm sure," Kent spoke with caution.
"You don't?" Her voice was a little sharp."Didn't Detective Ferguson give you any news when talking to you on the porch?""So you recognized the detective?"
"I? No; I have never seen him before" - she nodded gayly to an acquaintance passing through the hall."Colonel McIntyre told me his name.It was so odd to meet a man here not in evening clothes that I had to ask who he was.""Ferguson came to bring me some papers about a personal matter,"explained Kent.He turned so as to face her."Did you see a white envelope lying on the table when you walked out on the porch?"She bowed her head absently, her foot keeping time to the inspiring music played by the orchestra stationed on the stair landing just above where they sat."You left it lying on the table.""Yes, so I did," replied Kent."And I believe I was so ungallant as to bolt into the dining room in front of you.Please accept my apologies." Behind her fan, which she used with languid grace, the widow watched him.
"We all bolted together," she responded, "and are equally guilty -""Of what?" questioned a voice from the background, and looking up Kent saw Colonel McIntyre standing on the step above Mrs.Brewster.
The music had ceased and in the lull their conversation had been distinctly audible.
"Guilty of curiosity," finished the widow.
"Colonel de Geofroy's farewell speech was very amusing, did you not think so?""I did not stay to hear it," Kent confessed."I had to return to the porch and get my envelope.""You were a long time about it," commented McIntyre, sitting down by Mrs.Brewster and possessing himself of her fan."I waited to tell you that Helen and Barbara were worn out after the inquest and so stayed at home to-night, but you didn't show up.""Neither did the envelope," retorted Kent, and as his companions looked at him, he added."It had disappeared off the table.""Probably blew away," suggested McIntyre."I noticed a strong current of air from the dining room, and two of the windows inclosing the porch were open.
"That's hardly possible," Kent replied skeptically."The envelope weighed at least two ounces; it would have taken quite a gale to budge it."McIntyre turned red."Are you insinuating that one of us walked off with your envelope, Kent?" he demanded angrily.Mrs.Brewster stayed him as he was about to rise.
"Did you not say that Detective Ferguson brought you the envelope, Mr.Kent?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Then what more likely than that he carried it off again?" She smiled amusedly as Kent's expression altered."Why not ask the detective?"Her suggestion held a grain of truth.Suppose Ferguson had not believed his statement that the papers in the envelope were his personal property and had taken the envelope away to examine it at his leisure? The thought brought Kent to his feet.
"Good night, Mrs.Sherlock Holmes," he said jestingly, "I'll follow your advice - There was no opportunity to say more, for several men had discovered the widow's perch on the stairs and came to claim their dances.Over their heads McIntyre watched Kent stride downstairs, then stooping over he picked up Mrs.
Brewster's fan and sat down to patiently await her return.
