"Yes, and he hit me over the head with a club. It
was his indiscretion, sir. He wanted to go through the
library in broad daylight, and it wasn't any use, anyhow.
There's nothing there."
"But I don't like the looks of this shooting. Morgan's
sick and out of his head. But a fellow like Morgan
isn't likely to shoot himself accidentally, and now
that it's done the work's stopped and the time is running
on. What do you think Glenarm suspects?"
"I can't tell, sir, but mighty little, I should say. The
shot through the window the first night he was here
seemed to shake him a trifle, but he's quite settled down
now, I should say, sir."
"He probably doesn't spend much time on this side
of the fence-doesn't haunt the chapel, I fancy?"
"Lord, no, sir! I hardly suspect the young gentleman
of being a praying man."
"You haven't seen him prowling about analyzing the
architecture-"
"Not a bit of it, sir. He hasn't, I should say, what
his revered grandfather called the analytical mind."
Hearing yourself discussed in this frank fashion by
your own servant is, I suppose, a wholesome thing for
the spirit. The man who stands behind your chair may
acquire, in time, some special knowledge of your mental
processes by a diligent study of the back of your
head. But I was not half so angry with these conspirators
as with myself, for ever having entertained a single
generous thought toward Bates. It was, however, consoling
to know that Morgan was lying to Pickering, and
that my own exploits in the house were unknown to the
executor.
Pickering stamped his feet upon the paved porch
floor in a way that I remembered of old. It marked a
conclusion, and preluded serious statements.
"Now, Bates," he said, with a ring of authority and
speaking in a louder key than he had yet used, "it's
your duty under all the circumstances to help discover
the hidden assets of the estate. We've got to pluck the
mystery from that architectural monster over there, and
the time for doing it is short enough. Mr. Glenarm was
a rich man. To my own knowledge he had a couple of
millions, and he couldn't have spent it all on that house.
He reduced his bank account to a few thousand dollars
and swept out his safety-vault boxes with a broom before
his last trip into Vermont. He didn't die with the
stuff in his clothes, did he?"
"Lord bless me, no, sir! There was little enough
cash to bury him, with you out of the country and me
alone with him."
"He was a crank and I suppose he got a lot of satisfaction
out of concealing his money. But this hunt for it
isn't funny. I supposed, of course, we'd dig it up before
Glenarm got here or I shouldn't have been in such
a hurry to send for him. But it's over there somewhere,
or in the grounds. There must he a plan of the house
that would help. I'll give you a thousand dollars the
day you wire me you have found any sort of clue."