THE HOUSE afi 
 
 IRON MEN 
 
 JACKSTEELE
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN
 
 Mrs Cree clutched her quickly by the arm, her own face blanched 
 with fear. (Page 273)
 
 THE HOUSE 
 
 IRON 
 
 oy 
 
 ST 
 
 FRONTISPIECE IN- COLOR 
 Bv Clara MBurd 
 
 PUBLISHED- BY-DESMOHD 
 FITZGERALD7c. MEWTORK
 
 Copyright, 1911 
 
 By DESMOND FITZGERALD, IMC. 
 All Higkts Reserved
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. A BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE . . 1 
 
 II. THE WAY OF A FIANCEE ... 8 
 
 III. THE SHOCK OF COMPLICATIONS . . 17 
 
 IV. VISITORS AND UNEASINESS ... 23 
 V. STARTLING DISCOVERIES .... 34 
 
 VI. MISGIVINGS AND STRUGGLES ... 41 
 
 VII. How MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN . 47 
 
 VIII. BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT . 59 
 
 IX. THE HOUSE OF CRIME .... 72 
 
 X. A RACE IN THE STREETS .... 84 
 
 XI. THE COMITY BALL 91 
 
 XII. THE FIRES OF LOVE 97 
 
 XIII. JEROLD GARRISON'S CRAFT . . . 107 
 
 XIV. A TREACHERY 118 
 
 XV. AN INQUISITION 125 
 
 XVI. A METHOD OF TORTURE .... 134 
 
 XVII. A CREEPING DEATH 143 
 
 XVIII. LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR .... 151 
 
 XIX. A DESPERATE CHANCB .... 163 
 
 XX. A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT .... 172 
 
 XXI. SOME HALF-CONFESSIONS . . . 179 
 
 XXII. A STARTLING DENOUEMENT . . . 186 
 
 XXIII. IRIS WRITES A LETTER .... 195 
 
 XXIV. A DEEPER PLOT SUGGESTED . 202 
 
 2138445
 
 VI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXV. 
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 
 
 208 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 A SEARCH IN THE PARK . 
 
 220 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A CUP OF TEA 
 
 228 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 A DREAD AWAKENING . 
 
 236 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 THE SIGN OF BUDDHA . 
 
 244 
 
 XXX* 
 
 Two SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS . 
 
 251 
 
 XXXI* 
 
 A WEAVING OF PLOTS . 
 
 261 
 
 XXXIL 
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN . 
 
 269 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK . 
 
 277 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 A DRAMATIC CLIMAX 
 
 287 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 AN UNFINISHED MISSION 
 
 294 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DARK . 
 
 300 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 AN HOUR OF RECKONING 
 
 310 
 
 XXXVIIL 
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE . 
 
 319 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 BARBARA'S DOCUMENTS . 
 
 330 
 
 XL. 
 
 THE VITAL MOMENT 
 
 336 
 
 XLI. 
 
 EDEN . 
 
 341
 
 The House of Iron Men 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A BIETHDAY EEMEMBRANCE 
 
 ONE of the most extraordinary affairs in the 
 criminal and social annals of New York City 
 began in the offices of Julian Vail, Fifth Avenue, at 
 the logical center of the town, on the 17th of May, 
 in a most incredible and probably unparalleled 
 manner. 
 
 It was Vail's birthday an important factor in 
 the mystery so promptly and bafflingly evolved. 
 There was nothing unusual in the day itself, nor 
 about the neighborhood or office, which was, in all 
 significant details, the counterpart of dozens in the 
 building. On the door that led to the marble hall 
 was a legend lettered in gold : 
 
 " JULIAN W. VAIL 
 
 Railroads . 
 
 Private " 
 
 Beyond were the two smaller rooms of the suite, 
 where clerks, stenographers, and other busy func-
 
 2 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 tionaries strove to keep pace with Vail's activities 
 in commerce. 
 
 On the afternoon in question, when Vail and Miss 
 Iris Puryn, his fiancee, entered at his private door, 
 there was nothing extraordinary in the suite, except 
 in this private sanctum. In this seat of modern 
 forces not only was one of the chairs impressively 
 overloaded with boxes and packages, sent in remem- 
 brance of the twenty-seventh anniversary of Julian's 
 birth, but also the most impossible " present " imag- 
 inable was standing on end in the corner. 
 
 It appeared to be a monster box of flowers a 
 great white-cardboard box, nearly six feet high and 
 two across, tied with a pink satin ribbon that was 
 six inches wide at the least. 
 
 For a moment as Vail and Miss Puryn paused by 
 the door, to gaze in astonishment at this colossal 
 package, neither spoke. Miss Puryn's face, which 
 was placidly and conventionally beautiful, became at 
 once a mask for polite emotions of surprise and curi- 
 osity. For not only was the size of the box past 
 all belief, but, across its front, it was labeled in gold 
 with the words: 
 
 "A Gift of the Gods" 
 
 Vail, recovering promptly from his state of sur- 
 prise and incredulity, smiled in his cheeriest manner. 
 His friends had prepared an elaborate hoax, per- 
 haps a mechanical toy, he thought, by way of a 
 birthday joke. But Iris was first to speak.
 
 A BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE 3 
 
 " Well ! if I ever ! " she exclaimed. " What in the 
 world can it be ? " 
 
 Vail thrust his hand in his pocket, as they stood 
 there looking at the box. 
 
 " It's probably a railroad a lot of toy cars, loco- 
 motives, track, and all the rest. For half a cent I'd 
 let it stand unopened and wait for the sender to 
 give himself away by asking fool questions about 
 it." 
 
 But his speech, as he turned to glance at the chair, 
 with the load of parcels upon it, failed in a rare and 
 notable degree to allay Miss Puryn's curiosity. For 
 some inexplicable reason the box excited her unduly. 
 
 " I hate all practical jokes," she said. " But I 
 don't believe it is a joke. I feel some sort of pre- 
 monition " And then, of a sudden, came a change 
 
 in the tone of her voice. " Julian ! I know there is 
 something wrong ! I am sure I saw it shudder I " 
 
 "Shudder?" said Vail, and he laughed. "Oh, 
 come now, Iris, do you think it's a package of 
 ghosts ? " 
 
 The girl had conceived some awe of the package. 
 Her sensations were not to be lightly dismissed. 
 
 " It's as long as a coffin long enough to hold a 
 skeleton ! " 
 
 Vail was still convinced the box contained a toy 
 prepared by the boys with no particular occupation 
 but that of having " fun." 
 
 " But skeletons never shudder," he sai'd, " while 
 railroads frequently do." 
 
 Miss Puryn looked at him disapprovingly.
 
 4 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I don't feel like jesting in the least, over such a 
 thing as that. Someway it gives me creeps." 
 
 Vail assumed a tragic air, the mockery of which 
 he felt she would understand. 
 
 " Creeps ! You don't suppose it's a railroad 
 octopus ? " 
 
 Iris was not to be assured. She moved behind 
 the desk, 
 
 " Please don't be absurd," she protested. " If it 
 
 should be anything terrible What do you mean 
 
 to do? " 
 
 Vail was striding towards the great white box to 
 end all doubt at once. 
 
 "Take off the lid!" 
 
 Iris was excited. 
 
 " Yes, but if it's anything alive a reptile ani- 
 mals I was certain the whole thing moved ! " 
 
 " Stop ! Look ! Listen ! " said Vail, as he came 
 to the box and placed his ear against the cover. 
 
 There was nothing to be heard. He attempted to 
 lift the case's weight, and was thereupon thoroughly 
 surprised. His effort failed to budge it from the 
 floor. 
 
 " Hum ! " he added, more impressed, exerting a 
 strength that made him red. " It must be a gold 
 brick, I should say, and a long, wide, thick one at 
 that ! " He began to pull at the ribbons. 
 
 " I I don't know whether you'd better open it 
 or not," stammered Iris, more than ever appre- 
 hensive. " If anything should jump out sud- 
 denly Couldn't you call a clerk? "
 
 A BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE 5 
 
 Vail was unfastening a knot. 
 
 " It smells of nothing but violets. Ah I Wire ! " 
 he exclaimed. " By George, it's fastened " 
 
 " Oh, please be careful ! " Miss Puryn interrupted, 
 her dread momentarily increasing. " If it's fastened 
 with wire, there must be something dangerous in- 
 side ! " 
 
 " We'll see," said Vail. The tone of his voice had 
 undergone a change. He turned to the desk for his 
 scissors. 
 
 Miss Puryn, with one knee already on a chair, 
 glanced from the man to the box once more, with 
 widely dilated eyes. Suddenly she let out a cry, 
 for the thing had certainly heaved! 
 
 " Julian ! I saw it move! " she called, in affright 
 to the man. " You've got to summon help some 
 officer someone to come and " 
 
 " There, there. Let's not excite ourselves," he in- 
 terrupted, calmly. " We are still in my office and 
 this is New York broad, open day on the city's 
 most populous thoroughfare. No friends would play 
 a dangerous joke, but they'd certainly laugh if they 
 heard I was afraid of some childish toy." 
 
 He was once more assailing the strands of wire 
 that bound the cover to the box. Miss Puryn made 
 no further answer. She repressed an impulse to flee 
 from the room by exerting her utmost will. She eyed 
 the case intently, her face rather white, her lips 
 slightly parted, over teeth exceedingly regular, as 
 her breath came short and fast. She was plainly fas- 
 cinated, absorbingly curious, and excitedly prepared
 
 6 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 at a second's warning to climb to the top of the 
 desk. 
 
 Vail, sufficiently curious himself, and not unaf- 
 fected by the girl's instinctive alarm, was far more 
 cautious than he appeared as he toiled at the wire 
 with his shears. 
 
 The ribbon had spanned the box in both direc- 
 tions, up through the center of its length and across 
 the center of its width. When it fell to the floor, in 
 a shimmer of pink, the tough iron strand it had quite 
 concealed was seen to be binding the lid in place 
 with two independent lengths that likewise crossed 
 at the center. 
 
 One of these Vail was enabled to untwist. It fell 
 to the floor like a liberated spring and tapped on the 
 box where it struck. 
 
 Iris sprang up in her chair. 
 
 " Why don't you call a clerk? " she implored, her 
 utterance tense and excited. " I know there is some- 
 thing wrong! I know that something is going to 
 happen! " 
 
 " We'll know the worst in a moment," said Vail, as 
 he snipped through the wire. " Get ready to laugh 
 at the joke." 
 
 Nevertheless, with the wire severed and thrust 
 aside, he leaned one hand with all his weight upon 
 the loosened cover, not to be taken by surprise. 
 
 Miss Puryn's eyes were blazingly fixed on the box. 
 Her attitude was one of rigid preparation, where she 
 waited, ready to spring to a height of safety on the 
 desk.
 
 A BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE 7 
 
 Vail himself, infected by her sense of dread, was 
 thoroughly alert as he felt and listened for the slight- 
 est ominous sign to issue from the case. 
 
 " Now, then for the fire-emitting dragon," he 
 said, and, lifting the cover loose at the side suffi- 
 ciently to glance for a second within the box, he 
 suddenly uttered a chuckling sound and wrenched it 
 away with decision. 
 
 " Behold ! " he said, " my beautiful " But he 
 
 halted, sharply bending forward, fixed in a pose of 
 amazement and startled emotions. 
 
 Standing there upright in the cotton-padded case, 
 her brown eyes dazzled by the light, and dazed with 
 the strangeness of her waking, was an exquisite girl 
 alive, but inert as a stone!
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE WAY OF A FIANCEE 
 
 FOR a moment Vail and his fiancee could only 
 stare in unbelief, as the girl gazed blankly upon 
 them. 
 
 The whole thing seemed preposterous, some wild, 
 fantastic imagining, too dream-like for anything but 
 folly. Not a word was spoken as the three remained 
 in their places, unmoving, attempting to reconcile 
 what they saw with the acceptable facts of life. 
 
 Slowly, languidly, as one made captive by some 
 year-old slumber, broken at last by magic forces, the 
 girl in the box moved her eyes and turned her head. 
 
 Into the milk-white oval of her cheeks a tint of 
 color slowly crept. Her red lips parted, their color 
 singularly vivid. One of her hands slightly stirred. 
 A look of alarm and inquiry rose with the steady- 
 ing lights that tardily returned to her eyes. 
 
 Vail all his faculties bent and riveted upon the 
 contents of the case was the first to recover reason. 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " he said, " what's the meaning 
 of this ? " and he touched her hand, that was like 
 mere warming clay. " How in the name of rea- 
 son " 
 
 "Julian!" 
 
 8
 
 THE WAY OF A FIANCEE 9 
 
 The call made him start, as Iris at last found her 
 voice. 
 
 She had come a little forward, some utterly femi- 
 nine resentment already focused on the girl, whom 
 Vail for a moment had thought a doll, encased and 
 sent him for a joke. 
 
 " Julian, what who Is this girl? " she demanded. 
 " Why was she sent to you ? " 
 
 He looked at her blankly. 
 
 " How should I know ? I don't understand 
 
 She is only half -alive. The explanation " 
 
 " There on he* dress there's a tag ! " Miss 
 Puryn interrupted, her strength and impatience with 
 the situation rapidly increasing together. " If she 
 is labeled what does it say?" 
 
 Vail cast a glance at the helpless girl in the box, 
 a figure of innocence bound and delivered to the 
 fates and the generous sympathy lodged in his 
 being responded to the wakening appeal in her 
 eyes. 
 
 For the girl's sake, as well as his own, he took in 
 his hand the inverted card with which she was, in fact, 
 labeled. He turned it over and burned a sudden 
 scarlet. 
 
 On it was written, in a large, plain chirography : 
 
 " Your wife 
 
 MRS. JULIAN VAIL." 
 
 Miss Puryn, instantly reading the lines, made a 
 sound that was half a gasp.
 
 10 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Oh, the shame ! " she started, when Vail ve- 
 hemently interrupted. 
 
 " The outrage ! to any young girl Iris, help 
 
 me ! She's fainting ! " 
 
 The frightened, half-numbed, and wholly bewil- 
 dered girl, still supported in the case, had abruptly 
 closed her eyes and drooped a little forward, in some 
 swift reaction from her rousing. 
 
 Vail attempted to draw her forth and take her to 
 the davenport, in the corner next the window. He 
 found that she was held in her upright position by 
 fastenings just beneath her arms. They were wires, 
 thickly padded. 
 
 Iris, far from willing to lend her assistance in a 
 business she instantly conceived to be exceedingly 
 dubious, not only made no move to assist the helpless 
 girl, but instead retreated to the desk. 
 
 " How can you hesitate to call some officer? " she 
 asked of Vail, severely. " If you are really inno- 
 cent Don't you realize how this appears ? Don't 
 
 you understand the gravity " 
 
 Vail was fiercely cutting at the padded wires. 
 
 " I realize that a helpless girl doubtless drugged 
 and shut up in a coffin needs aid and sympathy! 
 If you'll hand me a glass of water do some- 
 thing Ah!" 
 
 With the last of the stout supports abruptly sev- 
 ered, the limp form sank a little forward, and must 
 have gone headlong to the floor, had he not swiftly 
 caught her in his arms. 
 
 He lifted her bodily, a nerveless bundle of life
 
 THE WAY OF A FIANCEE 11 
 
 and returning warmth, and carried her over to the 
 couch. 
 
 Miss Puryn watched, her suspicions, anger, and 
 sense of condemnation enlarging momentarily. 
 
 " Surely, Julian," she said, " you understand the 
 necessity of explaining this occurrence? You re- 
 alize what is due to me ? " 
 
 " Explanation ? " Vail repeated, striding at once 
 to the water-stand, with its big inverted bottle. 
 " You've seen it all. You know as much as I. The 
 first thing to do is to aid, restore " 
 
 " You were startled," Miss Puryn interrupted. 
 " Your only thought is for her. Is it true? Is this 
 girl your wife ? " 
 
 Vail had gone swiftly back to the couch, a glass 
 of water in his hand. 
 
 " Good Heavens no ! Don't you see she's a help- 
 less girl that I've got to treat with common human 
 kindness ? " 
 
 He knelt on the floor by the prostrate form, and, 
 sprinkling and bathing the pallid face, unfastened 
 the collar at her throat. 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Puryn, "and then? " 
 
 " Then? " repeated Julian. " I'll find out, if pos- 
 sible, who she is where she came from how it hap- 
 pened." 
 
 " But you will also send her away, at once? " 
 
 " I'll see that she returns to her home, certainly. 
 . . . That's better ! " The girl on the couch was 
 reviving. " Take it easy. Don't be alarmed. Just 
 wait, and recover your strength."
 
 12 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 His utterance, unconsciously, had taken on a cer- 
 tain tenderness as reassuring as the touch of his 
 hand. Iris was convinced that both his handling and 
 his words were caresses. 
 
 The girl from the case had opened her eyes and 
 was looking at Julian dumbly. 
 
 He felt he had never in his life encountered such 
 eyes, with such an appeal for friendship. 
 
 He was jarred by the voice of his fiancee, who 
 stood at her distance, sharply observing the scene. 
 
 " Have you quite overlooked the fact of my exist- 
 ence? Will you kindly end this predicament as soon 
 as possible? " 
 
 He looked across at her briefly. 
 
 " What would you wish me to do in addition to 
 what I am doing ? " 
 
 " Send for someone with authority ring for an 
 ambulance, perhaps." 
 
 " Before we've asked a question ? found out any- 
 thing about this extraordinary business? Isn't it 
 better " 
 
 The girl on the davenport stirred unexpectedly, 
 and raised herself partially up. 
 
 "What is it? What is it?" she asked, a trifle 
 wildly. " Oh ! something dreadful must have hap- 
 pened ! " 
 
 " You're all right at present," said Vail, reas- 
 suringly. " If you'll kindly tell me who you are 
 and where you live, I may be of some little 
 service." 
 
 She stared at him peculiarly, her mind still greatly
 
 THE WAY OF A FIANCEE 13 
 
 confused. She sat against the support of the couch, 
 passing her hand across her cheek. 
 
 " I don't know don't remember," she faltered. 
 Then finding the tag, still dangling at her waist, 
 she gazed at it, reading its words. " Somebody's 
 wife?" she cried, in shocked surprise. "Mrs. 
 
 Julian Your name isn't Mr. Vail ? " Her 
 
 voice betrayed a new and poignant alarm. 
 
 " My name is Vail," said Julian, " but I never 
 even saw you before. How did you come to be sent 
 to me in a box? " 
 
 - She followed his gesture languidly, gazed blankly 
 on the empty case, and then quite as blankly at Iris, 
 who was coldly scowling in return. 
 
 No memories stirred in the girl's groping brain, 
 and her glance roved back to Vail. 
 
 " I am sure I have seen you before," she said. 
 
 Miss Puryn uttered a note like an accusation. 
 
 " All right," said Vail, indulgently. " Now try 
 to remember your name." 
 
 He could see the struggle of her intellect to re- 
 sume its interrupted order. It appeared to thaw, as 
 it were, a cell at a time. 
 
 " Why," she said, grasping backwards, as if at 
 
 the past, " my name It used to be Barbara 
 
 My name is Barbara Lee." She sat up more stiffly, 
 she filled her lungs, she battled like a suffocating be- 
 ing and the life of her brain came rushing back, to 
 awaken new frights in her being. 
 
 " Oh, what has happened ? " she almost wailed. 
 " Where am I now ? "
 
 14 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " In my office, New York City," Vail replied. 
 " You came in that box in the corner. You must 
 have been drugged, of course. If you'll try to help 
 me get at the facts, perhaps I can return you to 
 your friends." 
 
 " That box ? " she repeated, still almost childishly 
 dazed. " But I haven't any friends any home. I 
 came to New York to work. . . . We hadn't a thing 
 when father died but I'm sure I have the strength 
 to work.". 
 
 " All right," said Julian, rising at last, still look- 
 ing intently upon her. " Where did you live when 
 your father died? " 
 
 The girl still regarded him wildly. 
 
 " In Hartford. If only " 
 
 " You have no mother? " 
 
 " She died when I was a child, but please ; 
 
 " And your father made no friends in Hart- 
 ford? " 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " He never made friends, but something some- 
 one " 
 
 Vail was calm, but insistent. " Yes. And 
 why " 
 
 He was interrupted by his fiancee, who was strum- 
 ming with her fingers on the table. 
 
 " If you don't mind, Julian, we are already late 
 at Mrs. Wade's. If Miss Lee is sufficiently recov- 
 ered, I would suggest we keep our appointment." 
 
 The girl on the couch weakly rose, her eyes ablaze 
 with unrelieved confusion.
 
 THE WAY OF A FIANCEE 15 
 
 " I didn't mean to come to give anyone the slight- 
 est trouble," she said, helplessly. " I don't know 
 how anything happened. I'll go of course some- 
 where." 
 
 She started to move, but limped with painful ef- 
 fort and clung for support to the couch. 
 
 "Go somewhere?" echoed Julian. "You've no 
 place to go. When you came to the city, where did you 
 lodge? Why did you come for work to New York? " 
 
 " I came on a promise of employment," she said, 
 striving to conjure back her strength. " A Mrs. 
 Cree I met in Hartford promised me work. .. . . She 
 met me at the station when I came. . . I went to 
 her house. . . .. We ate some lunch and then I 
 don't remember I don't remember not a thing." 
 She appeared to be trying to sweep her mind of 
 mists and obscuring webs. 
 
 "But Mrs. Cree's house," said Vail. "You re- 
 member where it was ? " 
 
 " No. . .. . We went there in a cab, but please 
 don't let me cause you any further bother. If you'll 
 only tell me where I can go, my foot may be better 
 in a moment." 
 
 Iris rose to sudden heights of generosity, address- 
 ing Vail. 
 
 " Couldn't you take her in my car to some of the 
 Charity or Christian institutions ? " 
 
 Julian discovered the look of distress on the face 
 of the helpless girl. 
 
 " This affair is not to be dismissed so lightly," he 
 answered. " There is something behind this abomi-
 
 16 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 nable business ! Someone has perpetrated an outrage 
 on this friendless young lady, and I also am in- 
 volved. I mean to befriend Miss Lee to the best of 
 my ability and sift this affair to the bottom." 
 
 Iris regarded him coldly. 
 
 *' You appear to have made your decision without 
 consulting me." 
 
 " My dear Iris, you wouldn't expect me to cast 
 Miss Lee on the mercies of the street, when she has 
 come to my office like this ? " 
 
 Miss Puryn's eyebrows slightly lifted. 
 
 " I very much doubt the welcome of my advice in 
 the matter. I shall not remain to hamper your de- 
 cisions." She started for the door. 
 
 " Oh, let me go ! " said the worried Miss Lee, who 
 was still quite weak and bewildered. " I'd rather not 
 be the cause of anyone's trouble." 
 
 She stepped but once on her injured foot, how- 
 ever, when she came with a moan to the floor. 
 
 " Here ! " said Julian, instantly lifting her up and 
 placing her again on the couch. " You're lame. 
 You're hurt. You can't go off like this. Iris, if 
 only you'll take off her shoe " 
 
 " Julian ! " 
 
 " Very well, will you stay while I remove it ? " He 
 knelt on the floor in the most straightforward man- 
 ner of business, raised a tiny little foot that was 
 swollen in its new-looking shoe, and swiftly unfas- 
 tened its buttons. 
 
 Without another word, Miss Puryn turned, went 
 swiftly out, and slammed the office door.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SHOCK OF COMPLICATIONS 
 
 VAIL was thoroughly annoyed by his fiancee's 
 behavior. He started quickly towards the door 
 to plead with Miss Puryn to return. But he realized 
 instantly the uselessness of such a mission, and, turn- 
 ing to place the shoe on his desk, addressed the 
 startled girl. 
 
 " I shall ask my clerk to help us, Miss Lee, and, 
 when he gets an easier pair of boots, I can probably 
 find you some sort of temporary quarters." 
 
 " You are very kind," said the helpless girl. " I 
 don't know what to do or what to think or what 
 may happen next!" 
 
 Vail's wonderful good-humor returned. His eyes 
 were exceedingly bright again. v " 
 
 " Don't worry please. Worse things happened 
 at Waterloo." He went to the door that led to the 
 rooms beyond, drew it open, and called to one of his 
 stenographers, Broughton by name, to come to his 
 assistance. 
 
 Broughton, a half-bald, active young man, re- 
 sponded at once to the summons, gazing calmly 
 enough at the girl on the couch, despite a certain 
 surprise her presence naturally excited. The door 
 was closed behind him. 
 
 17
 
 18 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He related, in reply to questions by his chief, that 
 he himself had permitted two men to deliver the case, 
 through the private door, adding that no one else of 
 the office force was aware of its presence in the build- 
 ing. Then, having been cautioned to keep the mat- 
 ter entirely to himself, he was sent for easier shoes 
 and a pair of slippers. 
 
 Vail sat down, his arm on the desk at the side of 
 a large brass cartridge shell, once used in a six- 
 pounder Hotchkiss rifle, but now employed as a vase 
 for holding flowers. He looked at the girl steadily, 
 while her two brown eyes were fixed in questioning on 
 his face. 
 
 " Well, Miss Lee," he said, cheerily, " this is one 
 of the most extraordinary affairs I have ever experi- 
 enced. I certainly admit I'm puzzled. When did 
 you take the train from Hartford? " 
 
 Doubt, anxiety, and weakness had assailed the girl 
 anew. But Vail inspired her confidence. 
 
 " It was Saturday morning." 
 
 " Do you know what day it is now? " 
 
 " Why Saturday afternoon." 
 
 " No. It's Monday, and " 
 
 " Monday ? " she echoed, in new surprise. 
 " But how can it be Monday ? " 
 
 " It's the day after Sunday," he assured her, in 
 his friendly, quizzical way. " You probably haven't 
 eaten since you took that poisoned lunch. What did 
 you do about your baggage? What did you have? " 
 
 She was wide-eyed with astonishment, but an- 
 swered to the point.
 
 THE SHOCK OF COMPLICATIONS 19 
 
 " Why my satchel, and a trunk. They are all I 
 have. I carried the bag, and the trunk was checked. 
 Mrs. Cree volunteered to get it." 
 
 " Um ! " said Vail. " I hope it doesn't contain 
 anything you very greatly prize." 
 
 Miss Lee was instantly startled. 
 
 " Oh, but it does ! I wouldn't have anything 
 
 Oh ! What horrible things " 
 
 " There, there," interrupted Julian, quietly. 
 " Those are the minor details in some extraordinary 
 business. I suppose you haven't much money? " 
 
 " The little I had was in the bag. How could 
 
 anyone I don't see what it means ! " In her 
 
 agitation she tried to rise, but once more sank with 
 the pain in her foot. 
 
 " Never mind," said Vail. " You're hungry now, 
 and weak. But I want you to trust me as a friend 
 if you feel you can ever put your trust in any- 
 one again. I'll call up a woman I know, near 
 by, a Mrs. Loomis, and secure you quarters at 
 once." 
 
 He reached for the telephone, but struck the tall 
 brass cartridge shell, which toppled giddily, spilling 
 a cup or more of water on the offending shoe that 
 had injured the girl's imprisoned foot. He caught it 
 up and steadied it back on its base. 
 
 " No harm done none at all," he said, and, pres- 
 ently greeting Mrs. Loomis over the wire, was grati- 
 fied to know that her most desirable apartment was 
 vacant and that something hot and sustaining, by 
 way of a lunch, would be forthwith prepared for her
 
 20 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 guest, who, Julian informed her, would presently 
 arrive. 
 
 He hung up the instrument, arising to go to the 
 long white case in the corner, for a closer inspection 
 of its features. 
 
 It was, as he had expected, a strong, wooden con- 
 struction, merely veneered with cardboard to give it 
 a light appearance. It was reinforced at the cor- 
 ners with steel. Down in the wad of cotton near 
 the base was something wrapped in paper. 
 
 It proved to be a hat, with a half-worn pair of 
 gloves rolled up in a lump and tucked inside the 
 crown. He had only ascertained these facts when 
 Broughton returned from the nearest shop with his 
 bundle of shoes and slippers. 
 
 Miss Lee had so far recovered her normal strength 
 as to require no further assistance in removing her 
 second shoe. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later, with Broughton as well as 
 Vail to escort her, she was on her way in a taxicab 
 to the home of Mrs. Loomis. No one in the party 
 observed a man who, evidently ready with a second 
 hired conveyance, quietly " shadowed " the trio all 
 the way, made a note of the house, and disappeared 
 from the street. 
 
 Broughton returned to the office. Mrs. Loomis 
 had met the party at the door. That Miss Lee was 
 a homeless and friendless young woman, decoyed to 
 the town and cast in his way by vicissitudes of for- 
 tune, was promptly, if somewhat vaguely, explained 
 by the puzzled Vail.
 
 " This box comprises all Miss Lee's baggage, at 
 present," he added, tossing the parcel of new and 
 untried boots on a chair, " but we'll get her 
 trunk and bag as soon as possible. Meantime, Mrs. 
 Loomis " 
 
 " Oh ! " interrupted Miss Lee, looking quickly 
 about her, in worry. " I forgot my other 
 shoes ! They are at your office ! They will not 
 be lost, Mr. Vail? You'll see they are kept quite 
 safe? " 
 
 " I can send them," said Vail, " if you wish." 
 
 She looked at him peculiarly. 
 
 " I wouldn't lose them for the world. I hope I 
 wonder But I've been so much trouble al- 
 ready ! " 
 
 " I'll keep them safely, till I come again," he as- 
 sured her readily. " I shall probably call this even- 
 ing. I hope you'll have a good substantial meal 
 and take a nap, for your strength is rather im- 
 portant." 
 
 Mrs. Loomis, a good old motherly person, would 
 have laid down her life for Vail. 
 
 "I'll be ready in just two jiffies!" she said, and 
 hastened down the stairs. 
 
 Vail held out his hand. " Good-by, till I see you 
 again." 
 
 Barbara's tremulous little hand was honestly re- 
 sponsive as he held it momentarily and gazed in her 
 warm, brown eyes. A thrill he took no time to un- 
 derstand stirred in the depths of his nature. 
 
 " Good-by," she answered. " I hope you won't
 
 22 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 think I don't know what to say what it could 
 
 possibly mean or what to look for now." 
 
 " You may look for help to clear it up," he told 
 her, gayly. " Don't try to puzzle it out alone. Just 
 rest, this afternoon." 
 
 Still marveling, and still subconsciously irritated 
 by all that Iris had said and done, yet aware that 
 the matter might be grave beyond all present calcu- 
 lation, he finally reached his office, and stood for a 
 moment baffled as he gazed at the empty box that 
 had held his birthday " gift." 
 
 Presently advancing to the desk, he took up the 
 little, offending shoe that his flower vase had soaked. 
 A startling thing thereupon occurred. 
 
 The heel, merely glued to the body of the shoe, 
 and wet by the water from his vase, came loosely away 
 in his hand. There, in a hollow, skillfully cut in 
 the apparently solid leather, was something wrapped 
 in cotton wadding. 
 
 He shook it out. The cotton fell away. A great 
 fiery ruby a pigeon's blood gem of incomparable 
 luster lay gleaming in his hand. 
 
 Then a sharp knock sounded on the door.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 
 
 VAIL had never in his life experienced a greater 
 sensation of astonishment than that which 
 surged upon him as he gazed at the stone in his 
 hand. 
 
 He scarcely heard the knocking at the door. A 
 cataract of sudden suspicions and conflicting emo- 
 tions plunged in tumult through his brain. 
 
 There was neither the time nor opportunity for 
 analysis of the situation or his own disordered 
 thoughts. He only knew that someone wished to 
 enter, that the jewel in his hand might prove ex- 
 ceedingly embarrassing, and that, come what might, 
 he must for the moment obey some unreasoning im- 
 pulse to protect the girl who had come as " A gift 
 of the Gods." 
 
 Hurriedly looking about for a place in which to 
 conceal the gem, he dropped it down inside the 
 tall brass cartridge shell that had spilled the water 
 on the shoe. 
 
 The knock on the door was repeated. About to 
 call to the visitor to enter, Vail's thought returned 
 to Miss Lee's footgear. He instantly caught them 
 up. The safe was still unlocked. He strode to it 
 
 23
 
 24. THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 hastily, thrust them into an empty pigeon hole, and, 
 withdrawing some papers from another receptacle, 
 crowded them in to hide the shoes. 
 
 " Come in ! " he called, as he closed the ponderous 
 iron box and twirled the combination. " Come in ! " 
 
 It was Broughton who entered, an odd expression 
 on his face as he offered a card to his chief. 
 
 Vail was no less astonished than his secretary. 
 
 "Gardner?" he said. "John Gardner? Here? 
 What for? " 
 
 Broughton shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " All right," said Vail. " Show him in." 
 
 Broughton disappeared, and presently a keen- 
 visaged, typical man of the Wall-street genus was 
 confronting his one acknowledged antagonist in the 
 railroad fight that had long involved a Western sec- 
 tion, while his quick glance inventoried all the room. 
 
 "How are you, Vail?" he queried, not uncor- 
 dially. " Still celebrating Christmas ? " 
 
 Vail, who was frowning, resumed his more cheer- 
 ful expression. Nevertheless, he was puzzled to know 
 what possible reason this man of all others in great 
 New York could have for such an untimely invasion. 
 An invasion he mentally dubbed it since it was quite 
 inconceivable that Gardner could have come on any 
 save a sinister errand. 
 
 " Birthday," he answered, apparently with perfect 
 unconcern. " Won't you have a seat? " 
 
 Gardner moved forward and occupied a chair that 
 faced the mysterious case in the corner. He smiled 
 slightly.
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 25 
 
 " Good, easy chair. Nice furnishings. . . . Just 
 dropped in, Vail, as I was passing, to see if you 
 care to sell your holdings in B. & K. C." 
 
 Vail repressed an impulse to tell the man he lied. 
 He was still exceedingly busy attempting to fathom 
 the motive that had brought about this visitation. 
 
 " Your memory is good and easy, too," said he. 
 " You had my answer a month ago." He noted the 
 concentrated attention his rival focused on the empty 
 case against the wall as he added, " I have had no 
 occasion to alter my first decision." 
 
 There was just a hint of challenge in the look the 
 older railroad man directed across the desk. 
 
 " I wouldn't ask you to sell it if I didn't want 
 that road." 
 
 " Exactly. And I shouldn't refuse to part with 
 the property if I found it undesirable." 
 
 Gardner narrowed his gaze. " I generally get 
 what I want." 
 
 Vail smiled. " I usually keep what I have." 
 
 Gardner rose. " Nice quarters, but a little far 
 from the Street." 
 
 Vail, abruptly convinced that this unrelenting 
 rival's visit was in some way concerned with the sin- 
 gular appearance of Miss Barbara Lee on the 
 scene, was about to reply as before when once again 
 a knock was sounded on the door. 
 
 Without awaiting either ceremony or the slightest 
 invitation, two dapper young scions of Swelldom im- 
 mediately entered, eager to share in anything par- 
 taking of a novel sensation. One was Dick Puryn,
 
 26 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 only brother of Julian's fiancee. His companion was 
 young " Beau " Cranch, a being of rare irresponsi- 
 bility and taste in style and dress. 
 
 It was the latter who revealed the purpose of this 
 late afternoon attention. 
 
 "By Jove, Gardner! you here already?" he said, 
 the instant he was well within the threshold. " I 
 say, are you and Julian doing the lion and the lamb 
 tableau, or have you just heard about it, too? Must 
 have got it by wireless! My word, Vail, you are 
 the lucky devil, you know, but what have you done 
 with the girl?" 
 
 Young Puryn was almost equally obstreperous. 
 
 " Greatest stunt I ever heard of, 'pon my honor," 
 he declared, going at once to the case against the 
 wall, " live girl, coming along like a box of choco- 
 lates! What do you know about that? Come on 
 now, old fellow, give us a look at the calico!" He 
 turned about the cover of the great white case and 
 exclaimed in renewed enthusiasm : " What a stunt ! 
 
 * A Gift of the Gods ! ' I say, we've got to see the 
 girl, you know got to pass judgment on the 
 
 * gift ' ! No wonder Sis was excited. It's the great- 
 est " 
 
 Vail at last interrupted. 
 
 " I hope you won't mind my hinting that Mr. 
 Gardner and myself were engaged in a business inter- 
 view ? " 
 
 " I've nothing more to say," declared Gardner, 
 moving towards the door, " unless you've changed 
 your mind."
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 27 
 
 Vail met the cold glance with his baffling smile and 
 shook his head. 
 
 " Good-afternoon." 
 
 Gardner nodded. 
 
 " Let me wish you many happy returns of the 
 day." A faint suspicion of sarcasm lurked in his 
 utterance, and with one more nod he departed. 
 
 " Dick," said Vail, to young Puryn, " where is 
 Iris?" 
 
 " My dear old chap, I don't know," said the dap- 
 per young Richard, lightly. " I should say in some 
 'phone booth, likely, busy with the wire. It's far 
 more to the point, you know, to tell us what you've 
 done with the girl." 
 
 Vail's interest in Iris continued. 
 
 " She 'phoned you of this ? She asked you to 
 come here you and Cranch? " 
 
 " What else could she do ? She's entitled to a bit 
 of curiosity, old chap, being a woman, you know. 
 And, after all, I'm her brother." 
 
 Cranch was inspecting the case. 
 
 " Oh, rot all that ! " he exclaimed, impatiently. 
 " You might show us the package the girl or how 
 can we help you in the least ? " 
 
 Vail continued to focus on Puryn. 
 
 " Your impression is that Iris is telephoning this 
 story all about the town ? " 
 
 Richard grinned. 
 
 " Did Gardner come on business, or on this ? " and 
 he motioned to the box. " You know Gardner and 
 Sis if it hadn't been for you "
 
 28 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Never mind that, Dick, just at present," Vail 
 interrupted, quietly. " Just what did Iris request of 
 you and Cranch? " 
 
 " What would you expect ? She wishes to know 
 what you've done with the girl. She says she must 
 have an explanation, and all that sort of thing 
 wants to know what it means. I call it a deucedly 
 clever adventure. You can count on us, you know, 
 old chap, but of course we must have a look at the 
 lady in the case." And he laughed in assurance 
 of his wit. 
 
 "Thank you," said Vail. "I'll 'phone you the 
 moment I need your valued aid." 
 
 Both Cranch and Puryn stared at Vail in amaze- 
 ment. It was Dick who spoke. 
 
 " You refuse to let us see the girl to tell us 
 where she is ? " 
 
 Vail was sorting papers on his desk. 
 
 " It doesn't seem entirely necessary, just at 
 present." 
 
 "After this extraordinary occurrence?" de- 
 manded Puryn. " I say ! Don't you realize the 
 gravity of the situation? What shall I say to 
 Sis?" 
 
 " That I shall hope to call this evening." Vail 
 took up a bundle of letters and commenced their de- 
 liberate perusal. 
 
 Dick attempted a laugh. 
 
 " You're all right, old chap accustomed to hav- 
 ing a girl arrive in a box every day. . . . Well, so- 
 long. Don't forget we offered our assistance."
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 29 
 
 " Thanks," said Vail. " So-long." 
 
 Despite his apparent calm, he was up and pacing 
 the office the moment his visitors were gone. A re- 
 alizing sense that the matter might prove to be one 
 of exceeding gravity was swiftly crystallizing in his 
 mind. The aspect of the whole affair had under- 
 gone a transformation within the last fifteen minutes. 
 The ruby's discovery, Gardner's unprecedented ap- 
 pearance, and Miss Puryn's folly in acquainting all 
 their friends with the story had conjured up such 
 possibilities of complications as the man could not 
 have dreamed would attach to the incident he had 
 felt might be but a foolhardy joke at the worst. 
 
 What could it possibly mean? How and by whom 
 had the thing been planned, and what was its ulti- 
 mate purpose? Was his own deliberate ruin the 
 objective sought, and, if so, by whom, and towards 
 what end? 
 
 Gardner, he knew, would be glad to avail himself 
 of anything likely to cripple or disgrace a foe who 
 had dealt him defeat both in love and war. The 
 man had desired a matrimonial alliance with Iris 
 Puryn even more than he coveted that all-important 
 railroad link, the well-known B. & K. C. And yet, 
 had he planned this extraordinary coup de main, 
 how could he possibly have added that complicating 
 ruby ? 
 
 It was the great red gem that flung disturbing 
 corruscations through Vail's revolving thoughts. 
 He only knew that some insistent wish to have the 
 girl proved innocent followed each flash of the
 
 30 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 jewel's baleful gleaming in his mind with arguments 
 supporting his desire. 
 
 If only she had not exhibited so much concern 
 respecting the safety of her shoes, the man could 
 have been infinitely more easy in his mind. If the 
 whole affair had been carefully planned and Miss 
 
 Lee had lent her services The thought was 
 
 absurd! She could never have planned that the heel 
 of her shoe should break away in his hand! At 
 most she could merely have intended to leave the 
 boot in his possession make him custodian of the 
 ruby, as part of some intricate crime! 
 
 " Nonsense ! " he cried to himself, impatiently. 
 She had given every evidence of bodily distress, of 
 victimized innocence, of helpless and frightened mal- 
 treatment at the hands of unscrupulous knaves ! The 
 stone might be an imitation. She might not have 
 known of its presence in her shoe! Moreover,, to 
 land the jewel in his office could never have required 
 a scheme so difficult of execution as this sending of a 
 living girl, delivered in a box. 
 
 He could not and did not, however, lose sight of 
 the fact that the affair demanded immediate and care- 
 ful attention. Despite his irresponsibility, a certain 
 piquancy in the singular encounter with his " Gift 
 of the Gods," he was thoroughly aware that men are 
 constantly victimized by their scheming, unscrupu- 
 lous kind. He conceded that women, no less than 
 men, are adept in deceptions, blackmail, and ad- 
 venture. 
 
 He halted his pacing, to stare in resentment at
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 31 
 
 the cartridge-shell vase where the ruby had been 
 dropped. How gladly he might have welcomed the 
 astounding arrival of a birthday remembrance so 
 wholly lovely, were it not for that accusing stone ! 
 
 His thought returned to the shoes in the safe, 
 through a sudden reflection that the second heel 
 might likewise contain unimagined treasures. Not 
 without a certain sort of excitement, he opened the 
 ponderous box and extracted the leathern articles 
 of suspicion. 
 
 A hasty examination of the heel of the second 
 shoe revealed nothing indicative of glue or a hollowed 
 recess. It successfully resisted his effort to wrench 
 it loose. He decided it was innocent of hidden 
 surprises. 
 
 The glue on the other less innocent boot had dried, 
 or so nearly hardened as to render reattachment of 
 the heel through its means impracticable. Convinced 
 that Miss Lee would request the return of her foot- 
 gear soon, Vail conceded the wisdom of replacing the 
 heel at once. 
 
 He went to his desk, pulled open the lowermost 
 drawer, and, placing a box of screws and nails at 
 hand, with a hammer, screwdriver, forceps, and 
 other utensils, selected an awl and a long slender 
 screw with which to repair the damage. 
 
 Fortunately the shoes were new. The thin false 
 sole, always pasted inside from heel to toe, was 
 readily torn from place for a distance sufficiently 
 long to meet his requirements. In the briefest time 
 he had drilled accurately down in the hollowed heel
 
 32 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 and driven the long screw home. The job was fin- 
 ished and invisible when he once more pasted in its 
 place the flimsy inner sole. 
 
 He had housed his tools and risen to replace the 
 shoes in the iron box as before, when a sudden jan- 
 gling of the telephone lent a nervous haste to his 
 movements. He thrust the boots in their former 
 pigeon hole and closed but forgot to lock the door 
 of the safe upon them. 
 
 " Hullo ! " he called, across the wire. " Hullo ! 
 hullo! who is it? Oh, Mrs. Loomis? . . . Why, 
 
 yes, I can come, but what Miss Lee is what? 
 
 She's ill? She's Never mind. I'll come at 
 
 once. . . . No, no. Don't summon a doctor. Wait 
 till I can see her for myself. I'll be there in fifteen 
 minutes ! " 
 
 Swayed in all his sympathies once more by what 
 he had heard through the instrument, he dropped the 
 telephone to snatch up his hat, when a thought of 
 the ruby stopped him. He could hardly expect to 
 return here again to-day. Whether to take the pre- 
 cious stone, or to place it for greater security in the 
 safe, was a question that troubled him abruptly. 
 
 As he hung there, undecided, a new complication 
 was added to the case. The telephone rang once 
 more. The Chief of Police was the man at the 
 farther end. 
 
 Vail felt a sense of sinking at his vitals as he 
 caught the name across the wire. 
 
 "Oh, Faxon, how are you?" he asked at once, 
 with all the calm in his command. " I'm feeling fine
 
 VISITORS AND UNEASINESS 33 
 
 yes. . . . Thanks. . . . What's that? ... Oh, 
 no no, no! It's nothing at all, I'm sure, but a 
 practical joke. . . . Miss Puryn 'phoned you? 
 asked you what? . . . Why, thank you, Faxon, but 
 I don't believe it's a case for any of your boys. . . . 
 No, no! I'm sure it's nothing serious. . . . Yes 
 thank you I'll be glad to avail myself of your serv- 
 ices if it should develop anything Thank you 
 
 for the offer. . . . Yes, I'll let you know if any- 
 thing comes of it, of course. . . . Good-by." 
 
 He hung up the telephone, aware that, in a way, 
 he had made himself accomplice to any questionable 
 acts in which the strange young woman might chance 
 to be involved. He was keeping both the ruby and 
 the secret. As for Iris and her indiscriminate ac- 
 tivity in the matter, his impatience knew no bounds. 
 
 " I'm mad ! " he said, in protest to himself. " I'm 
 absolutely mad ! " He moved to take up the 'phone, 
 to inform Mrs. Loomis he could not come, after all. 
 But he halted. " I can't ! " he exclaimed. " I can't 
 abandon a helpless girl! at least not while she's 
 sick!" 
 
 Convinced the ruby was more successfully con- 
 cealed than as if he had placed it under lock and 
 key, he hastened through the outer offices, informed 
 young Broughton he should not return for the day, 
 and was presently driving in a taxicab for the house 
 that harbored his " Gift."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 STARTLING DISCOVERIES 
 
 A NATURAL reaction from over-excitement, her 
 fasting, and the weird adventure that could 
 hardly be thought to be concluded, had claimed Miss 
 Lee for its own. 
 
 She had roused from a nap in a fever, and mild 
 delirium had seized upon her faculties to overthrow 
 their adjustment. She was lying on a couch, fully 
 dressed and quietly sobbing, as Vail came into the 
 room. 
 
 Mrs. Loomis had been called downstairs again and 
 closed the door. 
 
 Vail went at once to the couch beside the window 
 and seated himself in a chair. He placed his hand 
 on Barbara's shoulder. 
 
 " There, there," he said, " I wouldn't cry, Miss 
 Lee. You're all right now. You're with friends." 
 
 She turned and appeared to listen, looking at him 
 with long-lashed eyes as searching as a child's. But 
 the light in their depths was uncertain. 
 
 She hesitated, seemed about to place her hand on 
 Julian's face, and shrank again in the baffled 
 timidity of a drifting intelligence. 
 
 Vail called her back in his cheery manner. 
 84
 
 STARTLING DISCOVERIES 35 
 
 " Barbara - You knew me, Barbara." 
 "Oh, father!" she cried, in sudden joy. "I 
 thought you were gone! I thought you were gone! 
 My heart was nearly breaking ! " 
 
 Not only did she suddenly raise herself erect, but 
 she slipped to her knees before the chair that Julian 
 occupied and, throwing her arms about his neck, 
 pressed her lips upon his cheek in an ecstasy of 
 
 " Father, you won't go off again ? " she begged. 
 " You won't go off and leave me all alone ? " 
 
 " There, there, you mustn't be excited," was all 
 Vail could answer to her troubles. " Just lie down 
 and have a good rest and don't worry." 
 
 She seemed to listen, in a way. 
 
 " There's no one in all the world but you ! " And 
 she clung to Vail with a new appeal that thrilled him 
 and smote him together. 
 
 Her beauty, her helplessness, even the illusion that 
 made her cling with her arms about him, somewhat 
 drugged his senses and overwhelmed his ordinary 
 reason. 
 
 She sank again upon the couch, her eyes now large 
 and luminous with some change in her mental chaos. 
 
 " Oh, New York ! anything ! anything but 
 this ! " she said, incoherently. " It doesn't matter 
 now! I've got to live! Perhaps he'd never find me 
 there! ... I'll go! I'll go! . . . Father, I 
 can't - " Her voice was changed to a moan. 
 " Oh, something dreadful has happened. . . . My 
 shoes you'll keep them safe ? "
 
 36 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 She stared at Vail and he answered, quietly: 
 
 " Don't worry. I've locked them in the box." 
 
 She sat up, rigidly, her gaze still fixed upon his 
 face. Some singular change was taking place where 
 order came back to her mind. Vail could almost 
 read the phases of the struggle in her being. She 
 passed her hand across her eyes as if to dissipate 
 their blur and steady their filmy focus on some- 
 thing solid and real. 
 
 " Then it was a dream some of it Oh, I 
 
 don't know what to believe," she told him, helplessly. 
 " But you promised to take me to a friend." 
 
 His relief at her sudden and unexpected recovery 
 was boundless. 
 
 " You are with friends," he answered. " If you'll 
 just rely on that, Miss Lee, perhaps you will worry 
 less. You must try to be quiet, you know." 
 
 A light of gratitude warmed to a glow in her 
 eyes. She felt she could cry and be restored by the 
 process. She smiled faintly. 
 
 " But I've been such a trouble, already Did 
 
 I faint?" 
 
 " No, you've been asleep. Do you wish me to 
 summon a doctor?" 
 
 " Why, no," she answered, bravely. " I think I'm 
 only tired and nervous. I'll try to get better re- 
 lieve you as soon as possible." 
 
 " Please don't," he said, " I mean, please take 
 things perfectly easy. Above all things, don't worry 
 about the bother to me." 
 
 She tried to smile again, but doubts were in her
 
 STARTLING DISCOVERIES 37 
 
 mind. Vertigo and haziness oppressed her, but her 
 courage and will prevailed. 
 
 "Is it still Monday afternoon?" 
 
 " It is nearly Monday evening." 
 
 She appeared more nervous or constrained. 
 
 " Did I ask you before to please take care of the 
 shoes I left at your office if it isn't too much 
 trouble?" 
 
 " You did," said Vail. " They are in the safe." 
 It jarred him back to a hundred vague suspicions, 
 all more unwelcome than before. 
 
 " Thank you," she murmured. " I suppose it 
 seems very foolish, but I particularly wanted to keep 
 them for the sake of my father." 
 
 Vail could think of a hundred different meanings 
 that such a statement might imply. He was eager to 
 believe that her motive was one of entire innocence. 
 And yet the gleam of that baleful ruby was cast 
 athwart his reflections like a sinister ray of crime. 
 
 He seized upon the mention of her father's name 
 with ill-concealed avidity. 
 
 " You said Mr. Lee had few or no friends in Hart- 
 ford, I believe ? " 
 
 She answered readily: 
 
 " No one he could really call a friend." 
 
 " Did you tell me he was some sort of inventor? " 
 
 She had not, but her memory was wholly indis- 
 tinct. 
 
 " Perhaps I did. He was At least he made 
 
 many experiments, with inventions in view, I sup- 
 pose."
 
 38 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Vail felt his heart-beat quicken. 
 
 " Perhaps he was the gentleman of whom I have 
 heard who was striving to manufacture artificial 
 gems ? " 
 
 A tint of color mounted to her face. 
 
 " Why I don't see how anybody ever heard ! " 
 she told him, candidly. " He couldn't have told, I'm 
 sure." 
 
 Vail was overwhelmed with gladness. 
 
 " But you see that someone must have told," he 
 answered, a new conviction that the stone in his 
 office was not a genuine ruby now welcomed in his 
 mind. " And I'm sure that the knowledge could 
 never accomplish harm." 
 
 " But if anyone wishes to keep his actions secret 
 
 I mean if anyone prefers strives all his life 
 
 You don't remember who could have told you ? " She 
 seemed to be distressed. 
 
 Vail, in possession of facts that he felt would 
 clear away the last faint fog of suspicion trailing 
 about this wholly engaging young woman, now 
 smiled reassuringly, in his naturally cheering 
 manner. 
 
 " Why, no, I couldn't remember," he said. " It 
 isn't my line. You mustn't excite yourself again 
 by thinking of anything at all. To-morrow we'll 
 go at everything, very seriously, and work out our 
 problem together." 
 
 " Our problem? " Her eyes were girlishly wide. 
 
 " Why, yes just how and why you were sent 
 to my office as a gift. I ought to know whom to
 
 STARTLING DISCOVERIES 39 
 
 thank." He laughed and she felt the subtle change 
 that had come upon him. 
 
 She was still bewildered, worried and facing the 
 vast unknown the destiny that the huge, imper- 
 sonal city might mete in its giant way, neither with 
 mercy nor without it, to one so helpless as herself. 
 
 Mrs. Loomis once more entered the room. 
 
 Vail immediately rose and took up his hat. 
 
 " Your patient is much better again," he said. 
 " See that she has a hearty dinner and a long night 
 of rest, or I'll order in a doctor, sure as fate." 
 
 Barbara, too, had risen. He turned to her smil- 
 ingly and held out his hand. 
 
 " Until to-morrow good-night." 
 
 Rays of pure gratitude and joy shone from her 
 eyes as she lost her hand in his clasp. 
 
 " Good-night," she said. " I'll promise not to be 
 so weak, or such a trial to-morrow." 
 
 " Please don't change very greatly," he begged, 
 " except to forget your cares." 
 
 He went with a vision of her beauty lending 
 strange, new emotions to his being. He was driven 
 at once to a florist's, and reckless of appearances, his 
 relationship with Iris Puryn, or the jealousy of fate, 
 sent a gorgeous armful of roses with his card, in- 
 scribed to " Miss Barbara Lee." 
 
 It was six o'clock. He walked the few blocks up 
 Fifth Avenue between the florist's and his quarters 
 and dressed himself for dinner. 
 
 At seven, glad for once to think of dining alone 
 with his thoughts of a birthday gift he made his
 
 40 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 way leisurely into the gold and marble dining-room 
 conducted in the building and selected a corner 
 seat. 
 
 The waiter, with excited attentiveness, came has- 
 tening there with half a dozen evening papers, as if 
 he esteemed them the first essential course of a 
 dinner. 
 
 Vail ordered with extravagant generosity and took 
 up the Evening Star. 
 
 In type nearly six inches high and red as gore 
 appeared a headline that gripped like barbed steel 
 at his heart. His quick eye ran over the lines. 
 
 SENSATIONAL MURDER AND THEFT! 
 
 The Great Gatama Ruby Stolen with Gems 
 of Untold Wealth! 
 
 Police Discover a Crime That Is Three Days 
 Old! 
 
 Wealthy Indian Maharajah Lured to an Empty 
 House of Former Grandeur and Slaughtered 
 for his Treasures ! 
 
 Frightened Servant of the Murdered Prince 
 Reveals Amazing Facts in a Case That Doubt- 
 less Involves Most Intricate Tangle of Plots! 
 
 In less than three minutes of reading Vail was 
 convinced that the world-famous gem described in 
 the sheet was the ruby at present reposing in the 
 empty shell on his desk!
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MISGIVINGS AND STRUGGLES 
 
 THE account in the Star, though several times 
 repeated as to details, was nevertheless unsat- 
 isfactory in many particulars, especially to Vail. 
 
 In brief, it related how the metropolitan police, 
 warned by one Dalai Kim, a self-styled servant of 
 the Maharajah Sindore, to the effect that his emi- 
 nent master had been for several days missing from 
 his lodgings, had upon this afternoon discovered the 
 distinguished Indian Prince, slain in one of New 
 York's former palatial residences, now empty of 
 tenants, and had there encountered unmistakable 
 evidence of the blackest sort of crime. 
 
 The house showed signs of recent but probably 
 secret occupancy, for it was dusty, dilapidated, and 
 boarded up as to doors and windows. All the former 
 furnishings had been piled in disorder in the rooms 
 of the second story. Indications pointed to the 
 fact that one of the rooms had been especially pre- 
 pared, cleaned, and reappointed to present a semi- 
 hospitable appearance. It had become, by this proc- 
 ess, a combination dining-room and bedroom. A few 
 scattered dishes and fragments of food still re- 
 mained upon the table, coated with a new film of 
 dust already gathered from the air. 
 
 41
 
 42 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 The murdered man had been strangled. The body 
 was found in one of the empty rooms below the 
 furnished quarters, the clothing half -torn from the 
 limbs, and a belt he had evidently worn beneath his 
 undergarments slashed wide upon and rifled. A 
 slight wound gashed upon the dead man's forehead, 
 and slightly resembling a cross, had furnished the 
 one small trickle of red that argued a brief but 
 futile struggle. 
 
 It was Dalai Kim who supplied the information 
 that the Maharajah Sindore had borne upon his 
 person the great Gatama ruby and a treasury of 
 lesser stones, consisting mainly of diamonds. But 
 concerning the reason why this Oriental prince had 
 come to Gotham, or why he should have brought the 
 famous stone held sacred in the temples of his 
 gods the olive-colored Dalai Kim was incredibly 
 uninformed. 
 
 There were dark hints as to hidden plots in which 
 this famous jewel might have figured. Indeed, the 
 presence of the wondrous stone in the uncongenial 
 setting of Manhattan was alleged to be the most 
 amazing element in all the mysterious business. That 
 its final possession had furnished the motive for the 
 crime was boldly declared by the writer who had 
 trimmed up the story for the Star. 
 
 It was nothing of these conjectures that held or 
 bothered Vail. He was oppressed by a haunting 
 conviction that somehow Barbara Lee was guiltily 
 concerned in this tangle of crime. 
 
 What could be more insidious, more crafty, and
 
 MISGIVINGS AND STRUGGLES 43 
 
 baffling to investigation than for such a young 
 woman, concealing the stone in the heel of her boot, 
 to masquerade as a friendless waif of destiny, beneath 
 the protecting care and interest of such a man as 
 himself? 
 
 And yet she has appeared so entirely frank and 
 innocent ! Moreover, Gardner, who above all men 
 would be glad to eliminate a rival in business and 
 love, had appeared so promptly on the scene at the 
 office, and with such a slender excuse ! 
 
 The stone in his vase was the great Gatama ruby 
 and Vail had fondly persuaded himself the gem 
 was a poor crank's imitation! The girl had been 
 so eager concerning her shoes repeatedly worried 
 and solicitous! She must, of course, have known 
 the worth of that little pair of boots ! 
 
 A revealing sense of the appalling extent to which 
 he was himself involved came glaringly upon his 
 over-active senses. He had more than guilty knowl- 
 edge of the crime he had the stone itself! Already 
 the chief of police was aware that into his office had 
 been carried a strange young woman, in a box, for 
 whom there was no accounting. The story of this 
 had gone around past all redemption. He could 
 never hope to conceal Miss Lee from either the law 
 or his friends. 
 
 He was certain both the law and his friends would 
 presently be hot on her trail. Already he saw her 
 charged with complicity in this sordid crime. She 
 might be innocent, despite it all; and by no earthly 
 right could the curious, the merciless, or the victim-
 
 44 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 demanding world either annoy or precondemn her. 
 She was young, a parentless girl, if her word could 
 be accepted, whose plight demanded his protection! 
 Nevertheless, he derided himself for his folly. He 
 knew nothing of her parentage, her social standing, 
 or her antecedents. 
 
 What should he do with that blood-red ruby in 
 his keeping? How should he come upon the truth? 
 And how fend off the law? How far might the New 
 York detectives be expected to follow the stone? How 
 far should he go in concealing the secret of this 
 strange young woman's shoe? 
 
 He could not even regret her advent in his life 
 as he rose from the table to escape to the outer air. 
 Yet he somewhat sickened at the thought that all 
 she had done might have been but clever acting. 
 
 He nearly bowled the waiter through the wall. 
 The fellow had come with his dinner viands for 
 which the worried Vail had neither the appetite nor 
 inclination. 
 
 " Never mind," he said, apologetically, " I can't 
 eat, after all." 
 
 He thrust a five-dollar bill on the tray and con- 
 tinued on to the door. 
 
 " Please, Mr. Vail ! " cried a voice, at his heels, 
 and he turned to find a messenger there with a tele- 
 gram offered oil a tray. 
 
 He took it up and tore the yellow envelope apart, 
 prepared to receive another shock respecting Miss 
 Barbara Lee. But the wire was signed with the name 
 of Iris Puryn.
 
 MISGIVINGS AND STRUGGLES 45 
 
 " Please call this evening as early as possible," 
 was the text of her request. 
 
 He went out in the street and was presently headed 
 up Fifth Avenue, already being rapidly deserted. 
 
 It was something more than forty blocks to the 
 Puryn mansion, facing Central Park, but he wished 
 the distance twice as long, for his need of open air. 
 He had all but forgotten Iris and her untoward be- 
 havior of the afternoon. His relations with her 
 seemed preposterous now, a strange arrangement of 
 conventionality heretofore accepted with little or no 
 emotion. 
 
 He had, he admitted, conceived a certain sense of 
 triumph over Gardner and others, in engaging him- 
 self to a girl of Miss Puryn's characteristics. She 
 was beautiful, in her formal, highly finished manner; 
 she was as wealthy as himself, and her social posi- 
 tion was assured. She had been, as it were, the 
 capital prize in the lottery of life wherein they both 
 revolved. But whether he had captured the prize or 
 the prize had captured him was a point whereon 
 he had felt his doubts, in a tolerant, half -interested 
 manner. 
 
 Already it appeared to him unthinkable that she 
 should be the master of his life. Already some 
 nascent resentment was arousing in his veins, at the 
 tone of assumption and authority in her telegram 
 desiring him to appear. It was not that he contem- 
 plated actual emancipation from his bond, nor yet 
 that he was ready for surrender to the lawless joys 
 aroused in his being by contact with Barbara Lee.
 
 46 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He was, however, made acutely aware that everything 
 heretofore experienced in his nature had been but the 
 tamest, insubstantial excuse for the steps he had 
 taken, and that he was honorably bound to one who 
 left him cold, while a sudden interest had centered 
 on another of whom he knew nothing save things 
 that appeared as black as the very abysses of Hades. 
 
 What he should do or say when he once more con- 
 fronted his fiancee he scarcely took time to decide. 
 He was far more concerned with tlie aspect of things 
 respecting Miss Lee and the ruby of which he had 
 become the reluctant custodian. His duty as a citi- 
 zen, possessed of vital knowledge respecting the crime 
 described in the press, was clear and unmistakable. 
 Yet he could not even contemplate a confession that 
 must instantly sweep the helpless girl into all the 
 vortex of the law, while any chance of her innocence 
 remained. 
 
 Far up the Avenue he swung along, past the great 
 white marble cathedral, past the brown-stone palaces 
 of Gotham's money kings, and past the Plaza, with 
 its conclave of mighty hostelries, busily parting fools 
 from their cash. Then Central Park flung vapors 
 of spring, new foliage, and fragrant grass athwart 
 his senses, to arouse new delights in his nature. 
 
 He was still a battlefield for fiercely opposed emo- 
 tions when he came at length to the Puryn home and 
 was ushered upstairs to Iris's Oriental " den."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 
 
 MISS PURYN was still excited. Her color was 
 high; her eyes were brilliant. She had re- 
 hearsed the tale of what occurred in Julian's office 
 till every word he had uttered and every accent of 
 the word had taken on significance demanding 
 explanation. 
 
 Her one regret lay in the fact that she had quitted 
 the office prematurely. It was what had happened 
 since that moment that she was now determined to 
 discover. If the story printed in the evening 
 press concerning the murder and theft of gems 
 had come to her attention at all, it had been 
 dismissed as trifling compared with her own 
 affairs. 
 
 She had purposely assumed a calm demeanor she 
 was very far from feeling. She greeted Vail with a 
 certain air of ownership and conducted him at once 
 to a corner most stuffily overdraped with Persian 
 hangings, where a door that led to apartments be- 
 yond had long been closed as useless. 
 
 She broached the subject promptly. 
 
 " I thought I would give you this early opportu- 
 nity of stating what disposition you have made of 
 
 47
 
 48 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the ' present ' with which you were honored this 
 afternoon." 
 
 Vail resented her attitude as needlessly derisive. 
 
 " You probably mean Miss Lee," he answered. " I 
 was certain your curiosity ceased when you left the 
 office. I was sorry not to be able to reach you after- 
 wards and warn you to keep the occurrence strictly 
 secret, by way of aiding in clearing up the puzzle." 
 
 His veiled rebuke for her senseless spreading of the 
 story did not escape her discernment. She elevated 
 her brows. 
 
 " May not our opinions differ as to the value of 
 publicity in solving your diverting ' mystery ' ? " 
 
 " They doubtless do differ widely," he answered. 
 " Had no one known of this save ourselves, the prac- 
 tical joker would doubtless have revealed himself by 
 asking if the ' present ' was received." 
 
 " That is hardly here nor there, at present," she 
 said, watching his expression narrowly. " I am far 
 more interested to know what you have since done 
 with Miss Lee." 
 
 " I have delivered her over to the care of an ex- 
 cellent woman." 
 
 " Who is the woman ? Where does she live ? " 
 
 " She is no one you know or would ever be likely 
 to meet." 
 
 " You mean you refuse the information ? " 
 
 " There is more information spread about the mat- 
 ter now than will ever serve useful ends to anyone 
 concerned." 
 
 Once more she raised her brows.
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 49 
 
 "Are you not forgetting our relationship? This 
 is a matter that concerns- me intimately." 
 
 " In what respect ? more, I mean, than anything 
 else of a business nature that transpires wholly in 
 my office, during office hours ? " 
 
 " Do you mean to intimate that such an affair as 
 this does not concern me in the least? that it is 
 just like any ordinary occurrence of business? " 
 
 He was not to be fogged or entrapped. 
 
 " I asked you in what respect this affair touches 
 you, or our relations ? " 
 
 Her surprise at his question was genuine. 
 
 " Wasn't she a girl a living girl sent to you as 
 a gift?" 
 
 " Am I obliged to accept every gift that some- 
 one's folly or scheming may bring to my door? " 
 
 " You refused to send the girl away. You have 
 harbored her since and refuse to tell me where." 
 
 "And that argues what?" 
 
 " It might argue a very great deal. Are you 
 ready to declare you feel no personal interest in the 
 girl?" 
 
 " On the contrary, I take a decided interest in 
 Miss Lee, and also in the meaning and intent of the 
 whole transaction. I purpose, if possible, to dis- 
 cover who was behind " He turned abruptly at 
 
 a trifling sound, a feeling upon him that someone, 
 concealed nearby, was overhearing every word. 
 
 His action apparently escaped his fiancee, intent 
 upon her catechism. 
 
 "Have you employed an expert detective?"
 
 50 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I have not." 
 
 " I thought not, and I trust you will appreciate 
 my position and motives when I inform you that I 
 have." 
 
 Vail looked at her steadily, if possible more an- 
 noyed than before. A sudden suspicion flashed upon 
 his mind. Her detective might be present in the 
 room. 
 
 " Is he here in the house to-night ? " 
 
 " He is not. He will call to see you in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Half-convinced there was someone hidden by the 
 heavily folded curtain, Vail's doubts remained alive. 
 
 " Who is it you have hired ? " 
 
 " Who could I hire but Mr. Garrison ? " 
 
 " You are very thoughtful," said Vail, sincerely 
 gratified to know the affair would at least be handled 
 with the most consummate skill. Indeed, the more 
 he reflected upon it the more he welcomed the ad- 
 vent of Garrison, the criminologist, who, more than 
 any man he knew, would be likely to sift this matter 
 to the bottom as a gentleman and not as a mere com- 
 mon sleuth. 
 
 If Iris had expected a flare of indignation at her 
 action, she concealed her disappointment. Her man- 
 ner was no less cold than before. 
 
 " Perhaps you will feel sufficient confidence in Mr. 
 Garrison to inform him of the things you feel 
 obliged to conceal from me." 
 
 Vail shrugged his shoulders. He was nettled, with 
 the weight of his knowledge upon him.
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 51 
 
 " I intend to work this matter out my way, from 
 first to last. The help he might have rendered 
 earlier is now impossible. I am accustomed to 
 handling my business affairs in my own particular 
 manner and frequently alone." 
 
 Iris was crimson. 
 
 " Take care, Julian,'* she warned him, in a voice 
 that betrayed her emotion. " I may cease to be so 
 patient with this ' practical joke ' if you carry your 
 high-handed attitude too far." 
 
 Vail arose, in a growing uneasiness of spirit. 
 
 " This is an ill time to discuss our patience with 
 one another. I have refrained from complaining of 
 interference that has already " 
 
 " Interference? " she interrupted. "Am I a mere 
 child a mere incident in this affair. Have I no 
 rights, no " 
 
 Vail had started to seat himself again when the 
 faintest rustle aroused his suspicions as before and 
 quickened the beat of his heart. 
 
 " Iris " he started, and turning alertly to the 
 
 curtain was positive it swayed a trifle outward, as 
 if from a draught of air. 
 
 He stood beside the couch a second, undecided, 
 then turning, as if to pace across the tiger-skin rug, 
 made a feint of tripping and plunged headforemost 
 towards the draperies, clutching them as if for 
 support, 
 
 He expected his arms to close about a human form, 
 but nothing was there save the door. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said, at once. " That
 
 52 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 was stupidly awkward, and nearly cost me a fall. I 
 believe I'm nervous. I've eaten no dinner. I'll be 
 wiser to bid you good-night." 
 
 Iris, too, had risen. 
 
 " Let me ring for something at once." 
 
 " I couldn't eat," he answered. " I didn't mean to 
 hint that I am hungry." 
 
 Iris blocked his way. 
 
 " You can hardly be more overwrought than I 
 concerning this outrageous ' joke,' as you please to 
 call it. We have scarcely more than begun the dis- 
 cussion of the subject. How can you leave? " 
 
 Vail concealed his impatience. 
 
 " What possible profit can result from further 
 disagreements on the topic ? " 
 
 " That's precisely it," she declared, with warmth. 
 " Why must you so stubbornly persist in disa- 
 greeing with my conceptions of the case? Of course, 
 if you have lost your heart and reason to Miss 
 Lee " 
 
 He crimsoned. 
 
 " Iris ! Do you think that a worthy speech ? " 
 
 He could think of nothing else to say with her shot 
 so accurately centered. A sense of shame at his 
 senselessness, his helplessness in the matter, made her 
 accusation sting. 
 
 " Worthy ? " she echoed. " Am I posted to the 
 world as your fiancee or am I not? The least you 
 can do is to tell me what you mean to do with Miss 
 Lee." 
 
 " I mean to treat her as a human being not as
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 53 
 
 an outcast animal to be sent to some institution for 
 merciful asphyxiation." 
 
 " You said you would send her home." 
 
 " She seems to have no home." 
 
 " But don't you see that you simply cannot put 
 her in a private place and pay her expenses? You 
 can see how that must appear." 
 
 He smiled, mirthlessly. 
 
 " To whom would you have me shift the burden ? 
 Will you give her shelter here? " 
 
 "Here?" she echoed. "Are you mad? Don't 
 you realize that anyone sent about in a box like that 
 
 must be the commonest Oh, I don't know what 
 
 to think of your judgment your consideration of 
 me! I shall simply be obliged to insist that 
 you " 
 
 Her demand was interrupted. Her sister Enid ap- 
 peared in the door dressed as if returning from an 
 evening drive in her car. 
 
 " Oh, here you are ! " she called at once, in a tone 
 of gayety that never failed to jar on Julian's nerves. 
 " I thought I heard voices. How ghastly to be in- 
 doors to-night ! It's simply glorious ! " She ad- 
 vanced with her hand extended. 
 
 Vail felt he had never known such an incor- 
 rigible hand-shaker in the world as Enid Puryn, 
 nor a person more exciting to his antagonistic 
 emotions. 
 
 Older than Iris by several years, incredibly arti- 
 ficial in her manners and methods of life, and quite 
 unmagnetic, she had been consistently shunned by
 
 54 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 suitors of all degrees, yet apparently survived her 
 disappointments with the sprightliest indifference. 
 
 She was one of those " almost " women almost 
 beautiful, and almost charming, but never quite up 
 to the standard of things femininely normal. Yet 
 she was gay and tenacious of her youth and the life 
 that her youngers led. She was always on the go. 
 She was amazingly independent, living her ways in a 
 privacy and seclusion, even here with the remainder 
 of the family, that might have seemed impossible 
 to those who knew less of her peculiar characteristics. 
 
 " You two have not been quarreling? " she de- 
 manded, smilingly. " What is it, Julian ? something 
 about your wonderful adventure? Tell me all about 
 it just what happened. Iris has been too excited, 
 of course. What did you think ? What did you do ? 
 How could anything so singular occur? What have 
 you done with her now the girl in the box? " 
 
 " Enid ! if you please ! " said Iris. " You are in- 
 terrupting a discussion that was not intended to be 
 entirely public." 
 
 Vail rather welcomed Enid than otherwise for 
 
 once 
 
 
 
 I am certain further discussion to-night would 
 be quite profitless," he observed, attempting a smile. 
 " And the matter has been so thoroughly reported 
 there is nothing new to add." He moved again to- 
 wards the door. 
 
 " Oh, but I'm not driving you away ? " said Enid, 
 regretfully. " I could never forgive myself for 
 that. If you wish it, Julian, I'll never mention the
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 55 
 
 subject again. You see I couldn't know, of course, 
 whether it appealed to you as a joke or a tragedy." 
 
 " You are very kind," said Vail. " The point is 
 still undecided." 
 
 Enid showed her animation in a smile. 
 
 " Oh, good ! That's so much more interesting ! 
 Don't you think so, Iris ? " 
 
 Iris was hardly more mollified than before. 
 
 " I agree with Mr. Vail it is not a topic for this 
 sort of discussion. I think I mentioned we were talk- 
 ing privately." 
 
 " Oh, I didn't overlook the former hint," was 
 Enid's good-natured rejoinder. " But when Julian 
 seemed to be going " 
 
 " He was not ! " Iris interrupted. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Vail, " by your leave, 
 I think I shall. My nerves, I find, are a little on 
 edge from overstrain of birthday attentions." 
 
 "There!" said Enid. "I think it's horrid of 
 them all everyone who has heckled you about it! 
 I was going to ask you when we could have another 
 game of chess." 
 
 " Not to-night," said Vail, who had singularly 
 enough enjoyed not a few of these engagements with 
 the peculiar Miss Puryn, whose play had a -worthy 
 craft and far-reaching subtlety about it. " I should 
 make no worthy showing at the game." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you would ! but I should be so selfish 
 to ask it," Enid answered, sympathetically. " Good- 
 night. I trust all else may prove to be nothing but 
 a joke." She gave him a clinging, friendly grasp
 
 56 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 and departed from the room, leaving him not un- 
 grateful for a view of her nature he had never here- 
 tofore suspected. 
 
 Iris had resumed a certain hauteur that never in- 
 creased her charm. 
 
 " I think you understand my attitude and the 
 only decision possible from my point of view in this 
 affair," she told him, coldly. " I appreciate your 
 generosity towards the apparently helpless, but I 
 warn you, Julian, not to strain my patience too far." 
 
 " Thank you, both for the appreciation and the 
 warning," he answered. ."I am sure we shall both 
 be wiser to drop the subject for to-night." 
 
 Despite her further insistence and a final effort to 
 compel him to promise that Miss Lee should be 
 promptly dismissed from their lives, he presently 
 made his escape without provoking a positive breach 
 of their relationship and was once more alone with 
 his troubles. 
 
 He knew not where to go or what to do. Aimlessly 
 he wandered down the Avenue again, concentrating 
 all his thoughts on the day's occurrences and ques- 
 tioning his inmost heart, that his will no longer 
 swayed. 
 
 It was not until he reached the glare of Forty- 
 second Street and turned to follow its blazing lights 
 to Broadway, yet more brilliant on beyond, that he 
 awoke to his actual surroundings. 
 
 " All about the ruby murder ! " shrilled a tired, 
 monotonous voice where a newsboy vended his wares, 
 and, turning involuntarily, Vail beheld the latest
 
 HOW MYSTERIES MAY THICKEN 57 
 
 findings in the case. A line of red that stared him 
 in the face read simply: 
 
 " UNKNOWN WOMAN LEAVES A SIGN OF GUILT ! " 
 
 And the sign was reproduced in a six-inch picture 
 of the print of a woman's thumb. 
 
 He bought the sheet and, halting close to a lighted 
 window, scanned the printed columns with an un- 
 named dread at his heart. 
 
 The account gave him nothing essentially new be- 
 yond the fact that the print of a thumb, declared 
 by experts on the case to be that of a woman, had 
 been found on a blood-smeared panel in the house 
 where the Indian Prince had met his end. 
 
 Vail stuffed the paper in his pocket and continued 
 on to the crowded tides of Broadway, down which, 
 still without purpose, he turned to wander as before. 
 
 If the Star had served no better purpose, it had 
 planted a haunting worry in his mind respecting the 
 ruby, so artlessly concealed at his office. A thousand 
 fears of its discovery assailed him. The janitress 
 who cleaned the place had once knocked that tall 
 brass shell from the desk and spilled out all its water. 
 Should such an accident happen again 
 
 He glanced at a clock before a shop. The hour 
 was barely half-past ten. It might not be impossi- 
 ble to get to his office now, at once, though the build- 
 ing's main entrance would be closed. 
 
 A new impatience seized him, a wild desire to take 
 that ruby from the vase and drop it somewhere in
 
 58 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the street. He hailed a cab and was driven down 
 the thoroughfare at a pace that seemed but crawl- 
 ing, though the driver lost little time. 
 
 The door at the side of the building was open and 
 a watchman permitted him to enter. Excited and 
 eager, Vail was presently striding down an echoing 
 hall with the dimmest light to give him guidance. 
 
 He opened his private door, went in, switched on 
 the light and stood there motionless with astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 The place had been entered and robbed ! 
 
 Every drawer and cabinet the place contained had 
 been emptied of its contents, which were scattered all 
 over the floor. The safe was standing open, its com- 
 partments stripped of all that they had held. 
 
 Vail, with a sudden divination of the meaning of it 
 all, ran forward to the yawning iron box. There he 
 paused while a clammy perspiration broke out upon 
 his brow. 
 
 Barbara's shoes were gone!
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BAFFLING ANSWEKS AND A FLIGHT 
 
 OUT of all the confusion of his mind Vail pres- 
 ently conjured a single hope, that was doomed 
 to immediate extinction. 
 
 He hoped the thieves had found and taken the 
 ruby. 
 
 They had not. When he moved across the room 
 to his desk and took up the tall brass vase to give 
 it a shake, the great red gem reposing in the water 
 at the bottom rattled sharply against the metal 
 walls. 
 
 He put the shell in place again, afraid to throw 
 the stone away or take it from the room. He realized 
 it was hidden as all the skill of the shrewdest thief 
 could not have planned. It was here so nearly lying 
 in one's plain sight that no one, searching his pos- 
 sessions, would ever be likely to find it. 
 
 Automatically, and as one who refuses to badger 
 his brains with further futile puzzling, he stooped to 
 the floor and gathered up his scattered documents, 
 returning each bundle to its place. A hurried sur- 
 vey of the papers convinced him at once that nothing 
 strictly his own had been purloined. In fact, there 
 was every possible evidence that the thief or thieves 
 had made a wild and hasty search for the shoes, and 
 
 59
 
 60 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 having found them in the safe which he himself had 
 left unlocked had snatched them and hurriedly 
 fled. 
 
 The outer offices, where securities and money were 
 available to anyone with the skill to crack a second 
 safe, had apparently not been entered. 
 
 How he passed the remainder of the night Vail 
 never knew. So utterly complete appeared the in- 
 dictment of Barbara Lee who alone was aware that 
 her shoes had been placed in his iron box for keep- 
 ing that he closed his mind and gave up all effort 
 to think. 
 
 He did not, however, surrender hope. He remem- 
 bered afterwards, dimly, that he worked for perhaps 
 an hour in the office, restoring the last little item to 
 the order so rudely disturbed, primarily to conceal 
 the facts of the burglarizing enterprize from 
 Broughton and the others of his force, who would 
 come there in the morning. 
 
 If nothing were reported, either to the city police 
 or the authorities of the building, not only might 
 the criminal eventually reveal himself, but no one 
 else could possibly suspect Miss Lee or connect her 
 with the ruby. That the person now in possession 
 of the shoes must already have discovered the absence 
 of the ruby from the hollowed heel was certain. That 
 another and perhaps more thorough effort to retake 
 the missing stone would eventually be made he could 
 entertain no doubt. 
 
 All these and a thousand reflections more the man 
 had finally taken with him to his bed. And conceding
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 61 
 
 at last that, though the day had been like an age 
 in length, he had nevertheless known Miss Lee con- 
 siderably less than twenty-four hours after all, he 
 summoned some sort of philosophy to his aid and 
 fell asleep. His last waking thought was focused 
 on the ruby, still undisturbed in the vase. 
 
 His chapter of trials and adventures was only 
 well begun. 
 
 The morning, however, found him well restored to 
 the resourcefulness and power that had made him 
 what he was. He told himself that sentiment should 
 have no further part in the work that he must do. 
 He was fully aware he had handicapped himself from 
 the outset of the matter by what he now deemed an 
 overnice consideration of the girl who was sent him 
 as a gift. So long as he continued this sentimental 
 protection of Miss Lee, he was powerless to invoke 
 the aid of police, a private detective, or ordinary 
 reason. 
 
 It was the cold, disillusioned man of business, 
 purged of all romance by the night, that faced the 
 mystery now and took appraisement of the dangers 
 that lurked for himself in the case. Yet when he 
 thought that perhaps the shoes had been left at his 
 office through the arts of a clever young woman, and 
 that, later, Barbara had possibly shammed the de- 
 lirium in which she cast her arms about his neck, his 
 whole chivalrous being rose in revolt and cried shame 
 to such suspicions. 
 
 To clear up the matter involving himself, Miss 
 Lee, and the ruby had become an important business
 
 68 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 necessity. The affair was far too sinister of aspect 
 to permit of the slightest neglect. A terrible crime 
 had been committed ; and the hounds of the law were 
 already on the trails, of which one led to his office. 
 
 He breakfasted normally and appeared at his of- 
 fice at nine. There was nothing at the place to show 
 for the burglary of which he alone was aware. 
 Twenty minutes after his arrival Detective Garrison 
 telephoned to confirm Miss Puryn's appointment. 
 
 " Don't let me butt into this business unless I can 
 be useful," said the voice of the criminologist over 
 the wire. " You have only to hint that the matter is 
 entirely private to " 
 
 " Not at all," interrupted Vail. " I shall be more 
 than glad to see you." 
 
 " Look for me, then, before eleven," Garrison re- 
 quested. " I have very important work that will keep 
 me about an hour." 
 
 Vail went through his mail in a superficial man- 
 ner. Leaving instructions with Broughton to call 
 him on the telephone at Mrs. Loomis's, should occa- 
 sion arise within the hour, he departed at once for 
 the house where Barbara was domiciled, warning him- 
 self to exercise the utmost caution in all that he said 
 and did. From the outside entrance of the building 
 he was shadowed all the way by a well-dressed man, 
 whose attentions entirely escaped his observation. 
 
 Despite the fact that Julian had armed himself 
 with iron resolution, he felt his heart becoming irre- 
 sponsible the moment he came to the presence of his 
 dainty little " Gift of the Gods."
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 63 
 
 One of his roses she wore upon her breast. ^.11 its 
 beauty, however, paled into insignificance in the light 
 of her girlish smile. He had never in his life beheld 
 a smile so radiant, so artlessly glad, so surprised in 
 sweet revelations of the happiness born in a lonely 
 heart that finds itself befriended and fostered at 
 last. 
 
 She was as exquisite as all that rose's fragrance, 
 as lovely as one of its petals, as she stood there in 
 the sunlight that streamed in so clearly at the win- 
 dow. 
 
 She was such an embodiment of color, with the 
 brown of her eyes, the deep bronze red of her hair, 
 and the cream and rose of her cheeks ! Her gaze met 
 Vail's with the frankest trust and something far 
 deeper than friendship. 
 
 In that moment's encounter there was vastly more 
 eloquence of heart to heart than the words of all 
 tongues could utter. There were things too deep 
 for comprehension things that neither, by the ut- 
 most will, could ever retract, should either so desire, 
 no matter what might follow. Vail tossed upon the 
 couch a morning paper he had brought, with a full 
 account of the " Ruby Crime." 
 
 Then Barbara came a little forward, holding forth 
 her hand. 
 
 " Oh," she said, happily, " I haven't thought of 
 any way to thank you, much as I've tried ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you have ! " he answered. " You're 
 restored you're happy at least you seem - 
 You're more like yourself this morning? "
 
 64 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 $Ie took her hand. The mists shrank abashed from 
 his mind. Some mighty exaltation seized him and 
 bore him aloft and he grasped for a hold on his 
 calmer, steadier reason. 
 
 " I know I haven't the slightest right to feel so 
 
 feel " She stammered, and she flushed to the 
 
 roots of her hair. " Perhaps it's having a friend 
 that makes You know I've had so few." 
 
 A lump came instantly in Julian's throat, he hardly 
 knew the reason why. 
 
 " You have all the right in the world to all the 
 happiness that friendship or anything brings," he 
 assured her, fervently. Then he felt her little fingers 
 slip away from his with a sense of irreparable loss. 
 " I came for a few minutes only," he added, forcing 
 himself once more to face the stern realities by which 
 they were confronted. " I felt I must ask a few 
 more questions to clear up our little mystery." 
 
 " If I could only really help you ! " she answered, 
 moving towards a chair. " I wish to do all I can." 
 The color had left her face again, however, to return 
 less gloriously. She forced herself to meet his gaze. 
 " Has anything else occurred ? " 
 
 Vail noted the question and the hesitation with 
 which her lips pronounced it. He wondered how far 
 she might be acquainted with the burglary of his 
 office. 
 
 He chose for the moment to ignore her inquiry. 
 
 " I want you to try to remember all about the 
 woman who met you at the train," he said, quietly. 
 " Also the house to which you were taken, and what
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 65 
 
 j.cu t atc, and how long it was before you fell asleep, 
 io wake at last in my office." 
 
 She seemed relieved to escape a more personal 
 inquisition. 
 
 " Why, the woman Mrs. Cree was just an or- 
 dinary person, although I imagine her hair was 
 bleached, for her skin was very dark." 
 
 " Was she large, or small? " 
 
 " She was just of medium size. She was wearing 
 a veil when she met me, and kept it on part of her 
 face, even at luncheon. But about the house there 
 was something queer or perhaps it was all a 
 dream." 
 
 "It was not an ordinary house?" 
 
 She appeared to make an effort to solidify a lot 
 of filmy impressions in her mind. 
 
 " It may be part of my fancy. I'm sorry nothing 
 comes back very clearly, no matter how I try. 
 
 But I'm almost sure there were iron men Oh, 
 
 but that's absurd! It might have been a room full 
 of old armor, though I never saw an armor in my 
 life nothing more than a picture but it must have 
 been that, or just a part of a dream." 
 
 Vail leaned forward, tense with interest. 
 
 " You think you saw a room filled with armor 
 or iron men? Was that before or after lunch? " 
 
 Her eyes were focused dreamily on emptiness. She 
 passed her hand across her forehead. 
 
 " I wish I could remember clearly, but I can't." 
 
 " Not even what you ate ? Was there anything 
 that tasted peculiar? "
 
 66 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Oh, the coffee was very bad, indeed ! " 
 
 " And you said you came to New York on Friday, 
 just before noon?" 
 
 " No, on Saturday." 
 
 He knew she had told him Saturday before, but 
 had taken this means of verifying her former state- 
 ment. He could not avoid the conviction she was 
 telling him the truth, yet all this business of the 
 ruby and her shoes was an unlaid ghost that he must 
 down. 
 
 " Now, about your father," he said, watching her 
 face narrowly. " Did he leave you practically desti- 
 tute? Was his business such that nothing could be 
 saved ? " 
 
 Her uneasiness became apparent immediately. 
 
 " He he left nothing I'm afraid unless it 
 might be some papers that I haven't been able to 
 
 find, though he said Do you suppose I can ever 
 
 find my trunk again ? " 
 
 " I hope so," said Vail, intent upon following up 
 the subject of her father. " We'll see about that 
 later. Was invention Mr. Lee's only profession? 
 Did he make his living by inventions ? " 
 
 She was plainly distressed. 
 
 " He he had some other means of securing 
 
 Is it very helpful to talk about my father ? " 
 
 " Would you rather we would not ? " 
 
 She looked at him appealingly. 
 
 " Until I can get my trunk I've thought it 
 
 might have a secret recess somewhere. He may have 
 meant to direct me to something of the kind, and
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 67 
 
 until I know I thought you only cared to solve 
 
 the mystery about the box and me who sent me, 
 and what it means ? " 
 
 " I do," he said, once more leaning forward, more 
 anxious to establish her innocence than anything in 
 all the world. " I need your help and your trust. 
 Is there anything you feel you must conceal respect- 
 ing your father? " 
 
 The look of anguish and worry in her eyes was 
 unmistakable. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know! I mean No! No! 
 
 There mustn't be ! There couldn't be ! " she cried. 
 " Please wait a little please ! . Why must we talk 
 of him now ? " 
 
 " Because a detective is to call on me at eleven, 
 and I want all the facts I can get." He saw her 
 pale and yet he continued, for the good of all con- 
 cerned. " You see, very serious consequences may 
 result to me, and to you, from what has already 
 occurred. In self -protection, I am now obliged to 
 sift this thing to the bottom." 
 
 "A detective?" she repeated, in obvious alarm. 
 " Has anything else anything new happened 
 since yesterday ? " 
 
 " What else could happen ? " he inquired, fearing 
 for guilty knowledge she might betray at last. 
 
 She arose and turned to the window. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. But things might. If 
 
 anything should happen to you through me " 
 
 She turned to face him, candidly. " Believe me, I 
 am more than grateful, Mr. Vail but you'd want
 
 68 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 me to be loyal to my father ! Oh, I mean I 
 
 don't know what I mean but I couldn't permit 
 
 him Oh, if I'd only stayed at home and found 
 
 the papers ! " 
 
 Vail's distress was almost equal to her own, so in- 
 sistent and unrelenting was his demand that she 
 should be guiltless. 
 
 He could do no less than continue, in justice to 
 them both. Some way, despite it all, she had be- 
 come more dear, more precious to him than very 
 life itself, and yet he felt that he must know pre- 
 cisely what she was before he could face the crimi- 
 nologist, presently due at his office. 
 
 " Barbara, what is it you expect those papers to 
 establish?" 
 
 Some joy that leaped in her bosom at the sound 
 of her name on his lips subsided in a tremor of fear 
 at the sternness of his query. 
 
 " How should I know ? " she answered. " How 
 could I possibly know ? " 
 
 "It is something that perhaps you fear?" 
 
 Tears sprang abruptly from her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, please don't make me say so, when I've tried 
 
 so hard to think I know, I know that he was 
 
 good the best, the kindest father in the world ! 
 And if I should find out something some secret he 
 kept I'd keep it if it killed me on the spot ! " She 
 turned away to suppress a sob, that broke despite 
 her efforts. 
 
 " There, there," said Vail, afflicted by a sense that, 
 while she was doubtless innocent of anything that
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 69 
 
 might have happened, she was perhaps concealing 
 the guilt of her father, " I wouldn't worry to-day. 
 I shouldn't have bothered you like this if it 
 weren't " 
 
 The door was opened abruptly, and Mrs. Loomis 
 thrust in her head and shoulders. 
 
 " You're wanted on the 'phone, Mr. Vail," she an- 
 nounced. " Shall I ask them to give me the 
 message? " 
 
 " I'll come," said Vail. He went to the instru- 
 ment and answered Broughton's call. 
 
 " I thought perhaps you ought to know at once," 
 his man informed him, " that someone in the Street 
 is selling B. & K. C. rather heavily. The price has 
 broken badly. Will you give an order to support 
 the market?" 
 
 " No," said Vail. " Close up that option on 
 Green's ten thousand shares. Wire Charlie in Bos- 
 ton to pick up everything there, and give Shears 
 and Shears order number thirty-one. They'll under- 
 stand." 
 
 For perhaps five minutes he stood there, complet- 
 ing his instructions. His face was grim when he 
 hung the receiver in place. So Gardner was out to 
 get him on B. & K. C. already! From what had 
 Gardner concluded that these new affairs might so 
 engross a rival's time that his business plans must 
 suffer? The subject was dropped temporarily, for 
 reflection later on. There was nothing more vital 
 at the present moment than to continue with Bar- 
 bara and test her with the announcement of the theft
 
 70 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 from his safe of her shoes. Should that, he deter- 
 mined, have no effect, he would next inform her of 
 the ruby and all its possession implied. 
 
 He returned to the room, and found it empty. A 
 door that led to a room beyond was standing open. 
 The paper he had flung upon the couch lay spread 
 in the center of the floor. 
 
 He was certain Miss Lee would return at once, but 
 after a minute of waiting in vain he went to the open 
 door, gave a knock, and peered within, to find the 
 apartment deserted. 
 
 Someone was coming down the stairs from the 
 floor above. He went to the hall. It was Mrs. 
 Loomis. She had neither seen nor heard the girl 
 since glancing in at the door. 
 
 Five minutes of thorough searching disclosed the 
 fact she was not within the house. Mrs. Loomis even 
 ran to the door that led to the street, but was dis- 
 appointed there. 
 
 Barbara had vanished. She had evidently taken 
 one brief glance at the paper's account of the ruby 
 crime and instantly fled the scene. 
 
 " Why, she can't be far," said Mrs. Loomis, 
 calmly. " She went out last night to the drug 
 store and was back in twenty minutes." 
 
 " What ! " said Vail. " She went out last night- 
 while she was lame ? " 
 
 " Oh, her foot was better right away," said the 
 unsuspicious Mrs. Loomis. " But, now that I think 
 of it, I certainly believe I heard a whistle last night 
 and this morning, a sort of a Bob-white whistle
 
 BAFFLING ANSWERS AND A FLIGHT 71 
 
 and I was almost sure she came back last night with 
 a man." 
 
 Vail felt a sinking at his vitals. To remain in the 
 house another minute seemed more than he could 
 endure. 
 
 " Oh, well, then that's all right," he said, as if 
 the affair were one of preconceived arrangement. 
 " I'll hustle along myself." 
 
 But when he was out in the sunlight, mechanically 
 heading for his office, he paused to look at a hun- 
 dred passing beings, as if to demand of any busied 
 stranger if he had seen Miss Barbara Lee that way, 
 and noted where she had gone.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 
 
 WHEN he finally returned to his office, Vail 
 discovered that Garrison had barely that 
 moment arrived. 
 
 Garrison had never appeared more keen or eagerly 
 absorbed in the science to which he was devoted. 
 Like Vail he was young, smooth-shaven, athletically 
 constructed, and exceptionally equipped with brains 
 and courage. 
 
 Indeed, they made a striking pair of clean-cut 
 men of the hour, each exemplifying strength, re- 
 sourcefulness, and honor in an unusual degree. As 
 they faced each other now across the desk, with the 
 tall brass cartridge-shell between them, they assumed 
 relations entirely different from anything heretofore 
 developed since their social encounter abroad. 
 
 Vail rehearsed his story briefly and clearly ex- 
 cept where it touched upon the ruby. Concerning 
 the shoe with the hollowed heel, the gem, and later 
 mysteries he could not bring himself to speak, in his 
 conflict of doubts and hopes. 
 
 Garrison nodded from time to time, and asked a 
 number of questions. He arose at last, and going 
 to the empty box, still leaning against the wall, ex- 
 amined it briefly but minutely. 
 
 72
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 73 
 
 " My position in this matter is peculiar," he pres- 
 ently observed, returning to his chair. " Miss 
 Puryn, having first requested my services, disarms 
 me in one direction, while you, in accepting me now 
 on the case, embarrass me in the other." 
 
 Vail looked at him quickly. 
 
 " Just precisely what does that mean ? " 
 
 Garrison smiled. 
 
 " We may as well be frank. To be quite candid, 
 it appeared to me Miss Puryn possibly wished me to 
 gather an impression that you might have had this 
 birthday ' present ' delivered to yourself. I may be 
 mistaken, of course." 
 
 " I see," said Julian. " And now it perhaps oc- 
 curs to you that it's just the other way about, and 
 Miss Puryn herself may have had a hand in the 
 matter? " 
 
 " You jump at swift conclusions," Garrison 
 laughed. " I have formed no actual theories. This 
 has been an expensive business, preparing and de- 
 livering your ' Gift of the Gods.' Someone with an 
 exceptionally powerful motive must have been be- 
 hind the adventure. Gardner might possess such a 
 motive. You are engaged to the lady, and you own 
 the road he has sworn he'd make his own. He called 
 here suspiciously soon. Still that may signify noth- 
 ing. I am merely groping for the motive and the 
 person or persons who would benefit most by your em- 
 barrassment or even your business disorganization." 
 
 Julian nodded. He had formulated all these 
 thoughts for himself, in nearly this logical sequence.
 
 74 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " You have methods of ferreting out this sort 
 of thing," he said. " Perhaps you'd not mind telling 
 me the first thing you shall do ? " 
 
 " Discover, if possible, who made this box, and by 
 whose orders; inquire concerning Miss Lee and her 
 father in Hartford; interview the young lady her- 
 self, and get a line " 
 
 " Miss Lee has gone out this morning, and left 
 no word as to where she would be, or when she might 
 return." 
 
 " That's all right," said Garrison, " unless she has 
 run away ;" and he smiled. " In that event we'll 
 have to find her. It's important to know whether or 
 not she consented to the plan, or was a victim. Mean- 
 time we have all we can handle for a day or 
 two, though I shall put a number of men at 
 work and I may have something to report 
 before " 
 
 The 'phone bell interrupted. Vail took the instru- 
 ment in hand. 
 
 "Hullo!" he said. "Hullo. Yes, this is ... 
 Oh, how are you, Faxon? . . . Yes, he's here 
 
 just " He turned to the criminologist, giving 
 
 him the instrument. " This is for you, Mr. Garrison 
 Chief of Police on the wire." 
 
 Garrison leaned far back in his chair and applied 
 the receiver to his ear. 
 
 "Hello!" he said. "How are you, Chief? . . ., 
 No, there's nothing I wish to report this morning. 
 . . . No trace of the ruby or other stones up to 
 date. I felt very sure . . . Yes, I'm going up there
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 75 
 
 now. I prefer to examine the house alone. t ., .. : ., 
 If you want me to work on this case, old man, keep 
 everybody off except the men for whom I made a 
 requisition. I can't make good in any other way. 
 . . . Yes, I'll let you know the minute I get a 
 line. . . . I'll call you up at four this afternoon. 
 .. . . Good-by." 
 
 Vail was regarding him fixedly as he returned the 
 stand to the desk. 
 
 " You've been engaged on this Gatama ruby case 
 the robbery and murder? " 
 
 " By luck, good or ill, I have." Garrison arose 
 from his chair. " I'm due at the scene of it now, 
 before the regular force of blunderers succeeds in 
 obliterating every possible clew. I shall not neglect 
 your little affair, however, and may have some 
 news " 
 
 " I'd like to go along," Vail interrupted. " I 
 mean to the house where the murder was committed. 
 Should I be very much in the way ? I've a very par- 
 ticular reason I mean perhaps I might be able 
 
 to help I've got a notion it's a house where I 
 
 was once a guest. If it is Anyway, Mr. Gar- 
 rison, I'd like, if possible, to go." 
 
 Garrison looked at him sharply. 
 
 " I should be glad to have you along." 
 
 Julian rose at the second when, with a knock on 
 the door, Broughton came in with a telegram, only 
 that moment delivered. Hoping for a moment that 
 it might be a line from Barbara, Vail tore it roughly 
 open.
 
 76 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 It came from Iris Puryn. 
 
 " I trust in new excitement you have not forgotten 
 Comity Ball to-night, and obligation. Please reply." 
 
 Vail had, as a matter of fact, entirely forgotten 
 the ball to which he and his fiancee were committed. 
 He handed the message to Broughton. 
 
 " Answer for me, ' All right.' And I wish you'd 
 make up a statement, Broughton, of all the outstand- 
 ing shares of B. & K. C., with the names of those 
 who hold them, even to the smallest blocks, and place 
 it on my desk." 
 
 He and Garrison were presently emerging from 
 the building together. They boarded a hired auto- 
 mobile the criminologist had kept in waiting at the 
 curb. It turned to the north, up the Avenue, swung 
 in behind the tall, gray Flatiron building at Twenty- 
 second Street, and thence, by Broadway and Twenty- 
 third Street, skirted Madison Square, hummed be- 
 neath the shadow of the mighty Metropolitan tower, 
 and on past the much-beloved Madison Square Gar- 
 den, avoiding the traffic further to the west and 
 making good time to their goal. 
 
 Time was when the neighborhood between Twenty- 
 third and Forty-second streets, to the east of Madi- 
 son Avenue, was one of Gotham's splendor. To-day 
 the remnants of the grandeur still remain, while en- 
 croachments of the city's less aesthetic classes render 
 much of the region a field of violent contrasts and 
 glaring incongruities. 
 
 The particular street where the crime had been 
 committed was surprisingly lifeless this morning.
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 77 
 
 Fully half a dozen old-time houses, inhospitable and 
 uniform in their brown-stone fronts, were boarded 
 up and closed. It was one of these to which the 
 murdered man had been lured for his life and his 
 gems. 
 
 Garrison's car was halted in front of the door. 
 The chauffeur was instructed to wait. The crimi- 
 nologist had a key to which the scarred old barrier 
 yielded, and he and Julian entered where their foot- 
 steps echoed through the empty halls, while the 
 smell of old dust filled their nostrils. 
 
 " Here's a little electric torch," said Garrison, 
 tendering Julian the useful implement, " for some of 
 the rooms are dark, though we've opened up many of 
 the windows. Shall you mind conducting your ex- 
 plorations independently of me ? " 
 
 "Not at all," said Vail. "I trust you'll not 
 permit me to interfere with your work in the 
 least." 
 
 He was shown the room where the body was found, 
 and then the apartment, one flight up, where a for- 
 mer drawing-room had been made almost habitable 
 in spite of the dust and disorder. 
 
 Some manner of hope or fear rather vague and 
 indistinct, that Barbara's trunk might be found upon 
 the premises had prompted Vail's visit to the place. 
 He was particularly grateful for Garrison's hint 
 that he wander through the house alone. 
 
 In one old chamber there were trunks of all ages 
 and sizes. They were fairly clothed in ancient mold, 
 and were doubtless empty, since all bore signs of
 
 78 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 recent examination and one stood gaping open, as 
 hollow as a well. 
 
 It was rather a melancholy and unprofitable busi- 
 ness, after all, this quest that had brought him to 
 the scene. Up to the garret Julian climbed, while 
 Garrison studied that living-room with concentrated 
 particularity. Then the cellar alone remained unex- 
 plored, and to it Vail descended. 
 
 It, too, had been searched before, the coal-bin, 
 laundry, and the former vaults for wine bearing 
 dusty indications of recent visitors. 
 
 There were still a number of shelves for bottles, an 
 empty cask, and countless hoops and staves upon the 
 floor, in the place where the wines had one time been, 
 while all about the cavern-like place rough panels 
 finished the walls. One loosely hooped keg reposed 
 on a rack above the ordinary shelves. The place was 
 dimly lighted by the merest iron-barred square of 
 glass, set high above the floor and frosted by ancient 
 cobwebs. 
 
 Vail entered, and a huge, gray rat leaped fairly 
 from beneath his feet, to run in confusion against 
 his leg and scamper away in the shadows. Involun- 
 tarily the man stepped back. His foot came down 
 on an iron hoop that flipped up and struck him on 
 the shin. 
 
 He floundered over against the rack, and there, 
 with a clatter of dry old staves, the keg abruptly 
 fell apart, one of its oaken units striking Julian a 
 violent blow in the face. He reeled heavily, and col- 
 lided, as he thought, with the paneled wall, but felt
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 79 
 
 something give to his weight and then plunged, 
 stumbling headlong, into cold and Stygian darkness. 
 
 He struck at last on his head, sprawled on some 
 dusty floor. His torch was shattered. He lay there, 
 partially stunned for a moment, and, when he arose, 
 groped blindly and dazedly about in the velvet-like 
 gloom, meeting with nothing but solid walls wherever 
 his hands explored. 
 
 He realized at once he must have found some sec- 
 ond chamber of the cellar, into which, as he sought 
 to regain his balance, he must have pitched for sev- 
 eral yards. Ashamed to shout for Garrison, and 
 aware he might not be heard, he searched in his 
 pockets for a match, discovered he had not so much 
 as a single one, and began to feel his way along the 
 wall to discover the door where he had entered. 
 
 He groped thus uncertainly for a distance he was 
 sure should fetch him to the entrance leading to the 
 old-time winery, in vain. In a rapidly increasing 
 fever of impatience, he hastened onward, feeling now 
 with feet as well as hands, where never the slightest 
 ray of light was admitted to penetrate the absolute 
 darkness of the place. 
 
 He presently feared he was moving about in a 
 circle that the chamber must have been built with- 
 out a corner, and the door he sought be too much 
 like the rough-board finish of the hole for his hands 
 to discover the exit. 
 
 As a matter of fact, he had passed the door and 
 a corner that slanted from the opening to a long 
 narrow passageway beyond. He was moving away
 
 80 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 from the winery now, in his effort to come upon some 
 lock or hinge that would indicate the spring-closed 
 opening on which he had fallen by chance. 
 
 He had made his way fully fifty feet from the 
 place of his accident when at length he heard a 
 muffled sound. It was off to his left, which convinced 
 him he had moved in a circle. That Garrison had 
 heard the disturbance made when the keg was shat- 
 tered, and that he was coming to assist him, he was 
 more than merely hopeful. Moving ahead more 
 rapidly, in the direction indicated by the distant 
 sound, he traversed several additional rods of the 
 passage and paused abruptly as his foot collided 
 with something solid in his path. 
 
 He stooped to feel of this obstruction. It proved 
 to be a step. Above it was another and a third. 
 He recognized it with something like a shocked sur- 
 prise as a staircase, winding spirally up from the 
 floor. Confused to the last degree, thus to discover 
 he had wandered, heaven alone knew how far, from 
 the cellar where Garrison might have sought him, he 
 surrendered all hope of retracing his steps, and wel- 
 comed the stairs as a means of deliverance that great 
 good fortune had provided. 
 
 He began to climb at once, halting from time to 
 time to wave his hand above his head for fear of 
 striking a ceiling. He hardly expected to ascend 
 for more than a dozen feet and emerge perhaps in 
 a kitchen. But the stairs went up with no apparent 
 end, till fully the height of two ordinary flights 
 were passed, and still he found no end.
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 81 
 
 When he came at last to the landing at the top, 
 he was walled about completely, in a well as black 
 as ink. Then, as his hands moved here and there, 
 searching for anything that might suggest a break 
 in this cid-de-sac, he struck a little lock at last and 
 tugged and rattled at the door. 
 
 He could slip the catch, yet the door appeared to 
 be immovable. He worked at the thing impatiently. 
 He called, but heard no sound. Yet Garrison, he 
 thought, must be not far away. 
 
 At length, as one result of his shaking at the bar- 
 rier, a tiny crack of daylight appeared along its 
 jamb. With a sudden devination of his error, he gave 
 the thing a sideways push, and the door slid back 
 with ease. 
 
 He stepped at once into a dimly lighted room 
 and the door, by which he had escaped, glided back 
 through some application of his weight to the boards 
 of the floor. It became the merest panel, in a wain- 
 scoted room, and not even Vail, in his astonished 
 scrutiny, could detect a sign of its existence. 
 
 He faced about. The room was one he had never 
 seen before. He still retained the impression he was 
 under that self-same roof where Garrison had bid 
 him explore by himself. He knew he had made a 
 discovery that might prove of great significance. 
 
 " Hey, there Garrison ! " he called, and started 
 for an open door that led to apartments beyond. 
 
 Below he heard a door firmly slam, and was sure 
 it was Garrison, going. He ran from the room, then 
 through a hall, and was darting past a lofty cham-
 
 82 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 her when suddenly something in his heart stood still 
 and his brain got a jolt of surprise. 
 
 The chamber. was a room of iron men! 
 
 His vision comprehended the picture of six or 
 more full-sized figures in armor, solemnly arrayed 
 against the wall, like steel-clad guards of a tomb. 
 
 It was Barbara's room but what did it mean 
 with that passage that led 
 
 There was someone on the stairs! 
 
 " Garrison ! Garrison ! " he shouted suddenly, 
 running onward as before. 
 
 But a curse and a stifled cry responded from be- 
 low, then sounds of a sudden retreat. 
 
 He reached the head of the stairs, looked down 
 and was speechless with what he saw. 
 
 It was Barbara, staring wildly up, as she turned 
 in the arms of a man. Then man and girl plunged 
 madly down to the hall below, while a muffled cry 
 startled the silence. 
 
 Vail descended the groaning staircase two and 
 three steps at a leap. The outside door was slammed 
 when he was halfway down the flight. 
 
 He was there in a moment, but the lock had snapped 
 and he fumbled and raged to get it open. 
 
 At length he wrenched it backward and was out 
 in time to see Barbara hurled inside a limousine car 
 at the door, and the man leap in beside her. 
 
 Vail yelled at the driver and ran to head him off, 
 but the fellow was coasting down the slope and he 
 dropped in his clutch and shifted his gears with 
 expert alacrity.
 
 THE HOUSE OF CRIME 83 
 
 With Vail still chasing at the wheel, a dusty, wild 
 figure of activity, the big machine leaped madly on 
 its course and presently shot around the corner. 
 Racing full-speed for Garrison's car, Julian flung 
 himself in beside the waiting chauffeur and shoved 
 up his throttle and spark. 
 
 " Catch him ! Catch that car ! " he cried. " Don't 
 let him get out of your sight ! "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A EACE IN THE STREETS 
 
 THE astonished driver responded mechanically, 
 without the snap or ginger that interest might 
 have supplied. 
 
 His car was started with a jerk and picked up 
 its speed too slowly. He turned his questioning 
 eyes on Vail with some half-formed doubt in his 
 mind. 
 
 " Speed up ! Speed up ! " cried Julian, des- 
 perately. " Get going, man, or you'll lose them in 
 a block ! Catch them ! Never mind the law ! I'll 
 pay the fines if we're arrested ! " 
 
 Down the slight declivity they bumped and rat- 
 tled hotly, the dull chauffeur aroused by this to ex- 
 hibit his prowess at the wheel. 
 
 Down into Lexington Avenue and around the cor- 
 ner they whipped like the fragment of a comet round- 
 ing the curve of its orbit. They were barely in time 
 to see the limousine ahead skid recklessly about the 
 corner below, careening onward towards busy, con- 
 gested Third Avenue, further to the east, with its 
 car-lines, its posts of the elevated structure, and its 
 swarming population to complicate the race. 
 
 There was nothing by then to be seen of Barbara 
 84
 
 A RACE IN THE STREETS 85 
 
 or her companion, in the glimpse vouchsafed of the 
 car. But at least they were not far ahead. 
 
 The big machine that Vail had seized now delivered 
 a deafening roar where its muffler cut-out was 
 opened. It appeared to leap in exultation in its lib- 
 erated power. 
 
 A man with an armful of parcels started to cross 
 its deadly path, but was mercifully halted in time. 
 He danced an eccentric fandango that scattered his 
 bundles far and wide, then fled to the safety of the 
 curb. 
 
 The corner was reached not a second too soon. 
 The car ahead, with luck all its way, had found 
 Third Avenue almost clear for its swing to the down- 
 town tracks. It, too, was belching a gatling's de- 
 tonations and a blinding cloud of fume. 
 
 Half a minute later Vail and his man were like- 
 wise in the Avenue, shooting madly down the gleam- 
 ing rails, in the wake of the limousine. Yells, curses, 
 and even a cheer arose from the scattering pedes- 
 trians of the street who beheld the fury of the race. 
 
 Straight on, through the double peristyle of iron 
 pillars, past crosstown streets pouring in their traf- 
 fic, and heading for a huge yellow surface car ahead, 
 the two mighty engines of speed and steel were 
 hurtling with increasing velocity. 
 
 The fellow ahead was a demon. He fairly jumped 
 the rails at last, to dart with consummate skill about 
 the car and drive like a monster projectile through 
 a narrow space between the iron pillars and a loaded 
 wagon, standing near the curb.
 
 86 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Julian groaned. He saw the traffic closing there, 
 where the limousine had passed. The car beneath 
 him snarled like an angry beast as it cringed to the 
 biting of the brake. 
 
 But, like a hollow in the fog, the wagons and 
 people melted away, uncovering an opening into 
 which they drove the wind-splitting front of the 
 motor. Once more they beheld the machine that led 
 the chase. It had gained perceptibly, and was going 
 like some crazed ambassador of a cyclone, clearing 
 its path by the terror it inspired. 
 
 It flung itself unscathed through the crosstown 
 ebb and flow of trolleys, trucks, cabs, and automo- 
 biles at Thirty-fourth Street, and was swallowed 
 from sight almost immediately after the streams that 
 flow in both directions resumed their interrupted 
 surge. 
 
 Down on this living wall of human beings, horses, 
 and vehicles Julian's driver swept to meet defeat. 
 The barrier of life was more impassable than one of 
 roaring flame. At its very edge the car was brought 
 to an absolute halt, while the limousine, now far be- 
 yond, trailed its woof of smoke and terror through 
 the warp of streets and men like a shuttle of fate 
 that blindly moves, regardless of the pattern left 
 behind. 
 
 It seemed an age before the way through the 
 crosstown stream was opened. The driver then, at 
 Julian's urging, sped as before down the Avenue, 
 hoping to recover lost ground. 
 
 Vail was certain he could yet discern the machine
 
 A RACE IN THE STREETS 87 
 
 he must overtake. But a street-car'a bulk, more 
 crossing trucks, and moving masses of humanity, ob- 
 structed and confused the vista down the two long 
 rows of pillars, and nothing was definite beyond. 
 
 More yells, the cries of a baffled and useless police- 
 man, and staring crowds lent incidents that rapidly 
 sped rearward in the flight, and Julian urged more 
 speed. Then, when at length a clearer opening was 
 once more made ahead, he found himself staring at 
 empty tracks and road, with never a sign of the 
 limousine, which he knew must have turned aside at 
 last and escaped to a crosstown street. 
 
 There was nothing to do save drive ahead and 
 scrutinize the thoroughfares they passed, in a feeble 
 hope of catching sight of the vanished car with the 
 girl. There was, however, absolutely no means in 
 the world of ascertaining whether the fellow with 
 Barbara had turned to the right or left. And, be- 
 fore they came to Twenty-third Street, Julian ac- 
 knowledged defeat. 
 
 Not another sign of the car had they seen and 
 he knew they never should. Impatiently and dis- 
 gustedly, pausing at last to wonder what it meant 
 thus to find Miss Lee and her abductor in the house 
 of iron men, Vail reluctantly ordered the driver to 
 face about and return where Garrison was working. 
 
 They crossed into Lexington Avenue, thereby 
 avoiding the belated pursuit of a mounted officer, 
 and arrived in good season before the house of crime. 
 But Garrison had gone. There was no response 
 to Julian's knocking on the door, and at last he
 
 88 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 turned away to be driven once more to his office. He 
 had ample time for careful thinking of all he had 
 discovered and how much it were wise to reveal. 
 
 He did not, however, hesitate to telephone Gar- 
 rison's office. Some clerk in charge replied, inform- 
 ing him Garrison had not returned and could not 
 be found by the wire. Then at length Vail took a 
 brush from a drawer and removed the dust from his 
 clothing. 
 
 When he finally sat once more at his desk, facing 
 the tall brass vase that held the ruby, he was far 
 more at sea than ever before, and far more obsessed 
 by doubts. 
 
 Barbara's disappearance of the morning and the 
 sight of her there in the house to which a secret 
 passage led from a scene of murder, as foul as ever 
 a crime could be, seemed more than all his logic could 
 explain away, despite her cry upon the stairs, which 
 had seemed like a call for help. 
 
 Yet to that cry he clung with a stubbornness in- 
 credible. If she had not gone to the premises vol- 
 untarily, if even now she were held a captive, looking 
 to himself for her deliverance, what a wholly differ- 
 ent aspect the entire affair would assume ! But had 
 she cried to him for assistance, or merely in fright 
 at seeing him there, where no one could have been 
 expected? He was greatly annoyed that he had not 
 seen the face of the man she was with. He only knew 
 the fellow was large and his hair was fiery red. 
 
 He felt the need of help but where should aid 
 be found? How could he share the blackest of his
 
 A RACE IN THE STREETS 89 
 
 suspicions with Garrison relate all he knew of the 
 ruby and what had happened since? No one save 
 himself could conceive or entertain a hope of Bar- 
 bara's innocence and no one else would greatly 
 care. 
 
 The ways of love are strange, mad ways and the 
 love that had come unbidden to his heart was the 
 strongest, blindest emotion that Vail had ever under- 
 gone. It refused to be shaken or to die. It con- 
 jured new hopes where logic shrank abashed, and 
 would not let them go. It hungered for Barbara, 
 championed her honor, fretted his soul with impa- 
 tience, and suffered acutely for his doubts. 
 
 A thousand times he wondered where she was, and 
 a thousand times he questioned what it was she was 
 hiding from his ken. It seemed impossible her male 
 companion could have dragged her unwillingly into 
 the house where he had met them on the stairs in 
 the glaring light of day. 
 
 That the house was the same she had previously 
 described there could be not a shadow of doubt. The 
 room containing the armor was unmistakable. More- 
 over, it could scarcely be duplicated in a hundred 
 years, in Greater New York. 
 
 What was the sinister relation between the girl and 
 the crime worked out so short a space away? He 
 dimly recalled that on his hasty exit from the place 
 he had noted that the house of iron men stood three 
 or four doors removed from the one where the body 
 had been found. The secret passage must, therefore, 
 be fully a hundred feet long an older-day tunnel
 
 90 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 connecting the houses for uses that would never be 
 divulged. 
 
 He wondered who owned the tenantless house where 
 the men of iron stood. He wondered also if Garri- 
 son had found that passageway, with the panels 
 at either end. What had the criminologist thought 
 when he found his car and companion vanished from 
 the scene? 
 
 Vail got up and paced the floor. He needed Gar- 
 rison. He likewise felt he must inform him, at least, 
 of what he had found and done. He fretted there 
 for an hour, calling the detective's office repeatedly, 
 to no avail. He telephoned Mrs. Loomis no less 
 often, always to learn that Barbara had not returned. 
 
 He ate no lunch. The afternoon was consumed 
 with business of the B. & K. C. R. R., which Gard- 
 ner was viciously attacking. No news developed 
 either of Barbara or Garrison. The day was a long 
 and futile session of impatience. Darkness brought 
 no change. And at last he once more remembered the 
 Comity Ball to which Iris expected to be taken.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE COMITY BAIX 
 
 WITH a feeling that was anything save fes- 
 tive or gay, Vail ascended the stairs at the 
 gorgeous Puryn mansion at nine o'clock in the even- 
 ing. At the final minute he had sent a box of flow- 
 ers, for the first time forgotten in more than a year 
 that he had paid his court to Iris. 
 
 He was somewhat abashed at the thought of his 
 neglect, so tardily corrected. The feeling he had 
 undergone in sending these roses to Iris was in 
 startling contrast with the emotions experienced at 
 buying American beauties for Barbara, despite the 
 protest of duty. 
 
 His longing for Barbara was not to be dimin- 
 ished ; the dread of his spirit at thought of an even- 
 ing at the ball with Iris at his side was not to be 
 escaped. 
 
 Then presently, while he waited in the golden 
 reception-room adjoining Iris's suite, surprise num- 
 ber one of the evening came to pass. One of the 
 servants entered to announce that his fiancee had 
 been taken ill, within the last few minutes, and might 
 be unable to go. 
 
 Vail was genuinely sympathetic. He was doubly 
 distressed to think his attitude had been impatient 
 
 91
 
 92 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 and cold, and that possibly a nervous complication 
 had arisen out of this mysterious affair to assist in 
 making Iris ill. 
 
 In the midst of his uncertainty Enid appeared, 
 to alter the aspect of the evening. 
 
 " Oh, Julian," she said, " I never was in such a 
 quandary. Iris seems far too ill to leave the house. 
 She declares it is nothing serious, and I suppose she 
 knows. But she cannot think of going to the ball, 
 and insists I shall take her place. I've protested that 
 such an arrangement might not be in the least ac- 
 ceptable to you that you would never have asked 
 me to accept such an honor, and that you are certain 
 to be chagrined and embarrassed by any such pro- 
 posal, but " 
 
 " Not at all," interrupted Julian, far more indif- 
 ferent to the change of programme than he would 
 have dared confess. " If that is her wish, and you 
 consent, I am sure I am quite at your service." 
 
 " How kind you always are ! " said Enid, flushing 
 with delight. She met his gaze with inscrutable eyes 
 that awoke some surprise in his nature. " If I could 
 
 only be sure it's not your mere polite But why 
 
 should beggars be choosers? " And she laughed, 
 with the color still glowing in her cheeks. " Shall 
 I tell her, then, her suggestion is accepted?" 
 
 " If you please," said Vail, still puzzled by Enid's 
 newest phase and the look he had discovered in her 
 glance. " And express my genuine and heartfelt re- 
 gret to Iris that she is indisposed. I trust she will 
 speedily recover. If there is anything in the world
 
 THE COMITY BALL 93 
 
 that I can do, pray let me know. If she prefers to 
 have me remain if she can see me " 
 
 " Oh, no, dear Julian, she couldn't at all ! " Enid 
 hastened to state. " She said there was nothing she 
 cared to request, except the plan I've mentioned." 
 
 " Very well," said Vail. " We will go whenever 
 you wish." 
 
 Enid retired for her final preparations, and when 
 she returned was not only gowned in positive splen- 
 dor but was wearing some of his roses. 
 
 " Do you recognize these ? " she asked him, shyly. 
 " Do you mind my wearing them to-night? " 
 
 One answer only was permitted him, and this he 
 murmured carelessly, still struck by her change to- 
 wards himself. 
 
 His limousine car was at the door, and they were 
 driven to the ball. 
 
 This Comity Ball, the newest and most original of 
 Swelldom's creations, was the brilliant and daring in- 
 novation of a woman leader of the highest social 
 set, who had frequently startled her pleasure-loving 
 world with something unusual or bold. 
 
 It was held at one of the huge hotels well down 
 Fifth Avenue, a hostelry far famed for its splendid 
 appointments and nation-wide popularity. It was, in 
 every sense of the word, an international function, 
 to " cement the comity of nations and acquaint the 
 representatives thereof with one another on a 
 friendly and joyous footing." 
 
 In accordance with its purpose, it was held at 
 New York instead of at the nation's capital, because
 
 94 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 of the great burg's highly cosmopolitan character. 
 And social, if not diplomatic, delegates from every 
 considerable monarchy, empire, or republic of the 
 world had been invited to be present, costumed wher- 
 ever possible in distinguishing attire. 
 
 A more brilliant ensemble than that which popu- 
 lated the wonderful gold and crystal room may 
 scarcely be imagined. It was all a marvelous kaleido- 
 scope of color, motion, and refulgence. From the 
 polished floor, that flung back softened reds and 
 blacks, and mellowed gold and greens, to the ceiling, 
 rioting in iridescent gleams and gold again, the 
 entire hall was magnificent. 
 
 The flowers had cost a fortune. Their wealth of 
 fragrance was tossed on every wave that ripples of 
 laughter caused to rise and billow to the walls. The 
 palm-room, the fountain grotto, and the cool, dark- 
 ened places provided for resting and retirement from 
 the throng, were bowers of roses or of violets, whose 
 perfumes ravished the air. 
 
 Soft music weaved upon the atmosphere like waft- 
 ing of zephyrs over meadows. Sparkle and shim- 
 mer, the twinkle of feet, and a ceaseless procession 
 of the nations' elect became like subtle intoxicants to 
 charm and excite the senses. 
 
 It seemed as if the whole foreign world had re- 
 sponded to the call for a brothering of nations. 
 There were Russians, Germans, British officers, proud 
 little Japanese, Turks, Hungarians, Dons from 
 Spain, East Indian princes in their wondrous robes 
 and turbans, men of the world's great navies, courtly
 
 THE COMITY BALL 95 
 
 French officials, representatives from Sweden, and 
 strangers from all corners of the earth. But more 
 than all, for beauty, color, and animation, were the 
 women the belles of all the lands, in the miracles of 
 their adornment. 
 
 Into the midst of this amazing throng Vail and 
 Enid Puryn were projected, only to find all the 
 friends and social acquaintances of their elected set 
 already there to give them welcome. 
 
 The attendance was, indeed, unprecedented. Scores 
 of new arrivals swarmed at the entrance doors be- 
 low, and presently streamed upon the floor. A hun- 
 dred murmurs of surprise, delight, or interest sped 
 the rounds from time to time, as important acquisi- 
 tions were added to the already brilliant attendance. 
 
 Despite it all, however, Vail was still more occupied 
 by thoughts of the day's affairs than by anything he 
 saw. Nevertheless, he danced with Enid and with 
 others, in an automatic way, and the current of pleas- 
 ure steadily rose to sweep him along with the others. 
 
 It was shortly after eleven o'clock when once again 
 a murmur of excitement came to Julian's ears. Some- 
 one had come whom all the world apparently wished 
 to see. 
 
 Despite himself, Vail partook of the curious im- 
 pulse that surged throughout the room. Some 
 woman, young and surpassingly beautiful, had just 
 arrived, on the arm of an English peer. She and 
 her escort swung in close to the eager group of 
 which Vail made a unit. 
 
 A moment afterward, incredulous and rooted to
 
 96 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the spot by sheer astonishment, he stood there amaz- 
 edly staring. 
 
 The new arrival was no other than Barbara Lee. 
 
 The man on whose arm she was resting her hand 
 was Sir Hugh Pearson, in the service of His Majesty, 
 King George. 
 
 A more enchanting vision of loveliness and diffi- 
 dence than Barbara presented could hardly be imag- 
 ined. She was color and charm incarnate. Her 
 gown, that was cut decollete, revealing arms and 
 shoulders of ivory perfection, was the last and 
 daintiest refinement of golden chiffon, over shimmer- 
 ing tissue of gold. Her feet were encased in golden 
 slippers like slender little models for a queen. About 
 her neck were diamonds of the purest ray and luster. 
 In her hair she wore a small gold coronet, wrought in 
 marvelous filigree, that glowed in the wealth of its 
 setting. 
 
 Unconsciously she bore herself with a regal air, 
 as wholly unstudied and natural as that of a rose 
 on its stem. And yet she was timid and as unaware 
 of her beauty and her power as when she had slipped 
 from her imprisoning case into Julian's arms, at his 
 office. 
 
 This much at least the man discerned, as he 
 watched her slowly approaching. He felt it in the 
 girlish way she conversed with the man at her side. 
 Then she caught his glance, the color mounted 
 swiftly to her face and neck, and she moved on past 
 like one directed in a dream.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE FIRES OF LOVE 
 
 HAD Vail seen a ghost he could have been no 
 more affected. It was simply beyond all 
 credence a mystery as utterly confusing as any- 
 thing heretofore developed in this extraordinary 
 business. It completely disorganized every previous 
 conception he had formed as to who and what the 
 girl could be, shook down his faith in her story, and 
 made chaos of matters already sufficiently entangled. 
 
 Such a chain and tissue of incongruities he could 
 never have imagined possible. His mind refused all 
 further effort with theories or even conjectures. He 
 was certain of one thing only he loved her more 
 helplessly, more consumingly than ever before, and 
 felt that the world and all it contained would be a 
 meager sacrifice to fold her again in his arms his 
 own priceless gift of the gods ! 
 
 The man was no longer fit to reason. His love 
 made all estimate of Barbara's character impossible. 
 He was ready to accept her in his heart as the 
 world's one great desire, no matter what her connec- 
 tion with the Gatama ruby crime. 
 
 Eagerly his gaze still clung to her figure where 
 she went. To watch, to grasp at the earliest oppor- 
 
 97
 
 98 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 tunity of being formally presented, and then to 
 touch her hand to be near her again this was his 
 one real object now, and all else faded from his 
 mind. 
 
 The matter was not susceptible of prompt or easy 
 arrangement, despite the fact he knew Sir Hugh and 
 observed every movement they made. Barbara's 
 beauty had magnetized the whole young male assem- 
 blage, not to mention despairing women. She was 
 swiftly surrounded and besieged, whenever a halt 
 made such attentions possible. Vail was no more 
 than anyone else in the eager stampede of men. 
 
 Enid was forgotten as Julian moved from one 
 point of vantage to another. He was not aware 
 of his neglect till she finally overtook him in the 
 palm-room, to which he had gone in a baffled quest 
 for Barbara, whom he had momentarily lost. It 
 jarred him back to realities when Enid touched him 
 on the arm. 
 
 " I feared you might be feeling the heat," she 
 said, by way of explaining his behavior. " Shall we 
 not sit down for a moment by ourselves? " 
 
 " If you like," he answered, mechanically. " I 
 fear I'm a trifle dull." 
 
 " Poor, dear Julian," she murmured, as she found 
 her place beside him on a rustic bench where the 
 light filtered softly through the shadows. " I think 
 I can understand your disappointment in Iris the 
 way she behaves over somebody's harmless joke." 
 
 He stared at her blankly. " My disappointment? " 
 
 " Oh, I saw it at once," she assured him, sympa-
 
 THE FIRES OF LOVE 99 
 
 thetically. " I didn't blame you in the least. And 
 
 for Iris to turn to Mr. Gardner now There! I 
 
 didn't intend to betray my feelings betray her lack 
 
 of Forgive me, Julian, for the great concern 
 
 I feel in your happiness." 
 
 He had never in his life felt more indifferent re- 
 specting Iris and Gardner than at this particular 
 moment. Nevertheless, he aroused to a slight extent 
 to grasp at what Enid was imparting. 
 
 " You are very kind," he told her, in a colorless 
 tone of voice she did not understand. " Thank you 
 for your interest, Enid, as well as your sympathy. 
 Is Gardner here to-night? " 
 
 She glanced at him peculiarly. 
 
 " You wouldn't really expect to find him here 
 after Isn't sudden illness the most conven- 
 ient Oh, let's talk of something else! You 
 
 know it isn't often the fates are so kind as this 
 to me." 
 
 He was startled by the look he found in her eyes, 
 that were fixed unabashed on his own. He was dis- 
 tinctly uncomfortable, more especially as the hints in 
 her speeches stirred new suspicions in his mind. 
 
 " But Iris was ill ? " he insisted. " There can be 
 no doubt of that?" 
 
 " I am such a poor judge," she answered, mean- 
 ingly, " for in a place like hers I wouldn't have 
 missed this evening for the world." 
 
 " Beautiful night," he murmured, " and a bril- 
 liant scene." 
 
 Her voice sank to something like a sigh.
 
 100 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " But I was thinking of pleasures that go far 
 deeper than that." 
 
 Vail disliked the trend of the conversation exceed- 
 ingly. He was wondering what he could say or do 
 by way of making his escape when a new sensation 
 of uneasiness compelled him to peer through the 
 foliage across the dimly lighted place, where he found 
 his gaze confronted by two sets of widely differing 
 eyes. 
 
 One pair of eyes was as coldly gray as crockery; 
 the others were as black as carbons. The gray eyes 
 were those of a woman. Her companion was a 
 swarthy East Indian, whose gaze was a penetrative 
 stare. That both were engaged in a concentrated 
 study either of himself or of Enid, Vail felt with a 
 sense akin to anger. 
 
 Neither the man nor the woman had moved when 
 Enid, abruptly following Julian's fixed attention, 
 glanced quickly across through the leaves. Instantly 
 she rose from her seat. 
 
 " Oh, I wonder if I hadn't promised this dance 
 to Would you mind if we returned to the ball- 
 room? " she said. " It's such a provoking thing for 
 anyone to forget an obligation." 
 
 Vail was glad to escort her back, for his own impa- 
 tience was increasing. They had hardly more than 
 entered on the floor, however, than Enid declared she 
 had dropped her fan, for which he went to search. 
 The fan was not upon or near the bench. He re- 
 turned to find that Enid had disappeared, greatly 
 to his relief.
 
 THE FIRES OF LOVE 101 
 
 He barely escaped a collision with Sir Hugh Pear- 
 son, as he started down the hall, and half a minute 
 later, by the fortunes of fate, was conventionally 
 presented to Barbara, whose name, according to the 
 English baron, was Lady Constance Drew. 
 
 He offered his arm, which she tremblingly ac- 
 cepted, and led her excitedly away. His heart was 
 almost audibly pounding in his breast, while Bar- 
 bara's wildly fluttered. 
 
 For a moment neither spoke, and all the room be- 
 came a blur. Vail was the first to find his voice. 
 
 " What a wonderful assemblage." 
 
 She barely murmured, " Yes." 
 
 His heart was too full for trivialities. He turned 
 his gaze upon her face. 
 
 " Barbara, what does it mean this encounter 
 here? another name? another surprise and puz- 
 zle?" 
 
 She was tremendously overwrought. 
 
 " Oh ! I don't really know." 
 
 "You don't know? But what am I to believe? 
 You told me your name " 
 
 " My name isn't Lady Constance that is, I mean 
 I've never said it was. I have told you nothing but 
 the truth at least, I've tried to tell you nothing else." 
 
 He felt her tremble, felt the strain of something 
 she strove to meet with all her vanishing courage. 
 
 " Not Lady Constance ? " he repeated. " This is 
 just some masquerade? " 
 
 She was nearly ready for collapse, with increasing 
 apprehension.
 
 102 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I would tell you all about it if I could. I can- 
 not tell you here. I wish I wish Oh, if only 
 
 I hadn't come ! I know I deserve to be exposed ! But 
 I do wish you to believe me honest believe me grate- 
 ful compelled to do If you could have a lit- 
 tle more trust, in spite Oh! I don't know what 
 
 you must think ! " 
 
 " I've got to believe you're everything that's 
 beautiful ! " he answered, from his agony of heart. 
 " It seems as if I've known you always, Barbara. I 
 seem to have lived for years, the past two days. 
 
 But don't you see This morning, why did you 
 
 run away? and where did you go? How did you 
 happen to be in that house? Who was the man? 
 And now, to-night here here like this ! I hardly 
 know what to believe. I want you to tell me every- 
 thing. I've promised to be your friend ! " 
 
 Her eyes met his with a wistfulness that crept to 
 the shrine of his soul. Some violent conflict of emo- 
 tions was waging in her breast. Fright and sheer 
 bravery of spirit were written together in her face. 
 
 " I'd tell you if I could," she repeated. " I can't ! 
 But please, please don't condemn me. I couldn't bear 
 it now." 
 
 Some mighty exultation leaped to his outermost 
 pulses. 
 
 " You'd care if I condemned you little friend ? " 
 
 Her eyes abruptly brimmed with tears. 
 
 " Please don't call me that unless " 
 
 " I mean it God help me, Barbara, no matter 
 what I mean I want you to let me prove
 
 THE FIRES OF LOVE 103 
 
 Why don't you let me help you more than I can 
 with all this mystification? Perhaps you don't even 
 realize " 
 
 " Oh, please," she interrupted, " not here not 
 now. Let's not talk about me any more." 
 
 Her beauty had overwhelmed him. Her appeal to 
 his friendship, and her wish for his good opinion, 
 had plunged him into a reckless love that might have 
 accepted anything, if only her heart were his own. 
 His soul had become her sponsor, his blind, tem- 
 pestuous soul that reckoned not with logic, but with 
 careless adoration that her lips could have bribed 
 with a kiss. It was sheer, exalted madness, too sweet 
 to be denied. 
 
 " But when? " he said. " We must have a talk 
 a long, frank conference. Certain things have hap- 
 pened that concern us both and we need each 
 other's help." 
 
 The music commenced, a waltz by Strauss that 
 was honeyed with intoxicants, like wines translated 
 into sound. Barbara smiled, a faint, shy hope in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " May we dance? " 
 
 He took her in his arms. " Though paradise were 
 lost instead of gained." 
 
 It was a wonderful dance, that enslaved him anew 
 and blotted all else from the joyous world save just 
 themselves alone. It was not less ecstatic or enamor- 
 ing for the fact that ominous mysteries lay behind 
 and all about their brief acquaintance. They should 
 still have danced thus, heart to heart, though all the
 
 104 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 world's volcanoes were threatening beneath their 
 feet. 
 
 Only once did Barbara glance for a second in his 
 eyes, but he felt his soul lift out and away to heights 
 heretofore unimagined. 
 
 Both were breathless with things inexpressible when 
 the waltz was concluded at last. Around with the 
 throng they continued strolling while the world of 
 realities returned. 
 
 " Are you going back to Mrs. Loomis's ? " he 
 asked her finally, roused to a sense that the evening 
 must presently end, and mystery once more claim 
 her for its own. " You won't run away from me 
 again ? " 
 
 " I I'll do the best I can," she answered, eva- 
 sively. " If only I can manage If we are real 
 
 friends, don't make me promise anything to-night." 
 
 " But you will explain to me, Barbara, what some 
 of these happenings mean? I assure you it's very 
 serious indeed. You've got to let me see you, little 
 friend. You must understand that now ! " 
 
 She was once more trembling. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know what to do ! I don't know what 
 to do ! " 
 
 " In Heaven's name, let me help you ! " he im- 
 plored. " Why keep me thus in the dark? Even this 
 masquerade of yours to-night you haven't told me 
 what it means or how it came about. You told me 
 you had neither friends nor money, and yet, your 
 gown your jewels " 
 
 He halted suddenly, afflicted with a sickening
 
 THE FIRES OF LOVE 105 
 
 thought that other gsms besides the ruby had been 
 stolen when the Indian prince was slain. It scarcely 
 seemed possible she would dare to appear in public 
 with any such gems and yet, where might this 
 boldness and tangle of mysteries lead, in the light of 
 things she had already done? 
 
 They were startled eyes she turned upon him now. 
 
 " Oh, I thought we'd agreed to drop it all to- 
 night. I can't ! I can't tell anything anything 
 more just yet ! " 
 
 " But don't you see how it appears ? " he still in- 
 sisted. " To-day, in that house, I thought you 
 needed help, and yet to-night " 
 
 " Please take me to my seat," she interrupted, 
 pleadingly, more alarmed than before. " I've prom- 
 ised this dance to that gentleman waiting now." 
 
 There was nothing for Vail to do but comply with 
 her desire. He led her to the place where he had 
 begged the formal introduction. She was there de- 
 livered to a foreign-looking man whom Julian had 
 never met, and he watched her gliding away. 
 
 With the dance no more than well begun, and 
 while he continued to watch her eagerly, he lost her 
 in the throng. He made his way towards the grotto, 
 saw her emerge alone and hasten away to the room 
 where wraps were checked, and then, three minutes 
 later, beheld her joined by a tall, broad-shouldered 
 man in evening dress already prepared to depart. 
 
 Vail had barely time to observe that the man had 
 brick-red hair and to realize it was he that he had 
 seen on the stairs in the house of iron men when an-
 
 106 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 other woman joined them and the trio hastened 
 
 away. Then a voice behind him broke upon his ear. 
 " Oh, here you are, Julian, after all ! " 
 He turned and found Enid Puryn on the arm of 
 
 Chester Cranch. 
 
 The ball had become something more than a bore ; 
 
 it amounted to a torture.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 JEEOLD GARRISON'S CRAFT 
 
 THE ball that concluded at two o'clock in the 
 morning lasted throughout the night for Vail, 
 despite the fact that he and Enid retreated early 
 from the scene. 
 
 This morning, as he sat once more at his desk 
 in reach of the brass shell, hoarding some freshly 
 purchased carnations and the ruby, he recalled every 
 word and glance that had marked Miss Lee's be- 
 havior as Lady Constance Drew. His mind had 
 known no repose or satisfaction since the moment 
 he had seen her depart. 
 
 A complex sensation of relief and need for caution 
 assailed him when Broughton opened the door to an- 
 nounce Detective Garrison. He piled a mass of un- 
 read letters before him and assumed an air of busi- 
 ness occupation with the greatest alacrity, by way 
 of preparation for the criminologist's inspection. 
 
 But he rose to give his visitor hearty welcome, 
 when Garrison entered the room, and waved him at 
 once to a chair. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, " I nearly short-circuited 
 the wires here yesterday trying to get you on the 
 'phone. You must have been out all afternoon." 
 
 107
 
 108 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " All night as well," said Garrison, leaning some- 
 what heavily back in his chair. " I have frequently 
 found that a false alarm will lead me further and 
 cost more time than half a dozen genuine calls." 
 
 " To which case do you refer ? " asked Julian, toy- 
 ing with a small bronze buffalo that usually held his 
 papers on the desk. " Was it mine or the Ma- 
 harajah's? " 
 
 Garrison eyed him, apparently with languid 
 interest. 
 
 " That remains to be seen. Has it ever occurred 
 to you to wonder if the two might have some slight 
 connection? " Before Vail could answer he resumed. 
 " That reminds me to ask who it was you were chas- 
 ing yesterday in the car. You must have got out 
 by the basement door and felt a bit pressed for 
 time." 
 
 Julian attempted a laugh. 
 
 " I did. I heard someone open a door and I called 
 rather lustily for you. Then I caught a glimpse of 
 a man escaping and eagerly took up the chase. He 
 got to his car before I could work the lock. Then I 
 ran for your machine and tried to overhaul him 
 with what success you doubtless know." 
 
 " I know the effort failed. But about the man you 
 saw and pursued what sort of a person was he? " 
 
 " Why I saw him so indistinctly and briefly," 
 Vail answered, warned to additional caution by Gar- 
 rison's remark concerning possible connections of 
 Barbara with the crime. " Didn't the chauffeur see 
 what the fellow was like? "
 
 JEROLD GARRISON'S CRAFT 109 
 
 Garrison shook his head. 
 
 " He must have been half-asleep on his seat when 
 you leaped in the car with orders to chase the limou- 
 sine. It's particularly unfortunate, Mr. Vail, you 
 can give no description of the man." 
 
 Julian studied the small bronze buffalo minutely. 
 
 " I'm sorry. But about my birthday remembrance, 
 have you anything new to report ? " 
 
 Garrison leaned forward. 
 
 " Let me ask you a number of preliminary ques- 
 tions. Yesterday you said Miss Lee had left the 
 place where you found her a shelter. Have you seen 
 her since? " 
 
 " She had not returned last night," said Vail, eva- 
 sively. " I haven't 'phoned this morning." 
 
 " Because you believe she isn't there ? " 
 
 " I'm rather expecting her to let me know when 
 she returns." 
 
 Garrison retained his attitude of alert and in- 
 tensified interest. 
 
 " I ought to see her, Mr. Vail. I believe she told 
 you something of her trunk, which some Mrs. Cree 
 agreed to take in charge. Has anything been dis- 
 covered of that? " 
 
 Vail felt a new apprehension a vague sort of 
 dread of the things that trunk might contain. Bar- 
 bara's eagerness for its recovery coupled now with 
 Garrison's hints bestirred his imagination to fill it 
 full of pilfered gems as accusing as the ruby. He 
 had gone too far in protecting the girl to betray 
 his knowledge now.
 
 110 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Nothing has been found of anything connected 
 with the matter, to my knowledge," he replied. " I 
 put everything up to you when you started from 
 here yesterday. Perhaps it would help if I knew 
 just what you have discovered." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Garrison, dryly. " First, with 
 respect to Miss Lee and her father, the facts she 
 imparted were substantially correct. Lee always 
 lived apart from his neighbors, attempting to avoid 
 acquaintances. He was an Englishman, I should 
 say, with something to conceal." 
 
 Vail looked up sharply. 
 
 " An Englishman ? You are sure ? " 
 
 " Quite positive. We hope to discover more, but 
 his record is obscure. It is more than likely his 
 name was merely assumed." 
 
 Julian's thoughts confirmed this hypothesis, if 
 they had not formed it for themselves. Neverthe- 
 less, it disturbed him anew to hear the suspicion put 
 into words, in the light of what he knew. 
 
 " That is all you have found ? " he inquired. 
 
 " All at present, concerning Lee. This box, in 
 which your * gift ' was delivered, was made by 
 Epsilon, the florist, on the order of a lady who 
 instructed him over the 'phone." 
 
 Julian sat up stiffly, electrified by this intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 " Then, of course, he knows her name ! " 
 
 " The name she gave was Mrs. Howard Gribble." 
 
 Vail arose from his seat. 
 
 " Mrs. Howard Gribble my friend Gribble's
 
 JERDLD GARRISON'S CRAFT 111 
 
 wife? That's absurd! She sailed last week for 
 Glasgow, and I saw her off at the pier ! " 
 
 Garrison was calm. 
 
 " I said it was the name the lady gave. She 
 doubtless chose it because jour friend was sure to 
 be away." 
 
 Vail sat down. 
 
 " It's an outrage ! to use a name like that ! What 
 arrangement was made about the box? I mean, 
 what was it ordered for? how was the matter pre- 
 sented to the florist?" 
 
 " Quite simply. He was desired to prepare a huge, 
 cardboard flower-box, as you see it there, except for 
 the wire supports, and to pack in it a small wild- 
 cherry tree, in blossom, for your birthday gift, keep- 
 ing everything secret, of course. That was last 
 week. The case and tree were delivered to certain 
 men, who said they came from Mrs. Gribble, Sunday 
 night. The men arrived in a limousine car per- 
 haps the one you were chasing yesterday and took 
 the box away. The bill, by the way, made out to 
 Mrs. Gribble, has not been paid." 
 
 " By George ! " said Vail. " It was all concocted 
 by someone familiar with the names of my friends, 
 that's certain ! " 
 
 " Precisely. And the persons concerned took the 
 simplest, most efficient means of avoiding detection, 
 in having Epsilon make and letter the box. It was 
 easy enough to trace it to him, but there the trail 
 is confused. When and where the young lady was 
 substituted for the cherry tree remains to be discov-
 
 112 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ered, together with the motive in sending her to 
 you." 
 
 Once more Vail arose. He began to pace the 
 floor. 
 
 " This leaves us about where we previously stood. 
 What motives are suggested to your mind, in addi- 
 tion to that which Gardner might possess?" 
 
 " Several," said Garrison, " but my deductions are 
 incomplete. If by any chance Miss Lee had left some 
 parcel in your care, the case might be plainer sailing. 
 You have mentioned nothing of the kind." 
 
 Fortunately Julian's back was turned, as he paced 
 the length of the office. Otherwise the sudden crim- 
 soning of his face might not have been readily ex- 
 plained. He hesitated, yet only for a moment, sti- 
 fling an impulse to reveal all he knew and so at least 
 end the suspense. 
 
 " No," he said, " she left no parcel," a statement 
 that was technically true. " Will you kindly inform 
 me why you would have expected from what you 
 deduce a supposition that she might have done any- 
 thing of the sort? " 
 
 Garrison's eyes brightened. 
 
 " It would have been such a clever device always 
 supposing a coterie of cunning knaves had desired 
 to conceal a bit of loot. What could be more crafty 
 than to send some dangerous treasure to a gentleman, 
 chivalrous and generous of heart, by way of a beau- 
 tiful young woman?" 
 
 He was so fearfully near the truth that Vail felt 
 a weakness at the knees. He echoed helplessly:
 
 113 
 
 " A beautiful young woman ? " 
 
 " She was so appraised by Miss Puryn and women 
 rarely bestow an undeserved compliment." 
 
 " I'm afraid that isn't the point, after all," said 
 Julian, attempting a laugh, that lacked in mirth. 
 " What sort of loot could possibly be delivered in a 
 manner so extraordinary?" 
 
 " Oh, anything small, of great value gems, for 
 instance." 
 
 Vail was perspiring. How much did this over- 
 penetrative criminologist know or suspect? The 
 necessity for pursuing the subject was absolute. 
 Julian halted in his march across the floor. 
 
 " Gems ? a poor friendless girl ? What are you 
 driving at, Garrison? What sort of a theory have 
 you formed? Tell me what you have found." 
 
 Garrison met and held his client's eyes with a 
 steady, searching gaze. 
 
 " I found a branch of the cherry tree in the 
 house of the ruby crime." 
 
 Vail received the shock without a sign. He even 
 took time to think, and collect his nerve before he 
 attempted an answer. 
 
 " A branch of the cherry tree that " 
 
 " For which Miss Lee was substituted in the box." 
 
 Julian was apparently unruffled. 
 
 " And what do you make of that ? " 
 
 Garrison shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " It would make such a beautiful affair such a 
 triumph of deductive science if only the girl had 
 left something here for you to keep."
 
 114 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Vail forced a laugh. 
 
 " The great Gatama ruby ? " 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 The irony of the situation, with the ruby less than 
 two feet away from the keen detective's nose, struck 
 a spark from the sense of humor in Julian's composi- 
 tion that had recently lain inactive. 
 
 " Let me suggest you search the room," he said. 
 " But I solemnly assure you there is nothing of Miss 
 Lee's in the place." This again was strictly true, 
 but doubt and dread had come for deep lodgment in 
 his breast. 
 
 Garrison waved his hand in a deprecating gesture. 
 
 " Thank you, I shouldn't have waited so long as 
 this had I not been afraid of some flaw in my chain 
 of logic. Your statement is sufficient, and has been 
 so from the first. You will see, however, the neces- 
 sity of an interview between Miss Lee and myself." 
 
 Julian rushed to her defense. 
 
 " I am certain you would be the first to pronounce 
 her an innocent, truthful young woman who has been 
 abominably treated." 
 
 " That would be a very great pleasure, despite 
 certain duties I owe to a thorough probing in the 
 case of this Maharajah crime." 
 
 " But," said Vail, " now that you acknowledge the 
 flaw in your line of reasoning, must you still insist 
 upon connecting Miss Lee with an affair so revolting 
 as that? " 
 
 " The facts insist upon connecting themselves," 
 corrected Garrison. " What would you have me do ?
 
 JEROLD GARRISON'S CRAFT 115 
 
 Doesn't this cherry-tree development startle some as- 
 surance from your mind ? " 
 
 " Oh, it mixes things up ! " admitted Julian, once 
 more pacing the room. " It's amazing, of course, 
 and I wish to know precisely what it means. But 
 naturally I'm more concerned to know why I was 
 selected as the one to whom Miss Lee was sent. Why 
 was it done and by whom? Have you worked out 
 a theory on that? " 
 
 Garrison nodded. 
 
 " It's a habit of my brain. Certain elements of 
 her tale ring true. She seems, for example, to have 
 been without either friends or relations just the 
 sort of person that anyone designing this plot upon 
 yourself would select for an innocent tool. There is 
 no one to follow her up, inquire about her disap- 
 pearance, or sound an alarm in her behalf. In a 
 word, there is no one to befriend or protect her, no 
 matter what her fate." 
 
 Something welled in Julian's breast. He was 
 all but betrayed into crying forth that she had 
 one friend and champion who would serve her, 
 if need be to the death. He calmed himself by an 
 effort. 
 
 " I might have known you'd see that, Garrison," 
 he said. " It struck me from the first." 
 
 " Yet, if she is friendless in Gotham, where has 
 she been since sometime yesterday morning? " 
 
 Vail was a bit nonplused. 
 
 " Why my presumption is she prefers some plans 
 of her own self -support a brave sort of independ-
 
 116 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ence, rather than rely on the bounty of a stranger. 
 But, whether she is an innocent victim or not, it is 
 inconceivable she was sent to me for anything save a 
 sinister motive. It must have been done for my 
 hurt, or ruin, and On that I want your help." 
 
 " I am losing as little time as possible," Garrison 
 assured him. " Have you found any further evi- 
 dence that anyone is attempting to benefit at all by 
 the business so far as it has gone?" 
 
 Julian related the affair of the ball, so far as it 
 touched upon Iris Puryn and her sister, adding a 
 brief recital of the attack that Gardner was making 
 on the B. & K. C. R. R. 
 
 " I have an alternative theory in the matter," Gar- 
 rison confessed, rising and taking up his hat. " It 
 is still too uncertain and even fantastic to offer to 
 anyone as yet. In a case like this we need each 
 other's constant co-operation. I know you'll remem- 
 ber that. There is some connection between the ruby 
 crime and Miss Lee, who was sent as a gift to you. 
 I have overstayed my time this morning. If I find 
 Miss Lee before you learn of her present place of 
 retirement, I will let you know at once." 
 
 Julian stared at him blankly. 
 
 " You are attempting to search her out ? " 
 
 " Naturally. She is very important to us both." 
 
 A clerk of the office knocked on the door and en- 
 tered to deliver a telegram. Vail tore it open, and 
 his heart fairly leaped with excitement. 
 
 It was dated from Hackett Tides, Long Island, 
 and was worded as follows:
 
 JEROLD GARRISON'S CRAFT 117 
 
 " If possible, please come, immediately, or send 
 help, Island House. Ask for Mr. Pierce, cigar store. 
 Barbara Lee." 
 
 With apparent indifference he folded it up and 
 tossed it to the desk. He turned to Garrison again. 
 
 " Yes, if you find her, you might call me up on 
 the 'phone." 
 
 " Right," said Garrison. " Good-by." 
 
 He went out at the private door. 
 
 " I've got to see her first," said Julian, to him- 
 self, and he hastened to the outer offices to deliver 
 his day's instructions. 
 
 At twelve o'clock he steered his car on a ferry 
 boat bound for Long Island, and commenced a forty- 
 mile ride. 
 
 A small, high-power runabout, driven by a woman, 
 rolled on like a shadow in his tracks.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A TEEACHEEY 
 
 THE region of Long Island's shore is traversed 
 by roads in all directions, with signposts mea- 
 gerly supplied. On two occasions Julian missed his 
 way and paid with large losses of time. 
 
 It was dusk when at length he halted his car at 
 Silver Rill, some three miles removed from Hackett 
 Tides, and dark when at length he arrived on foot 
 at the straggling, half-deserted village that marked 
 his destination. He took this precaution to remain 
 unobserved, in absolute ignorance of the fact that 
 the woman behind him in the runabout had tagged 
 him all the way. 
 
 The aspect of the isolated and neglected hamlet, 
 with night thus descended upon it, was anything save 
 inviting. A smell of tide-deserted mud was the only 
 thing moving in the place. The few lights twinkling 
 in the gloom that the moon would dissipate no 
 earlier than nine o'clock, appeared to Vail like meager 
 beams to warn the wary mariner away. 
 
 He was hungry, a fact now emphasized by the 
 vanishment of any dream of dining with Barbara 
 here that he might have entertained while driving 
 alone on the road. He began to reflect that such a 
 summons as the telegram might grove the cheapest 
 
 118
 
 A TREACHERY 119 
 
 sort of blind, if not a device to get him away from 
 his office while the place was being searched for the 
 ruby. 
 
 Yet there was always the chance that Barbara was 
 in fact in desperate need of his services, with, as Gar- 
 rison had said, no one to befriend and protect her. 
 So plausible was this contingency that nothing could 
 have induced him to ignore the cry for help that he 
 deemed the message to contain. His heart had 
 leaped before him all the way, feverish but impotent 
 to compass Barbara's safety against the Lord 
 alone knew what of fright or peril. 
 
 He was thoroughly convinced she was held in the 
 power of some ingenious set of scoundrels with no 
 one to turn to save himself. He was armed with a 
 loaded revolver, reposing in the pocket of his coat, 
 and had warned himself to expect either fraud or 
 attack. 
 
 It was not without considerable trouble and an- 
 noyance that he came at length upon the little shack, 
 dignified by the name of " store," where tobacco, 
 deadly at fifty yards, was vended to the poison-proof 
 denizens of the " Tides." It was part of a much- 
 battered wheelhouse, from a steamboat long since 
 defunct. It stood upon the edge of the mud that 
 scented the air, where a rickety pier was succumb- 
 ing to lingering consumption. -Beyond was much 
 of the ooze, and the edge of the water, where two 
 or three boats were moored to sagging lines. 
 
 Vail disliked the outlook exceedingly, but his con- 
 fidence returned at sight of Mr. Pierce, smoking
 
 120 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 alone before his cigar emporium, in a contest of 
 smells with the mud. 
 
 The cigar man was a tall, lazy, drawling indi- 
 vidual, prone to many smiles, florid of countenance, 
 and altogether cheering and assuring. He could be 
 cautious, however, and even suspicious, which devel- 
 oped so soon as Julian broached his subject. 
 
 " I have had a wire from this town," Vail informed 
 the smoker, " instructing me to ask for you as one 
 who might help me to find the Island House, which 
 I suppose is somewhere near. Can you spare the 
 time at once? " 
 
 " Hold on, friend go a bit easy," said Pierce, be- 
 tween puffs at his pipe. " How do I know ye be the 
 man I'm waitin' fer over an hour? What's yer 
 name? " 
 
 " Vail Mr. Julian Vail." 
 
 " Keerect, so fur, and O.K.," agreed the man of 
 caution. " Next, what's the name of the lady ? " 
 
 " Miss Barbara Lee. It might be important, Mr. 
 Pierce, to hasten in this matter if you please." 
 
 " Keerect," consented Mr. Pierce, " but understand 
 she asked me special to be keerful, as her troubles 
 was numerous and the wrong guys might git the 
 word." 
 
 "You saw her?" demanded Julian. "She was 
 here ? What is the trouble ? Where is she now ? " 
 
 " Hold on," admonished Pierce as before, slowly 
 putting on his coat and closing the door of his 
 place. " I'll take you where she is, for you wouldn't 
 know if I told ye, and that's better than standin'
 
 A TREACHERY 
 
 here gassin' ! " He lighted a lantern and started 
 for the pier. " What's more than that," he added, 
 soberly, " we got to go crafty now. No noise, no 
 fuss. Just do our business quiet or leave it alone 
 altogether." 
 
 They came to the end of the creaking wharf, where 
 the habitant pulled in a boat. It was large and 
 provided with two sets of oars and a tiller, now 
 shipped and lying on the seat at the stern. 
 
 Julian lost no time in clambering aboard and 
 pulling off his coat. His companion, standing on 
 the seat, raised the lantern to his face, put it down 
 as if in indecision, then raised it again, and blew 
 it out. He stored it underneath his seat. 
 
 "Better take it," he said, "but 'twouldn't be 
 crafty to show a light or nuthin'. Leave me store 
 your coat up for'ard. Might git wet there in the 
 stern." 
 
 The coat was transferred, and, with both men pres- 
 ently plying the oars, the craft shot out from the 
 zone of slime and was guided straight seaward from 
 the shore. 
 
 Talking ceased. Afar off, Julian fancied, he could 
 hear the muffled putt-putt of a motor boat, rapidly 
 retreating in the gloom. The stars alone were visi- 
 ble, except for the rippled surface of the water in 
 what appeared to be a bay of considerable extent. 
 There was nothing anywhere in all the region that 
 Vail had ever seen. 
 
 He could merely guess at the distance achieved, 
 for rowing; in darkness with nothing visible on either
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 hand to serve for guides or comparison is a weird ex- 
 perience in which it seems the boat makes no progress 
 whatsoever. The labor seemed interminable. Vail 
 had fancied fifteen minutes would be long for this 
 excursion on the water. They rowed on and on, 
 while a thousand doubts of Barbara's safety and 
 the wisdom of his coming thus alone took posses- 
 sion of his thoughts. 
 
 Once he ventured to ask how much further they 
 were going. The man of caution behind him replied 
 with an eloquent gesture and continued to pull at 
 the oars. 
 
 It was fully an hour before at last a vague, (lark 
 form was discerned ahead, where Julian was watch- 
 ing. 
 
 " Pull in your sweeps," whispered the boatman, 
 " and don't make another peep." 
 
 The tide was still running outward, as Vail had 
 already observed. It was nearly at the ebb, yet 
 served to assist the oarsman as he swung out farther 
 to starboard where the island loomed low and broad. 
 Then at length the roof and bulk of a large-sized 
 house, as dark as the one lone tree the place afforded, 
 cut a dim silhouette against the sky, and supplied 
 a bearing for Pierce. 
 
 He maneuvered his boat with considerable cunning 
 to avoid a bank of mud and sand, then drove her 
 prow straight inward for a deep but narrow channel, 
 where it gently bumped in grass and weeds. 
 
 He arose and handed Vail his coat. 
 
 " Go 'round to the door by the tree," he whispered,
 
 A TREACHERY 123 
 
 cautiously. " Tap three times, light, and, if nuthin' 
 comes, jest throw some small gravel at the windy. 
 I'll be waitin' fer ye here." 
 
 Julian was quickly in his coat and moving to- 
 wards the house. Not a sound broke the stillness, 
 save the chirrup of crickets in the shrubs. The island 
 bore every sign of desertion. Neglect was apparent, 
 in the meager light that the stars were casting on 
 the scene. 
 
 Pausing once or twice to listen as he went, Vail 
 arrived beneath the tree and found the door, beside 
 a window, half-boarded up and dark. The entire 
 place appeared about as inviting as a graveyard. 
 It seemed absurd to expect to find Barbara or any 
 other living being in a place so remote from the 
 habitable world, or in a dwelling that showed not 
 so much as a glimmer of light. 
 
 It was not without a feeling that treachery might 
 lurk in any shadow that Julian halted and bethought 
 him to step to the corner of the building and peer 
 around before revealing his presence by so much as 
 the taps on the door. 
 
 There was nothing in sight or hearing, either to 
 excite more suspicions or allay a sense of alertness 
 that the whole affair had engendered. Vail returned 
 to the door and tapped there as directed. 
 
 Nothing happened. He stepped a little back, to 
 meet any possible contingencies, and a certain ex- 
 citement, born of the unknown element in the ad- 
 venture, began to subside in his veins. He doubted 
 the presence of anyone on the island, save himself
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 and Pierce. He wondered if the boatman might not 
 have departed already, leaving him there alone. 
 
 Restraining an impulse to hasten back to the chan- 
 nel, he hesitated, caught up a handful of gravel, 
 and threw it at the window above the door. The 
 particles rattled sharply on the glass, but, as be- 
 fore, there was not the slightest result. 
 
 With a rapidly increasing disgust at the whole 
 proceeding, and a growing conviction he had merely 
 been duped and perhaps marooned here after all, 
 he still had the patience to throw the sand again and 
 stare at the window and door. He even tapped once 
 more upon the boards to no avail then angrily 
 turned away. 
 
 He had hardly gone a step when a slight sound 
 caused him to turn. The door was gaping open. 
 Two masked men rushed out abruptly, armed with a 
 rope and a sack. 
 
 He wheeled to meet them as quickly as a panther. 
 His hand flew back to his pocket for the pistol he 
 had brought in case of need. 
 
 The gun was gone !
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 AN INQUISITION 
 
 WITH a sudden realization that Pierce was a 
 traitor, who had doubtless purloined the re- 
 volver while caring for his coat, Vail lurched upon 
 the foremost man and struck him a blow that sent 
 him reeling to the ground. Then he started to run 
 for the boat. 
 
 Some mad intention of reaching the craft ahead 
 of his pursuers and hurling himself upon the lazy 
 Pierce before that honest-seeming individual could 
 distinguish one man from another, was in his mind 
 as he darted from the scene. 
 
 The man he had downed and the man with the 
 sack were instantly plunging in his trail. In the 
 briefest time he had come to the edge where the boat 
 should be to find there was nothing in sight. 
 
 He faced about, to attack as before then was 
 suddenly smothered from the rear. 
 
 A third man, doubtless Pierce himself, had been 
 crouching there behind a shrub. He had thrown a 
 sack and a mighty pair of arms about Vail's head 
 and neck and hauled him clean backwards to the 
 earth. 
 
 Even then the struggle was a fierce convulsion of 
 125
 
 126 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 activity, with the masked men aiding their accom- 
 plice. Julian struck and thrashed with the punish- 
 ing tactics of a badger. One of the men he caught 
 on the shin with a vicious jab of his heel. 
 
 No one uttered a sound. A few hard percussions 
 of breathing alone denoted the violence of the fight. 
 
 Despite the utmost the captive could do, the strug- 
 gle was soon concluded. His captors were all of 
 them muscular, if not so trained in athletics as him- 
 self. They dropped their bulk upon him, held him 
 down, and, with both the sacks to stifle his breath 
 and the rope to bind and tie him, were presently en- 
 abled to arise and nurse their many bruises, leaving 
 him prostrate on the grass, to stare as he pleased at 
 their masks. 
 
 " All right," one panted, tersely, in a rumbling, 
 deep-toned voice. " We'll tend to the rest O.K." 
 
 Another bent down and made a thorough search 
 of Julian's pockets, in quest of further weapons, of 
 which there were none. The man who had used the 
 sack from the rear now haltingly retreated through 
 a growth of shrubs on the shore. As helpless as a 
 log, Vail was roughly lifted by the pair who had 
 issued from the house and was carried back the way 
 he had come, to discover a lantern burning there, 
 where someone had placed it for the men. 
 
 The foremost caught it up, still holding their 
 captive's legs in the crook of his powerful arm, and 
 entered the open door. A second barrier was swung 
 from their path, by someone in the shadow. Vail 
 was convinced he saw the sway of a woman's skirt
 
 AN INQUISITION 127 
 
 where the lantern threw its glow, but he was blinded 
 to everything within that outer room by a light 
 that streamed from a larger apartment beyond, to 
 which he was carried, to be dropped at once on the 
 floor. 
 
 The door was closed behind him and the men. The 
 pair then proceeded deliberately to fetter his arms 
 and hands less clumsily and released his legs from the 
 coils. 
 
 " Now then, friend, git up and take a chair," said 
 the shorter of the men, he of the rumbling voice. 
 " And don't ever say we ain't treated you far more 
 merciful than what you treated us." 
 
 He even assisted Vail to rise and motioned to a 
 box. There was not a chair in the place. The fur- 
 nishings were meager to the last degree, for a table, 
 three stools, a lamp, and the box in question com- 
 prised the entire appointments. And one of the 
 stools was lame. 
 
 Julian, still breathing hard, and angered all 
 through his being, remained there on his feet. 
 
 "What is this?" he demanded. "What's the 
 game? " 
 
 " What does it look like ? " answered the spokes- 
 man, dryly, " puss in the corner? " 
 
 " You got me here for something, doubtless," 
 Julian answered. " We might as well get at it at 
 once." 
 
 " Spoken like a gent and a scholar," was the com- 
 ment of the man behind the mask. " Let's all be 
 honest and brief and the caucus will soon be over.
 
 128 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 That's my policy brief and honest. What we want, 
 my friend, is the ruby you swiped from the girl." 
 
 Julian felt a hot flame of fire burn up in the fur- 
 nace of his heart, together with astonishment, resent- 
 ment, and hopelessness in the situation. 
 
 " You're a liar, both as to your policy and your ac- 
 cusation," he replied, no less ready to agree to certain 
 truths than before, and much more calm, in the face 
 of his reception by the men. " I have ' swiped ' no 
 ruby from anyone, and beg you to make yourself 
 plainer." He took a keen, brief inventory of the 
 spokesman, observing he had lost his left-hand 
 thumb. 
 
 " I'm plain enough face, morals, and proposi- 
 tion," said the philosophical scoundrel, admirably 
 cool, and he sat himself down, took out a pipe and 
 began to stuff it with tobacco. " It's a cinch you 
 got the sparkler and we reckon you're goin' to 
 produce. Now what's the use of wasting your time 
 which is worth far more than our'n ? " 
 
 Vail did some rapid thinking. He had no intention 
 of declaring the find in Barbara's shoe, for the rea- 
 son he hoped to secure some useful information from 
 this pair of men both of whom, he realized, were 
 concerned in the murder of the Maharajah and 
 also because he had no intention of admitting, even 
 to them, the girl's connection with the crime. 
 Furthermore, the stone was plainly neither theirs, 
 hers, nor his own. He felt himself the ruby's custo- 
 dian, in spite of his wishes in the matter. He was 
 more or less responsible for its safety now, and his
 
 AN INQUISITION 129 
 
 notions perceptibly stiffened in the light of this pres- 
 ent attack. 
 
 " It isn't a case of wasting time, unless you choose 
 to waste it," he informed the spokesman, as before. 
 " I suggest again that you explain your meaning 
 clearly. To what ruby do you refer ? " 
 
 " If callin' liars was polite, I'd prob'ly git on the 
 job," said the spokesman, lighting a generous match 
 and puffing much reek from his pipe. " I'll be just 
 as plain as you like. You won't take the trouble to 
 deny, I prays, that you recent received a girl, the 
 same bein' sent you in a box which all your friends 
 is tellin' pretty plenty ? " 
 
 " Well? " 
 
 " Well now, honor amongst thieves, as the sayin' 
 has it, hey? You swiped the ruby out of her shoe 
 heel, when said shoes was left there in your office. 
 You done a neat, slick job, screwin' the heel back 
 on, 'cause you didn't have no glue and did have the 
 tools in your desk." He paused and puffed at his 
 pipe, then reached across and tapped his captive on 
 the knee. " That's clear and to the point, I reckon. 
 Now I echoes we want the stone. No Sunday-school 
 lectures. We want the stone." 
 
 Julian shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Your statement is quite distinct. But do you 
 suppose, if I found a ruby as you declare, I would 
 keep it in my possession ? " 
 
 " What's the answer ? you done that very thing. 
 'Cause why? you're stuck on the girl, and want to 
 keep her out of the law." The scoundrel saw the
 
 130 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 color rise to Julian's face. " Now don't git none 
 embarrassed, or tell us you ain't, fer she's sure 
 some pretty, and you proved your feelin's comin' 
 here. Agin, you ain't blabbed to the tecks. Now 
 then, as friend to friend, ain't I on ? So git busy and 
 tell us where it is." 
 
 Vail was silent for a moment. 
 
 " You got me here for this ? " 
 
 " Good guess." 
 
 Julian smiled. 
 
 " You ought to know I haven't the stone you 
 require. You searched my office for yourself." 
 
 " And got the shoes," supplied the rascal, coolly. 
 " I'd rather not risk that often especial when the 
 shoes has been touched. Which is why we got you 
 here to save a raft of trouble. Excuse me fer bein' 
 blunt and plain, Mr. Vail, but you're goin' to open 
 up about the ruby or git some 'steenth degree, with- 
 out no extry session of Congress." 
 
 The light in Vail's eyes was a glitter ; his face was 
 like chiseled stone. 
 
 " I'm helpless in your hands, I am perfectly 
 aware," he answered, with slow deliberation. " Nat- 
 urally you don't dare make this a matter of man 
 to man. But, if you expect to frighten or threaten 
 me into any part of your murderous or thieving 
 games, you have made a mistake in your man." 
 
 The pipe was lighted anew. 
 
 " Just what I was afeerd of, a stubborn, die-hard 
 cuss. I'm kind of sorry, too. You ain't the sneakin' 
 sort. You'd 'a' made a crook worth braggin' on if
 
 AN INQUISITION 131 
 
 you hadn't turned out wrong." He arose and ges- 
 tured to his friend. " Well, Meat-ax, the sooner we 
 dilute his nerve the better, fer I ain't the heart to 
 keep him in suspense." 
 
 " Meat-ax," who might with propriety have been 
 christened " Headsman," for his sinister appearance, 
 in the blackness of his mask, arose without delay, 
 prepared for deeds of any questionable hue. 
 
 Still the spokesman only spoke. 
 
 " Will you walk, Mr. Vail, or git peevish and 
 make us do the pall-bearers' stunt again ? " 
 
 Julian looked at him fearlessly. 
 
 " What do you mean to do? " 
 
 " The 'steenth degree, as mentioned previous." 
 He gave a quick signal to his companion and the 
 two, abruptly grasping Vail by the shoulders and 
 fettered arms, marched him through a narrow hall 
 to a door that opened out to the grounds. 
 
 The moon was up, but its light was obscured by 
 clouds. The lighted lantern rested on the ground, 
 provided as before by someone entirely unseen. But, 
 whereas it had formerly illuminated the way inside 
 the house, it now revealed the abysmal door of a 
 cellar-like place in the earth. 
 
 A ladder protruded from the hole, while an iron 
 box and heavy weights were scattered nearby on the 
 grass. A few feet removed from the hole and ladder 
 was a sort of wooden chimney, fully four feet high, 
 like the vent of a vault beneath. 
 
 The group was halted by the well. Had the 
 slightest opportunity for resistance or escape been
 
 132 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 afforded, Vail would have battled like a fiend. His 
 helplessness was perfectly convincing. Despite his 
 exceptional courage, he felt a sinking in his breast. 
 
 "What do you mean to do?" he demanded, as 
 before. 
 
 " Now don't shift the blame to us," beseeched the 
 spokesman, in an injured tone of voice. " You're 
 doin' this to yourself. Once more, my friend, will 
 you put us right on the ruby? " 
 
 Julian boiled as before. 
 
 " I've told you all I have to tell, and that you may 
 take as final ! " 
 
 " Then climb down the ladder quiet, rememberin' 
 all of us is gents." 
 
 Julian did not obey at once, and both of the men, 
 unceremoniously hustling him forward, bodily placed 
 him, feet foremost, down the hole and lodged him on 
 the rungs. Then, quite as roughly, they crowded 
 him down the slanted ladder and presently shook him 
 off. 
 
 He fell perhaps three feet, landing on a slimy 
 floor of planks, in a cistern as dank and dark as a 
 tomb. The ladder was instantly thrust further for- 
 ward, till its top was caught by hooks at the edge 
 of the hole, when a heavy plank door was flung upon 
 and barred across the orifice, with the weights all 
 piled on its top. 
 
 What futile calls and demands for liberation 
 Julian made on the impulse of the moment were 
 drowned by the sounds from above. Except for a 
 small, barred square of starlight, seen through the
 
 AN INQUISITION 133 
 
 chimney-like vent, the place had no suggestion of a 
 break in the absolute gloom. 
 
 The lantern was presently carried to this vent, and 
 its rays came down in a small and useless square. By 
 its feeble illumination Vail confirmed a fear that the 
 vent was barred at its base. Something like a water 
 mark was shown, up near its top. 
 
 The spokesman cheerily peered down. 
 
 " I hope you like the bathroom, Mr. Vail. You're 
 goin' to stay there till you loosen up on the gem. 
 We're about to leave the water in and let you feel 
 it rise. 'Tain't real speedy 'cept at the start. It 
 comes up with the tide. When you want to come out 
 with the ruby and all, you kin let us know by 
 wireless." 
 
 Vail saw the lantern disappear, and horrible dark- 
 ness descended to fill the place. He heard a distant 
 sound, then the trickle and gush of water that some- 
 where entered the place. He presently knelt and so 
 put his hand on the floor. 
 
 His trousers were suddenly penetrated at the knees. 
 His hand met a thin but moving sheet of liquid, on 
 the planks, and a chill crept swiftly to his heart.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A METHOD OF TORTURE 
 
 FOR a moment Vail merely stood stock-still, 
 after rising to his feet. The sound of the in- 
 rushing water considerably increased. 
 
 Moving quickly, groping over to the right, Julian 
 promptly met a wall. It was made of planks, and 
 barnacles clung to its damp and moldy surface. He 
 made violent efforts to wrench his hands free from 
 the ropes, and again explored forward, wading in 
 water already well up on his shoes. 
 
 His courage had not weakened, but his whole 
 strong being was incensed and outraged to the limit 
 of endurance. Again and again he swelled his 
 muscles, jerked at the ropes, and dragged to escape 
 from the coils. 
 
 One of his hands was working loose, even as he 
 shouldered along the wall, to a corner of the cistern. 
 In a paroxysm of activity he presently cast off the 
 rope sufficiently to liberate one hand and his arm. 
 He had come to another corner of the cellar. The 
 water was lapping at his ankles. 
 
 In the briefest time he discovered the place to be 
 the ordinary type of plank-boarded cistern, perhaps 
 ten feet square, and less than eight in height. He 
 discovered the inlet for the water, and was somewhat
 
 A METHOD OF TORTURE 135 
 
 appalled at the size and velocity of the stream that 
 entered from without. 
 
 He had uttered no sound since that first impulsive 
 protest. There was nothing of the weakling in his 
 composition, yet the facts took a grip on his life. 
 
 He groped his way back to the ladder, with the 
 water swiftly rising to his ankles. There he freed 
 himself completely of his fetters and mounted on the 
 ladder to the ceiling of the tomb. The door, he 
 promptly discovered, was a closely fitted mechanism, 
 wedged in to prevent much leak. 
 
 If for a moment he entertained a hope that the 
 water might rise no higher than, say, to within a 
 foot of the roof, the wretched bit of comfort van- 
 ished as soon as it came. 
 
 His exploring hand found colonies of barnacles, 
 adhering to the ceiling where nothing save the brine 
 of the sea could either have planted or nourished 
 the creatures. He knew the water-mark, noted in the 
 chimney-like vent, measured the rise of the tide. 
 
 There was sweat on his forehead, despite the chill 
 of the dungeon, now flooding from the bay. He lis- 
 tened intently for the men above, while a new thought 
 flashed in his brain. There was nothing to hear save 
 the plash of the entering stream. 
 
 He stepped to a higher rung of the ladder that 
 leaned from the trap and, adjusting his shoulders 
 beneath the wedged-in cover, strained upward with 
 concentrated might. 
 
 He halted this attempt abruptly, however, for 
 the rung where he stood was treacherously splintered
 
 136 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 with the crushing weight his effort had put upon the 
 rotted nails and timber. The door had not been 
 budged. 
 
 One horror after another crept upon his mind, as 
 a clearer comprehension of his plight thrust ugly 
 arguments between his sense of pride or duty and 
 his instinct of self-preservation. 
 
 He descended again to the floor, to measure the 
 water to measure it on his legs. It had risen half- 
 way to his knees. Once more he went up on the lad- 
 der, to sit there in the absolute, impenetrable dark, 
 grimly wondering how long he might be obliged to 
 wait, as helplessly doomed as a rat in a trap, for 
 the tide to engulf him completely. 
 
 He was still far more angered than alarmed. Fear 
 had small place in his system, and something in him, 
 defiant and indomitable, combatted this method of 
 torture with the stubbornest determination, vaguely 
 persuading him that something could and must oc- 
 cur to give him victory at last. 
 
 He cursed himself, however, for an easy dupe who 
 had been a mere fool from the first. With all the 
 evidence accumulated against her, by her own admis- 
 sions and actions, he had still believed in the inno- 
 cence of Barbara Lee with a blindness that nothing 
 could excuse. He banished every recollection of her 
 eyes, her words, the artful bits of coquetry, and the 
 wistfulness with which he was sure he had been 
 tricked. 
 
 The frank admissions made by the man who had 
 questioned him here in the house were not to be rea-
 
 A METHOD OF TORTURE 137 
 
 soned away. The girl had been sent to his office with 
 deliberate intent to land the gem in his keeping to 
 baffle the law. She had shown her concern for and 
 worry over the shoes, without delay. Nothing save 
 the accident that spilled the water from the vase had 
 been left from the careful plans of those who de- 
 vised the scheme. And to all of the plan he felt she 
 had consented. 
 
 His stubbornness now, in refusing to deliver up 
 the stone, was less and less a measure for Barbara's 
 protection and more and more an outraged intention 
 of defeating the purposes of all the gang and plac- 
 ing the sinister ruby in the hands of the Chief of 
 Police. 
 
 While he sat there, for the time impervious to any 
 thought save that of his birthday gift and the mys- 
 teries since developed, he was finally made aware of 
 a cold sensation of chill attacking his foot. 
 
 With a sudden accession of awe he realized that 
 the water in the place had risen with insidious speed. 
 It was lapping at his feet ! 
 
 In a cold perspiration, he retreated upward an- 
 other rung, for the first time obsessed by thoughts 
 that the men who had slain the Maharajah were ca- 
 pable of any manner of crime and would show not 
 the slightest sign of mercy if his silence were still 
 maintained. 
 
 Nevertheless, so galling and shaming appeared de- 
 feat, so weak and invertebrate seemed surrender, even 
 in the face of death, that he could not consent to cry 
 enough and plead to be released. Nevertheless, it
 
 138 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 was a ghastly thing to contemplate this steady, 
 unrelenting lap and rise of the water, invisibly en- 
 croaching on his life. 
 
 Slowly, on the surface at the center of the pool, 
 appeared some ghostly thing. Intangible, uncer- 
 tain, suggesting luminosity, and then quite disap- 
 pearing, it played there weirdly, assuming shapes 
 that seemed to break and dissipate, only to reassem- 
 ble from the molten ebony and silently mock with 
 forms again. 
 
 Vail beheld it, stared where it went, and felt that 
 his brain was giving way and conjuring wraiths 
 from fear. Then at last, as it rose, more lambent 
 than before, he knew it for some filmy, vague reflec- 
 tion that stole down the vent from the sky. Here 
 and there through the unseen mass of water, steadily 
 climbing, came brilliant, fading flashes, like stars in 
 miniature, where tiny phosphorescent creatures dis- 
 ported, wooing their microscopic kind. 
 
 God only knew what creatures besides were gliding 
 here and there in the place. Vail now put his hand 
 downward, and a prompter contact with the water 
 than he had expected caused him to snatch it back 
 again as if from liquid fire. 
 
 What purpose was he serving to die here like a 
 beast? He asked himself this question savagely, an- 
 grily, confessing he had no courage for an end so 
 horrible and purposeless. 
 
 Perhaps, he reflected, as one alternative, he might 
 deceive these brutes who had put him to the torture. 
 They deserved any punishment he could possibly in-
 
 A METHOD OF TORTURE 139 
 
 flict. It mattered little what he told them, if only 
 they would lift the door and let him out, to fight 
 his way to freedom. He felt he could slay them 
 with his naked hands, for the last few minutes en- 
 dured in this place where death crept up by inches. 
 
 It was not, however, till the water, uncanny and 
 gruesome in its rising, soaked once again through 
 his shoe to his skin that Julian raised his voice. 
 
 "Hullo!" he shouted. "You thieves! Hullo 
 there ! Lift up the door ! " 
 
 The men above had grown impatient, marveling at 
 the spirit of the man in the well. They had remained 
 near at hand, silently smoking at their pipes. The 
 spokesman now came to the vent, down which his 
 utterance rumbled. 
 
 " Was you callin' f er soap or towels ? " 
 
 " Open up ! " shouted Vail. " You can have your 
 cursed stone ! " 
 
 " What place at your office is it in? " 
 
 Even now, with the fellow's voice thus mockingly 
 in his ears, Vail resented the sacrifice he felt con- 
 strained to make. He tried an experiment. 
 
 " Did you find that box of cigars in the left-hand 
 drawer of my desk? " 
 
 " Nuthin' doin'," said the rumbling voice. " I 
 didn't think you'd try to work us so shameful. I 
 dumped them weak-kneed smokes, alias cigars, all 
 out of the box myself. Come on now, don't fergit 
 your record as a gent." 
 
 " I haven't said it is in that box. Will you open 
 up the trap? "
 
 140 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " You open yours first. Now where's the ruby 
 at?" 
 
 Julian felt he would give the ransom of a king 
 to get his two free hands upon this rascal's throat. 
 The water was lapping at his ankles as he sat high 
 up on his perch. 
 
 " The stone is down in the bottom of that big 
 brass cartridge-shell I use as a vase on my desk." 
 
 " By God ! " said the voice, " and me with the 
 thing in my fist ! I must be loosin' my nip, not to 
 think of a thing like that ! " 
 
 Some reply vouchsafed by his companion made a 
 murmur only to Vail. 
 
 " Come on now, keep your word ! " he called. " I 
 expect you to be a man." 
 
 A sound of someone walking across the roof of 
 the cistern followed. 
 
 " Don't fidgit, and don't be uneasy," said the 
 spokesman, at the vent. " We're shuttin' off the 
 pickle. You'll hear it quit runnin' right away." 
 
 Julian's impatience increased. 
 
 " You keep your promise ! Never mind the wa- 
 ter ! Open the door ! " 
 
 The man above lit a match to apply to his pipe. 
 
 " We'll open the door and let you out when we 
 git the word the ruby's where you say. Ain't you 
 comfortable, sittin' high and dry on the ladder? 
 Can't kick, can you? nuthin' worth recordin' on the 
 minutes of the meetin' ? " 
 
 A new, swift chill went coursing through Julian's 
 veins.
 
 A METHOD OF TORTURE 141 
 
 " Let me out ! " he demanded, angrily. " Keep 
 your bargain and let me out ! " 
 
 " Huh ! " exclaimed the astonished criminal. " You 
 couldn't keep cool in an ice-house, not to say nuthin' 
 of hell. Now take my advice and don't keep up your 
 fever. Jest make up the berth and git a little sleep. 
 We'll call you in the mornin'." 
 
 Julian shouted to him desperately, as he heard 
 him moving away. There was no response from the 
 vent. A dread, unearthly silence had settled in the 
 place, where the sound of entering water gradually 
 diminished, then altogether ceased. 
 
 In the utter futility of raging, or heaving with 
 his shoulders at the trap, Vail felt a sickening sen- 
 sation of desertion pervade him through and 
 through. 
 
 The thing he might have expected, yet against 
 which he had from the first been powerless, had ac- 
 tually come to pass. He was prisoned here in the 
 more than half-filled cistern, to escape the Lord 
 knew how ! To wait here, cramped on the ladder, 
 while these thieves and cutthroats returned to the 
 shore, made their way to the city, and verified his 
 confession might be but a sentence of death. 
 
 He could scarcely credit his senses, scarcely be- 
 lieve that two human beings could be so lost to com- 
 passion as to leave him in such a plight. He felt 
 convinced they must presently relent and give him a 
 chance for his life. They had shown some slight 
 inclinations towards decency and mercy in shutting 
 out the tide. They must come back, if only to lift
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 off some of the weights and make it possible for his 
 own endeavors to heave away the door! 
 
 He held his breath expectantly, harking for sounds 
 from above. There were none that his ear could 
 distinguish, beyond a ringing in the well. Now and 
 again some drip of water fell from the roof, its 
 metallic note ringing clearly, like a tinkle in a cave. 
 
 At last a strange, pulsating whisper impinged 
 upon the air, coming, so far as Vail could judge, 
 from the water's entering tubs. 
 
 He recognized it abruptly with another sinking 
 of his heart. It was the muffled exhaust of a motor 
 boat, retreating out on the bay. 
 
 The faint percussions grew more faint and he 
 kmew the men were embarked for the distant shore. 
 
 His ray of hope was suddenly extinguished. He 
 only recovered from the shock when he found his 
 foot intensely cold. He had held it in the water 
 while engrossed with other affairs. He drew it up 
 a matter of several inches, while a clammy feeling, 
 such as one might experience upon being buried 
 alive, ate its way to the marrow of his bones. 
 
 How long he sat there, straining his ears in the 
 silence, the man could never have told. He was 
 roused at last by the coldness of both of his feet. 
 
 They were both once more in the water. 
 
 Then a horrible truth flashed hideously upon him. 
 The water was leaking in! It had not been shut off k 
 completely and the men had gone away!
 
 CHAPTER XVH 
 
 A CREEPING DEATH 
 
 THE inescapable realization that, instead of en- 
 tering rapidly to end his doom in reason, the 
 tide was trickling to the well, to edge like disease 
 to his heart, was absolutely insupportable to the man 
 already fiendishly tortured. 
 
 Vail saw himself, in his imagination, driven up and 
 up on the ladder, all but his head at last submerged, 
 and his air-demanding lips and nose pressed up to 
 the final hollow in the ceiling, to be finally covered 
 by the tide. 
 
 He tried to believe he had deceived himself, that 
 the water had not increased its depth, but that his 
 feet had slipped carelessly down. In the absolute 
 darkness of the hole he could make no measurements. 
 He felt down the side of the ladder till the tip of his 
 longest finger barely touched the surface of the 
 brine. 
 
 He held it there like a fixture, waiting, while he 
 barely took his breath. In the course of perhaps 
 ten minutes the water rose to cover his finger-nail. 
 
 He did not remove his hand. He clung to some 
 mad, impossible hope with breathless desperation. 
 Another ten minutes brought the touch of death to 
 the joint above the nails. 
 
 148
 
 144 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He suppressed a groan and tried another system, 
 placing his hand an inch above the water, and grip- 
 ping the ladder as before. In a time that in some 
 ways seemed an age and in others a tick of the clock 
 of doom, the cold, wet caress was floated to his 
 flesh. 
 
 After that it was one long nightmare of cold 
 perspiring. The water came so high at last he could 
 no longer raise his feet above it. Wavelets and rip- 
 ples then lapped unhurriedly up to the rung whereon 
 he sat. 
 
 Like a stone man, chilled and immobile, he finally 
 crouched on the ladder's top with the water rising 
 to his chest. The ghosts of light and phosphorescent 
 gleams played soullessly in the ebon mass that gradu- 
 ally rose towards his lips. 
 
 It seemed as if great ages of time had stretched 
 their hours beyond all earthly custom and blotted 
 all sound from the world. Then something again be- 
 sieged his brain, like the far-off voice of a star. 
 
 He felt it was not a sound he heard, but his own 
 inner wish for a sound. Anything to break this 
 frightful silence would be welcome, even the crack 
 of doom. 
 
 He bent every faculty, to catch the faintest filter- 
 ing of sound the outside world might surrender. 
 Something, he felt almost certain, disturbed the air, 
 with the feeblest of wave pulsations. 
 
 He shouted with all his might. 
 
 " Hullo ! Hullo ! Hullo ! " 
 
 The condensed reverberations in the filling place
 
 A CREEPING DEATH 145 
 
 rolled painfully back upon his ears. He listened as 
 before. There was no reply. The water had crept 
 so high by now that the merest foot of air remained 
 above it in the hole. 
 
 He felt he was mocked by heaven and the night, 
 in his wild, fierce hope for a sound. Then it came 
 again, in a vague, strange way, conveying no mean- 
 ing to his mind. 
 
 Again as before he shouted, and his voice sped 
 out at the vent. 
 
 " Julian ! Julian ! " came a cry then someone ran 
 over the roof. 
 
 His heart nearly burst with sudden relief and its 
 conflict of emotions. The cry was in Barbara's 
 voice. 
 
 " Barbara ! Here ! " he called, excitedly. " In 
 the cistern ! Pry open the door ! " 
 
 She had gone quite past, but returned at once and 
 ran to the wooden vent. 
 
 " Down there ? " she cried, in a shrill and quivering 
 treble. " Julian, are you there? " 
 
 " For God's sake, hasten ! " he replied. " The wa- 
 ter is up to my throat ! The door the door with 
 the weights on top ! I can help if you'll knock out 
 the bar!" 
 
 She waited for nothing more. Exhausted by her 
 midnight tussle with a boat far too heavy for her 
 strength, disheartened, frightened, even terrified by 
 every moment passed in rowing to the place, she 
 nevertheless attacked the weights on the trap like a 
 fierce little engine of might.
 
 146 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 They were bulky hunks of iron pieces of an- 
 chors, an old ship's screw, and rail from some dis- 
 tant tracks. With strength superhuman, in this 
 moment of need, she tugged at the inert masses till 
 her very spirit might have been strained with the 
 energy she spent. 
 
 One and another of the inert things she dragged 
 or toppled from the door. She flung out the bar 
 like a little elemental savage. 
 
 " They're nearly all off ! " she cried, at last, and 
 then Vail heaved it from below. 
 
 " Look out ! " he shouted, as he felt it give. " I'll 
 have no trouble now ! " 
 
 She stepped away, panting and suddenly weak, 
 with her labor at last accomplished. She tripped on 
 one of the weights dislodged, and went down on 
 the earth with a sob of relief, as Julian, dripping and 
 white as death, rose out of the hole in the moonlight 
 like one who has broken from his grave. 
 
 He reeled from weakness, cramp, and chill, but 
 would not submit to fall. Barbara leaped to her 
 feet again, and caught at his arm to support him. 
 
 " Oh ! " she said. " Oh ! I thought I'd never find 
 the place ! " 
 
 He staggered over against the house and leaned 
 there heavily. Despite his numbness and the half- 
 chilled blood in his veins, he felt some sweet de- 
 lirium of joy expanding in his breast. He took no 
 time to accuse or acquit the girl who stood before 
 him. She had come that was enough. 
 
 " Good Heavens, Barbara," he finally said, in a
 
 A CREEPING DEATH 147 
 
 voice made weak by reactions, " how did this ever 
 happen? How did you come? How did you know 
 I was here ? " 
 
 She felt she could sink on the ground at last, now 
 that the strain was over. She, too, was white and 
 trembling. 
 
 " I have been for hours locked up in a room over 
 there on the shore ! I heard them planning, telling 
 it all, from the closet in the place. I broke out some 
 of the plaster and it made the partition thin. I 
 knew there was something going on. Oh, I didn't 
 know what to do ! " 
 
 Julian was pulling himself together. 
 
 "You rowed here alone, in a boat?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I suppose I stole it ! But what could 
 I do? They told about this awful cellar, but I didn't 
 understand. They told how to find this island and 
 
 I've rowed and my hands I thought I should 
 
 have to give up ! " 
 
 Even in the moonlight the blisters on her two lit- 
 tle palms were plain enough to see. Vail could have 
 crushed them with his lips. But the needs of the 
 hour were great and escape was imperative for both. 
 
 " Nothing on earth could have saved my life but 
 you," he told her, fervently. " Where did you land 
 your boat ? " 
 
 " Right over there somewhere," she said, already 
 confused by directions. " I don't think I tied it 
 very well." 
 
 " Then show me where," said Julian. " The tide 
 might float it off."
 
 148 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 They started at once for the bit of beach where 
 Barbara had landed. They missed the place, but 
 continued on, passing two or three similar beaches. 
 When they came to the harborage Barbara had 
 chosen, the boat was not to be seen. The rising tide 
 had already filched it from the sands. 
 
 She was not at all certain of the place. Not until 
 they had traversed all that eastern shore of the island 
 was the truth made inescapable. 
 
 " I've lost it I know I've lost it ! " moaned Bar- 
 bara, in despair. " I didn't dare to wait to tie it 
 better ! " 
 
 Julian took her by the arm. 
 
 " Never mind ; perhaps we can find another. They 
 may have left the one that brought me out." He 
 led her back towards the house. 
 
 " You ought to do something to dry your 
 clothes," she told him, anxiously. " Perhaps we can 
 build a fire." 
 
 " I shall soon be all right the wind is warm," 
 he answered, still marveling at what she had done. 
 " Some good stiff exercise is all I need, and I'll get 
 it if we find any sort of a boat. If you wouldn't 
 mind resting at the house " 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't rest I mean not all alone ! 
 Couldn't I help to look around, with you? " she 
 pleaded. " I'm afraid I'm a little bit nervous." 
 
 A little bit nervous! He thought her wonderful, 
 the bravest, stanchest little comrade he had ever 
 known in the world ! She had ample cause to fear or 
 dread the dark and silent house, after what she had
 
 A CREEPING DEATH 149 
 
 undergone. He knew that, like himself,, she must 
 have experienced some ordeal to rack her inmost 
 nerve. 
 
 It was no time for arguments or questions. He 
 wanted her just as she was at his side, trusting her 
 safety to his strength. He felt he should want her 
 always thus, so vast was the love that had once more 
 surged upon him. 
 
 That a hundred things remained to be explained 
 was a fact he avoided by choice. It must all be 
 postponed for the moment, in their vastly greater 
 need to effect an escape to the shore. 
 
 " If you wish it," he said, " we will search the 
 island together. If we do not come upon a boat 
 but we must we simply must ! " 
 
 He led her past the front of the house, where win- 
 dows that were dark and broken stared blankly down 
 in the moonlight like the structure's forbidding eyes. 
 They came at length to the channel where Pierce had 
 approached with the tide. There was nothing there, 
 as Julian had feared. The spot, however, aroused 
 his resentment and a query to his mind. 
 
 " Of course you couldn't have wired me, Bar- 
 bara," he said. " The message I got was a forgery, 
 sent in your name." 
 
 " Why, I couldn't send anything I'd have been 
 so glad of a chance," she answered at once. " You 
 came here on a telegram supposed to be sent by 
 me? " 
 
 " I landed just here," he answered. " I'm rather 
 in hopes their boat is somewhere near."
 
 150 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Who were the men? " she asked him. " Did you 
 see would you know them again ? " 
 
 " They were masked, disguised. There ! Is that 
 a boat or a log? " 
 
 They hastened along the moonlit beach, parting 
 the sumach for the purpose, only to find that a half- 
 buried log had aroused a false hope by its form. 
 Vail was convinced they would find no boat about 
 the place. 
 
 He held a little more firmly to Barbara's arm as 
 they came to rougher walking and, save for the dis- 
 appointments met at the tin^bays, could have blessed 
 the night that had brought her here, despite the 
 haunting, persistent facts that lay beneath it all. 
 
 The island was insignificant, perhaps three acres 
 in extent. Besides the empty, dilapidated house, 
 there were several smaller buildings, all at the 
 farther end. When the shore had finally been cir- 
 cumscribed, to no avail, the one remaining hope of 
 a boat was in some of these sheds and shacks. 
 
 With a steadily increasing anxiety, concentrating 
 rapidly on Barbara and the need for taking her back 
 to proper surroundings, Vail led the search to one 
 and another of the wretched sheds, to find them in- 
 variably empty. 
 
 The last frail hope was gone. They stood there 
 alone in the moonlight, and the truth came home to 
 them both. 
 
 .They were helplessly marooned on the island, with 
 no possible means of escape.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 LIKE A PBIMITIVE PAIR 
 
 VAIL had been no quicker than Barbara to re- 
 alize the facts confronting them here. He was 
 far more grim than she, for he was far less weary. 
 
 Despite his fearful ordeal in the cistern, he was 
 rapidly regaining his normal warmth and strength. 
 Barbara, on the other hand, was thoroughly ex- 
 hausted, not only by her long, excited vigil in the 
 room where she had been imprisoned, but infinitely 
 more by her struggle with the boat to bring it at last 
 to her goal. 
 
 She had never felt so great a need for a strong, 
 protecting arm on which to sink. She could barely 
 remain on her feet. Yet she looked in his face and 
 attempted a brave little smile. 
 
 " And now what shall we do ? " 
 
 Julian felt the noblest impulses of his nature stir 
 as he gazed in her trusting eyes. 
 
 " We'll go to the house. Perhaps I can make you 
 comfortable, while Fm drying out, here in the 
 breeze." 
 
 "Oh, but couldn't we build a little fire," she 
 said, " and sit there beside it a while ? The house 
 may be damp and unpleasant." 
 
 151
 
 152 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " You're not afraid of an empty house not after 
 what you've done? It's your castle, you know, to- 
 night." 
 
 She understood him perfectly, and loved him anew 
 for the delicate thoughtfulness by which she felt 
 she was surrounded. Yet she did not overcome her 
 dread of the inhospitable " castle." 
 
 " Will you make a little fire to warm us first ? 
 just the littlest bit of a fire." 
 
 " If I can find a match that's dry." He led her 
 through the shrubbery, silvered by the moon, to- 
 wards the one lone tree of the island, standing at 
 the rear of the house. 
 
 They passed the buried cistern, where Julian 
 halted, perforce. Already the water had risen above 
 the rim of the door and was flooding the hollow in 
 the soil. A shudder passed through his frame as 
 he conjured up a picture of himself, with a death 
 grip on the ladder, stark and cold beneath the 
 weighted trap, but for Barbara, now at his side. 
 
 " They had a lamp and a lantern," he informed 
 her, proceeding on as before. " There may be some 
 matches I can find." 
 
 Barbara waited beside the door while he groped 
 his way into the house. She had never felt so tired 
 in her life and never more happy. She could not 
 feel the slightest fear, nor banish from her eager 
 heart the wild, sweet joyance that the night and 
 Julian excited. She would gladly have sunk on the 
 fragrant grass in sleep, so long as she knew he was 
 near.
 
 LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR 153 
 
 She presently saw the gleam of a match where 
 Julian lighted the lamp. Then he presently re- 
 turned. 
 
 " I think you'd be far more comfortable," he said, 
 " if you'll take possession of the house." 
 
 She smiled as before. 
 
 " If it will please you after just a few minutes 
 of the fire." 
 
 What madness and tenderness and holy joy were 
 leaping in his veins ! She helped him to gather weeds 
 and twigs, then bits of board and water-rounded 
 blocks for a blaze beneath the tree. 
 
 " You ought to sleep in the warmth of this," she 
 told him, when at length the blaze was sparkling and 
 leaping from the fuel. " You can't dry in any 
 other way." 
 
 " All right," he agreed. " Sit down with your 
 back to the tree, for just a few minutes before you 
 retire to ' Castle Silence.' ' 
 
 She smilingly obeyed, a delicious sense of peace, 
 security, and warmth pervading all her being. Never 
 had night seemed half so beautiful, or the cricket's 
 song so soothing to her heart. 
 
 She was dreaming still, of fairy comforts and of 
 knights of old, when she slipped into visionless slum- 
 ber. She was resting like a tired child, asleep against 
 the tree. 
 
 Julian silently nodded. He had seen the drooping 
 of her eyes. How helpless and girlish she was, with 
 the glow of the flames upon her face ! Such a ten- 
 derness and exaltation of love as he had never
 
 154 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 dreamed existed burned as divinely in his breast as 
 the flame of an altar lamp. 
 
 Despite the exquisite rapture of gazing on her 
 helpless loveliness, he presently rose from his place 
 by the fire and went to the house, where he had pre- 
 viously discovered a tumble-down couch. This he 
 prepared as best he might to receive her for the 
 night. 
 
 He also set the lamp to give her guidance, and, 
 coming again to the slumbering girl, gently shook 
 her and called on her name. 
 
 " Come, come, little friend, you're cheating," he 
 said, when at length her eyes were opened. And 
 longing to take her like a child in his arms, to 
 carry her into the house, he merely assisted her 
 up to her feet, and steadied her over to the 
 door. 
 
 She was drowsily weak, and could barely walk, but 
 sighed with a sweet content, pausing in the entrance 
 to lean for a moment against the lintel and meet his 
 ardent gaze. 
 
 " King Arthur, may I leave the door open ? " she 
 requested. " Then I wouldn't be the littlest bit 
 afraid." 
 
 " The castle is yours," he answered. " I turn here 
 and wish you good-night." 
 
 " Good-night," she said, sleepily. " Don't forget 
 to keep up your fire." 
 
 He watched her walk unsteadily in and disappear 
 beyond. The lamp she permitted to burn. 
 
 Back to his fire he turned like one in a dream.
 
 LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR 155 
 
 The island, that an hour before had been a hor- 
 rible Inferno, was an Eden to him now. He 
 gazed at the flames like a happy boy, then set 
 about to gather wood like the veriest primitive 
 man. 
 
 At length he sat down with his back to the tree 
 where Barbara had napped. He fell asleep as she 
 had done, from exhaustion and content. From 
 time to time, the long hours through, he awoke 
 to wonder where he was. And, beholding the 
 glow of Barbara's lamp a luminous sign of 
 his holy grail he returned to his slumbers with 
 a smile. 
 
 Nevertheless, he was stiff and cold when the dawn 
 light aroused him at last. He shivered like a Rip 
 Van Winkle, vitalized in ancient limbs by the touch 
 of a new-made morning. 
 
 He arose unsteadily, rubbing at his eyes as if to 
 dissipate a world of unreality. But the scene was 
 real enough, and the whole experience rushed back 
 upon him swiftly. 
 
 The ashes of his fire were gray and cold. His 
 clothing was far from dry. He shook himself, to 
 conjure back his warmth and to rouse his faculties. 
 Barbara's lamp, he then observed, still cast a glow 
 on the inner walls of the house. He knew she con- 
 tinued asleep. 
 
 All the unsolved problems of the previous evening 
 revived to confront him anew. What should he do 
 to appease their hunger, and to gain the distant 
 shore? When Barbara had last partaken of food
 
 156 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 he had not inquired in the night; he himself was 
 nearly famished. 
 
 That the house contained no provisions he was 
 certain. The prospect of fasting till they reached 
 the shore was not to be escaped. 
 
 He examined his watch. It had stopped. Not 
 only had water doubtless entered the movement, but 
 he had failed to wind it in the night. He guessed 
 the hour at something like five in the morning and 
 a maddening desire for a pot of coffee, piping hot, 
 accentuated his hunger. 
 
 In the hope that during the search at midnight he 
 and Barbara might have overlooked important nooks 
 or beaches, he started briskly on another quest for 
 a boat. He skirted the rim of the island rapidly, 
 taking no time to rejoice in the beauties of the land, 
 sky, and water, which at a time more leisurely must 
 have charmed his every sense. Though he made an 
 especial search for mussels, clams, or oysters, not 
 one did the island's beach afford. 
 
 Far off in one direction he could see another dot 
 of greenery doubtless similar to this. A low, flat 
 shore was visible for many miles, but apparently 
 without a village in all the panorama. And not a 
 sail nor a funnel did he find on all the wide horizon. 
 The place was incredibly isolated, a fact that doubt- 
 less accounted for its desertion, after much expendi- 
 ture to make it a summer home. 
 
 More important than all this business, however, 
 was the total absence of a boat to aid their escape. 
 Once again, as in the night, he made a search of
 
 LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR 157 
 
 the outbuildings, open to the weather. Beyond a 
 few old planks, which even to his desperate ingenuity 
 suggested only material for a fire, they yielded noth- 
 ing new. 
 
 The matter began to assume a serious aspect that 
 brought an added alarm. He and Barbara might 
 possibly be stranded here till they died. Suspicions 
 that the scoundrels who had put him in the cistern 
 would never return to assist him out were more than 
 suggested to his mind. If no one came there in pur- 
 suit of Barbara, the island might be un visited for 
 many weeks at a time. And he himself had left no 
 word whereby he might be traced. 
 
 Sooner than perish, he told himself, he would tear 
 down all the flimsy sheds and spike the boards to- 
 gether for a raft. In one building a rude sort of 
 loft had been constructed, where junk had appar- 
 ently been thrown. The place had manifestly been 
 the boathouse once, since broken oars, old bits of 
 canvas, rotting rope, and paint cans with brushes 
 hardened in the solid stuff they still contained, were 
 piled in the loft and strewn upon the floor. 
 
 More thoroughly to investigate this dunnage, 
 Vail brought in a box and clambered to the over- 
 loaded platform. It promptly gave way beneath his 
 weight. With a sounding crash the entire loft was 
 rent and crumpled from its place. It spilled out 
 everything it held its dust, old cordage, cans, and 
 broken spars, and a flattened canvas parcel, tied with 
 rope. 
 
 Julian leaped for a beam that crossed above the
 
 158 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 planks, clinging there above the confusion and clouds 
 of dust till he could drop straight down in safety. 
 This he presently accomplished; then, in curiosity, 
 dragged out to the light the tied-up parcel of 
 canvas. 
 
 It was a folding canvas boat. This and the fact 
 that it was old, badly worn, and minus stays and 
 braces he had barely discovered when Barbara came 
 running to the place. She had heard the crash when 
 his weight brought down the loft. 
 
 He paused to greet her happily, the vision of her 
 early morning beauty incredibly reinspiring to all 
 his hopes in the final triumph of love. No sea 
 nymph, wood sprite, or island queen could have 
 seemed more dainty or appropriate, or so gifted with 
 helpful courage. 
 
 " What have you found ? " she promptly inquired, 
 when his cheery greeting had been answered. " It 
 isn't one of those collapsible canoes?" 
 
 " Something of that description," he assured her. 
 " But whether anything by way of braces will make 
 it serviceable or not is rather dubious." 
 
 She assisted at once to straighten it out, and 
 watched him eagerly. 
 
 " It's something anyway, isn't it? " she said. " It's 
 worth attempting to repair? " 
 
 He smiled. " I've got to make a try." 
 
 " If I could only get your breakfast while you 
 work ! " she said. " Do you think it barely possible 
 there is anything I could cook?" 
 
 The brightest of pleasure's beams were in his eyes.
 
 LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR 159 
 
 " There's plenty of fine fresh air." He could al- 
 most have wished they two were actually cast away 
 upon a desert island if just everything were 
 right. 
 
 A flush of exquisite color crept to her cheeks as 
 she lost her gaze in his. Then she glanced away 
 towards the house. 
 
 " I haven't hunted thoroughly, while you were up 
 and doing all these things. I might find something, 
 after all. I'm going to see." 
 
 He dropped his end of the boat. 
 
 " Wait, we'll hunt together." 
 
 But the search availed them nothing. If the men 
 who had been here waiting for Vail had provided 
 themselves with anything to eat, there was nothing 
 to show for it now. It was equally certain the house 
 had contained nothing edible before their advent 
 that would save the life of a mouse. A well of 
 good water near the door afforded a drink from 
 a can. 
 
 " The one thing to do," said Vail, at last, " is to 
 mend that boat, if practicable, and get to the nearest 
 help." 
 
 The doubts that Barbara entertained were mani- 
 fested now, as they returned to the canvas boat. 
 
 " Suppose it should only hold one ? It doesn't 
 seem large or very strong. If you had to go alone, 
 you would try to hurry back?" 
 
 He looked at her steadily. 
 
 " Would you be brave enough to wait? " 
 
 "What else could I do?"
 
 160 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " It's large enough for two, I'm sure of that," 
 he told her, reassuringly. " The problem is to brace 
 it up and make it hold anything at all." 
 
 " I know I can help," she told him. " Just tell me 
 what to do." 
 
 There was ample employment for them both. Vail 
 cut the first of the slender, pliant braces he should 
 need, using his knife on the suitable shrubs and trim- 
 ming each slip of its branches. Barbara then suc- 
 ceeded to this portion of the labor, while Julian 
 lashed the ribs in place with bits of cord and 
 rope. 
 
 It was not a short or easy task to wet and force 
 the old misshapen mass of canvas back to the lines 
 on which it had been designed. It required bracing 
 from end to end and across every foot of its width. 
 Where the wrinkles had been for unrecorded months 
 the material was weak. What ropes and cords the 
 former boathouse supplied were frequently useless 
 from decay. 
 
 Barbara plied the half-dulled knife till her hands 
 were blistered anew. Her muscles ached, her arms 
 were scratched and bruised. Nevertheless, she con- 
 tinued her part with a blithesomeness of spirit and 
 an earnestness of purpose that only real joy could 
 sustain. As a matter of fact both she and Vail were 
 inordinately happy. For at least the hour they were 
 helpmates, Fate's castaways, flung here alone on an 
 island where each was indispensable to the life and 
 well-being of the other. Moreover, the sun was 
 warm, the air was sweet, and the primitive tang of
 
 LIKE A PRIMITIVE PAIR 161 
 
 earth and sea was stirring the blood of their 
 pulses. 
 
 Back and forth, from the shrubs to the boat, Bar- 
 bara gladly sped. She gave the product of her la- 
 bor to the man, and their eyes and fingers met. Her 
 nature rejoiced at the skill and strength his hands 
 were displaying as he wrought. She marveled at the 
 cleverness, dexterity, and cunning exemplified as he 
 forced the stiff and wrinkled material back to the 
 shape he desired. 
 
 They worked there for hours together, sometimes 
 silently, both engrossed, and sometimes with helpful 
 words. But whether they spoke or exchanged no 
 speech, the deep, overmastering current of something 
 too vast for expression or even understanding swept 
 them ecstatically onward, forgetful of all the fevered 
 world. 
 
 It was nearing noon when at length Vail an- 
 nounced he could do no more for the craft. What 
 he had by then was a stoutly braced and stiffened 
 framework of good tough withes over which the 
 canvas was fairly well shaped and stretched. This 
 he was readily enabled to carry to the shore, that 
 was barely a stone's toss away. 
 
 Two of the broken oars, afforded by the mass of 
 junk, he selected for use as paddles. Then with a 
 battered lard can, taken aboard in case the need for 
 bailing out water should arise, he pushed out and 
 leaped aboard the craft, to give it its first official 
 trial. 
 
 Then he drove it back to the beach. The wind
 
 162 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 was towards the second island, visible down the bay. 
 In such a boat he felt it unsafe to attempt up-wind 
 navigation. 
 
 " Well, little friend, get in," he said, "for bet- 
 ter or for worse." 
 
 Her heart was fluttering with doubt, but, meet- 
 ing his eyes with a smile of trust, she embarked, and 
 they drifted from the shore.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A DESPERATE CHANCE 
 
 A FEW drops of water promptly entered the 
 boat, where the paint on the canvas had 
 cracked. For a moment Vail merely sat there, watch- 
 ing for leaks with the craft now fully weighted. 
 
 He was not entirely assured by the bulging ap- 
 pearance of places made weak by former folds, yet 
 on the whole the shell of cloth bore the pressure re- 
 markably well. And, inasmuch as disaster and slow 
 starvation confronted them here, the present adven- 
 ture was imperative, despite unpromising conditions. 
 
 He took up one of the paddles, and Barbara did 
 the same. There was no such thing as shirk in all 
 her nature. The breeze determined their direction, 
 but neither knew, as a matter of fact, where lay the 
 burg of Hackett Tides. The nearest land was the 
 distant island, towards which the wind would assist. 
 
 They rode like the merest shell upon the ripples of 
 the bay, Barbara paddling like a little Amazon, and 
 no less excited and far more happy than before. 
 
 " If only I could have given you a good hearty 
 breakfast first," she said, " it would be rather jolly, 
 after all ! " 
 
 She was up toward the bow, where he could watch 
 163
 
 164 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 her every movement and glory in her sturdy strength 
 and pose. He had never believed it possible for a 
 man to compass the riotous joy that continued to 
 increase in his veins. 
 
 " Aren't you as hungry as I ? " he inquired. " It 
 was up to me, as a Robinson Crusoe of genuine re- 
 source, to shoot some game, or catch some fish, or 
 at least find some mussels or oysters." 
 
 She was quite serious. 
 
 " But, you see, unless you got something to eat 
 on the shore, last evening, you have starved much 
 longer than I." 
 
 " You haven't taken time to tell me where you 
 were," he answered. " You spoke of a room where 
 you were locked. How did you manage to escape? " 
 
 " I dropped down from the window, on a roof, 
 then got in a tree, and I guess I fell from the lowest 
 branch to the ground." 
 
 " You guess you fell? " 
 
 " I didn't stop at the time to think of it, really. 
 I was horribly frightened, I must confess, and I ran 
 as fast as I could go." 
 
 "To find a boat?" 
 
 " Oh ! it wasn't much trouble to find the boats, 
 but how in the world I ever found the island I never 
 expect to know ! " 
 
 What a new sensation of pleasure and admiration 
 he experienced as he pictured the brave little figure 
 escaping by roofs and trees, to search the landings 
 for a boat with which to brave the bay, alone, and 
 row till she came to his side!
 
 A DESPERATE CHANCE 165 
 
 In all his life there had never been a service so 
 sweet or courageous. His thoughts had never be- 
 fore entertained this delight of comradeship or un- 
 derstood its ties. A cycle of years might fail to 
 glorify a love as his had been goldened within the 
 past few hours. He could not resist a momentary 
 dwelling on the subject. 
 
 " It was perfectly incredible, what you did, but 
 Barbara, why did you come? " 
 
 " Why, because I Just because you " 
 
 She paddled with extra vigor, adding, haltingly, 
 " Because you and I are friends. You've called 
 me one and of course I had to prove it." 
 
 " I called myself your friend." 
 
 "Yes that's just exactly it! I mean you're the 
 
 only one How far do you suppose we've 
 
 gone? " 
 
 " Too far to turn back," he answered, smilingly, 
 and they were silent for a while. 
 
 Julian presently took the can and bailed out a 
 portion of the water. From a dozen little cracks, 
 nearly rotten through its fabric, the canvas boat 
 was leaking. The wind had slightly freshened, and, 
 while it helped to float them towards their goal, it 
 likewise raised more turbulent waves than the craft 
 could securely weather. 
 
 " Don't wear yourself out," said Vail, resuming 
 his paddle. " You've done far more than your 
 share." 
 
 She rested for a moment, while he drove the boat 
 ahead. It still seemed very far indeed to the island
 
 166 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 towards which they were forging. She was waxing 
 faint and weak from hunger, yet scorned to com- 
 plain, or exhibit the slightest sign that might dis- 
 courage him. 
 
 "Wouldn't it be a joke," she said, " if there's no 
 one on the place where we are going? " Her paddle 
 was plying as before. 
 
 " Immense," said Vail. " I don't understand why 
 we see no boats in the bay." 
 
 They paddled steadily until the island ahead was 
 less than a mile away, showing trees but no sign of 
 a house. 
 
 Vail abruptly ceased at his labor. 
 
 " Listen a minute, Barbara. . . . It's a motor- 
 boat, I'm sure." 
 
 Their craft swung about and drifted on the wind, 
 and the waves pounded softly on its quarter. Vail 
 and the girl both scanned the bay as far as they could 
 see, without result. Yet down with the breeze, as 
 they rocked on the tide, came the unmistakable 
 " putt-putt " of a gasoline discharge with a pulsing 
 that indicated speed. 
 
 Barbara found it first. 
 
 " Isn't that something, way back there by our 
 island? " she inquired. " You don't suppose it's 
 someone after us ? " 
 
 Vail stood up, and strained the cloth till one of 
 the leaks was enlarged. 
 
 " It's a motor-boat with a bright-red band from 
 stem to stern." 
 
 " Bright red? " repeated Barbara. " I heard them
 
 A DESPERATE CHANCE 167 
 
 say last night, while I was listening, that the Red 
 Streak was the fastest boat around and cheap to 
 hire. They couldn't have meant " 
 
 Julian faced her promptly. 
 
 " You are sure of that ? They called a boat the 
 Red Streak? " 
 
 He did not await her reply, but promptly sat 
 down in his place, to resume the paddle. 
 
 " We can beat them yet ! We've got to beat them, 
 little friend! We're small to find and hard to see 
 and the wind and tide are with us ! " 
 
 " Then you think " 
 
 " We'll take no chances ! If you're tired, rest a 
 little bit and bail. They'll never catch us in the 
 world!" 
 
 He was far less assured than he tried to make her 
 believe. He glanced at the water, swashing about 
 in the hold of their frail canvas shell, with added 
 apprehension. A leak he had not thought so large 
 was trickling now instead of dripping. That his 
 standing up had opened a crack he took no time to 
 deduce. To drive ahead with all his strength was 
 the one important task. 
 
 Barbara bailed, in silent obedience, glancing back 
 at his set face once, to smile in her brave little way. 
 It gave him new resolution and then she paddled 
 as before. 
 
 A steadily rising, clearer punctuation of the 
 breeze was all the indication Vail required that the 
 boat behind was in pursuit. He swept the rough wa- 
 ter powerfully, flashing his oar-blade in the sun like
 
 168 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 a Viking born for the seas. It was splendid, a stir- 
 ring spectacle of two young striplings of Neptune's 
 world exerting their strength together ! 
 
 But the strain on the boat began to tell as it 
 cleaved through the rougher billows. All of its leaks 
 increased and new ones appeared, as Julian watched 
 and sweated. He could feel the rapid gaining 
 of the fiery Red Streak and was certain his craft had 
 been sighted. 
 
 How long their superhuman efforts to reach the 
 island ahead of the motor could be sustained he could 
 not pause to reflect. How long this cracking, rotted 
 shell could remain afloat seemed far more important 
 to them now. And yet, if they actually reached the 
 shore of the island now looming momentarily 
 nearer what shelter, or means of defense, might 
 its meager extent afford? 
 
 " Stop again, Barbara, and bail," he said, in his 
 quiet manner. " They'll never catch us now." 
 
 She made no reply, but worked with the can in a 
 thoroughly businesslike manner. She, too, had noted 
 the increasing leaks and the gaining of the boat in 
 pursuit. She had hourly expected the men to come, 
 a fear she had hidden from Vail. She was far better 
 posted than he on the need of her former captors to 
 take her into custody again. 
 
 Her heart was beating as a frightened bird flut- 
 ters its wings. That the boat would hold together 
 long enough to carry them to land she greatly 
 doubted. But she bailed in apparent calm. 
 
 Vail plied his paddle more hotly as a fresh gush of
 
 A DESPERATE CHANCE 169 
 
 wind swept the motor-boat's sharpened fusilade to 
 his ears. It seemed as if his breath and strength must 
 utterly fail in a moment. 
 
 Once more, neglecting much of the water that 
 slopped about their feet, Barbara helped him to 
 paddle. 
 
 " If I only had a gun ! " breathed Julian. " To be 
 so utterly helpless ! " 
 
 Like an answer flung in retort across the waves 
 came a sharp, clear report, and then a ball, that sang 
 as it sped by their ears. 
 
 Julian lurched as a buffeting wave interfered with 
 his stroke, and the strained gap opened wider in the 
 canvas. 
 
 A purling stream came jutting in beside his feet. 
 And, as if the racking and straining had endured be- 
 yond its age, the canvas broke at all the creases where 
 tiny cracks were spread. 
 
 " I'd bail," he said, and Barbara bailed, while he 
 labored like an engine. 
 
 Yard after yard he drove the doomed craft for- 
 ward. The men in pursuit were still reasonably far 
 behind. Then an exclamation broke from Julian's 
 lips. 
 
 " There's a motor-boat at the island ! " 
 
 Barbara looked, her heart madly leaping with ex- 
 citement. 
 
 Not only was a long, slim motor-boat in sight, 
 around the point towards which they were heading, 
 but also a man in khaki suit was standing on the 
 forward deck, obviously watching the race.
 
 170 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Get up your anchor, man ! " bawled Vail, at the 
 top of his voice. " We need your help ! " 
 
 The man was instantly galvanized and began to 
 work like a fiend. 
 
 " I can't I can't bail it fast enough ! " said Bar- 
 bara, suddenly. 
 
 " Paddle ! " said Vail. " I'll swim ! " 
 
 He was overboard almost instantly, and swimming 
 by the boat. 
 
 Barbara caught up her oar. 
 
 " Oh, why oh, why did you Julian ! " 
 
 In the stress of the moment he smiled at her, out 
 of the sea. 
 
 " I love you. If only one can reach the shore " 
 
 A swirl of the tide embraced them in its might 
 and hastened them in towards the beach. Julian's 
 feet were on the sand beneath the waves. He drove 
 the boat before him irresistibly while it was filling 
 to the brim. 
 
 Barbara leaped out and waded. Their craft went 
 down while the two were scrambling up the sands. 
 The girl was falling from exhaustion. Vail caught 
 her up in his powerful arms, lifted her bodily out 
 of the tide, and strode through the froth, like a drip- 
 ping young god, to carry her over the beach. 
 
 " Let me down ! We've got to run ! " she cried. 
 " I'm all right, Julian please ! " 
 
 He placed her down, but held to her hand as they 
 idarted forward to board the boat where the stranger 
 had run in beside a rocky ledge that answered in lieu 
 of a pier.
 
 A DESPERATE CHANCE 171 
 
 He helped them to scramble in the cockpit, like two 
 winded creatures from the deeps. 
 
 " Don't wait ! Don't wait for anything ! " said 
 Vail, dripping brine like a sieve. " I'll pay you your 
 price if you'll beat those chaps to shore or run them 
 on the rocks and sink their boat ! " 
 
 " Huh ! " said the man, who had shown some agility 
 already; and, pouncing on his engine, he suddenly 
 filled the air with detonations, backed the boat from 
 the place, and sent a shudder of power and eagerness 
 through all the hull as he gave her full speed ahead. 
 
 A yell and a shot came from across the water. 
 The Red Streak, barely five hundred yards away, was 
 flinging aside a snarling froth and the race down 
 the bay was on.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT 
 
 TWO things Barbara noted. The boat they were 
 on was the Kelpie, and the island was barren of 
 buildings. 
 
 Neither fact was important now, with that sinister 
 projectile behind them spraying the sea in its flight, 
 for, despite the speed, vibration, and noise developed 
 by their own swift-racing craftj it appeared the 
 Streak was gaining. 
 
 It seemed like cleaving the sunshine and sea to- 
 gether as the Kelpie settled down by the stern, flung 
 up hor nose and rushed with a thunder of exploded 
 gas through the opal and emerald wall that rose to 
 be cut and laid open by her bow. 
 
 The wind, that had fanned them from the rear, 
 appeared to have been reversed. It rushed upon them 
 full of rainbows, to sting with the chill of spray. 
 The long, slender sea-hound steadied amazingly, so 
 far as side-wise motion was concerned. She was all 
 a mighty quiver of energy, however, that was tuned 
 to the gatling-like exhaust. 
 
 No one attempted to speak against the noise, but 
 all watched backward, tense with straining nerves, to 
 note the position of the Streak. The end of the 
 
 172
 
 A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT 173 
 
 island swept to the rear, with no one to give it 
 attention. The boat behind discharged another 
 shot. 
 
 The report was drowned in the roar. A puff of 
 smoke and the leap of spray where the bullet im- 
 pinged, were the signs that Julian noted. He went 
 to the man who ran the boat and shouted in his ear. 
 
 "Any pistols or guns aboard?" 
 
 The man shook his head, but pointed to a locker 
 beneath a seat. 
 
 Julian had it open promptly and dragged out a 
 small brass cannon, such as a yacht employs to fire 
 a conventional salute. It was modern, a breach-load- 
 ing toy that accommodated shells about like a ten- 
 bore gun. A number of these mere blanks containing 
 only powder, were strewn about in the place. 
 
 Vail took a shell and the gun to the stern and fired, 
 for moral effect. The answer was uncomfortably 
 prompt another ball from the craft behind, that 
 was certainly gaining on their lead. 
 
 The Kelpie's skipper was watching, silently. He 
 had asked no questions, demanded no explanations, 
 interposed no objections to making this mad retreat. 
 It was none the less evident, however, he not only 
 fevered to beat the Streak, but was galled to find her 
 eating up his wake. 
 
 He did everything that ingenuity and goaded 
 pulses could suggest, but their speed was the Kelpie's 
 best. 
 
 Five, ten, fifteen minutes of terrific noise, the lash 
 of spray, and torpedoing straight for the shore
 
 174 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 gave the Streak a menacing gain. Two water comets, 
 steaming the wave-crests as they sped, could have 
 seemed no more like lawless visitors, sent to plow up 
 the calm of the bay. 
 
 Julian, glancing hurriedly about, for anything 
 loose with which to load the otherwise useless cannon, 
 got two mental impressions at once. One was of 
 several feet of small brass chain, loosely wrapped 
 in a length of copper wire. The other came like a 
 series of blurs, where something shot past in the 
 water. 
 
 Then a jolt that shook the Kelpie to her stem 
 gave them all a start of apprehension. In less than 
 half a minute their speed had dropped a third. 
 
 The screw had struck on the branch of a tree that 
 was floating in the bay. It had broken off one of 
 its blades. 
 
 The groan that escaped the silent skipper was 
 lost in the deafening exhaust. He looked at Vail, 
 and the two understood, as Barbara felt from their 
 glances. 
 
 Wild yells of triumph and more of the shots came 
 piercing through the wind from behind. The men 
 in the Streak had seen the halt where the Kelpie 
 limped onward from pursuit. 
 
 Vail made a dive for the wad of chain, which he 
 found was in several pieces. One of these he quickly 
 wrapped with the wire that bound them all together. 
 What he thus formed was a two-inch length of links 
 that would just barely slip in the cannon. 
 
 His face was grim as he loaded the piece for war.
 
 A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT 175 
 
 Not a single face was visible in the sinister Streak, 
 that was ramming down in triumph upon them. 
 
 Steadily narrower became the gap between the 
 pursued and pursuers. It seemed as if nothing on 
 earth could prevent the Streak from capturing its 
 prey. It was certainly less than eighty yards away, 
 and coming on with meteoric velocity, when Julian 
 fired his gun. 
 
 He had aimed it high, aware that the chain would 
 prove a poor projectile. But he hoped to get them 
 at the water-line and let the sea in to their motor. 
 
 The little brass ordnance leaped in fury when it 
 joined its report to the din. 
 
 The shot went home as true as a die, but higher 
 than Vail had expected. He saw where it hit them, 
 plainly. It tore a hole as big as his fist through 
 their prow, alongside of their stem. 
 
 But it seemed to have little effect. It was fully 
 a foot above their water-line and must have ranged 
 almost straight for their motor. 
 
 Julian ran to load again, while more shots came 
 raining from the rear. Then the skipper abruptly 
 flung off his cap and stamped upon it in glee. He 
 yelled out something fraught with joy, but not a 
 word was comprehended. 
 
 Barbara clutched at Julian's sleeve and merely 
 cried to him: 
 
 "Look!" 
 
 Julian rose and cast a glance at the Streak that 
 no longer streaked. One of the men had clambered 
 forward, to examine the hole in the prow. The mis-
 
 176 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 sile fired from Julian's piece had ripped out the bot- 
 tom of their gasoline tank and their motor had 
 ceased its roaring. 
 
 The " bone in their teeth " was relinquished, for 
 the race of the Streak was done. 
 
 Shots, curses, yells, and futile ragings sped on to 
 overtake the Kelpie. The broken propeller churned 
 triumphantly, despite the lessened speed, and the 
 skipper finally closed his exhaust and turned to Vail 
 with a grin. 
 
 "What did you do?" 
 
 "Don't know," said Vail. "But I loaded with 
 chain and think I reached their solar plexus. Is there 
 anything on board we could eat? " 
 
 Again as before the man merely waved to a locker. 
 He was a silent, eccentric individual. 
 
 Julian found a pail of lunch, and, with no more 
 ado, sat down with Barbara at the stern, to help her 
 devour every morsel. 
 
 At one o'clock they came to the pier that served 
 the town of Silver Rill, where Julian's car had been 
 stored. The almost wordless skipper of the Kelpie 
 was sorry to bid them adieu. 
 
 " If you'll tell me your name," said Julian, " I'll 
 send you a check for twice what you charge for your 
 services and damage." 
 
 The skipper shook his head. 
 
 " Got a million now and don't know how to spend 
 it." 
 
 Julian met his twinkling glance and felt he had 
 come upon a brother. He held out his hand.
 
 A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT 177 
 
 " At least you'll tell me your name? " 
 
 " It's Jim." 
 
 " Mine's Jule I hope we'll meet again." 
 
 " And mine is Barbara," said the bright-eyed girl, 
 whose smile overpaid him, he was sure, as he closed 
 his hand upon her fingers. 
 
 With one accord she and Julian turned at the 
 shore, to wave him a last farewell. Then he went 
 again to his boat. 
 
 Vail, once more all eagerness, hastened at once to 
 the town's one telephone, while Barbara waited, 
 seated on a box. 
 
 He called up his New York office and finally got 
 Broughton on the wire. 
 
 " This is Mr. Vail," he said. " I'm on my way 
 home from a trip. . . . Yes, I'll be at the office in 
 the morning. . . . Never mind Gardner just at pres- 
 ent. . . . Broughton, I want you to attend to a 
 personal matter for me, at once. ... I want you to 
 take the vase of flowers from my desk flowers and 
 all faded or not without disturbing anything 
 and carry it, just as it is, to your apartments. . . . 
 Yes, wrap it up, of course. . . . Your own apart- 
 ments, yes till further orders. . . . I'll hold the 
 wire till you tell me you've got it from the desk." 
 
 He sat for perhaps two minutes, holding the re- 
 ceiver to his ear. 
 
 " Hullo ! " came the distant voice, at last, " is that 
 you, Mr. Vail? " 
 
 " Yes, all right." 
 
 " The vase, Mr. Vail, is gone."
 
 178 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Vail felt a kick of his heart. 
 
 " The vase you say it's gone ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. It's not on the desk." 
 
 Julian made an effort to pull himself together. 
 
 " All right. Much obliged. Good-by." 
 
 He hung up the instrument resignedly, fearing 
 now his car might also be missing. 
 
 But the thieves had avoided the village garage and 
 the car had been unmolested. 
 
 Then presently, still wet, but not chilled to posi- 
 tive discomfort, he settled, with Barbara, in the ma- 
 chine and headed for Gotham and trouble.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 SOME HALF-CONFESSIONS 
 
 IF Barbara's spirits flagged at last, with contem- 
 plations of things and inquiries still to be faced 
 in New York, Vail was no less afflicted by a dread 
 of affairs not yet approached as the space between 
 themselves and the feverish town began to be di- 
 minished. 
 
 Out here in the open they had seemed on a differ- 
 ent footing. The city and its cares had dimmed 
 and their two selves only had counted. Fate, chance, 
 and adventure had appeared about to weld their lives 
 in one, and all else beyond was vague. 
 
 Julian knew there would be no time like this for 
 the conference they must hold. He had put it all 
 away from him, gladly, while events crowded thickly 
 in their path, but facts there were he must face at 
 last, if only for their mutual protection, 
 
 He almost wished New York might sink, taking 
 with it to some bottomless depth all the crime and 
 misery, treachery, fraud, intrigue, the mockery of 
 life and lovej and the poverty and woe with which it 
 was seething day and night. He was certain no 
 truer, purer little heart than Barbara had brought 
 to the huge metropolis ever beat out the seconds of 
 
 179
 
 180 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 a life. He was sure she was innocent of any intended 
 wrong, despite all the things he remembered. 
 
 " Little friend," he said to her, at last, " who were 
 the men in the Streak? " 
 
 She was thoroughly startled by the query. 
 
 " Why I don't know that is, except They 
 
 must have been the men who put you in the cistern." 
 
 " Yes, I'm reasonably sure of that. But they had 
 no reason for desiring to capture me again. They 
 must have been after you, and the question arises 
 why?" 
 
 She very much wished to be absolutely frank. She 
 met his glance unflinchingly, assured by the light in 
 his eyes. 
 
 " I suppose they might be a little afraid of 
 things that they think I'll tell." 
 
 "And will you, Barbara? There have been a lot 
 of mysterious things I must inquire about and per- 
 haps the sooner the better." 
 
 " I'll tell you all I can," she answered, whitening a 
 trifle and tucking his fur robe closer about her feet. 
 
 " There are some things yet What shall I tell 
 
 you first?" 
 
 " You know at least one of the men who captured 
 me?" 
 
 She nodded. " I think so at least he must have 
 helped." 
 
 " Does he happen to be a tall, red-headed man 
 the one you were with at the house where you saw 
 me on the stairs ? " 
 
 " Yes, but I hope *
 
 SOME HALF-CONFESSIONS 181 
 
 " Did he also whistle you out of the house at 
 Mrs. Loomis's, twice?" 
 
 " He did, of course. You see, I couldn't 
 help " And she halted, looking in his eyes be- 
 seechingly. 
 
 His compassion and trust were not to be mistaken. 
 
 " The man isn't anything anyone particularly 
 dear in your life ? " he asked her, eagerly. " Or is 
 he someone you've been afraid to resist?" 
 
 She colored and dropped her gaze. 
 
 " He frightens me terribly and then he prom- 
 ises Oh, please, isn't that one of the subjects 
 
 the parts you can leave a little longer? " 
 
 " I'd like to leave it all, but it's a pretty serious 
 affair. Have you any idea why I was lured to that 
 deserted island? " 
 
 " Not the slightest in the world." Her honesty 
 was thoroughly convincing. " I'd like to know." 
 
 " You can't tell me first who he is this red- 
 headed man ? " 
 
 " I'd rather not if you'll trust me just a little." 
 The tension of her nerves was obvious. 
 
 He felt he could trust her with his life, since her 
 little hand had held it. Nevertheless, he required aid, 
 and a clearing away of the mist and worry lingered 
 at his heart. 
 
 " You haven't told me whether or not he is very 
 dear to you." 
 
 " Oh, he isn't ! He isn't ! There's no one so dear 
 
 as There's no one, I mean, that's I hate 
 
 him, if that's what you mean."
 
 182 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Thank God ! " he murmured, more to himself 
 than to her. " Can you tell me why you disappeared 
 and went to that house I was in ? " 
 
 " He promised to help me get some things that 
 mean everything to me." 
 
 " There were things of yours in that house, of all 
 houses in the town ? " 
 
 " Why, I don't know what house it was. He took 
 me there in a car. Is there anything wrong with the 
 house? " 
 
 " Didn't you recognize the place ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. We had only arrived when you 
 called from above, and he caught me up and ran. 
 You don't mean the house is yours ? " 
 
 Julian almost smiled. 
 
 " Not exactly. What is it of yours that was 
 there?" 
 
 She colored again. 
 
 " Just papers. If I ever get them, Mr. Vail, and 
 they shouldn't prove " She left it incompleted. 
 
 The personal equation was dominant at once with 
 Vail. 
 
 " You've called me Julian before." 
 
 " Perhaps when I was excited. I didn't intend 
 to, of course." 
 
 He slowed down the car. 
 
 " Don't say that, Barbara, please. You haven't 
 forgotten what I told you when I had to get out 
 of the boat?" 
 
 The exquisite fire that leaped to her eyes ignited 
 trains of powder in his pulses.
 
 SOME HALF-CONFESSIONS 183 
 
 " But you shouldn't have said it you shouldn't," 
 she protested. " Please please pretend it didn't 
 happen or was just excitement like mine." 
 
 " But it wasn't, little friend. You must have felt 
 it known it known " 
 
 " But when I beg you, Julian There ! I've 
 
 gone and done it again ! " She was laughing, with 
 tears in her eyes. 
 
 " You don't mean, Barbara " 
 
 " Please wait ! " she interrupted. " If you knew 
 
 what I knew things knew more about Oh, 
 
 please, please let's be friends again just friends, till 
 perhaps perhaps I pass out of your life ! " She 
 said that last with smileless lips that she forced to 
 pronounce unwelcome words. 
 
 Vail was momentarily silenced, meeting the look in 
 her eyes. He had never loved her more than now, 
 when she seemed to be receding from his vision. He 
 was mystified and magnetized, reckless yet restrained, 
 and held away by gulfs impassable, feeling once more 
 the obscuring mist arise to enshroud her where she 
 sat. 
 
 Her half-formed admissions, halted revelations, 
 and emotional distress filled his heart with appre- 
 hension. 
 
 " Do you wish to pass out of my life? " he said, 
 his own face white and set. " You can answer that ? " 
 
 The tears sprang again to her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, but you won't insist on an answer not to- 
 day?" 
 
 " What is it," he inquired, " that weaves between
 
 184 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 you and me? Why can't you tell me, and let me try 
 to help? Don't you know I'll be your friend, all 
 through?" 
 
 She met his gaze fearlessly again. 
 
 " That is the dearest hope of my life." 
 
 " Then give me a chance to prove it. I wonder 
 if you even know how much you need a friend? " 
 
 Her frightened look returned. 
 
 "You mean that I'm in danger? some danger I 
 haven't discovered? " 
 
 " It couldn't be otherwise. From the first I've 
 doubted that you could know how much this business 
 means." 
 
 " Trapping you in the well? " 
 
 " A great deal more than that and it's time you 
 knew." He saw her brown eyes glow with girlish 
 misgivings, but resolved he must still go on. " You 
 were sent to me in a box, do you know why ? " 
 
 " Perhaps someone intended to give me a genuine 
 friend." 
 
 It went to his heart like wine of roses. He smiled. 
 
 " Ah ! if that had been the only reason ! Barbara, 
 haven't you read the accounts in the papers of that 
 Indian Maharajah, murdered and robbed of his 
 gems? " 
 
 " I noticed a little about it." Her interest was 
 mild. 
 
 He steeled his heart to continue to the end. 
 
 " The principal jewel stolen was a ruby, a sacred 
 stone of exceptional size and worth." 
 
 " Yes, I think I remember reading that."
 
 SOME HALF-CONFESSIONS 185 
 
 " Do you also recall that your shoes, that you 
 left at my office, got wet as they lay on the desk? " 
 
 " It couldn't have hurt them in the least." 
 
 He was silent for a moment, passing a team in the 
 road. The car was running with a purr that barely 
 sounded to their ears. 
 
 " It didn't exactly hurt your shoes, but one of 
 the heels came off." 
 
 She gave no suspicious sign. 
 
 " Why, what an absurd It couldn't have been 
 
 nailed!" 
 
 " No, it was glued, and the wetting did the trick. 
 That heel was hollow, and what do you think was 
 inside? " 
 
 " Inside the heel of my shoe ? " Her surprise was 
 
 thoroughly sincere. " Why, but how I don't 
 
 understand " 
 
 " The heel was hollowed, as I said and it held 
 that stolen ruby." 
 
 She flung out her hand upon his.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 A STARTLING DENOUEMENT 
 
 FOR a moment there was silence between them, as 
 they rode along in the car. Then Barbara 
 spoke. 
 
 " My shoe ! A stolen ruby in my shoe ? Some- 
 one was murdered and robbed and then the ruby 
 was put in my heel? " 
 
 " Exactly as I have told you, Barbara, and, there- 
 fore " 
 
 Her grip on his arm was tightened. Her eyes 
 were fixed and wide. Horror, surprise, and question- 
 ing were depicted in her glance. 
 
 " No wonder then that Willard So that was 
 
 why he made me tell You Julian what did 
 
 you think ? You didn't believe that I 
 
 " I found it out that day," he interrupted. " Have 
 
 I acted as if I suspected, believed What is it 
 
 you started to say? Willard is Willard who? And 
 what did he make you tell ? " 
 
 She was greatly perturbed. 
 
 " I I If just you wouldn't ask me now. I 
 
 didn't mean Please tell me what happened 
 
 then." 
 
 " I placed your property in the safe, as I told 
 186
 
 A STARTLING DENOUEMENT 187 
 
 you at the time and that night the place was en- 
 tered and someone stole the shoes." 
 
 She was intensely white. 
 
 " They got the ruby and all? " 
 
 " I had placed the ruby elsewhere. It was saved. 
 They got me down there in the cistern to force 
 me to tell where it was." 
 
 She closed her eyes and reeled with weakness. Her 
 hand had fallen from his arm and hung there limply 
 on the robe. 
 
 He held the wheel in the grip of his right hand 
 and caught her drooping wrist. 
 
 " So you see, little friend," he continued, eager 
 to reassure her mind, " we need each other's help. 
 You're not going to faint? " 
 
 She shook her head, grasping at her will to hold 
 it steady. 
 
 " I knew you knew nothing of all this affair," he 
 added, solicitously, " but at least you know some of 
 the men concerned and the desperate means they em- 
 ploy. You risked your life to save me, and you know 
 I'd give you mine. We've got to work together, 
 for detectives are on the case." 
 
 She started and stared at him again. 
 
 " Detectives ? But they don't suspect / stole the 
 ruby and hid it, or murdered anyone? Oh, why did 
 anyone mix it up with us with me and drag me 
 in? But when they got you down in the well you 
 told them where to go and get the stone? " 
 
 His face was slightly flushed. 
 
 " I waited till the hole was nearly full of water,
 
 188 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 running in from the bay. Then I'm afraid I 
 
 hadn't the courage to die for a sacred ruby." 
 
 She clung to his hand abruptly, with a fierce and 
 passionate desire to shield him both from harm and 
 his own bitter self-accusation. 
 
 The silence between them was prolonged, as each 
 was absorbed in a cycle of thoughts that revolved 
 with dizzying velocity. At length she appeared to 
 realize what her tense little hand was about. She 
 released her grip jand applied her strength to the 
 needs of further questions. 
 
 " Do you think they've got the ruby now ? " 
 
 " I 'phoned my office for information. It looks 
 as if they have." 
 
 "Then what will happen next?" 
 
 *' I wish I knew. I wish that could end the whole 
 affair. But what the detectives may do in the case 
 is more than I can tell." 
 
 Her alarm surged back as before. 
 
 " You don't really think they'd mix me up in the 
 trouble again ? Oh ! perhaps you've had to tell " 
 
 " I've told them nothing, Barbara, but one clever 
 man has guessed mighty close to the truth! Don't 
 you see don't you understand at last " 
 
 She interrupted swiftly. 
 
 " But I hadn't anything to do with all these 
 things ! I don't know how it ever happened ! I don't 
 know what was done to me, or how I came in the 
 
 box ! I haven't stolen anything, and I can prove 
 
 Oh, what am I going to do ? " 
 
 " What can you prove ? " he demanded, eagerly.
 
 A STARTLING DENOUEMENT 189 
 
 " What can you tell me that will clear this matter 
 up? Who are you shielding, Barbara? Is it some- 
 one you dearly love? " 
 
 " Oh, please, please wait don't ask me now," she 
 
 begged him, wistfully. " I'm so frightened If 
 
 you knew how dear he is to Everything, every- 
 thing my whole life and happiness I've needed 
 
 all the help I could get. And Willard, of course 
 
 Oh, I can't, I can't explain ! " 
 
 She had blurted out so manv fragmentary admis- 
 sions, all creating confusion in his mind, that Julian's 
 thoughts were filled with all manner of despair. 
 Ghosts of his older doubts and wraiths of the new 
 swam mistily through it all. He was certain of one 
 thing only he loved her in spite of himself loved 
 her, believed her, and gave her his trust absolutely. 
 
 Yet the thing he had feared more than all the 
 rest seemed fully confirmed at last: There was some- 
 one dearer than himself for whom she could bear 
 the blackest sort of suspicion. Twice she had men- 
 tioned this " Willard," and yet had declared she 
 hated him with all her sturdy might. 
 
 " I must ask you first to be fair to yourself," he 
 told her now, judicially. " If there is any way on 
 earth for you to prove your innocence of all knowl- 
 edge of the ruby and how it came in your possession, 
 for Heaven's sake, Barbara, exercise it now! Give 
 me a chance to help you help myself satisfy the 
 detectives, who will certainly trace the stone ! " 
 
 " I don't know how it came to be in my shoe," she 
 repeated. " I don't see why it was put there. I
 
 190 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 don't know why I was sent to you, and I wish I 
 hadn't been at all, since it's making you all this 
 trouble." 
 
 " Oh, don't say that ! " he begged her, fervently. 
 " I'm glad, in spite of it all ! But you started to 
 say you could prove your innocence. It's proved 
 already to me, but why not give me all the facts and 
 let me defend you absolutely? " 
 
 She met his gaze courageously, but no color re- 
 turned to her face. 
 
 " I can't prove anything just yet. Perhaps 
 
 when I've seen If I only knew what to 
 
 do!" 
 
 He abandoned all hope of getting behind the some- 
 thing that she steadfastly withheld. He took an- 
 other tack. 
 
 " You won't try to see these criminals or 
 Willard? You won't run away again and put your- 
 self in their power? " 
 
 " I don't suppose they'll want me again, now that 
 they've got the ruby." 
 
 He was well-nigh aghast, it sounded so much like 
 confession of her connection with the crime. 
 
 " But you told me, Barbara, you did not know 
 the ruby was in your shoe." 
 
 Her eyes were perfectly frank. 
 
 " I didn't. But you tell me it was, and all that 
 Willard all he wanted to know when he came to 
 Mrs. Loomis's was what I had done with my shoes. 
 He made me tell him everything that happened and 
 where you had put them away."
 
 A STARTLING DENOUEMENT 191 
 
 rt But he came again next morning, while I was on 
 the 'phone. What was he after then ? " 
 
 " Why, nothing. I'd ask him to come, I mean 
 
 he had promised to help That's the part I'd 
 
 rather not tell." 
 
 Julian smiled, in a mirthless way that she felt 
 masked a silent rebuke. It was merely his helpless- 
 ness. 
 
 " How long shall I be obliged to wait for this 
 information? " 
 
 She avoided his searching eyes. 
 
 " You may never get the information perhaps." 
 
 " You don't mean to say " 
 
 " Oh, it isn't my wish ! " she protested, passion- 
 ately. " It isn't a thing that anyone can help ! But 
 if I go away and you never hear of me again I 
 want you to know, believe, understand it was the 
 only thing I could do ! " 
 
 Despite the sickening doubts that assailed him, 
 mind and heart, he could not consent to think of her 
 slipping from his life. Such love as his knows noth- 
 ing of reason, nothing of cause, and cares nothing 
 for what has been. 
 
 " But you wouldn't do that not after such 
 a day as we have passed together! Where do 
 you mean to go to-night, after we've had our 
 dinner? " 
 
 " I hadn't thought." She smiled at her helpless 
 position. " I haven't any place to go, of course 
 unless it's back to Mrs. Loomis." 
 
 " I'll take you there," he told her, promptly, ri-
 
 192 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 membering one thing more. " But where did you 
 pass the night when I saw you at the ball? How did 
 you happen to be there, Barbara? What did it 
 mean, that gown and all? and the woman who took 
 you away ? " 
 
 She flushed to the tips of her ears. 
 
 " They just dressed me up and gave me that name 
 and took me there, that's all. I told you I didn't 
 know why. I don't unless it might have been 
 to meet Mr. Sir Hugh Pearson." 
 
 " You had never met him previously ? " 
 
 " Never in my life ? I don't know anything about 
 him." 
 
 " Where did you get the gown ? " 
 
 " I think it must have been hired, jewels and all." 
 
 " Who was the woman ? You probably stayed at 
 her house." 
 
 " I did. She said her name was Mrs. Snow, but 
 I think that name was assumed." 
 
 " Assumed? " 
 
 " A servant called her * My Lady ' by mistake, and 
 a lot of English letters came, and I think she is 
 someone important. She doesn't speak as we do 
 in the least." 
 
 " She wanted you to meet Sir Hugh." 
 
 " She thought it might be pleasant." 
 
 He was instantly alert. 
 
 "And was it, Barbara?" 
 
 " I don't know. I was too excited, seeing you." 
 
 Her answer might have been complimentary or 
 just the other way. He pursued the subject further.
 
 A STARTLING DENOUEMENT 193 
 
 "Do you expect to meet him again? Did Mrs. 
 Snow, or Lady Someone, invite you to stop at her 
 house?" 
 
 " She seemed to think it was settled that I would." 
 
 Vail was deeper than ever in the fog. 
 
 " And you think you may ? " 
 
 The glance that had played such havoc already 
 with his heart was glowing again in her two brown 
 eyes as she turned them steadily upon him. 
 
 " I think I prefer Mrs. Loomis's and I mean 
 
 I'd rather not." 
 
 They were passing through one of the suburbs of 
 Brooklyn. Their journey was nearing its end. 
 
 Julian, thoroughly engrossed in the latest revela- 
 tions of Barbara's adventures, had given no heed to 
 a pair of policemen, mounted on wheels, who had 
 fallen in behind him in the road, a mile at the rear, 
 to follow him on to the town. 
 
 It was not until he swung at last into one of the 
 streets devoted almost wholly to business that his 
 attention was drawn to a squad of policemen, ac- 
 tively moving out in the road and waving their hands 
 for him to halt. 
 
 A limousine car was standing by the curb, before 
 a precinct station. Vail had no more than stopped 
 his car than an amazing thing occurred. 
 
 A veiled, excited woman, clutching a large police- 
 man by the arm, came running to the curb. 
 
 " Barbara ! My little girl ! " she cried. 
 
 Half a minute later, wholly dazed and confounded 
 by the surprise of the situation, Vail was dragged
 
 194 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 bodily out of his seat, and arrested on a charge of 
 abduction. He was taken at once inside the station. 
 
 Barbara, strangely helpless and silenced by some- 
 thing the woman said or did, as she weepingly clasped 
 her in her arms, was still too astonished or fright- 
 ened to speak, when, after a time of great confusion 
 and excitement at the place, she found herself hope- 
 lessly parted from Vail and at last in the limousine 
 car. 
 
 Then the car escaped the curious throng, gathered 
 from all directions, and was driven away, for the 
 bridge and New York, at the limit of speed regu- 
 lations.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 IBIS WRITES A LETTER 
 
 IT was useless for Vail to storm, protest, and 
 threaten when at last he recovered his normal wits 
 and demanded an explanation. To all intents and 
 purposes he had been " captured with the goods." 
 There was no one at the station to whom his name 
 and connections meant the smallest thing in the 
 world. He could claim no rights or ownership in 
 Barbara Lee, either by legal or blood relationship. 
 He had no intention of blurting out the truth as to 
 how she had spent the night. He was helpless in the 
 hands of the " law." 
 
 It was fully an hour before he could manage to 
 hunt down Faxon, Chief of the New York Police, by 
 means of the telephone, and invoke his official aid. 
 Even then, through required precautions, he was still 
 obliged to wait for a time that seemed interminable 
 for the Chief to make sure there was some mistake 
 and to send instructions and guarantees that restored 
 him to his freedom. He was finally permitted to 
 climb in his car and resume his journey alone. 
 
 Nothing more baffling or galling than this had 
 occurred in all the incredible succession of events 
 piled in upon him since his birthday " present " ar- 
 
 195
 
 196 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 rived. He was not at all certain it was safe or wise 
 to demand police assistance to discover where Bar- 
 bara had gone. 
 
 The more he thought upon the matter the more 
 clearly he realized the extraordinary position in 
 which he found himself. Not only must he exercise 
 every possible precaution to protect the name of the 
 vanished girl who had risked her life and all to save 
 him from hideous death, but he could not even take 
 this present affair to Garrison without revealing facts 
 too likely to involve her with the law. 
 
 Not even the satisfaction of knowing the woman 
 who had lodged the complaint of abduction against 
 him was vouchsafed his angered mind. The name she 
 gave the officers was false, as he was thoroughly 
 aware. No view had been permitted of her face, 
 either during or after his arrest. 
 
 With a sense of chagrin, he confessed to himself 
 that Barbara must have consented to some of these 
 proceedings for the coup to have met with success. 
 Had she cried out but once that the woman of the 
 veil was an impostor, the sergeant must certainly 
 have listened long enough to investigate the affair. 
 Either through fright or acquiescence she had meekly 
 submitted to the bold design without so much as a 
 word. 
 
 She was hiding something vital, by confession re- 
 peatedly made. It was equally certain this present 
 denouement could have happened only through con- 
 trivance between the woman and the fellows at Hack- 
 ett Tides. No one else under Heaven could have
 
 IRIS WRITES A LETTER 197 
 
 telephoned ahead that he and Barbara were coming. 
 Being unaware that all the way down a woman had 
 followed his car, he made no calculations involving 
 that factor in the case. 
 
 The whole affair aroused his indignation more and 
 more, especially as he realized there was nothing he 
 could do, either to-night or in the morning, to find 
 where Barbara had gone. Without the aid of pro- 
 fessional detectives, whose services and attention to 
 the case he desired to avoid, he would simply be 
 obliged to wait till she could send him word which 
 he feared she might not do. 
 
 All the way back to the city he vainly cudgeled his 
 brain for counter moves and nursed his wrath at the 
 woman whose coup had been so astonishingly accom- 
 plished. At length, half-starved and wholly dis- 
 gusted, he came to his own apartments, leaving his 
 car at the curb. 
 
 A number of letters had accumulated here, two of 
 which came from Iris Puryn, while Enid had sent 
 no less than four. All were indifferently tossed aside, 
 unopened, while Julian hastened to bathe and dress in 
 fresher garments. 
 
 Seated at last for his dinner, he waved away the 
 flock of evening papers, that once before had de- 
 stroyed his appetite, and, with many a pang of dis- 
 appointment as he looked at the empty chair where 
 Barbara should be seated, made a hearty attack on 
 the soothing wines and viands. 
 
 The old unrest attacked him afterwards. It was 
 modified, however, by a firm determination to leave
 
 198 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 no energy unemployed till Barbara was found. The 
 question was how to go to work? 
 
 He was startled by a sudden thought that per- 
 haps the Mrs. Cree, who had worked the first deceits 
 on Barbara, might have been the woman in the veil. 
 In this event it would not be wholly impossible that 
 both had retreated to the house of iron men. 
 
 He presently argued this was not very likely, after 
 all. The house in question was not only under sus- 
 picion, it was likewise uncomfortably neighbored by 
 the house of the ruby crime. 
 
 A dozen times he halted an impulse to seek for 
 Garrison by 'phone. He was hot yet prepared to 
 reveal all the facts that Garrison must certainly pos- 
 sess to work without groping in the case. 
 
 He arose at last, and, securing a copy of one of 
 the evening papers, had his car sent away to an up- 
 town garage and returned to his room for a rest. 
 
 Once more he shuffled over the letters that lay upon 
 the table. Many were invitations, such as scores of 
 eager young swains would have given their world to 
 secure. They were pushed aside and neglected. 
 Then came the first of the letters that Iris had re- 
 cently mailed. 
 
 It was rather more humble than Julian had ex- 
 pected. It contained no scolding, but instead re- 
 ferred to their happier times of the past. It desired 
 him to come to her soon. 
 
 The second, bearing a special-delivery stamp, and 
 mailed that same afternoon, was of quite another 
 tenor. Its opening paragraph was all Vail required
 
 IRIS WRITES A LETTER 199 
 
 to apprise him that something had occurred of which 
 he was still uninformed. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Vail," it read : " you may perhaps 
 judge of my chagrin to learn of your latest mark 
 of disrespect to me and your disregard of all con- 
 ventions, as set forth in the public press to-day. I 
 hasten at this earliest possible moment to retract 
 whatever I may have written in an earlier letter. I 
 need hardly inform you that, unless you immediately 
 explain your conduct, I shall be obliged to cancel all 
 relationship and obligations without further dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 " It is so thoroughly inconceivable that you would 
 be guilty of all that is charged in this disgusting 
 fashion that I shall dare to hope for an immediate 
 and convincing denial of the entire story from your 
 lips. You will also kindly communicate with me im- 
 mediately upon receipt of this letter. I regret that 
 all efforts to reach you by telephone have proved 
 unsuccessful, which will not be surprising if, as al- 
 leged, you have been away from the city for consid- 
 erably more than twenty-four hours." 
 
 Vail lost no time in spreading open the Star. The 
 account he sought was sufficiently prominent. 
 
 Under headlines like sinister bars across two col- 
 umns of the sheet was a vague but sensational ac- 
 count of his story and that of Barbara, amazingly 
 complete. 
 
 There was not a name mentioned in the story. It
 
 00 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 simply alleged that a " wealthy and distinguished 
 young scion of society " had recently been made a 
 present of a living doll with whom he had fallen in 
 love. The matter, perhaps intended for a joke, had 
 taken all concerned with surprise, by its serious and 
 sentimental developments. The social world was par- 
 tially aghast and partially convulsed with amusement 
 at the contretemps, which had culminated at noon, 
 the day before, when the said young social lion had 
 suddenly left the city, it was said, to be secretly 
 married to the " charming little gift, so lightly and 
 playfully supplied." 
 
 The entire affair, the account continued, was vi- 
 brant with romance, shrouded in mystery, and rich 
 in new topics for gossip. It was the latest sensa- 
 tion of the ennuied set and provided new suggestions 
 for decoying Cupid to the wealthy ranks where his 
 footprints were lamentably few. 
 
 Every item and comment was two or three times 
 repeated, by way of expanding the narrative to 
 give it impressive space. The salient facts were 
 there, substantially accurate. There was even a 
 statement that the " Benedict " in question had gone 
 from Gotham alone in his car to " lead his fair bride 
 to the altar " in some sunny nook of Long Island, 
 where their honeymoon would suffer no intrusions. 
 Loyal friends were guarding their secret, it added, 
 against such time as regular congratulations might 
 be appropriate and welcome. 
 
 There was no escaping the fact that Vail was de- 
 noted by the story. He made no attempt to evade
 
 IRIS WRITES A LETTER 201 
 
 this obvious truth. His one consolation lay in the 
 fact that neither his name nor Barbara's had actu- 
 ally been revealed. Concerning the tale's effect upon 
 Iris Puryn he was not excessively worried. His 
 annoyance had scarcely crystallized when a second 
 Star sensation attracted his roving glance. 
 He had passed a scare head announcing 
 
 INDIAN MUTINY FOSTERED HERE! 
 
 His eye was caught by declarations below. 
 Sequel to Crime of the Great Gatama Ruby! 
 
 Stores of Rifles and Ammunition Discovered 
 in Brooklyn, Purchased by the Murdered Ma- 
 harajah for Rising Against British Rule!!!
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 A DEEPER PLOT SUGGESTED 
 
 THE startling account, which by one of the 
 strange fatalities of chance was printed next 
 to the story of himself and Barbara, filled Vail with 
 as much uneasiness as the original ruby crime. Not 
 only did it establish the fact that far-reaching plots, 
 more black and mysterious than ever, had developed 
 in the case, but it clearly indicated a measure and 
 degree of activity on the part of the metropolitan 
 police that could not be ignored. 
 
 All the earlier sensations of the murder and theft 
 were reviewed to arouse new excitement. Garrison's 
 name was coupled with the latest discovery. The 
 writer declared the town to be infested with secret- 
 service officers, both from India and England, who 
 were running this plot to earth, under personal or- 
 ders and supervision of Sir Hugh Pearson, through 
 whose special acumen the munitions had been found. 
 
 New and exhaustive efforts were now being prose- 
 cuted, added the story, to account for the ruby's 
 disappearance, since rumors well confirmed from offi- 
 cial sources indicated that the precious gem, together 
 with lesser jewels, had been boldly removed from 
 certain Indian temples, to be sold in New York for 
 moneys to finance the plotted rebellion. 
 
 202
 
 A DEEPER PLOT SUGGESTED 203 
 
 A coterie of Hindoo residents, banded in a secret 
 order, and aided by a number of misguided English 
 and American women, themselves clever spies and as- 
 sistants, were suspected of complicity in this death- 
 less intrigue, whereby it was hoped to wrest the su- 
 premacy of India from the hated English hand. It 
 was already well established that money and power 
 were abundant in the ranks of this conspiring or- 
 ganization. 
 
 The account was concluded with a statement that 
 a concentrated effort to delve to the bottom of the 
 whole affair had been rendered possible by the theft 
 of the famous stone, many times previously stolen 
 from its sacred setting and never left long untraced. 
 There was just the slightest intimation that already 
 a hint of the great gem's whereabouts was rife in 
 some inner detective circles and that terror was at 
 the vitals of those who were guiltily concerned. 
 
 Vail eagerly finished the account. The one particu- 
 larly disturbing element for him was the shadow cast 
 on Barbara by the things now newly revealed. 
 
 It seemed to him as plain as day that, whether a 
 tool or principal, she was inextricably entangled with 
 all this tissue of crime. She was doubtless employed 
 as a spy perhaps without her knowledge and 
 surely without her intention or desire. Upon this he 
 insisted, with dogged, fanatical zeal. She must be 
 she had to be innocent of any deliberate association 
 or sympathy with this coterie of thieves and con- 
 spirators, red to their shoulders with crime! 
 
 He was thoroughly convinced the papers she had
 
 204 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 mentioned repeatedly as something lost or stolen 
 were compromising documents which she knew she 
 must recover and destroy. There could be no doubt 
 she was wholly in the power of those in possession 
 of her secret. Everything, half-confessed or fallen 
 from her lips, confirmed this supposition. All her 
 hints that she might be obliged to withdraw herself 
 entirely from his ken contributed strength to his 
 theory. 
 
 Could she clear herself from all her past, destroy 
 the records of her doubtless enforced obedience to 
 commands of those exacting her cleverness and serv- 
 ices, she could come to him gladly with her love. But 
 were the fates to order otherwise, deliver her up to 
 the clutches of the law He could see, in his 
 fancy, the brave little smile with which she would 
 pass to some sickening fate with never a revelation 
 of who she was, or an action to involve a guiltless 
 friend. 
 
 He had felt she loved him and he felt it still. His 
 own surrender to the most exalted passion he had 
 ever known was beyond his power of retrieving. He 
 would love her always, for a loyal, fearless little com- 
 rade, though the whole world accuse her and con- 
 demn ! 
 
 His strength was sapped by the thought of how 
 she had met Sir Hugh Pearson at the ball, costumed 
 like a princess of the blood. It was doubtless an 
 effort to lure the man to the meshes set by those 
 whose gains she must further. There was no such 
 power on earth as woman's beauty no such fatal
 
 A DEEPER PLOT SUGGESTED 205 
 
 enticement invented since the year of One, to wreck 
 not only trusting men, but nations and empires 
 marked for doom and flung down at daintily slip- 
 pered feet. 
 
 He sickened to think of the alacrity with which 
 he himself had fallen a victim to her charms. It 
 had doubtless all been planned for some deep-hidden 
 reason he had been too blind to see. Yet his soul 
 cried out in protest, counting her action in saving his 
 life too splendid to be dimmed. She was not a heart- 
 less siren, mirroring girlish wistfulness and innocence. 
 Her innocence was real ! her friendlessness was genu- 
 ine ! her generous, life-endangering labors, per- 
 formed where mere bravery would not have been suffi- 
 cient, could be no idle coquetries or devices to play 
 upon his heart! 
 
 It was all some terrible machination that she had 
 no choice to resist. It doubtless involved some rela- 
 tive, father, brother, or woman kin, to whom she was 
 hopelessly bound. There was someone dear of whom 
 she could not speak, as established by confessions 
 already reluctantly made. There was always the 
 red-headed Willard, whom she hated and likewise 
 feared. Some secret he doubtless possessed. 
 
 Vail's thought conjured up the " Mrs. Snow," who 
 had dressed Miss Lee and shown her at the ball. It 
 was doubtless she who had worked the abduction de- 
 vice. He had no doubt that Barbara was with this 
 woman now. But, granting the fact, what purpose 
 was served by the knowledge? Not a word had Bar- 
 bara revealed as to where Mrs. Snow resided. To
 
 206 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 seek for a woman sufficiently clever to plan and exe- 
 cute her various coups was a task for the specialist, 
 trained to the work and to none of these could 
 he go. 
 
 He made no plans as to what he should do in the 
 morning. Some vague, disorganized resolution to 
 champion Barbara's cause, conceal her secret, and 
 possibly warn her of her danger was the most he 
 could compass in his thoughts. He loved her, and, 
 loving, gave some trust that nothing on earth could 
 shake. For the rest he could only grimly smile; 
 there is no Fate but Fate. 
 
 The juxtaposition of the stories in the Star re- 
 minded him finally of Iris. A second perusal of her 
 letter left him rather more satisfied than otherwise 
 with the outcome of events. He wondered what Enid 
 had written and why she had been so industrious as 
 to double her sister's effort. 
 
 Assembling her epistles in the order of their mail- 
 ing, as indicated by the cancellation marks, he dis- 
 covered three to be the merest " sisterly " effusions 
 anent the ball and trusting he was thoroughly well 
 and had not too greatly regretted the evening spent 
 as a truant to his " regular duties." 
 
 The fourth communication had been written since 
 the publication of the story in the Star. Unlike 
 those of Iris, Enid's comments on this affair were en- 
 tirely sympathetic and defensive of his " high sense 
 of honor and integrity." She called the entire nar- 
 rative an absurd fabrication, adding that, although 
 Iris and all the world should desert and scorn him,
 
 A DEEPER PLOT SUGGESTED 207 
 
 her own unshaken faith w&uld still remain while her 
 friendship would rather increase than diminish. She 
 trusted she might soon have an opportunity of as- 
 suring him of her steadfast regard in person, and 
 desired him to spare himself from worry in a matter 
 so obviously foolish. 
 
 It gave him another surprise, such as Enid had 
 previously supplied. He was gratified, moreover, to 
 know she had far more character than he had for- 
 merly imagined. Any friendly declaration was ac- 
 ceptable at such a time, even though not precisely 
 understood. He admitted, however, he had never 
 understood this older sister of the Puryn family, and 
 dismissed her letter with no further speculation what- 
 soever. 
 
 But for two solid hours he paced the floor, despite 
 great physical weariness, in the torment of thoughts 
 that Barbara had aroused. Then at last he gave up 
 and retired.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 
 
 VAIL was early at his office in the morning. 
 Beyond the fact that many unanswered let- 
 ters and a number of unimportant telegrams had ac- 
 cumulated on the desk, there was nothing unusual 
 about the place save for the absence of his 
 cartridge-shell vase with all that it had contained. 
 
 There were several memorandums to the effect that 
 Garrison had called him on the telephone and desired 
 to be informed when he returned. There were like- 
 wise a number of important messages from his 
 brokers and fellow-supporters of B. & K. C. securi- 
 ties, all demanding urgent attention. 
 
 Broughton was promptly in requisition, not only 
 concerning the various commercial developments of 
 the railroad situation, but also respecting all visitors 
 who had recently gained admission to the private 
 sanctum. 
 
 He was certain there had been no visitors, since 
 in the absence of his chief he had permitted no one 
 to enter the room. Without particular mention of 
 the vase of flowers, Julian confirmed his theory it 
 had gone in some expert hands. 
 
 Gardner, he learned, had so far succeeded in break- 
 ing the prices on both the stocks and bonds of the 
 
 208
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 209 
 
 B. & K. C. R. R. that utter demoralization had 
 seized its stanchest friends. Their frantic wires were 
 carefully assorted in Broughton's private drawer. 
 He delivered the batch like one who expects to be 
 condemned as the bearer of evil tidings. 
 
 Vail ran through them rapidly, exhibiting no con- 
 cern. The orders he gave, in his quick, incisive man- 
 ner, made Broughton stand aghast. Not only was 
 no support forthcoming to recoup what appeared 
 like ruinous losses, but Vail's campaign resembled 
 nothing so much as added effort to wipe the railroad 
 out. There were orders he later delivered in private 
 that might have been fatal to the confidential secre- 
 tary, whose brain, after all, had comparatively nar- 
 row limitations. 
 
 The telephone rang while the schedule for the day 
 was being especially prepared. It was Garrison's 
 clerk who was on the wire, to make an appointment 
 for his chief at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 " Tell Mr. Garrison to come at once," was Vail's 
 reply. " I'll be free in fifteen minutes. He may come 
 by my private door." 
 
 He resumed his work, but in less than five minutes 
 he was called on the instrument again. 
 
 " Hullo! Mr. Vail? " inquired a voice he did not 
 recognize. ..." Chief Faxon wishes to see you for 
 a moment in room sixteen ten, of this building." 
 
 Julian was startled, not only to know the Chief 
 of Police was in the building at an hour so early, but 
 likewise at a summons so wholly unexpected, even 
 after all that had occurred.
 
 210 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " All right. Be up there at once." He added to 
 Broughton, " Take this stuff and file it away in a 
 special place, with an index of everything received." 
 
 He swept the entire mass of documents relating to 
 the B. & K. C. R. R. into a shallow basket that 
 Broughton carried away. Then, presently ascending 
 in the elevator, Julian summoned an air of briskness 
 and calm he was far from entertaining. 
 
 Bareheaded and hands in pockets, he walked the 
 entire length of the hall on the sixteenth floor, glanc- 
 ing at the numbers on the doors. When he came in 
 front of sixteen ten he found it quite barren of 
 signs. 
 
 He knocked, but revealed no response. Fearing he 
 might have misunderstood the number, he tried the 
 knob. The door was locked. The room was evidently 
 empty. Aware he might have made an error, he pro- 
 ceeded on to other doors beyond. 
 
 The next was as signless as the first, and firmly 
 locked. The third was the office of an architect, 
 who could give him no information. He returned to 
 sixteen nine and eight, to receive no assistance from 
 the lawyer's clerk and publisher's stenographer, to 
 whom his queries were addressed. 
 
 Convinced he had blundered so hopelessly that 
 nothing save a return to his office to await a new 
 summons remained, he finally halted a black steel car 
 and was lowered again to his floor. 
 
 He entered his office by his private door then 
 stood there dazed with surprise. 
 
 His cartridge-shell vase was standing on the desk!
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 211 
 
 Even the faded flowers were still intact, as if they 
 had never been disturbed. 
 
 With a sudden realization that the call to an empty 
 room above had been a ruse to get him away while 
 the vase was being returned, he moved quickly for- 
 ward, caught up the brass receptacle, and shook it 
 with unnecessary violence. 
 
 The water inside was duly agitated and some- 
 thing dully knocked upon the metal walls that 
 emitted a muffled tinkle. Still unprepared to accept 
 this evidence that the ruby was there as before, he 
 took out the faded flowers, turned the water into a 
 cuspidor, and a second later dropped the jewel in his 
 palm, where it gleamed with fiery refulgence. 
 
 A conflict of emotions instantly resulted. There 
 was quite as much uneasiness as there was of gratifica- 
 tion in the mystery by which the stone had been re- 
 turned. If for a moment he rejoiced that the thieves 
 who had wrung the facts from him in the cistern had 
 been foiled in their object, after all, he was keenly 
 aware that the old responsibility of the ruby's pos- 
 session had been thrust once more upon himself. 
 
 He had time for no more than mere flashes of 
 thought on the subject when Garrison knocked on the 
 private door and startled him anew. 
 
 Into the vase he dropped the stone, as if it had 
 been red-hot. The faded flowers were likewise 
 plumped into place. Back to the corner went the col- 
 umn of brass; then, with pen in hand, Vail swung 
 wide the door and waved a species of salute. 
 
 " Come in, come in, you fearful specter of the
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 law," he said, with a smile. " Welcome to our 
 city." 
 
 Garrison shook his outstretched hand and greeted 
 him cordially. 
 
 " By Jove," he said, " your outing did you good. 
 I never saw you looking fitter." 
 
 " You knew I'd been away ? " 
 
 " I read the Star" He accepted a chair beside the 
 desk. 
 
 Julian flushed a trifle. 
 
 " You don't believe all you read? " 
 
 " Not as a habit even stories concerning myself." 
 
 " But that Star account of your new discoveries 
 was true? This Indian mutiny, and all the rest 
 there was some little basis for that ? " 
 
 " There was more than a little," Garrison con- 
 fessed. " The chap who wrote up the story was dog- 
 ging my heels, till he came to the find, as I fear he 
 has done before. But that's too long a recital for 
 this morning. I have barely ten minutes to spare. 
 I am going now to Miss Lee." 
 
 Vail responded promptly with a rise. 
 
 " You have found out where she is ? " 
 
 " No, I came to inquire of you. The time has ar- 
 rived when delay will no longer answer." He was 
 watching Vail with a level gaze as inscrutable as that 
 of the sphinx. 
 
 Julian sank back in his chair. 
 
 " But, my dear criminologist, I haven't the least 
 idea in the world where she may be." 
 
 Garrison felt he was telling the truth.
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 213 
 
 " But you were with her, down in the country? " 
 
 " I was, but I have lost her since. She has a way 
 of disappearing but it's always innocent enough. I 
 mean Well, I can't quite explain her myself." 
 
 " And you'd rather not inform me of what has 
 taken place? the things that have happened to 
 yourself and Miss Lee since I left you here in this 
 office?" 
 
 " What do you expect me to tell ? " 
 
 " As much or as little as you please. You have 
 asked me to help you unravel a series of happenings 
 and I'm doing the best I can." 
 
 Julian smiled. 
 
 " You would ask me to unravel them for you, then, 
 to be handed back again? All joking aside, Mr. 
 Garrison, I have learned absolutely nothing new con- 
 cerning the persons who sent Miss Lee to me, or why 
 she was sent at all. I rather expected to get some 
 news from you." 
 
 Garrison nodded. 
 
 " Which is reasonable enough. Frankly, however, 
 my work in that direction is rather incomplete. At 
 most I can state that from present indications your 
 friend, Mr. Gardner, appears to have had intimate 
 knowledge of what was about to occur, before your 
 ' gift ' arrived. Have there been any further devel- 
 opments in Miss Puryn's direction? like demands 
 for an explanation ? " 
 
 " Abundant developments. But Miss Puryn is 
 also your client. Has she proved as reluctant as 
 myself to supply you with ammunition ? "
 
 214 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 A quizzical smile came faintly to Garrison's lips. 
 
 " Well nearly. I'm afraid I'm not her only re- 
 liance." 
 
 " What do you mean ? She employs another de- 
 tective criminologist ? " 
 
 " He may not be hers, although he shadows you." 
 
 Julian sat up. 
 
 " Some fellow that follows me ? By George " 
 
 Garrison interrupted, and took a quick glance at 
 his watch. 
 
 " He isn't worth cursing, I assure you, and he de- 
 lays important affairs. I think you ought to be 
 informed that others besides myself are vastly inter- 
 ested to know the whereabouts of Miss Lee, whose 
 connection with the ruby mystery has occurred to 
 several minds. Their ideas may be hazy and theo- 
 retical, as yet, but at least they are rather warm." 
 
 Julian was silent for a moment. 
 
 " You speak as if there can be no doubt of her 
 being involved in the case." 
 
 Garrison held his gaze with his penetrative glance. 
 
 " My doubts are no stronger than your own." 
 
 " Than mine ? " demanded Julian. " Just exactly 
 what does that mean ? " 
 
 Garrison hesitated half a moment. 
 
 " You see it's my business to serve you, Mr. Vail, 
 no matter where my duty may lead. I think you re- 
 alize the importance of having me see Miss Lee. Also 
 she is hard to trace, since no one in town, save your- 
 self, Miss Puryn, and Mrs. Loomis, can even describe 
 the young lady. I'm handicapped, you'll agree,"
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 215 
 
 As he had a dozen times before, Julian hesitated on 
 the verge of complete disclosures. He felt that Gar- 
 rison was near the truth too near to be deceived, 
 and was perhaps too delicate to announce his discov- 
 eries in directions where sensitive spots might be 
 encountered. 
 
 His glance fell upon the tall brass vase, and his 
 color heightened. He had almost forgotten the 
 ruby, the return of which was perplexing. If ever 
 a man required assistance and counsel, he felt he was 
 the one. 
 
 " I have always been sure of your loyal service," 
 he said, " and I feel that your aid at this particular 
 
 juncture Candidly, Garrison, you have been 
 
 right all along. The ruby was left in my possession, 
 the day Miss Lee arrived." 
 
 Garrison nodded quietly. 
 
 " How was it delivered? " 
 
 " In the heel of her shoe. Mind you, I am as 
 positive now as I have ever been in fact, a great 
 deal more so that she was absolutely ignorant of the 
 facts, and innocent of any deliberate connection with 
 the crime." 
 
 Not a sign of surprise was forthcoming from the 
 man who made these crimes his science. 
 
 " How did you make your discovery ? What did 
 you do with the shoes? " 
 
 Julian rehearsed the story clearly and succinctly, 
 withholding only such damaging facts as he could 
 not explain or modify in their accusing aspect to- 
 wards the girl.
 
 216 THE HOUSE OP IRON MEN 
 
 " When I found the stone I thought perhaps it 
 might be artificial," he concluded. " Miss Lee ad- 
 mitted that her father at times attempted to manu- 
 facture gems. Later I had my doubts, but I had 
 hidden the stone rather peculiarly and was certain 
 the fellows who entered and searched this office would 
 never be able to trace it, when " 
 
 Garrison interrupted. 
 
 " Wait ! I built up a few deductions a favorite 
 hobby of mine and informed you of one before. It 
 was, you'll admit, quite accurate. I built another 
 afterwards. Let us see how close to the truth my 
 later logic lay. Just answer me this, Were you lured 
 down country by a message that proved a forgery? " 
 
 " I was. I'll tell you all " 
 
 " Were you then subjected to any sort of pressure 
 to make you reveal the ruby's hiding-place? " 
 
 Julian stared at him blankly. 
 
 " You've seen Miss Lee ? You've been informed ? " 
 
 " Not a word. This is mere deduction, except 
 and this is a bit of confession for which I blush 
 I returned to this room that morning when the forged 
 wire came, the moment you went out there with your 
 clerk. I felt justified, in your own interests, in 
 reading the message you had tossed upon the desk." 
 
 Julian continued to stare. 
 
 " And you framed up all that happened just from 
 that?" 
 
 " Not at once, otherwise I might have been suffi- 
 ciently close at hand to spare you some inconven- 
 ience."
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 217 
 
 The smile that came to Julian's face was not 
 one of mirth; it was a tribute to Garrison's 
 craft. 
 
 " Well," he said, " at least it remains for me to 
 give you the sequel to the story. I 'phoned up here 
 at the earliest possible moment, in an attempt to 
 save the stone. It was gone I mean the receptacle 
 in which it was contained." 
 
 " Of course," said Garrison, coolly. " I carried 
 it off myself." 
 
 Julian suddenly rose. 
 
 " You " 
 
 " And sent it in this morning, undisturbed." 
 
 Vail sat down, resignedly, with a gesture of help- 
 lessness. 
 
 " You just now 'phoned for me to go up and see 
 
 the Chief a little blind? But how on earth 
 
 Why all this mystery? " 
 
 " You might not have chosen to surrender these 
 facts, you see," said the criminologist. " I have 
 waited till you should, endeavoring to appreciate 
 your position and persuaded from the first of your 
 faith in the young lady involved. I rented an of- 
 fice in this building purposely to meet your various 
 requirements." 
 
 Vail was speechless with amazement for a moment, 
 wondering just how far this expert's knowledge ex- 
 tended. Then a new solicitude drove all else from 
 his mind. 
 
 " What in the world shall I do with the cursed 
 stone ? " he demanded. " What do you advise
 
 218 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 aside from turning it over to the Chief? I couldn't 
 do that until " 
 
 " Until you clear Miss Lee, or discover that 
 she I understand." 
 
 " If you'll take it " started Vail, but Garrison 
 
 waved away the honor. 
 
 " Not yet, if you please. I counsel you to leave 
 it where it is." 
 
 " After telling those scoundrels where to find 
 it?" 
 
 " Exactly. They'd never believe you'd permit it 
 to remain in your office now. Moreover, this place 
 is guarded rather constantly, as they have already 
 discovered." 
 
 There were two surprises in this, but Vail was at 
 last expecting almost anything. 
 
 " They have tried it, then, and you, or someone, 
 frightened them away ? " 
 
 " One of my assistants betrayed himself through 
 premature zeal, the night you were lured down coun- 
 try or the hour was rather about one in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Vail got up and paced the floor. 
 
 " I hate to have the thing around here any longer 
 but I suppose you are right, after all." 
 
 Garrison also arose. 
 
 " And now, if you can assist me to find Miss 
 Lee " 
 
 " I wish I could ! " Julian interrupted. " I'd give 
 almost anything I own to know where she is at this 
 minute ! "
 
 GARRISON'S REVELATIONS 219 
 
 " Perhaps I might help ' started Garrison, 
 
 when the telephone bell cut in sharply. 
 
 Vail took up the instrument. 
 
 " It's for you," he said, a moment later, and Gar- 
 rison responded to the wire. 
 
 He merely said, " Yes," and listened. Then pres- 
 ently, " Where? " he inquired and was once more 
 silent. " I'll be there in less than ten minutes," was 
 the last of his observations,, and he moved with swift 
 decision, snatching up his hat. " I'll see you at two 
 this afternoon," he shot at Julian. " I've over- 
 stayed " 
 
 A sharp knock came on the door, which Broughton 
 opened to thrust in his head. 
 
 " Beg pardon," he said to his chief. " Miss 
 Puryn, Mr. Vail." 
 
 Julian scowled. 
 
 " Thank you. Show her in." 
 
 Garrison had swung already to the private exit 
 from the room and held it open. 
 
 " Leave the ruby where it is," he instructed. " I 
 hope to bring some news this afternoon." 
 
 Then the second door was opened once again. 
 Julian turned, beholding not Iris Puryn, but her 
 sister Enid instead. 
 
 Garrison merely nodded, then was out in the hall, 
 and gone.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 i 
 
 A SEAECH IN THE PAEK 
 
 A VISIT from Iris Puryn would have occasioned 
 no great surprise to a man in Vail's situa- 
 tion, but that of her sister did. 
 
 Enid was wonderfully gowned and colored both by 
 nature and by art. Excitement burned in her face 
 as well as in her eyes. She was evidently wrought to 
 a very fine edge of tension by the daring of her ven- 
 ture. A great bunch of roses she wore at her breast 
 fairly trembled with the beating of her heart. 
 
 " Oh, Julian ! how good it is to see you back ! " 
 she immediately declared. " I didn't know whether 
 I should find you in or not. I was merely passing 
 by in the car and thought I'd run up to see if any 
 news We didn't know what might have hap- 
 pened." 
 
 " You are very kind," said Julian, quietly. " May 
 I ask you to accept a chair ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, I couldn't stop but a minute," she re- 
 plied. " I thought perhaps you ought to know of a 
 little thing that happened just now, but perhaps it 
 might disturb you at your work." 
 
 Vail was instinctively aware it was something she 
 had purposely come to reveal. He toyed with a 
 pencil on his desk.
 
 A SEARCH IN THE PARK 
 
 " Oh, my work is fairly well in hand. It is some- 
 thing, of course, concerning Iris." 
 
 Enid looked her despair of the situation, and sank 
 in the chair she had refused. 
 
 " It's too bad, the way she's behaving. I'm so 
 sorry, dear Julian. It isn't very much that has 
 taken place, I suppose, after all." 
 
 He waited and she looked at him beseechingly, as 
 one imploring forgiveness for things that others 
 have done. " I had occasion to 'phone to Iris from 
 a shop. She had just come in from a drive in the 
 park and was certain she saw your Miss Barbara 
 Lee in a brougham with Sir Hugh Pearson. She 
 thought it an extraordinary thing." 
 
 Vail could have leaped from his chair. He did 
 not move, however, or betray the slightest emotion. 
 His eyebrows were slightly raised. 
 
 " It's a very fine day for a drive unusually 
 fine." 
 
 If a shade of disappointment passed like a mist 
 over Enid's face, it was promptly lost in a smile. 
 
 " It's horrid to be bold even with one so near and 
 dear as as all our prospective relations," she said, 
 " but I simply abominate driving alone and the 
 car's downstairs. If your work is well in hand, why 
 perhaps " 
 
 Julian forced a smile. 
 
 " I've neglected things here too long already, I'm 
 afraid, but thank you very much for the thoughtful- 
 ness, nevertheless." 
 
 Enid retrieved her vanishing smile with skill.
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I thought I hoped It's so much more in- 
 teresting when one can see everyone who's out." 
 
 Julian was wild for her to go. He nodded. 
 
 " Very interesting." 
 
 There was nothing more for Enid either to impart 
 or suggest. Her embarrassment increased. Then 
 her glance encountered the dry and faded flowers in 
 his vase. 
 
 " Oh, you've been neglected ! " she declared. 
 " Such flowers, my dear Julian ! Let me leave you 
 mine instead ! " She arose and began at once to un- 
 fasten the roses secured upon her gown. 
 
 " No, no ! Oh, no ! " protested Vail, with sudden 
 apprehension. " I'd much rather not have those dis- 
 turbed, for many reasons. I couldn't permit you to 
 rob yourself. Besides, I " 
 
 Broughton interrupted, at the door, where he 
 knocked and entered, delivering a card. Vail re- 
 ceived it and read it at a glance: 
 
 " HOBART CLARKSON, 
 
 New York Evening Star." 
 
 He sat down instantly and wrote on a pad, " Back 
 in fifteen minutes." On a second sheet he scribbled, 
 " Broughton tell him you found this note on the 
 desk, and ask him to wait." He handed both sheets 
 to his confidential man, who nodded and disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Enid's discomfort continued to grow apace. 
 
 " If it's anyone to see you, Julian," she said, " I'd
 
 A SEARCH IN THE PARK 223 
 
 be sorry to make myself a nuisance. I suppose I 
 shouldn't have come, but oh, dear! it is such a 
 day for a drive ! " 
 
 Julian glanced at his watch. 
 
 " It's a business appointment. The man is just 
 on the dot. Won't you take your chair again ? " 
 
 He feared that she would, as she oscillated there 
 in indecision. But she presently bade him a lingering 
 adieu and departed the private way. 
 
 He instantly swooped on the telephone, rang up 
 his garage, and ordered his car for immediate use. 
 Then only pausing to assure himself that Enid was 
 out of the building, he escaped to the street with as- 
 tonishing celerity, beckoned a loitering taxicab to 
 the curb, and was soon swiftly driven up crowded 
 Broadway on his way for a tour of the Park. 
 
 His car was out on the greasy floor when he came 
 to the " cave " where these modern minotaurs were 
 lodged. Then, at the risk of meeting Enid on the 
 way, he drove furiously over to Fifth Avenue, there 
 to join the parade of wealth moving ceaselessly up 
 and down. 
 
 Thousands of cars and carriages were flowing past 
 and with him, an endless chain of life and animation. 
 The sunlight gleamed from countless surfaces of 
 silver, varnish, and glass. It was just before the 
 summer exodus from town the gilded hour of Goth- 
 am's enjoyment of her innumerable rich, so soon to 
 flit abroad and to shore and mountains on the but- 
 terfly wings of caprice. It was brilliant beyond con- 
 ception and costly beyond compare.
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 But, save for the quick, searching glances that he 
 shot through all the press, Vail paid the slightest 
 tribute of attention to anything in view. He was 
 wild with impatience, thus to be bottled up, as it 
 were, by the streaming wealth about him. Rapidity 
 of locomotion was, however, impossible. 
 
 Past the great hotels, the huge, unfinished library 
 and the twin-spired cathedral of St. Patrick he 
 tooled his car with never a thought for anything 
 save the girl whose throne was in his heart. That 
 the throne seemed particularly empty and neglected, 
 since Enid had come with her tale, was not particu- 
 larly strange. But what he could do, should he fi- 
 nally encounter Sir Hugh and Barbara, was more 
 than he halted to reflect. 
 
 He had scarcely taken time to consider all the 
 worries aroused by Garrison's latest revelations, but 
 they eddied and swirled like a deep-moving stream in 
 his fretted subconsciousness. 
 
 At length, after passing the famous homes of the 
 New York millionaires erected below the Park, he 
 wedged his car through the pouring floods of 
 vehicles at the Plaza and entered the soothing oasis 
 of grass and lakes and trees. 
 
 It seemed as if, as Enid had said, the world was 
 driving in the Park. Scores of society's paragons 
 and proteges went trooping by, in their chariots of 
 power. By the dozen they nodded at Julian, and 
 wondered at his stiff response and the set, eager look 
 of his face. 
 
 He traversed the length of the fashionable drive
 
 A SEARCH IN THE PARK 225 
 
 before he began to realize how hopeless was his quest. 
 In all this bewildering pageantry, how could he hope 
 to achieve the ends for which he was illogically 
 striving? And yet, as if in answer to his query, 
 as he turned to go southward with the flow, he 
 was passed by Iris Puryn, driving there with 
 Gardner. 
 
 He saw them plainly in Gardner's barouche, with his 
 famous ebony mares. Then they were gone on their 
 way. They had missed him completely, having failed 
 to cast a glance in his direction. 
 
 He was glad they were here together ; then he for- 
 got them for thoughts that went deeper in his soul. 
 He merely drove on in the gilded paths of pleasure, 
 searching its units as before. 
 
 The park was a shimmering basin of sunlight, 
 greenery, and life. Equestrians went posting by on 
 shaded bridle-paths; afar were hordes of children, 
 filling the air with joyful notes. Long miles of 
 benches on either hand were packed with sun-loving 
 people, watching where wealth and self-indulgence 
 went languorously by. 
 
 For perhaps an hour Vail continued his rounds, in 
 vain. When at length whole caravans of cars and 
 carriages had departed, giving way to fresher equip- 
 ments, he awoke to the fact that Barbara had doubt- 
 less long since returned to the home where Sir Hugh 
 Pearson had found her. It occurred to his mind to 
 appeal to Sir Hugh himself. The nobleman was ob- 
 viously acquainted with Barbara's whereabouts, and 
 would doubtless supply the address, or the name of
 
 226 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the " Lady " Someone with whom she had doubtless 
 gone. 
 
 Watching alertly for a chance to get ahead, 
 Julian cast a glance to the left and suddenly dis- 
 covered Barbara, being driven leisurely past, in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 Sir Hugh and a woman whose face was turned 
 away were likewise in the carriage, a black Victoria 
 with a pair of splendid bays. 
 
 It could last but a moment, the fleeting scrutiny 
 that Julian bent on the face of the girl. He saw 
 she was richly but simply gowned ; he saw that pleas- 
 ure bloomed in her cheeks and the sunlight was mir- 
 rored in her eyes. Then, as the current bore her 
 away, she seemed to catch at some invisible warning 
 in the air and turned to meet Julian's gaze. 
 
 He saw her whiten, saw the parting of her lips, 
 as if she would cry out his name then a hansom 
 intervened. 
 
 He could not turn to follow. He was hemmed in 
 as completely as a paving-block set among its fel- 
 lows. He could only continue straight ahead, jock- 
 eying impatiently right and left, to escape to a 
 crossroad and turn. 
 
 It seemed as if there were no roads by which to 
 evade the crush. He emerged at last upon another 
 drive, however, and recklessly shot down the park to 
 reach the Plaza entrance. 
 
 A hundred trifling incidents delayed him every- 
 where. Yet he came at last to the exit sought, and, 
 detecting a black Victoria with buys, just ahead,
 
 A SEARCH IN THE PARK 227 
 
 made shift to urge his car in its path till a side street 
 below received it from the traffic. 
 
 There he beheld it halt before a door. Two ladies 
 alighted, too far away for their faces to be seen. 
 The carriage turned, and came rapidly back to meet 
 him, a gentleman remaining on its cushions. Half 
 a minute later it passed but the man was not Sir 
 Hugh. 
 
 Julian rolled by aimlessly, aware that his chase 
 had failed.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 A CUP OF TEA 
 
 IT was nearly four in the afternoon when at 
 length, by dint of pursuing that English gentle- 
 man all over the city by 'phone, Julian finally cap- 
 tured Sir Hugh Pearson and obtained the informa- 
 tion by which Barbara might be sought. 
 
 Aware that the name Miss Lee would avail him 
 nothing, Vail inquired for Lady Constance Drew, to 
 whom he said he owed a social obligation he much de- 
 sired to cancel. He had stupidly lost the house ad- 
 dress, he alleged, and could think of no means likelier 
 than this for retrieving his neglect. 
 
 With the utmost courtesy possible the Baron sup- 
 plied the intelligence that her " ladyship " was stop- 
 ping with Lady Honore Kent, whose home address, 
 just off the Avenue, Vail knew he should never 
 forget. 
 
 Indeed, he took no time to incur the risk. Not 
 without his doubts of obtaining admission to the 
 premises, he was nevertheless at the door at five 
 o'clock, where his cards for Lady Constance Drew 
 and her titled hostess were gravely received by the 
 servant in attendance. 
 
 Julian was ushered into a room of rich appoint-
 
 A CUP OF TEA 
 
 ments and waited there alone. The madness of the 
 adventure began at length to percolate into his mind. 
 Lady Honore Kent must of course be aware of the 
 fact that Barbara had been forcibly abducted from 
 his care, if she was not in fact the woman of the 
 veil. He could make no demands upon her, require 
 no explanations, offer no valid excuses for appearing 
 here uninvited. 
 
 He was wholly undecided as to any plan of action, 
 but he had not long to wait. His hostess came 
 quietly into the room and disarmed him with a smile. 
 Medium tall, and decidedly English, Lady Kent was 
 a person with every indication of breeding and re- 
 finement in her mien. 
 
 " Mr. Vail ? " she said, extending her hand with 
 the utmost graciousness. " I trust you will pardon 
 me for coming down a moment ahead of Lady Con- 
 stance. She has been for a ride in the Park with 
 her fiance, and has only just dressed for tea. I hope 
 you're not so hopelessly American as to refuse a cup 
 of tea?" 
 
 " Great pleasure, I'm sure," said Julian, rather 
 lamely. " The Park is a great temptation such a 
 glorious afternoon." 
 
 His hostess agreed that it was. 
 
 He was certain Lady Honore was not aware he 
 had passed them in the Park. Her mention, there- 
 fore, of Barbara's fiance had the doom-like ring of 
 truth. Moreover, in thus opposing no objection to 
 his meeting her protegee, Lady Honore gave him an- 
 other surprise that left him somewhat confused.
 
 230 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 His mind had been prepared for another sort of 
 greeting. He floundered mentally in all directions 
 to resume his wonted poise. He wondered swiftly 
 what Barbara would do to support or confute her 
 hostess. Even the way she might enter the room 
 would be significant. 
 
 " I met Lady Constance at the ball the Comity 
 Ball," he explained, incapable of introducing the 
 subject of Barbara's abduction from his car as a 
 matter perilous to mention without doing possible 
 harm. " It must have been some oversight that I 
 was not presented to you." 
 
 Lady Honore smiled. 
 
 " Won't you come to our cozier quarters ? Tea 
 and comfort suggest one another, do they not ? " 
 
 She led the way to the farther room, and Julian 
 followed meekly, his forces unmarshaled, his wits 
 awry, his purposes scattered to the winds. He felt 
 himself an intruder who was nevertheless made wel- 
 come in the finest conception of the term. 
 
 This apartment, like the drawing-room proper, 
 was tastefully and richly furnished. It appeared 
 to be a lounging and reading room, with a tabourette 
 for tea. A number of novels and magazines were 
 lying carelessly about. 
 
 Her ladyship rang for the tea at once and began 
 to chat of plays. She was doing her utmost, ap- 
 parently, to entertain her guest. Had she compre- 
 hended the exceptional embarrassment under which 
 the man was laboring, she could scarcely have been 
 more soothing and assuring to Julian's nerves.
 
 A CUP OF TEA 231 
 
 The servant arrived with his silver tray and then 
 came Barbara. 
 
 She entered the room in a manner so composed that 
 Vail almost thought he was dreaming. The dainty, 
 exquisite gown she wore seemed the final touch to 
 complete her as a princess. She had never appeared 
 more beautiful, and never so quiet and contained. 
 
 Julian rose to greet her. She came across the 
 floor with girlish grace, and held out her hand as 
 the merest matter of form. 
 
 "How do you do, Mr. Vail?" she said. "How 
 good of you to come." 
 
 It was just a bare touch of hands that they ex- 
 changed. 
 
 " I I had hoped to call before," Vail stammered, 
 at a loss for anything to say. Then, as Barbara 
 sank upon a chair, he once more resumed his seat. 
 
 " My dear, I shall perish of thirst," said Lady 
 Honore, languidly. " Do pour us some tea at once." 
 She turned as before to Vail. 
 
 "You were just about to tell me what you think 
 of Stover's play." 
 
 Julian made an effort and succeeded in finding him- 
 self. 
 
 " It seems to have a rather good idea. He ought 
 to have it dramatized." 
 
 Lady Honore laughed in honest delight. 
 
 " Oh, I hope I may steal that to tell to someone 
 else. Lady Constance, I shall repeat it to your 
 fiance." 
 
 Instantly Julian glanced at Barbara's face. She
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 was crimson with consciousness of his gaze, and kept 
 her eyes upon the cups she was daintily filling with 
 tea. 
 
 She was barely able to murmur : 
 
 " Cream or lemon, Mr. Vail? " 
 
 " Lemon," said Julian, " both I mean neither 
 just sugar, if you please." 
 
 " What a perfectly lazy day ! " continued Lady 
 Honore, irrelevantly. " I'm sure I never in all my 
 life breathed such soporific air." 
 
 Despite the fact he felt he was observed, Julian 
 glanced at her ladyship a second only, then back at 
 Barbara, who offered a cup of amber brew without 
 once lifting her glance. 
 
 She made no effort whatsoever at joining in the 
 conversation. Indeed, it became a monologue, Lady 
 Honore talking with easy fluency, on one topic after 
 another. 
 
 Vail drank his tea, with no idea of its flavor. It 
 seemed a trifle oversweet ; of this he was dimly aware. 
 Barbara likewise sought refuge in her cup. The 
 constraint of the situation grew. 
 
 In a purely mechanical manner Julian smiled, or 
 uttered some monosyllable, to appear even barely 
 alive. He had never felt so utterly discomfited, or 
 helpless. There was nothing of the slightest private 
 nature he could say to Barbara, not an object of 
 his visit to attain. And a strange dulling sense of 
 indifference was creeping on his brain. 
 
 " Oh, my dear," said the hostess to Barbara, 
 sweetly, " we'd both quite forgotten the note you
 
 A CUP OF TEA 233 
 
 were to write, and I'm sure I left the necklace on the 
 dresser. I wonder if you'd mind just running up 
 before the servants find it lying carelessly about? " 
 
 " Not in the least," said Barbara, putting down her 
 cup with ready alacrity and rising to leave the room. 
 " Shall I bring it to you here ? " 
 
 " It might be better in the safe," her ladyship re- 
 sponded, and, turning to Vail as Barbara disap- 
 peared, she smilingly added, " One's jewels are so 
 often one's worries." 
 
 Through some weaving mist that he strove to ban- 
 ish from his brain Vail groped for a species of test. 
 
 " Both worries and responsibilities," he agreed. 
 " Think of having in one's possession some priceless 
 gem like the great Hope diamond, or the famous 
 Gatama ruby." 
 
 Not a sign did the lady's face betray. 
 
 " Dear me ! Haven't I read something recently 
 about that particular stone ? " 
 
 Vail could feel no sense of her guilt, yet he at- 
 tempted another reply that some way seemed to drain 
 his very powers of concentration. 
 
 " Quite likely. It was recently stolen, its owner 
 having been murdered for the purpose." 
 
 The shot glanced from her ladyship like water 
 from a furnace. 
 
 " What a pity ! " she said. " I should never for- 
 give my carelessness if anything should have hap- 
 pened to my poor little handful of gems ! Would 
 you pardon my absence for a moment? " 
 
 Her solicitude for the necklace had every appear-
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ance of being genuine as she rose and placed her cup 
 upon a stand. 
 
 Julian got upon his feet like a man of lead, the 
 movement requiring deliberate effort. 
 
 " By all means," he managed to say, and the words 
 seemed to echo through his skull with a hollow, for- 
 eign sound. And then, through a dizzying whirl of 
 things invisible, he beheld her disappear. 
 
 For a moment he swayed there drunkenly, inca- 
 pable of collecting his thoughts sufficiently to won- 
 der what it meant. Instinct more than ordered 
 reason warned him in some distant manner of un- 
 reality that something must be wrong. 
 
 He staggered across to the window, moving 
 through a maelstrom, as it were, of rapidly revolv- 
 ing images, all of them black, and without real sub- 
 stance or form. The window was already open, but 
 the air merely cleared no webs from his brain. As 
 if in a mighty conflict between things rational and 
 utterly absurd, he realized, vaguely but protestingly, 
 that the tea he had taken was drugged. 
 
 Some mastering resolution to break the spell, 
 crash down the door, and either escape to shout for 
 help or punish the woman who had done this thing, 
 swam giddily in and out of his senses. 
 
 ^ He plunged like a stone man towards the door, 
 knocking the chairs from his path. He reached it, 
 to find it was locked. Obeying blind-animal impulse, 
 he lurched to the other and there was baffled again. 
 
 He felt he was dying for air. He could barely 
 see. He had lost all control of his legs, and, with
 
 A CUP OF TEA 235 
 
 bending knees and drooping spine, went reeling once 
 more towards the window. He reached it in a series 
 of plunges and caught at the sill for support. 
 
 At a sound he turned. Inside the door stood a 
 figure simply gowned. He was certain it was Bar- 
 bara, though Inferno danced blackly between. By 
 a mighty struggle he compelled the power of speech. 
 
 " Barbara ! Barbara ! " he cried, in a thickened ut- 
 terance that rang with confusion in his ears. " I'm 
 poisoned ! What, in God's name have you done ? " 
 
 A mocking laugh was the only reply vouchsafed 
 his departing consciousness; then he sank on the 
 floor in a heap.
 
 A DBEAD AWAKENING 
 
 SIX hundred feet high, above the green of little 
 Madison Square, the mighty bell in the Metro- 
 politan tower boomed out five deep, reverberating 
 notes that it seemed to Vail were sounded from the 
 hollow of his skull. 
 
 Pains dull and acute, pains crawling and swift as 
 a poignard, assailed him from finger-tips to brain. 
 
 He was dimly aware that light stole grayly to his 
 eyes before he could lift their lids. Disjointed memo- 
 ries, fragments of dreams, and readjusting mental 
 processes jostled their way to his mind. 
 
 When at length he sat up, with eyes widely star- 
 ing, he felt he might collapse. Nevertheless, his 
 strength came home like a rough, impatient tenant 
 too eager for orderly ways. 
 
 He was sore of head ; he was dazed ; his limbs were 
 stiff. Unaware of the time, despite the half -remem- 
 bered bell, he took out his watch, to find it was 
 stopped, then sat there to press both his temples. 
 His hat lay near, on the floor. 
 
 Perhaps because the light increased he judged it 
 was early morning. Jarring reminders of what had 
 occurred assembled like bits of mosaic in his mind, to 
 arouse him to painful indignation. He rubbed at his 
 
 236
 
 A DREAD AWAKENING 237 
 
 eyes and looked about, confused by the aspect of the 
 place. 
 
 It was not the room in which, as he remembered, 
 he had found himself drugged by the tea. The fact 
 was obvious; nevertheless, to his groping wits noth- 
 ing seemed absolutely certain. He could not yet 
 have told to save his life that the room was not the 
 same. 
 
 Weak and uncertain, he finally dragged himself to 
 his feet and attempted to puzzle it out. First the 
 size of the apartment, and then the furnishings, con- 
 vinced him he had been moved. This room was small, 
 old, dingy, supplied with rickety chairs and stands 
 that were dusty with neglect. Its one unclean win- 
 dow looked out upon bare brick walls. 
 
 His youth and robust constitution asserted them- 
 selves by leaps and bounds to clarify his functions. 
 His clothing was dusty and disheveled. He gave it 
 the merest glance and moved across to the door that 
 led from the room. 
 
 The door, as at the other house, was locked. He 
 began to realize that, having first been rendered help- 
 less through some powerful narcotic in the tea that 
 Barbara had poured, he had later been hustled from 
 the premises, thrown in thio wretched hovel, and se- 
 cured there like a beast in a kennel. 
 
 His indignation grew to wrath of an all-embracing 
 scope. The door that opposed him filled his being 
 with resentment. He charged it like a strong young 
 bull, heaving the weight of his solid shoulder against 
 the panels till it creaked.
 
 238 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 At the second attack the wood gave way, break- 
 ing from the lock. An echo rolled through the dusty 
 hall that he found himself confronting, then still- 
 ness settled as before. 
 
 Indeed, the quiet and the filtered light, that stole 
 through curtained windows, began to impress him 
 with a sense that the place was quite deserted. Two 
 flights of stairs one leading upward to a floor above, 
 the other leading downward to a darkened hall be- 
 low convinced him he was stationed at the second 
 story of the house. 
 
 He paused to listen, by way of precaution, for any 
 sounds of life that might have resulted from the 
 crashing disturbance of the door. There were none. 
 Quietly proceeding along the hall, to a door that 
 stood slightly ajar, he halted, caught no sound from 
 within and gently pushed it open. 
 
 The room was empty, save for a few odd bits of 
 furniture, and a rolled-up carpet on the floor. It 
 was feebly lighted through slits in the blinds that 
 masked its street-fronting windows. 
 
 Deciding he was quite alone in the building, and 
 beginning to wonder where it was and why he had 
 thus been " dumped " like old rubbish in the place, 
 he returned to the head of the stairs, but paused be- 
 fore descending. 
 
 His anger continued to grow. It crowded out all 
 immediate possibility of reflection on the case. Bar- 
 bara, Lady Honore, and all the tangle gone before 
 were mixed in a heterogeneous confusion in his mind. 
 
 What he should do hereafter was left for calmer
 
 239 
 
 speculation. The first things to know were where 
 he was, what day had dawned, and what hour was 
 passing in the world. The first thing to do was to 
 leave this house and set about achieving the punish- 
 ment of those behind the game. 
 
 The hallway below was dim with gloom, where 
 everything was closed. Suspicious of yet more lurk- 
 ing treacheries, Julian noiselessly descended, his hand 
 on the dusty banister of the stairs, his senses attuned 
 for the slightest sound or movement. He fancied he 
 smelled the stuffy odor of kerosene and beheld some 
 object down at the foot of the steps. 
 
 He presently halted, staring at the still thing be- 
 low on the floor. He was certain the form was that 
 of a man, perhaps asleep in the path he must take 
 before he could reach the door. 
 
 Determined to slay the fellow, if need be with his 
 naked hands, should resistance to his departure be 
 attempted, Vail continued downward silently, till the 
 stairs abruptly groaned. 
 
 The sound was fearfully magnified by the empti- 
 ness of the hall. It seemed to Julian sufficiently loud 
 to arouse all the sleepers in the block. But the form 
 below made not a sign, and he presently crept to- 
 wards it as before. 
 
 Again the ancient stairway snapped with his 
 weight upon its planks. Again he stopped, now 
 ready to dash upon this sleeping guardian and hurl 
 him from his path but nothing happened. 
 
 More boldly he took the few remaining steps, in- 
 tently regarding the human form, no longer half-
 
 240 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 imagined, who lay between him and the door. There 
 was not the slightest movement in the figure on the 
 floor. The sleeper's face was turned the other way. 
 
 Still possessed by the thought that here was some 
 ruffian left in charge of himself, Julian stepped cau- 
 tiously around the silent form and made his way to 
 the door. Even in passing he could not see the 
 shadow-hidden face on the carpet. 
 
 To his thorough surprise the vestibule door was 
 unfastened. It yielded readily when he turned the 
 knob, and a band of filmy daylight streamed in at 
 once from the glass-surrounded barrier beyond. 
 
 Vail was still watching the silent form. A cer- 
 tain dread engulfed him with that entrance of the 
 light. 
 
 The man on the floor was dead. 
 
 The pallor, the pose, and the aspect were not to 
 be mistaken. Vail leaned back against the frame of 
 the door, in awe. He could see one marbleized hand 
 lying palm upward, stiff and cold. 
 
 And it had no thumb ! 
 
 This fact went home to Julian strangely, as a 
 realizing sense that the man before him was the 
 fellow of Hackett Tides took concrete form in his 
 mind. 
 
 Despite the fact he had failed to see the face of 
 the spokesman at the island inquisition, there was not 
 the slightest room for doubt that this was the very 
 man. 
 
 But, aside from the train of baffled speculation 
 that this discovery inaugurated, loomed the far more
 
 A DREAD AWAKENING 241 
 
 alarming aspect of the situation in which he found 
 himself. 
 
 If he fled the premises forthwith, and were seen, 
 a dusty, disheveled figure, escaping from an empty 
 house where a murdered man was lying, what expla- 
 nation could he offer? Yet he could not remain. 
 Not only was the thought intolerable, but should 
 anyone come and find him here, alone with that figure 
 on the floor, his plight would be even worse. 
 
 He partially closed the door again and stood there 
 fixedly staring. Perhaps the man was not murdered, 
 after all. He tiptoed back for a closer examination 
 and again felt a shock at his vitals. 
 
 The man had been strangled. The only bruise 
 upon him was a small, X-shaped wound on his fore- 
 head. His bull's-eye lantern lay near at hand, its oil 
 spilled out on the floor. It was just such a murder 
 as that of the Maharajah, from whom the ruby had 
 been stolen. 
 
 Cold sweat had oozed from Julian's brow, as he 
 once more retreated, chilled by indecision and the 
 fear to go or stay. For a moment he wondered 
 if the whole affair had not been planned to throw 
 suspicion on himself. Then another suggestion came 
 to his mind, the merest vague theory that he had 
 been intended for a victim that, having been ren- 
 dered unconscious and helpless, he was simply de- 
 livered here at this empty dwelling for this dead man 
 to prison again. 
 
 The set of scoundrels who had tortured him down 
 at the island had failed of their object, after all.
 
 242 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Since this was the spokesman of the outfit, overtaken 
 by violent fate, it was not at all improbable he had 
 come here through some deliberate plan to recoup 
 their previous failure, through a drugged man, 
 locked in the house. 
 
 And once again the trick had been turned through 
 Barbara's assistance. There was no denying the 
 plain, accusing fact that she had given him the tea. 
 At a dim recollection of her coming later to the 
 room, to laugh in derision at his plight, Vail could 
 have groaned for the anguish that gripped to the 
 core of his heart. 
 
 But the time was ill suited for dwelling long on 
 thoughts of what had been. He was far too con- 
 fused and far too concerned with this latest develop- 
 ment to speculate on mysteries too deep for his clari- 
 fying powers. He would simply have to make his 
 escape, and possibly warn the police. 
 
 Once more he crept to the entrance, feeling guilty 
 of deserting the dead. His heart was pounding 
 wildly, in alarm lest he might be seen. Hardly less 
 furtively than a thief, he closed himself into the 
 vestibule, and opened the outside door, perhaps an 
 inch. 
 
 With a clatter of its horses' hoofs on the pave- 
 ment a milk wagon rattled up the street. Vail closed 
 the door instantly and suppressed the sound of his 
 breathing. It seemed a time interminable before the 
 wagon was gone. 
 
 He tried again. 
 
 This time the shock that came was greater. A
 
 A DREAD AWAKENING 243 
 
 lone policeman, on the opposite walk, was strolling 
 leisurely by, apparently watching the place. To call 
 him seemed a madness he must certainly avoid. Vail 
 shrank behind the door. 
 
 He made an attempt to dust off his clothing, but 
 the noise seemed frightfully loud. At length he 
 dared to peer from the crack again. The officer was 
 gone, but the purr of an early automobile came dis- 
 tinctly up the street. 
 
 A moment later it halted, just below. Instinct- 
 ively Vail felt this house was the object of those 
 who had just arrived. His fear was confirmed when 
 someone came briskly across the walk and was heard 
 to stop at the steps. He closed the door without 
 a sound, retreated once more inside the hall, and 
 halted helplessly. 
 
 Someone was fumbling at the outside barrier, and 
 spoke in a muffled voice. Unable to endure his posi- 
 tion longer, Julian fled to the back of the stairs, 
 where a closet led down to the cellar. Immediately 
 taking advantage of the blackness of this retreat, 
 and leaving its door ajar, he heard two men enter 
 at the threshold and utter a note of dread. 
 
 The daylight had streamed in behind them, casting 
 their shadows up the hall. Then one of them spoke, 
 and Julian's heart stood still.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE SIGN OF BUDDHA 
 
 IT was Garrison's voice that echoed in the place. 
 " Good Heavens ! " he said. " Nick Lawbit ! 
 He must have been dead for hours ! Choked like the 
 Maharajah! . . . Ah!" he had found the mark 
 like a bruise upon the forehead " that X again be- 
 tween the eyes ! . . . Listen ! What was that ? " 
 
 The door that Julian held had slightly moved and 
 creaked. 
 
 He heard a click where Garrison cocked his gun. 
 
 " Come out ! " said the criminologist. " Come 
 out, there, friend, hands up ! " 
 
 Vail had suppressed an impulse to make his ap- 
 pearance at once. Not without a sense of relief and 
 almost with a sense of humor in the situation, 
 he stepped from the darkness to the light. 
 
 " For the love of " started Garrison. " Vail ! 
 
 Good Lord, man, what are you doing here? " 
 
 Julian came toward him, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 " I don't know, Garrison," he said. " I woke up 
 here, not fifteen minutes ago. I was locked in a 
 room upstairs." 
 
 The man with the criminologist, John Nettleton by 
 name a faithful being, frequently of great assist- 
 
 244
 
 THE SIGN OF BUDDHA 245 
 
 ance to his chief had supplied the tip that landed 
 Garrison here, at this scene of crime. His aston- 
 ishment at Vail's appearance made him temporarily 
 dumb. He held a useless weapon in his hand and 
 stared with his mouth wide open. 
 
 " Here, Nettleton, shut that outside door ! " com- 
 manded Garrison, sharply. " Upon my word, Mr. 
 
 Vail, I don't understand Have you spent all 
 
 night in this house?" 
 
 Again Vail replied, " I don't know." He added 
 in a lowered tone of voice, that Nettleton need not 
 hear : " I can tell you about it later. I was drugged 
 and brought here unconscious. I broke from a room 
 on the upper floor and soon discovered this. Is the 
 dead man anyone you know?" 
 
 " Know him ? " answered Garrison, whose mind was 
 cleaving into all the business like an engine-driven 
 
 saw. " He's a well-known crook, but Look 
 
 here, Mr. Vail, think sharp have you ever seen the 
 man before? Do you possibly recognize the fellow 
 as one of the men you met at Hackett Tides ? " 
 
 " I do," said Vail, " by his thumb. He's the one 
 who did the talking and appeared to be the boss." 
 
 " So ! " said the criminologist, slapping his thigh, 
 then rapping himself on the forehead. " I'll get it ! 
 I'll get it yet. He must have known you were 
 here. He came to get you and put on the screws 
 
 make good the former failure get the stone 
 
 But what's behind it all ? " He paced up and down 
 the resounding hall, so acutely engrossed with de- 
 ductions that more pressing duties were neglected.
 
 246 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Here," he added, abruptly to his man, " Nettleton, 
 see what he's got in his pockets ! " 
 
 He resumed his walk and struck himself harder on 
 the head. 
 
 "What's the use, Mr. Vail?" he presently de- 
 manded. " You only give me half a chance. But 
 never mind that comes later ! " He halted at Net- 
 tleton's side. " Let me look at that again ! " His 
 sharp, clear gaze was fixed for a time on the X 
 in the colorless flesh. 
 
 He touched it with his thumb. " Cut, no doubt 
 about it ! " He shot up suddenly and struck his fist 
 in his palm. 
 
 " I've got it clear as day ! The sign of the sit- 
 ting Buddha ! " 
 
 Vail was more puzzled than before. He was not 
 at all certain that Garrison was sane. 
 
 " If you've got it," he said, " for God's sake tell 
 me, Garrison, that it's something that clears me of 
 suspicion." 
 
 Garrison stared. 
 
 "Clears you of what suspicion? You don't be- 
 lieve I'm such an ass as to lay this murder at your 
 door? " 
 
 Julian all but summoned a smile. 
 
 " But I see how it might appear to anyone find- 
 ing me here, alone with the corpse." 
 
 " What's that ? " said Garrison, dismissing this 
 phase of the business instantly and turning once more 
 to his man, " that card there. Never mind the 
 jimmy or the gun."
 
 THE SIGN OF BUDDHA 24,7 
 
 From a miscellaneous heap of junk extracted from 
 the pockets of the man on the floor the card was 
 promptly extracted, and Garrison held it to the light. 
 Upon it was printed: 
 
 ** MADAMS STAELIGHT " 
 
 with an address fairly in the borders of the tender- 
 loin district of the town. Scrawled above the name, 
 in pencil, was the number of this particular house 
 and the street wherein it stood. 
 
 Garrison deliberately slipped it in his pocket. One 
 hurried glance was all he deemed the other discov- 
 eries worth. 
 
 " Put it all back where you found it," he in- 
 structed, briefly. " It's time to call the police. Mr. 
 Vail, Nettleton, this case is mine, and this card you 
 will kindly forget." He turned about to Julian, add- 
 ing, ." You might take my car and go home." 
 
 Julian pulled out his watch and wound at the stem. 
 He inquired, " What is the time ? " 
 
 " Five-forty-three A.M." 
 
 "What day?" 
 
 " Sunday. I'll call at your apartments, perhaps 
 by twelve o'clock." 
 
 " What will you do what will you say to the 
 officers about finding me here in the house?" 
 
 " Nothing at least till the case becomes fool- 
 proof. Get out a little carefully, that's all. I'll 
 send. for the car later on." 
 
 Unspeakably relieved to think of escaping from
 
 248 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the place, Vail peered from the door, as he had be- 
 fore, and found the street deserted. He was pres- 
 ently guiding the borrowed car across to deserted 
 Fifth Avenue, and finally, with the dust of his night 
 quarters still upon him, was once more alone in his 
 apartments. 
 
 Despite his sensations of weariness and pain, oc- 
 casioned by the drugging and his subsequent treat- 
 ment, Vail was remarkably refreshed and restored by 
 his bath and the process of dressing for breakfast. 
 His recovery was completed by the hearty meal he 
 devoured at seven o'clock. Then he wondered what 
 he should do. 
 
 He had carefully scrutinized every phase and as- 
 pect of the business at Lady Kent's and was wholly 
 at sea. It appeared absurd that Barbara Lee should 
 be once more acquitted of deliberate participation in 
 all the outrageous occurrences of which he had been 
 the victim, yet so tenacious is love and so stubborn 
 the bias of the human mind that he could not convict 
 her, even now. 
 
 Admitting there seemed no ground on which to 
 excuse this latest treachery, he nevertheless retained 
 some poor, illogical little hope that, somehow, some- 
 thing might transpire to restore the confidence she 
 had always reinspired. To believe she had willfully 
 contributed to all that had happened since he took 
 the cup of tea was to charge her with infamies too 
 black for a girlish heart to harbor for an hour. 
 
 A hundred mad hypotheses were formed, in his 
 despair of explaining things away. Yet, with all his
 
 THE SIGN OF BUDDHA 249 
 
 eagerness to find her guiltless, he constantly returned 
 to a contemplation of things that the night had de- 
 veloped, and what might have been, that some deadly 
 hand had averted. 
 
 He felt the thing would presently sap his mind, 
 were nothing done to rid him of its bane. Like the 
 man who has failed in the Wall Street game and 
 agrees to quit if only his losses can be recouped, he 
 told himself he would gladly surrender Barbara if 
 only he could once get at the reasons of her actions 
 and know she loved him not at all. But that was the 
 rub. He had felt her response to his own vast love 
 and his heart had become her slave. 
 
 There was no decision he could reach, no satisfied 
 state he could attain. He paced the floor feverishly, 
 already wondering where she was, and how two 
 women could have dared the thing that was done at 
 Lady Kent's. He was sure some man was behind it 
 all, as he always had been before. 
 
 The red-headed man was hauntingly present in his 
 mind. The whole thing wore on his nerves. What 
 should he look for next? and how employ the day? 
 Should he seek Sir Hugh Pearson, either to warn 
 him or be warned? Should he go again to the house 
 the women occupied and probe in the matter for him- 
 self? He felt sure they would not be there. 
 
 Eight o'clock came and nine, and still he paced. 
 He was unaware of the flight of time, as he lived 
 again, persistently, even happily, that day at the 
 island with the boat that he and Barbara repaired, 
 working side by side in their Eden.
 
 250 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Subconsciously he waited with one ear bent to the 
 telephone. Some lover's hope that Barbara would 
 call him up and explain, or at least desire him to 
 come to her side, would not be banished from his 
 breast. 
 
 But ten o'clock winged silently by with no results. 
 It was nearly eleven, with Julian rapidly fincmig the 
 walls of his quarters intolerable, whei: the instrument 
 actually rang.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 TWO SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS 
 
 IT was Iris Puryn on the wire. 
 In her calm, even tones she bade him a formal 
 good-morning and then conveyed, in a message that 
 was half-request and half -command, her desire to see 
 him forthwith. 
 
 There was no attempt to discuss their affairs 
 across the instrument. Vail replied that he was mo- 
 mentarily expecting a man to keep an appointment. 
 Iris was impatient. He looked at his watch, for the 
 fiftieth time that morning. He had more than an 
 hour till noon. 
 
 " All right," he agreed. " I'll start at once." 
 
 He was leaving the room when the telephone bell 
 called again, with Garrison's hasty summons. 
 
 " Can't get there, after all," he said. " Off out 
 of town for a certain light from the stars. May 
 not be back till to-morrow. Expect to have some- 
 thing to report. Good-by ! " 
 
 " Wait ! Wait ! " cried Julian, but the instrument 
 gave him no response. 
 
 Twenty minutes later he once more entered the 
 sumptuous apartment in which he and Iris had ex- 
 changed information concerning Miss Barbara Lee. 
 
 251
 
 252 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 The air of disdain Miss Puryn assumed began to 
 be an irritation before they had taken their seats. 
 She was beautiful this morning, in her cold and placid 
 manner, but displeasure marred her expression. She 
 began with commendable promptness to introduce the 
 all-important subject. 
 
 " I presume you received my last letter? " 
 
 Julian nodded. 
 
 " If you mean your ultimatum, I think I may say 
 I did." 
 
 Her glance was one of challenge. 
 
 " You have made no reply." 
 
 "What did you expect?" he answered. "You 
 demanded explanations, no more pertinent than many 
 with which I might retaliate if such a procedure were 
 either wise or kind." 
 
 She flushed slightly. 
 
 " Do you think that a fair evasion ? If you re- 
 fuse to answer my questions, we may as well know 
 it at once." 
 
 Julian looked at her steadily. 
 
 " I have nothing to evade. I have done nothing 
 I wish t t o dodge. If your letter remains unan- 
 swered, it is because I've had nothing to say." 
 
 " No reply to all that story in the Star? " 
 
 " Do you place such unlimited credence in a New: 
 York yellow journal? " 
 
 " I do not," she answered, incisively, a new light 
 of triumph in her eyes. " I happen to know that you 
 were out of town for more than twenty-four hours, 
 on a mission I have a right to doubt. The Star's
 
 TWO SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS 253 
 
 account confirmed the -facts that were not mere yel- 
 low journalism, or I should not have written as I 
 did." 
 
 Julian nodded as before. 
 
 " I'm aware your hired detective was busy keep- 
 ing track of my movements." 
 
 She was not in the least perturbed. 
 
 " And what have your movements been ? Is it 
 going too far to call them attentions to a certain 
 doubtful young person ? " 
 
 " Is that what you got me here to say ? " 
 
 " Not precisely, but your attitude provokes it." 
 
 " I told you frankly, at the first, I had no inten- 
 tion of sending a friendless young girl adrift in New 
 York, after what had occurred at my office. Had 
 you stayed had you offered a little assistance the 
 merest human " 
 
 Iris interrupted. 
 
 " If you please, I consider that part of the topic 
 closed. We are interested now in what has happened 
 since. Are you willing to recount all that with equal 
 frankness ? " 
 
 " If you mean am I willing to be forced into ex- 
 planations and the like, I fear I must answer I am 
 not." 
 
 " You refuse to confess what has happened re- 
 cently with regard to this young person ? " 
 
 " I believe my attitude amounts to that, since you 
 insist upon putting some ugly construction on a 
 strictly private affair." 
 
 Her eyes were glittering coldly.
 
 254 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " You say that deliberately, aware as you must 
 be that all I said in my letter I most certainly 
 meant? " 
 
 "You have left me very little choice." 
 
 She bit her lip with annoyance. The engagement 
 was already broken so far as she was concerned, and 
 already her new alliance, with Gardner, was complete. 
 Yet it piqued her now, to find that Vail accepted with 
 calm a decision she intended to be crushing. 
 
 " It is not what I have offered," she said. " You 
 have chosen for yourself. It is useless, I imagine, 
 to warn you how greatly you have been deceived." 
 
 That shot, at least, went home. 
 
 " In whom ? all womankind ? " 
 
 It was a counter, and had its effect. Quite well 
 aware that in secretly engaging herself to Gardner 
 she had practiced the meanest of deceptions, she re- 
 sorted to a feminine defense. 
 
 " It was singular Miss Lee should have taken the 
 pains to insist upon her friendless position, here in 
 New York, then be seen with gentlemen, driving in 
 the Park." 
 
 " Yes," retorted Julian, quietly, " Sir Hugh is 
 very much of a gentleman. I knew you saw them 
 there while driving about with Gardner." 
 
 Iris flushed to her ears. 
 
 " That is absolutely false ! " 
 
 Julian shrugged his shoulders. He wondered how 
 far she would go in support of her statement. 
 
 " You deny that you were driving in the Park with 
 Gardner, yesterday afternoon ? "
 
 TWO SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS 255 
 
 She put on her haughtiest air. 
 
 "I have no intention of submitting to a cate- 
 chism." 
 
 " Quite right," said Vail, judicially. " It is not 
 at all a dignified procedure for either party to a 
 case like ours to be so humiliated." 
 
 She felt herself suddenly disarmed. Her only re- 
 course was her letter. 
 
 " Then you understand, with nothing further said, 
 that our former relationship is canceled?" 
 
 " Perfectly. I trust we may still be friends." 
 
 She was beaten at every point. She could scarcely 
 have told whether she was now the rejector or re- 
 jected. He held out his hand, and, though she felt 
 that even in this he was the victor, she could do no 
 less than give him her own and so seal the parting 
 of their ways. 
 
 If for just the flash of a moment she felt some re- 
 gret some sense of a possible error of judgment 
 she instantly snatched at the satisfying assurance 
 that Gardner would presently belittle this man with 
 such a defeat of his railroad projects as to leave him 
 practically ruined. 
 
 " I'm sorry not to ask you to dinner," she said, 
 with a smile. " But your movements have been so 
 uncertain." 
 
 " So have my dinners," he answered, cheerfully. 
 Good-by." 
 
 He quitted the house with a sense of relief that 
 was fairly soothing to his nerves. With a feeling of 
 being strangely aimless and bereft of a definite ob-
 
 256 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ject for the day, he was driven once more to his 
 bachelor apartments, where a visitor, sitting in the 
 onyx corridor, was awaiting his return. 
 
 It was Sir Hugh Pearson, of the secret service of 
 Great Britain. He arose with alacrity at Julian's 
 entrance, obviously glad of the meeting. 
 
 " Ah ! " he exclaimed. " Mr. Vail, I'm enormously 
 relieved to see you. May I ask for a moment of pri- 
 vate conversation? " 
 
 " An- hour ! " said Julian, with both welcome and 
 ifear of what might be coming. " The afternoon, if 
 you like. Come up to my section of the shack." 
 
 They ascended at once to his floor. 
 
 He offered cigars and the easiest chair that his 
 sumptuous quarters afforded, when he and his guest 
 were alone, but the Baronet waved both away. 
 
 " The hardest seat and no weed, when one's time 
 is limited," he said, with a glance at his watch. " If 
 you'll pardon my coming abruptly to the point, Mr. 
 Vail, I'd like to inquire if you happen to know where 
 our mutual friends have retreated? " 
 
 Vail was receiving news. 
 
 " Lady Kent and Lady Constance Drew? Do you 
 mean they have gone from their home since yester- 
 day afternoon ? " 
 
 " Apparently. I could get no reply on the tele- 
 phone and my man could deliver nothing get no 
 response at the door." 
 
 Having wondered if something of this nature 
 might not develop, Vail was not surprised. 
 
 " They may have gone to the country for the
 
 TWO SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS 257 
 
 day," he suggested. " The servants might have taken 
 advantage of their absence to lock up until they 
 return." 
 
 " You were there, I take it, yesterday afternoon? " 
 
 " Long enough to drink a cup of tea." 
 
 " They said nothing then of a change of plans 
 that would take them out of town? " 
 
 " Not a word." 
 
 Sir Hugh was silent, musing on the matter for a 
 moment. 
 
 " Rather singular, after specially inviting " 
 
 He stroked his blond mustache unconsciously. " Mr. 
 Vail," he added, irrelevantly, " we've known one an- 
 other rather well, take it here and over in London." 
 
 " Thank you, Sir Hugh," said Vail, " I hope so. 
 Otherwise I shouldn't have asked that favor yester- 
 day. If there's anything I can do to reciprocate, 
 pray afford me the earliest possible opportunity." 
 
 " Thanks, old chap, I will I may be quite frank, 
 I trust." 
 
 " I shall be flattered if you will." 
 
 " May I venture to ask your opinion of Lady 
 Kent?" 
 
 Julian met his gaze with a level glance. 
 
 " I wish I had one worthy of consideration. I 
 have met her but once. Her manners were perfectly 
 gracious which is just about all I know." 
 
 " Perhaps you are better acquainted with Lady 
 Constance? " 
 
 The slightest tinge of color played on Julian's 
 face.
 
 258 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I find her no less puzzling than others of her 
 sex." 
 
 "But you do find her puzzling?" 
 
 " Why, yes I confess I do." 
 
 " In what respect? " 
 
 Vail leaped at the opening afforded to test a mat- 
 ter for himself. He appeared to think, but the pause 
 was deliberately planned. 
 
 " Perhaps most of all in respect of her engage- 
 ment to be married. I learned of it first from Lady 
 Kent." 
 
 Sir Hugh was subtly alert. 
 
 " Oh ! Lady Kent has announced some engage- 
 ment?" , 
 
 " Well, not exactly. She merely made the state- 
 ment that Lady Constance had been riding all after- 
 noon with her fiance." 
 
 Sir Hugh pulled hard at his mustache. 
 
 " That was false ! " he declared. " I mean to say 
 it couldn't possibly be true." 
 
 A wild, unreasoning joy leaped to Julian's heart, 
 despite all the things gone before. He retained a 
 mask of calm. 
 
 " It might have been some mistake." 
 
 " It 'was a mistake but I'm glad to know that it 
 was told you, nevertheless." Sir Hugh grew calmer 
 again. " May I ask you, Mr. Vail, if any Hindoos 
 were there at Lady Kent's while you were pres- 
 ent?" 
 
 " There was no one there save myself so far as 
 I know."
 
 TWO SIGNIFICANT INTERVIEWS 259 
 
 " Was there any talk of India ? " 
 
 "Not a word." 
 
 After a moment of silence, in which, as before, 
 Sir Hugh pulled his long mustache, he turned to Vail 
 with a smile. 
 
 " This is most unreasonable of me, this inquisi- 
 tion, old chap, but I've reasons, as you may suppose. 
 May I ask if in any manner whatsoever I was a mo- 
 mentary subject of conversation over the tea? " 
 
 " Your name was never mentioned," answered 
 Julian, with perfect truth. " The talk was almost 
 wholly of plays." 
 
 Sir Hugh arose to go, but hesitated, as if with 
 indecision. He looked at his host peculiarly. 
 
 " Beautiful girl, I declare Lady Constance." 
 
 " Very," said Vail. " And charming at least to 
 all appearances." 
 
 His visitor was obviously nervous, and jerked at 
 the hair on his lip. 
 
 " You'll not misunderstand or resent a friendly 
 attitude, old chap ? " 
 
 " Not in the least," said Vail. " Just the other 
 way about." He waited for a moment and added, 
 "It's something you hesitate to say?" 
 
 " Nothing much," said Sir Hugh, a fine, grave 
 expression in his eyes, " only that I happen to know 
 the lineage, history, and descendants of the house of 
 Drew rather well, and, while it is not precisely im- 
 possible that such a thing should be, still " 
 
 "You very much doubt that this is Lady Con- 
 stance Drew? "
 
 260 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Sir Hugh extended his hand. 
 
 " You'll not esteem me a cad for planting a doubt 
 that may be wholly without warrant ? " 
 
 " On the contrary," said Vail, " I thank you heart- 
 ily and assure you of my highest regard." 
 
 Then Sir Hugh was gone, leaving much for Julian 
 to ponder.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 A WEAVING OF PLOTS 
 
 SUNDAY evening developed nothing new. The 
 telephone was absolutely silent, save for a mo- 
 ment when Enid Puryn rang, with a tentative sug- 
 gestion to Vail that she and Dick were alone. 
 
 No word arrived from Garrison. The void that 
 had swallowed Barbara was echoing with emptiness, 
 while Julian hoped for a sign. There were no even- 
 ing papers to apprise him of the little or much the 
 reporters had discovered of the man found murdered 
 in the house where he had slept. 
 
 He had never been so restless in his life never 
 so bereft of an occupation to while away his time. 
 Of the hundreds of brilliant homes in which he was 
 certain of a welcome, not one appealed even slightly 
 to the hungering something in his soul. 
 
 At nine he strolled to his favorite club, then turned 
 away at the door. To walk seemed the one satisfac- 
 tion that the night and city afforded. He traversed 
 Central Park from end to end, and at midnight was 
 home, as sleepless and aimless as before. 
 
 He was glad of Monday morning, with its toil. 
 Moreover, it seemed as if the machinery of fate, 
 as well as that of the city, started anew after one 
 day's rest, and made almost anything possible. 
 
 261
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 At his office, however, there was nothing essentially 
 new. Even the enginery of Wall Street, where his 
 whole financial structure trembled with uncertainty, 
 was only about to resume the mighty grind of its 
 wheels that reduce things and men to gold or dross. 
 
 The few accumulated telegrams and letters of im- 
 portance that arrived fell their ways with me- 
 chanical precision. It was not until well after ten 
 o'clock, when the rush and roar of the business 
 mechanism was once more well established, that the 
 machinations of Gardner demanded an hour of con- 
 centrated labor. Julian was glad when it came, how- 
 ever, and he threw not only all his reserves of money 
 into the battle, but a measure of resentment as well. 
 He would not be worsted all around! 
 
 To his great relief he found the accounts of the 
 latest " ruby " murder entirely unalarming. The 
 matter was treated with due regard for its fine sensa- 
 tional values, but even the name of Garrison was 
 omitted. Not even the shrewdest reporter had con- 
 nected the crime with that of the Maharajah. The 
 mystery lay, so far as the papers were concerned, 
 in the fact that a " crook " had met such an end 
 in a house too empty to rob. 
 
 The noon hour arrived with never a word from 
 the criminologist. Julian called up his office^ to 
 learn he was still away. There was no one he knew 
 to whom to appeal for word of Barbara, whose si- 
 lence fretted his spirit. He had never been so eager 
 in his life for even a slender ray of hope. 
 
 It was something at least to know that Lady Kent
 
 A WEAVING OF PLOTS 263 
 
 had lied about her engagement. Barbara, he was 
 certain, was the victim of force, of compulsion. But, 
 coerced or not, she had a right to a word of defense 
 before being judged or condemned. 
 
 All day his thoughts were upon her. Then at last 
 it came the word for which he was hoping. 
 
 It arrived in the form of a tiny note, badly soiled, 
 and directed in pencil. The opening lines were more 
 than enough to stir his heart to maddest thumping. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Vail : I don't know what terrible things 
 may have happened Saturday evening, after that tea, 
 which made me ill, or what you must have thought 
 of the way I behaved, but I haven't time to write 
 you of it now. Indeed, I hardly know how or where 
 I shall be able to mail this letter and I dare not 
 tell you where I am but I must send a line to beg 
 you not to believe a number of the things you heard 
 that I could not deny while She was there, and to 
 think of me kindly, if you can. To-morrow after- 
 noon I expect to get my trunk at last or at least 
 get something from it. If you never hear from me 
 again, after that, please believe it is all for the best, 
 and try to remember once in a while that the sweet- 
 est, most precious, thing I have ever known was to 
 
 be CaJled Your < Little Friend.' " 
 
 Vail was nearly crazy with delight. Had the let- 
 ter been the clearest, most authentic vindication of 
 Barbara in the world, he could scarcely have prized 
 it more highly.
 
 264 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He kissed it like a boy. He paced in rapture up 
 and down the room in a glory of excitement. Her 
 simplest word in repudiation of all he had under- 
 gone seemed to banish forever from his mind any 
 possible thought of her guilt. Moreover, he was 
 certain of her love and that was more priceless than 
 all! If only the slightest hint had been given as 
 to where he could find her now, a cannon-ball's speed 
 could hardly have met his requirements in hurling 
 himself at her feet. 
 
 But abruptly, in the midst of his delirium, a new 
 dread went home to his heart. She was going to 
 search for her trunk. She had doubtless persuaded 
 someone to assist her in finding it again. And of 
 all the crime-reddened beings by whom she was sur- 
 rounded and coerced, which one of the lot could be 
 trusted to protect her in her quest? 
 
 He was certain the trunk could be in one place 
 only the house of iron men ! This she had all but 
 confessed. 
 
 Apparently no one save himself had ever con- 
 nected this second house with the Maharajah's mur- 
 der. It was under no suspicion. If she went, un- 
 protected, to a place like that God only knew what 
 might occur! 
 
 " Garrison ! Garrison ! " he murmured. " Why 
 couldn't you be here now when I need you most? " 
 
 Some way, for Barbara's protection, he must get 
 to that house at once ! 
 
 He snatched up the telephone, demanded Garri- 
 son's office, learned that the criminologist had left
 
 A WEAVING OF PLOTS 265 
 
 the key to the " ruby crime " house with his assist- 
 ant, and dashed from the place to secure that bit 
 of metal as if he were lashed by a fiend. 
 
 Meantime a second pattern that the fates were 
 weaving in the web was rapidly developing in the 
 house Lady Kent had so recently deserted. 
 
 In a littered and half-finished room of the attic, 
 where pots and pans, a kerosene stove, and a lot of 
 soiled bedding suggested a none too inviting camp 
 that necessity had called into being, two frightened 
 men were in earnest consultation. 
 
 One was a big, red-headed hulk whose alarms had 
 been frequently diluted with potent drink, from a 
 glass that he constantly filled. Aside from his blood- 
 shot eyes and haggard countenance, he might have 
 appeared at least halfway respectable, since his 
 clothing at least was not neglected. 
 
 The other was obviously low, though perhaps the 
 more sober of the pair. He was small and possessed 
 of a vicious physiognomy, suggesting that of a rat. 
 His clothing was old and stained with dust and to- 
 bacco. Yet his wits were clearer than his -friend's. 
 
 " Ye ain't goin' to quit me 'cause you can't," 
 he remarked, as he tapped the other's hand with an 
 empty but dripping glass. " I ain't agoin' to go 
 like Nick, all by my lone, which same you can re- 
 member." 
 
 " What can we do? What can we do? " said the 
 red-headed creature, helplessly. " This house is 
 likely watched. We'll have two of them after us 
 now."
 
 266 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Blame it to yourself," was the cheering response 
 of his comrade. " You had Vail to rights, and 
 passed it up to Nick, after you was there on the 
 job." 
 
 " But Vail has seen me before. He knows me, 
 Scratch, he knows me." 
 
 " Scratch " showed his undisguised contempt for 
 the man with whom he was partnered. 
 
 " So do I know yeh f er a coward ; that's the an- 
 swer. I've a notion to cut you and git." 
 
 The haggard face became more ghastly. 
 
 " For God's sake, Scratch, don't talk like that. 
 We're all right if we stick together." 
 
 " You're all right, if I stick by," corrected his 
 friend, with asperity. " And I'll only stick on terms 
 to suit myself ! Mr. Moore, you're sure in a hole." 
 
 " We're in it together unless we get the stone," 
 responded Moore, whose color refused to return. 
 " I'll do anything you say." 
 
 " Right-ho ! " exclaimed Mr. Scratch, arising 
 promptly. " Then come along to the tin-man house 
 while we git the girl to rights." 
 
 " But why get her there," objected Moore, " when 
 she's safe enough with a lady you know " 
 
 " A lady ! There you are ! " interrupted Mr. 
 Scratch. " And the same scared stiff, with your 
 bunglin' ! What's the good of the lady now ? " 
 
 " Well, for the matter of that," argued Moore, in 
 his desperation, " if we got the girl as you say, and 
 held her, and let her send some word to Vail do 
 you think he'd bite again ? "
 
 A WEAVING OF PLOTS 267 
 
 Mr. Scratch could express great scorn, as his ac- 
 cent duly established. 
 
 " Them kind ? When they're stuck on a pretty 
 petticoat? Twenty times a day, if you work it right ! 
 I tell you it's my way or none." 
 
 Moore took time to reflect and mix and dispose 
 of a drink. 
 
 At length he ventured: " There may be something 
 in her trunk I ought to see. But we couldn't get 
 into the house again and not be promptly discov- 
 ered." 
 
 " You leave that to me." 
 
 " And where would you take the girl? " 
 
 " That's my business, same as the other. You 
 ain't done nuthin' but bungle till our necks is ready 
 for the rope. Jest take two minutes decidin', or 
 it's me to pass you up and go it on my lone. You're 
 in this worse than me." 
 
 Despite the show of nerve he maintained, he was 
 fully as frightened as his pal. A certain profes- 
 sional hardening, that the other lacked, afforded him 
 his mask. ^ 
 
 Mr. Moore was coldly perspiring. He had one 
 more objection to offer. 
 
 " Suppose when we have her, just as you like, 
 we're fooled again by Vail? Suppose he's given up 
 the ruby? I tell you, Scratch, if we make a mistake 
 if we don't get the ruby directly " 
 
 " Oh, stow it ! " his friend interrupted. " You've 
 said that two hundred times. Can you think of a 
 better frame-up than mine? "
 
 268 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Moore shook his head in despair. 
 
 " No I'm afraid I can't." 
 
 " Then come on. You're afraid of everything, so 
 what's the odds where you git it next ? " 
 
 Moore's face blanched. 
 
 "But why go so early as this? They won't get 
 after the trunk till maybe four." 
 
 "Cree?" demanded Mr. Scratch. "Ketch her 
 foolin' around there late! Likely you'd rather git 
 around when they'd pinched the trunk and made their 
 get-away. Not me! Have you got some sheets to 
 bag the women's heads? " 
 
 Moore wavered. 
 
 " Do we have to use violence and force? " 
 
 " Do you want to bungle this again ? " 
 
 " But I'm sure I could manage to get the girl 
 in a quieter, safer way." 
 
 " Yes ! " said Mr. Scratch, in his scornful sneer, 
 " I don't suppose she's got you plenty buffaloed with 
 threats to peach to Vail. Now listen to this de- 
 bates is closed! Are you comin', and comin' my 
 way?" 
 
 " I hope it's the best," said the craven, weakly. 
 " We can get some sheets below."
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 A> Vail had declared, in his hasty review of tlie 
 newest situation, the street where one of the 
 city's rapidly forgotten crimes had been committed 
 contained no evidence that either the " Maharajah " 
 house or its nearby neighbor of the armor was un- 
 der police surveillance. Indeed, a more deserted 
 thoroughfare would rarely have been encountered in 
 Gotham. 
 
 It was nearly three in the afternoon when at 
 length a big blue limousine car came softly pur- 
 ring down the street. A liveried chauffeur sat in 
 charge of the wheel. Within were two women, 
 one tremendously excited, the other as wary as a 
 fox. 
 
 They were Barbara and her plausible acquaint- 
 ance, Mrs. Cree who had names for each day in the 
 week. This lady, with every protestation of confi- 
 dence in and the simplicity of the present enterprise, 
 nevertheless subjected the region to the sharpest 
 scrutiny as the car drew near the house for which 
 she held the key. 
 
 At the very second when the man at the wheel 
 would have steered in and halted at the curb, a 
 
 269
 
 270 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 grocer's wagon swung around the corner and came 
 clattering down the street. 
 
 Mrs. Cree leaned quickly to the speaking-tube 
 with its end near the driver's ear. 
 
 " Go on," she said, " around the block and back." 
 
 The round of the block was made, while Barbara, 
 white and breathing shortly, sat crouched in the 
 corner of the seat. Her companion watched as be- 
 fore, especially to see if they were followed. 
 
 Nothing sinister appeared. Once more they ap- 
 proached their objective point, and on this occasion, 
 as the street was clear, the limousine came to a 
 halt. 
 
 Mrs. Cree pulled down a heavy veil that masked 
 her features completely. Then, with exceptional 
 celerity of movement, she alighted and urged her 
 charge to the sidewalk. 
 
 The driver, under previously delivered instruc- 
 tions, proceeded at once down the street, even as the 
 two quickly-acting women climbed the steps and went 
 into the house. 
 
 " There ! " Mrs. Cree breathed quietly, as the door 
 was closed behind them. " No one the wiser for our 
 coming ! " 
 
 Barbara made no reply. Nothing could have 
 nerved her to this ordeal save the hope she pos- 
 sessed at the prospect of researching her trunk. Her 
 first vague alarm subsided, though what she had 
 feared in gaining the house was entirely vague in 
 her mind. A new sort of fever possessed her now, 
 with every added moment of delay.
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 271 
 
 Mrs. Cree, however, was cautious. She lifted her 
 veil to the top of her hat, went quietly over to a 
 door that stood ajar, peered in, stood listening for 
 any possible sound, and then smiled reassuringly. 
 
 " We may as well go upstairs." 
 
 Barbara timidly followed, glancing about at the 
 ill-lighted features of the place and conjuring up, as 
 a sort of protective vision, the image of Vail she 
 had seen that other exciting day when, as now, she 
 had come for the papers in her trunk. 
 
 " You are sure it's here? " she ventured to ask, in 
 a barely audible voice. " Do you know what room 
 it's in?" 
 
 " You'll see," replied her companion, whose con- 
 fidence rapidly increased. " It hasn't been just left 
 around." 
 
 A startling snap resounded from the stairs and 
 echoed through the hall, as they started for the sec- 
 ond story. Barbara clasped at her heart in alarm, 
 while Mrs. Cree laughed at her fear. 
 
 " Did you think it was a ghost ? " she inquired. 
 " Losh ! ghosts are worth such money these days 
 you couldn't even catch one if you tried." 
 
 They had come to the landing above. 
 
 " This way," she added, moving ahead as one fa- 
 miliar with the place. " Ain't it funny, my dear, 
 where they used to build their closets ? " 
 
 The room to which she led the way was small, dark, 
 and off the hall. Its second door, aside from that 
 to a closet, was standing a trifle ajar, and opened 
 on other apartments.
 
 272 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " Right in here," said Mrs. Cree, as she opened the 
 closet in question. " It never could have been safer. 
 We'll both have to pull it to a better light." 
 
 Tremendously relieved at beholding her trunk, 
 after constant fears that it was never to be recov- 
 ered, Barbara willingly lent her strength to dragging 
 the box from its place. 
 
 It was poorly strapped, and locked. They hauled 
 it out together, then moved it across the floor. 
 
 " Just open that door behind you," instructed 
 Mrs. Cree. 
 
 Barbara threw it open and stood there staring, 
 amazed. 
 
 She was facing the room of iron men, with a 
 monster round table at its center. 
 
 Six dully gleaming figures, like metal ghosts, for 
 silence and their weird resemblance to men, were 
 ranged along the opposite wall with a half-light only 
 upon them. They stood on a platform built the 
 length of the room. Behind each lurked a shadow as 
 dark as a dungeon's door. In their fixed, semi-life- 
 like postures they were certainly uncanny to be- 
 hold. 
 
 The laugh Mrs. Cree delivered gave Barbara a 
 start. 
 
 " Fine company," said the woman, cheerfully. 
 " How would you like 'em all night, and you here 
 alone in the house? " 
 
 " They look so alive ! " said the staring girl. 
 " They almost seem to move." 
 
 " Well, we don't," responded her companion.
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 273 
 
 " We'll take this in amongst 'em, and hurry, too, if 
 there's anything in it you want." 
 
 Once more they heaved at the heavy trunk and 
 urged it into the room. 
 
 Barbara had the key. The lid was presently 
 leaned against the frame of the door, revealing a 
 flap, in the style of many of the old-time trunks, now 
 rarely seen, and to this Barbara gave her atten- 
 tion. 
 
 She had barely dropped it down, to remove some 
 hats, when a sounding snap reverberated sharply 
 through the house. 
 
 Mrs. Cree clutched her quickly by the arm, her 
 own face blanched with fear. 
 
 "What was that?" 
 
 Barbara trembled where she stood, glancing fur- 
 tively about. 
 
 " I don't know," she whispered. " Oh, I hope " 
 
 " Sh-s-s-sh," said Mrs. Cree. 
 
 She tiptoed silently towards the door that led to 
 the secondary hall. She had no more than come 
 there than she suddenly uttered a piercing shriek 
 and staggered back into the room. 
 
 A curse replied, from out beyond, then the tramp 
 of heavy feet as someone ran to the door. 
 
 Barbara, held there as rigid as ice, beheld two men 
 dart actively in, both of them thoroughly masked. 
 
 A stifled cry escaped her lips as she saw the larger 
 of the ruffians plunge with a sack to smother Mrs. 
 Cree. The smaller man was running towards her- 
 self.
 
 274 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 In sheer desperation she flung an old hat in his 
 face and turned to flee around the table. 
 
 The man leaped in active pursuit. 
 
 There was no escape at either door. Mrs. Cree 
 was struggling in the path of one, the trunk was 
 blocking the other. 
 
 Around again sped the frightened girl, the man 
 almost upon her. 
 
 Then an amazing thing occurred. 
 
 With a ringing shout, like an old Crusader's bat- 
 tle cry, the nearest man of iron leaped like a mailed 
 and infuriated Nemesis from the platform, to land 
 on the ruffian's neck. The fellow went down to the 
 floor, with a yell of terror and awe. The iron knight 
 crashed down upon him, with a din of clanking 
 plates. 
 
 Scream after scream resounded through the house, 
 where Mrs. Cree with frantic might was battling with 
 the man who had attacked her. 
 
 Then Barbara cried out again, but now in joy. A 
 tall, active figure had risen from the melee on the 
 floor. 
 
 " Julian ! " she shrilled, reeling weakly to the 
 table; then she felt the mighty comfort of his 
 arms. 
 
 A fearful din of thumping came from the hall 
 below. The door was being stormed by men who had 
 secretly watched the house. 
 
 Aware of the folly of permitting himself and Bar- 
 bara to be found in such a place, and unprepared 
 to do battle with both the men, while a helpless girl
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 275 
 
 was there to afford them a target, Julian dashed 
 with her headlong past the pair by the door and 
 fled for the panel in the wall. 
 
 " The roof ! " he heard abruptly shouted, where the 
 smaller thief had once more gained his feet, and then, 
 amidst dull clattering and blows, the sound of offi- 
 cers swarming up the stairs, and the cries of Mrs. 
 Cree, he thrust back the panel, supported Barbara 
 through the yawning door, and was presently fum- 
 bling for an incandescent torch, laid carefully by 
 for his needs. 
 
 He had barely closed the sliding door when men 
 came running to the room. 
 
 Barbara's strength had departed, yet she had not 
 actually swooned. He took her up in his arms and 
 flashed his light that showed him the way down- 
 stairs. 
 
 He reached the base of the circular steps, panting 
 from his exertions. The long, dark corridor yawned 
 before him forbiddingly, but he welcomed both its 
 silence and its chill. 
 
 Pausing a moment to regain his breath, he pro- 
 ceeded onwards as before. A wild exultant joy was 
 in his heart. It increased as Barbara, supported on 
 his breast, slipped one arm weakly about his neck 
 and clung to him, softly crying. 
 
 At the end of the passage he placed her down, for 
 the door to the cellar was closed. 
 
 " All right, little friend, we're all right now," he 
 told her, reassuring^, his ?.rm still encircling her 
 waist, but she made no attempt to reply.
 
 276 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He opened the door and assisted her through be- 
 fore him. It had barely closed upon them when out 
 of the darkness of the old-time cellar four half -seen 
 men sprang upon them and pinioned Vail's arms to 
 his sides. 
 
 Then the blinding glare of a bull's-eye lantern was 
 turned upon his face.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK 
 
 FOR one tense moment there was not a sound, save 
 one little cry that issued from Barbara's lips. 
 
 Then came another surprise. 
 
 "Holy smoke!" said a voice. "What's the use? 
 It's you again ? " 
 
 " Garrison ! " said Vail. " Is that you, Garri- 
 son?" 
 
 " Who else could have my luck? " was the crimi- 
 nologist's answer. " Nettleton, strike a light, till I 
 gather my wits ! I might have known the birds 
 would fly by the roof ! " 
 
 The men, as well as Barbara, were puzzled by T/hat 
 they heard. 
 
 " Do you mean these is no good, after all? " said 
 one, who had gripped his vice-like talons on Vail. 
 " You don't want me to hold 'um no more? " 
 
 " No, no release him, certainly," was Garrison's 
 prompt reply. " Get out, up front you and Haw- 
 thorne see if you're needed with the others." 
 
 Nevertheless, as Nettleton scratched a blazing 
 match and applied it to a torch, the two big fellows 
 ordered to the street paused a moment to look at the 
 girl. 
 
 Barbara clung to Julian's arm like the veriest 
 277
 
 278 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 frightened child. Since the days when witches were 
 tried in dungeon keeps, perhaps because of their 
 beauty, no more appealing vision of loveliness dis- 
 traught was ever revealed by the light. 
 
 With her great eyes blazing with the liquid clear- 
 ness of a deer's, her red lips slightly parted, her won- 
 drously dark-red hair disheveled, and her color only 
 faintly returning to cheeks as white and translucent 
 as snowy onyx, Barbara seemed some hunted nymph 
 as she leaned there on Julian's arm. Her bosom still 
 heaved with excitement and alarm. A wistful ques- 
 tioning burned in the glance she cast about her on 
 the men. 
 
 Garrison took off his hat, no more in tribute to 
 her beauty than in recognition of her innocence, no 
 matter what facts might accuse. 
 
 " Miss Lee," he said, " I must present myself, I 
 fear. I'm Jerold Garrison, a poor, benighted friend 
 of Mr. Vail's, vainly striving to render him a serv- 
 ice. My one regret must always be that we could 
 not have met under pleasanter 'conditions and 
 sooner." 
 
 Barbara tried to smile. 
 
 " Thank you very much," she answered, faintly. 
 " I'm afraid I've been a lot of trouble." 
 
 " But why stay here ? " said Julian, longing to get 
 Barbara away. " Can't we get out to the light? " 
 
 " Certainly," said Garrison. " You see, I expected 
 someone else. I'm a little disappointed." 
 
 He led the way promptly to the cellar stairs and 
 the hall of the echoing house. There he halted.
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK 279 
 
 " Mr. Vail, I must see you soon. This place will 
 soon be full of policemen. May I once more offer 
 you my car? " 
 
 " You're a trump, old man ! " said Vail. " Do you 
 happen to know the very best place in all New York 
 for Miss Lee to be safe to-night? " 
 
 Garrison's eyes burned brightly. " I do. Take 
 her at once to my wife." 
 
 A lump came at once in Barbara's throat, she 
 hardly knew why. 
 
 "Oh, by George!" said Vail. "But you're 
 sure " 
 
 " Absolutely ! " Hurriedly writing the address 
 and a line of explanation to his wife, Garrison thrust 
 his card in Julian's hand. " Don't stop to be 
 polite," he added, smilingly. " Your time is 
 brief." 
 
 He urged them out of the door, to the curb, where 
 his car was waiting, in charge of a hired chauffeur. 
 
 A shout was raised from the house of iron men, 
 where a blue-coat came dashing down the walk. 
 
 " Speed her up to the limit," Garrison instructed, 
 laconically, and, seeing the car quickly started on 
 its way, he turned and caught the policeman in his 
 arms. 
 
 For a moment both Vail and Barbara were too 
 occupied for speech. They were watching the man 
 in pursuit. But the car rolled briskly around the 
 corner and the scene was left behind. The last im- 
 pression was one of men hotly swarming from both 
 the houses.
 
 280 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 It was presently certain that no one was following 
 behind. 
 
 Julian leaned over to the driver. 
 
 " To Mr. Garrison's house, if you please ;" and 
 he read the address from the card. " You might 
 take it just a bit slower and go by way of the 
 Park." 
 
 Then he settled for at least a little comfort and 
 took Barbara's hand in his own. 
 
 She had sunk in her corner of the tonneau, still 
 pale, but faintly smiling. She met his gaze in her 
 steady, brave way, her eyes appealingly wistful. 
 
 " You must have been there all the time," she said, 
 beholding again that astonishing sight of the leap- 
 ing iron man. " I was never so glad to see 
 
 anyone I was never so frightened in my 
 
 life." 
 
 He asked, " Who were the men ? " 
 
 " Why, I don't know ! I haven't the slightest 
 idea. How long had you been behind that armor 
 thing? " 
 
 " Two hours, about. But tell me, Barbara " 
 
 " Two hours ! " 
 
 " Waiting to serve you if I could. Had you no 
 idea of the risk you ran in going to such a place? " 
 
 " I had to go," she answered, honestly. " What 
 will they do with my trunk? " 
 
 " I should say Mr. Garrison will get it. Bar- 
 bara, isn't it time at last to tell me what is going 
 on? Perhaps this isn't the time or place," and he 
 nodded towards the driver, " but things can't go on
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK 281 
 
 as they have, you know, for affairs have come to a 
 crisis." 
 
 She was silent for a moment, and withdrew her 
 hand at last. 
 
 " I haven't been fair, of course, from the first, but 
 
 when one's father when one's afraid Oh ! now 
 
 that Mr. Garrison may get the papers, after all, 
 
 couldn't we How can I go to his house? I 
 
 agreed to return to " 
 
 " Lady Kent? " he added, at her pause. 
 
 Barbara dropped her gaze. 
 
 " She has been very kind some ways, I mean. I'd 
 rather not offend her make her angry run away 
 
 and get her started I don't know what she'll 
 
 do!" 
 
 " What can she do ? What is this power she wields 
 over you and your fate? Why did you let her hustle 
 you off on our way up from Hackett Tides ? What's 
 all this mystery about? " 
 
 The appeal came back to her eyes. 
 
 " Didn't you say this was not the place the time 
 for all these questions ? " 
 
 " We've got to have it out," he told her, simply. 
 We'll stop in the Park for a while to ourselves, 
 and walk the last few blocks." 
 
 The Garrisons lived in Central Park West, over- 
 looking the reservoirs. Julian waited till the 
 chauffeur was swinging through the western section 
 of the great reserve of grass and trees, then re- 
 quested him to halt where a bench was sequestered in 
 the shade.
 
 282 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " You may leave us here, if you please," he said. 
 " We prefer to walk to the house." 
 
 The man saluted and drove away, to return the 
 car to his chief. 
 
 " But really " started Barbara, when Julian 
 
 took her firmly by the arm and marched her towards 
 the seat. 
 
 " We couldn't talk at Garrison's, and we've got 
 to have it out." 
 
 Barbara slightly trembled. 
 
 " I don't see how I can tell things even now," she 
 timidly objected. " I'd have told you before if I 
 could." 
 
 He sat her down and took the place beside her. 
 
 " It might have saved trouble if you had. We 
 were getting a better understanding when you were 
 suddenly spirited away. To get back to that, was 
 it Lady Kent who won that little trick ? " 
 
 " No it was somebody else ? " 
 
 " You fear to tell me whom ? It was someone you 
 fear, I'm certain, as you seem to fear Lady Kent. 
 Do you know what occurred when I drank that cup 
 of tea?" 
 
 She looked at him in affright. 
 
 " No, for I was ill." 
 
 " Tell me this," he demanded, eagerly : " Did you 
 enter that room again presently and see me, over by 
 the window? " 
 
 " Why, certainly not. I couldn't come down 
 again." 
 
 This much he could readily believe. He had
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK 283 
 
 made up his mind it was someone else who had 
 laughed in derision at his plight. 
 
 " Barbara, something black and horrible is behind 
 these friends of yours," he said. " I call them 
 friends perhaps they are not I know they're not 
 genuine friends. What is it you fear, that you will 
 not share with me, after all we've been through 
 together ? " 
 
 Her face was white and tense. 
 
 " It's something I'd rather not tell." 
 
 " But give me a chance," he beseeched her. " You 
 know by now you can trust me to help you to the 
 end. It is something about your father, I imagine." 
 
 She nodded, her eyes pleadingly dilated. 
 
 " If only they hadn't come to-day ! If I'd found 
 the papers in the trunk ! Yet they may not be there ! 
 Suppose I should tell you something that would end 
 our friendship forever? And it might be wrong! I 
 wrote you perhaps you'd never see me after to-day. 
 You don't think that was an easy thing to say? I 
 can't tell things that might do wrong to everyone 
 concerned ! I simply won't ! If I get the papers and 
 find it's true I couldn't face even you ! " 
 
 She arose and turned away, to hide her distress 
 and emotion. 
 
 Vail was instantly at her side. 
 
 " Barbara, I love you ! " he said. " Do you hear 
 me? I love you! I love you!" He caught her 
 and kissed her on the mouth. " You shan't go away 
 and leave me so again. You've got to let me fight 
 your battles. I want you to marry me, right away,
 
 284 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 and give me the right to protect you! Sweetheart 
 my loyal little friend we'll face the world to- 
 gether ! " 
 
 She could not, had it been to save her life, have 
 resisted that moment of joy. Nothing so wondrous, 
 so glorious had ever swept upon her with its power. 
 A madness, divinely ineffable, coursed through her 
 welcoming pulses. She was swept away on the storm 
 of his love like a willing bird hurled into summer. 
 She gave him the answer of lips to lips before she 
 could think what it meant. She tasted the marvelous 
 wine of love before she had power to resist. She 
 loved him with all the power of her being ; she longed 
 for the haven of security in his arms ; she had never 
 been so tempted to exchange her loneliness for com- 
 panionship, her heart's and spirit's homelessness for 
 the glowing hearth of love. 
 
 Then she pantingly thrust him away. 
 
 " No, no, no," she implored. " Please don't say it 
 any more. I mustn't ! I will not ! Julian, I love 
 
 you too much I mean I mean I don't I 
 
 don't love you enough! You shan't! I'd rather 
 die!" 
 
 " You do ! you love me ! " he insisted, passion- 
 ately. " You couldn't help it when I love you so ! 
 You shan't refuse! You've got to let me have the 
 right to protect you night and day ! " 
 
 Her mastery came reluctantly since it meant she 
 must push him away. The smile that crept wistfully 
 back to her lips was a beautiful thing to see. 
 
 " Not for the world the happiest, dearest world
 
 THEIR HOUR IN THE PARK 285 
 
 God ever made ! " she answered, in her new resolu- 
 tion. " So please don't say it again." 
 
 He could feel both her strength and her weakness 
 the one that held him far away, the other that wel- 
 comed him home. He was strangely aware of the 
 potent something, whipping her back to a path of 
 stones she had traveled so long, alone. 
 
 He felt her nobility and courage the readiness 
 for sacrifice that prompted all she did. It drew him 
 the more, cemented his love exalted the passion she 
 inspired. 
 
 " I can't give you up, no matter what has oc- 
 curred. I love you ! " he said. " I refuse to accept 
 your decision! Barbara, what is the world and its 
 views to those who make worlds with their love? 
 You've got to listen, little friend ! " And he moved 
 to enfold her as before. 
 
 " No ! " she answered, pleadingly. " Please take 
 me to your friends." 
 
 She retreated, as one leaving all the world of 
 beauty and comfort behind. Her eyes were brim- 
 ming with tears of joy and bitter self-denial. She 
 conjured a smile, inexpressibly lovely, to meet his 
 beseeching eyes. Then she turned and continued 
 along the path, unable to endure it any longer. 
 
 " Dearest ! " said Julian, following, " you don't 
 know the way to the house." 
 
 He made no attempt to halt her again, but merely 
 walked at her side. They were silent, quitting this 
 city-surrounded Eden, nevermore to be merely a 
 park, to them, but a sacred grove instead.
 
 286 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 At length, emerging to the street and facing the 
 stone wall of houses, Julian abruptly comprehended 
 how much still remain unrevealed. 
 
 " You'll promise you'll not run away again, or 
 go back to Lady Kent? You'll remain with Mrs. 
 Garrison, at least till we find your trunk? " 
 
 " You're going to hunt for it, too ? " 
 
 " Why, naturally, little friend. You'd hardly ex- 
 pect that I'd leave it even to my friends ? " 
 
 " No, of course I suppose " she faltered. 
 
 " Someways I'd rather that no one but you But 
 
 Julian if you happen to be the first if you find 
 it please let me have it all alone. You will, you 
 will, I know." 
 
 " Will you promise not to run away, no matter 
 what it contains ? " 
 
 Bravely she met his eyes. " I'll do what's best 
 for us all." 
 
 " Will you let me have a little voice in what is 
 best for me? " 
 
 " If I have the strength I'll try." 
 
 " You'll let me come and see you here, to-night? " 
 They had come to the Garrisons' house. 
 
 " Perhaps if it's really wise." 
 
 Then Julian rang the bell.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 A DRAMATIC CLIMAX 
 
 VAIL did not again see Barbara that evening. 
 He sent a magnificent armful of roses and 
 a monster box of chocolates at eight and followed 
 his gifts in half an hour, only to learn that Miss 
 Lee had a violent headache, and, under orders from 
 Dorothy Garrison, had sensibly retired. 
 
 She had written a note, in case he should come 
 and meet this disappointment. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Vail : I know I have been a very great 
 trial and trouble to you, ever since that day I found 
 myself in your office, and now I'm almost ashamed 
 to ask another favor. But there is no one else I 
 may turn to, or feel so certain I may trust. To-day 
 you spoke of my trunk again, and of course you 
 know it is very important to me that is, I am al- 
 most positive it contains some papers I have never 
 been able to find even when I had it all to myself. 
 They must be in it somewhere doubtless in a secret 
 slide, or something of that nature, and I'm afraid 
 I'm ill with worry about them, after what has hap- 
 pened to-day. 
 
 " If they fell into anyone's hands but yours I 
 387
 
 288 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 might not receive them to read them first and 
 
 Well, I must ! I simply must ! I cannot tell you 
 how much this means to me. But if only you could 
 get them for me, right away, and not let anyone 
 know they are in the trunk, or anything about them, 
 I would be more than merely grateful all my life. 
 I know this is a great deal to ask, when I have acted 
 so badly but you have made me trust you 
 
 and I just had to ask you, that's all. 
 
 " Ever your faithful little friend,' 
 
 " BARBABA." 
 
 In his zeal and eagerness to serve her instantly, 
 Vail would have bolted forthwith for the house of 
 iron men, had not two things given him pause. The 
 first was his acknowledged ignorance of what had 
 transpired at the place since their escape; the sec- 
 ond was a call on the telephone, from Garrison him- 
 self, who had not been home for dinner. 
 
 " Hullo, old man ! " he called across the wire, when 
 Julian took the receiver. " I thought I might just 
 possibly catch you at the house. How's Miss Lee? 
 .. . . Oh, I'm sorry to hear it. ... Well, she'll be 
 all right in the morning. . . . Hope you like her 
 hostess. She's been through some trials herself. . . . 
 But I didn't call you up to throw bouquets at my 
 wife. I want you to meet me at once at the home 
 of Miss Puryn. . . . Yes, Miss Puryn's as soon as 
 you can come. I have something important to re- 
 port to you both, and prefer to submit it there. . . . 
 Now please permit me to manage this one little mat-
 
 A DRAMATIC CLIMAX 289 
 
 ter my way. . . . Oh, if you've got a taxi waiting, 
 you can get here in fifteen minutes. . . , Yes, she's 
 there. I've just finished making the appointment. 
 ... All right. I'll be there when you arrive." 
 
 Reluctant to leave the neighborhood where Bar- 
 bara was lodged, and not particularly pleased at the 
 prospect of encountering Iris again, Vail neverthe- 
 less departed at once and was driven across the Park. 
 
 All the way he gravely pondered what Garrison 
 might have discovered that called for this manner 
 of report this double-barreled method of unburden- 
 ing facts, doubtless vital to the case concerning his 
 birthday " gift." He felt it was far more important 
 that he and the criminologist should be closeted 
 somewhere together, over later aspects of the case. 
 
 He was thoroughly impatient to know what had 
 happened where the men and Barbara's woman com- 
 panion had been left embroiled about the trunk. He 
 was equally eager to be informed what might have 
 become of Barbara's property, with all those police- 
 men overrunning the place. 
 
 When he came to the Puryn mansion it was almost 
 wholly dark. Garrison's car was standing at the 
 curb. Garrison himself was already upstairs, where 
 Vail was promptly conducted. 
 
 The two men had barely exchanged a formal 
 greeting, in the room to which, so often in the past, 
 Julian had been directed, when Iris came in, with 
 the slightest nod and conventional smile for each. 
 
 Garrison promptly came to their business. 
 
 " May I close the door ? " he asked their hostess,
 
 290 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 quietly, with a gesture towards the one open en- 
 trance. " My report is rather confidential." 
 
 " Certainly," Iris answered, seating herself in her 
 favorite chair, near the Oriental hangings. " But 
 I trust Mr. Vail may have mentioned that all this 
 matter is of less importance now than it might other- 
 wise have been." 
 
 Garrison looked from one to the other. 
 
 " I'm afraid my wits are dull from overuse." 
 
 Vail answered dryly, " Miss Puryn has honored 
 herself by a discontinuance of our former relation- 
 ship." 
 
 Garrison nodded. 
 
 " I should say the matter has lost little if any 
 significance, inasmuch as you both desired my serv- 
 ices in clearing up a certain train of facts, respect- 
 ing the so-called birthday ' gift ' to Mr. Vail." 
 
 Iris tried to look bored. As a matter of fact she 
 was intensely curious. 
 
 " I trust your report is brief," was all she replied. 
 
 " Brief, but a trifle complicated," was Garrison's 
 response. " I wish to make it quite complete, so far 
 as it has its bearing on the houses of Puryn and 
 Vail. In the first place, Miss Lee informed you both, 
 upon being released from the box, that she came from 
 Hartford, that she had no friends in Manhattan, and 
 that she was wholly ignorant as to how or why she 
 came to be delivered as she was to Mr. Vail." 
 
 " She told an untruth," said Iris. 
 
 " Her statement was essentially accurate in every 
 particular," corrected the criminologist, quietly.
 
 A DRAMATIC CLIMAX 291 
 
 " Her ' friends ' came afterward, but that has no 
 part in the matter I came to submit. I have already 
 informed Mr. Vail that the cardboard case was made 
 by Epsilon, the florist, on orders apparently ema- 
 nating from one of his wealthy acquaintances, who 
 was actually on the ocean at the time." 
 
 Iris was eager for the story. 
 
 " She gave the order and sailed ? " 
 
 " I said the order was given in her name. As a 
 matter of fact it came from a wholly different source. 
 The matter has never been exactly a joke, although 
 its serious consequences were perhaps not foreseen by 
 all concerned in the plan." 
 
 Iris spoke again. 
 
 " It was not a woman at all? " 
 
 " All in good time. A deliberate conspiracy was 
 hatched by a group of persons to deliver a living 
 young woman in a box to Mr. Vail. Through added 
 complications the affair became positive crime, of 
 the most extraordinary nature. There has not been 
 a moment since that day and hour when Mr. Vail's 
 life has not been in imminent danger." 
 
 Iris was pale. 
 
 " But who did it? And why was it done? " 
 
 " It was done primarily, Miss Puryn, with per- 
 nicious intent to arouse your jealous I mean your 
 natural resentment to bring about the precise re- 
 sults, as between yourself and Mr. Vail, that you in- 
 form me have taken place." 
 
 " It was not through any fault of mine ! " said 
 Iris, sharply. " I have nothing to regret in that,
 
 292 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Mr. Garrison. But you don't mean to hint that 
 
 friends of Mr. Vail planned Oh, I don't mean 
 
 that, of course ! " 
 
 Julian merely smiled. 
 
 Garrison made a gesture of despair. 
 
 " Let me clear it up as rapidly as possible. A 
 certain woman, secretly admiring Mr. Vail, though 
 entirely unencouraged, sought out a female char- 
 latan a woman well known to the city police for 
 connections with thieves, procurers, and the like to 
 enlist her services in bringing about the outrage of 
 which you are aware." 
 
 " Well who is she, then ? Who is the woman so 
 desperately in love with Mr. Vail? " 
 
 Julian, red with anger and mortification, sat in 
 absolute silence, still fixing his eyes on Garrison's 
 face, as the latter proceeded with his story. 
 
 " This woman conspired with one * Madame Star- 
 light/ so called, to break the relationship between 
 yourself and Mr. Vail, having an utterly heartless 
 disregard for the fate of Miss Lee, yourself, or any- 
 one else concerned. She paid all the expenses of the 
 infamous plot, whereby an innocent girl was involved 
 in an astonishing network of crime, and has worked 
 her devices since but without conspicuous suc- 
 cess. 
 
 " She has managed so to surround Miss Lee and 
 Mr. Vail with complications that neither is safe in 
 this city. Two men have already lost their lives 
 in the working out of the plot and related crimes. 
 This guilty woman is directly answerable for the
 
 A DRAMATIC CLIMAX 
 
 whole affair and is certainly liable to arrest, im- 
 prisonment " 
 
 Vail stood up. 
 
 "But, Garrison, who is the woman?" 
 A strange smile came to the features of the crimi- 
 nologist. 
 
 " Her name, betrayed by Madame Starlight " 
 
 A sudden shriek rang out through the room, from 
 behind the Persian hangings, used to conceal a door. 
 
 The woven fabric was seized with convulsive mo- 
 tion. 
 
 Iris and Garrison sprang to their feet, as Vail 
 was running forward. 
 
 It Was Julian who flung the hangings aside 
 revealing Enid Puryn on the -floor. 
 
 Iris sank on the couch, appalled and white, cov- 
 ering her face with her hands. 
 
 Enid had fainted where she lay.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 AN UNFINISHED MISSION 
 
 IT was not until the two grim men had ridden sev- 
 eral blocks down the Avenue that Garrison finally 
 spoke. 
 
 " I hate these affairs that involve our decent peo- 
 ple. They take it so hard when the punishment 
 comes that it almost excites us to pity. But, what 
 could I do?" 
 
 " Good heavens ! " said Vail, " you couldn't have 
 spared her, of course! I'm sorry for Iris, for at 
 least she is innocent." 
 
 " I suppose I might have managed it less pain- 
 fully," Garrison confessed, " but this Madame Star- 
 light had not given up Miss Puryn's name, and, inas- 
 much as I am convinced that Enid has listened there 
 before, I thought I'd take the chance to-night to con- 
 firm or refute my deductions." 
 
 " Oh, don't explain the thing to me ! " said Julian, 
 still thoroughly aroused. " I am sure she was there 
 the very night of my birthday, while I was talking 
 to Iris. I am equally convinced she made Iris ill 
 the night of the Comity Ball. But Garrison the 
 whole denouement is a shock. That was awful for 
 a while ! " 
 
 294
 
 AN UNFINISHED MISSION 295 
 
 " Yes," agreed the criminologist, " I never get 
 used to a scream like that, and I fear I never shall." 
 
 Vail gripped him tightly by the arm. 
 
 "Enid had no connection with the ruby? the 
 thefts and murders, of course?" 
 
 " Not to her knowledge. However, that part of 
 the case is incomplete." 
 
 " You don't know how the ruby came to be in 
 Barbara's shoe ? " 
 
 " I am not sufficiently certain to state my theories 
 jet." 
 
 " But at least she is innocent? " 
 
 Garrison smiled. 
 
 " You have been convinced of that from the first 
 or nearly certain." 
 
 " Quite certain absolutely sure as I've told you 
 repeatedly." 
 
 " Yet not so certain that you felt you could ac- 
 quaint me with all the facts. For instance, how long 
 have you known of the secret passage from the 
 * ruby ' house to the other? " 
 
 Vail reddened. 
 
 " If I found it ahead of you, I'm not so slow." 
 
 " You haven't been accused of being slow, but 
 you're not precisely what I'd call communicative." 
 
 "That reminds me," Julian responded. "What 
 was accomplished to-day? Did you get the men, 
 or the woman? " 
 
 '* The woman, yes. The men escaped over the 
 roof." 
 
 " And what about the trunk I saw in the room? "
 
 296 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Garrison replied with a question. 
 
 " Do you happen to know whose it is ? " 
 
 " I imagine we both know it's Miss Lee's. She has 
 been without it all these days. Where is it now? " 
 
 " It's there. We left it for a bait. I halfway ex- 
 pect one of those men, if not the pair, to return to 
 overhaul it. My man is concealed on the premises, 
 to sleep there and eat there for a while, in case they 
 should arrive." 
 
 " Is he armed? " 
 
 " To the teeth." 
 
 Vail was silent for a moment, and Garrison con- 
 tinued. 
 
 " You found that passage the day you and I were 
 searching the ' ruby ' house together. Had you told 
 me about it at the time, we might have made much 
 greater progress. Suppose I take the wheel and we 
 ramble through the Park, while you post me on all 
 you really know? " 
 
 " Right ! " said Vail, and he and Garrison were 
 presently riding in the forward seat, while the driver 
 was dismissed for the night. 
 
 " Begin at the first," said the criminologist, " and 
 give me everything." 
 
 Julian obeyed. He related every minute detail in 
 the whole affair, dating from Barbara's arrival in 
 the box. 
 
 His narrative concerning the night at Hackett 
 Tides was absolutely frank, for the safety of the 
 story with Garrison was certain, and established Bar- 
 bara's loyalty, her honesty and courage beyond the
 
 AN UNFINISHED MISSION 297 
 
 shadow of a doubt. Concerning the girl's abduction 
 from his car he was brief, but clear. There was 
 nothing withheld about the drugging of his tea, his 
 estimate of Lady Kent, or the revelations made by 
 Sir Hugh Pearson. He kept back nothing, save 
 Barbara's worry about the trunk and the papers it 
 might contain. 
 
 ' You will see that I need your services quite as 
 decidedly now as before," he finally concluded. " The 
 mystery clinging about Miss Lee is essentially as 
 dark as ever. I want you to clear her of the ruby 
 business and help me wrest her from the evil influ- 
 ence of Lady Kent, this fellow ' Willard,' and every- 
 one else in the group. And that reminds me to ask, 
 What woman was it you captured there to-day? " 
 
 'The one called Mrs. Cree. I rather fancy it 
 was she who abducted Miss Lee from your car." 
 
 ' Then she shares in some knowledge that all of 
 them use for their pressure on Barbara?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly. Have you formed any theory as 
 to what it may be that gives them this undue 
 power? " 
 
 Julian looked at him peculiarly. 
 
 " I haven't exactly cared to face I have 
 
 feared my ignorance my blundering With you 
 
 it's different, it's business. I suppose you've formed 
 an hypothesis. May I ask you what it is? " 
 
 " Certainly when it's proved." 
 
 Julian was silent for a moment. 
 
 " It would please me enormously, Garrison," he 
 said, at length, " to hear you confirm my faith, my
 
 298 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 conviction that the little girl that Miss Lee is all 
 I believe." 
 
 Garrison reached out from the wheel by which 
 he guided the car to grip his companion's shoulder. 
 
 " Haven't I sent her to my wife ? " 
 
 " Forgive me," said Vail. " I'm an ass ! " Again 
 he was silent, looking out across the placid lawns 
 and through the motionless trees of the Park, at 
 the stars and the lamps of the city. They were pass- 
 ing the end of the huge Metropolitan Gallery of 
 art, and on their left rose the obelisk, once neigh- 
 bored by the Sphinx. 
 
 His thought had reverted to the note lying close 
 to his heart. He could not keep the faith that Bar- 
 bara expected and reveal all he knew of her trunk. 
 
 " Old chap," he presently added, " I want you to 
 do me a favor." 
 
 " It's granted already if it's possible." 
 
 " I want you to let me go to that house and watch 
 with your man for those chaps to come, as you said, 
 to overhaul the trunk." 
 
 Garrison halted a query that rose to the point of 
 his tongue. How much or how little of Julian's pur- 
 pose he conjectured was not to be revealed- If Vail 
 still chose to keep him in the dark, he meant to re- 
 spect his silence. He betrayed no curiosity. 
 
 " You wouldn't care to go there now to-night ? " 
 
 " Well I don't know why not if there's any 
 chance at all for your visitors to come." 
 
 " There isn't a chance, I'm sure, or I shouldn't be 
 out here killing time while I'm waiting for someone
 
 AN UNFINISHED MISSION 299 
 
 but that's another story. Still, if you feel you 
 
 cannot sleep in any other dwelling You've still 
 
 got your gun and a key to the ' ruby ' house. There 
 are three or four electric torches under the cushion 
 of your seat. But it may be the fellows care nothing 
 at all for the trunk, and your wait will be in vain. 
 I'm inclined to believe they came there to-day with 
 you as their ultimate object." 
 
 " When they immediately attacked the women ? " 
 
 " Suppose they had carted off Miss Lee and then 
 she had written you to come would you have re- 
 fused? " 
 
 " I shouldn't exactly have dared, if I thought " 
 
 " That's about the way they figured. The trunk 
 may be of no importance." 
 
 " I think I'll go there, nevertheless," said Julian. 
 " I take it you would advise me to enter again by 
 the ruby house and passage. What shall I do by 
 way of signaling your man to avoid a collision with 
 his weapons? " 
 
 " Knock on the panel before you press it open 
 and call out, * Nettleton ! ' Don't call too loud. He's 
 to camp in that room, with alarms to all windows and 
 doors. To-morrow two more will be with him. He'll 
 be glad of your company to-night, for I fancy the 
 waiting will be dull. I'll take you part way down 
 there and let you continue by yourself." 
 
 He swung from the Park to the Avenue and was 
 soon speeding down the town. At ten o'clock Vail 
 was standing, alone, at the door of the house already 
 held in superstitious dread.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 i> 
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DAEK 
 
 FOR the third time Julian faced the secret 
 passage. 
 
 There was absolute silence and absolute darkness 
 throughout the premises where so much that was fate- 
 ful had already had its setting. Not a soul had he 
 seen in the thoroughfare when he made his entrance 
 to the house. Every sound he created was like another 
 presence, as it echoed through the empty spaces. 
 
 With his pistol in one hand and torch in the other, 
 he was presently moving forward in the underground 
 corridor, alert for the slightest disturbance or un- 
 usual feature of the place, 
 
 He came to the end of the passage duly convinced 
 that so far all was the plainest sailing. Then his 
 feet encountered something on the floor that emitted 
 a crackling sound. The light was immediately turned 
 in that direction. 
 
 What he saw was a litter of shavings, or the bor- 
 ings of an auger, strewn at the foot of the stairs. 
 About to ignore them and ascend the steps, with the 
 thought they had doubtless been there many years, 
 he was halted by a mental insistence that they were 
 clean and freshly made. 
 
 300
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DARK 301 
 
 It was clear they could hardly have been trans- 
 ported far. He swung his torch about the wall, dis- 
 covering nothing for a moment, till he moved fairly 
 under the stairs. There he found indications of 
 very recent work. Not only was the floor well cov- 
 ered by fresh yellow borings from pine, but the lines 
 of holes from which the chips had fallen were there 
 before his eyes. 
 
 They had all been driven through the planks that 
 formed the wall of the passage, and each was 
 plugged with a cork. They .had plainly been made 
 to cut a narrow door, or trap, to some cellar beyond, 
 the opening formed having been closed fairly tight 
 by wedging the piece to its place. 
 
 Vail was curious. He wondered not only who 
 had cut the orifice in such a laborious manner, 
 but likewise where it led. Slipping his gun in 
 his pocket, he pulled out the wedges, making no 
 sound, and the pjank door slipped forth in his 
 hand. 
 
 Instantly a gush of chilly air, with a powerful 
 smell of gas, sent him backward from the place. 
 What light he could flash through the opening met 
 impenetrable gloom. Convinced that someone had 
 cut the hole for a second entrance to the house, and 
 reflecting that Nettleton might have provided this 
 means of ingress and egress, to avoid the panel 
 above, he retreated once more to the stairway and 
 proceeded on his way. 
 
 From the hole left open no smells arose to the 
 better air above, for the reason that cold air falls.
 
 302 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 He was therefore unaware that a stifling volume of 
 liberated gas was rolling forth in the passage, drawn 
 by a draught through the trap. 
 
 Despite his utmost efforts at ascending without a 
 sound, the stairway emitted a few faint creaks that 
 frequently halted him to listen. It was not that he 
 feared a possible attack from the house of iron men, 
 but rather that he felt no sense of assurance he might 
 not be followed from the rear. 
 
 But silence so deep that it rang in his ears pos- 
 sessed the premises. Once more he climbed carefully 
 upward, his revolver as before in his hand. Then 
 he met another surprise in the form of a draught 
 lightly blowing in his face. He had scarcely more 
 than observed this fact when he came to the head 
 of the spiral stairs and paused with a sense of 
 apprehension. 
 
 The panel was fastened open by a file, rammed into 
 the sill. 
 
 Beyond utter silence reigned, in a chamber of 
 velvety blackness. The flash of his torch dis- 
 pelled a few feet only of the gloom, revealing not 
 a thing upon the floor, for as far as he could 
 see. 
 
 Wholly uncertain as to what this unexpected 
 development might signify, and with plans quite de- 
 ranged, Vail remained undecided as to what he were 
 wise to do. About to deliver a knock on the door 
 and call on Garrison's man, as previously directed, 
 he caught at a sound from within the house that 
 altered his decision.
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DARK 303 
 
 The sound was as of something violently broken 
 from its hold a snap of steel and a rending of 
 brittle wood. 
 
 He waited, straining his ears for sounds to fol- 
 low. Something lightly banged against a distant 
 wall. Then came a succession of lighter noises, as 
 of things being tossed on the floor. 
 
 Julian entered the room. A hint that roused his 
 indignation had flashed on his mind, and a species 
 of recklessness anger possessed his being. 
 
 Feeling his way along the wall, with his torch kept 
 dark for greater caution, he came to the door, 
 emerged in the hall, and once more paused as a dull 
 ray of light streamed out from the armory be- 
 yond. 
 
 More sounds of parcels flung about on the floor 
 added fuel to his temper. Then, as he glided down 
 the hall, towards the room of iron men, a human 
 voice abruptly uttered some sound of satisfaction. 
 
 Julian was almost instantly at the door. What 
 he saw made his blood fairly boil. 
 
 Kneeling alone by Barbara's trunk, the lid of 
 which had been forced, was the evil-looking little 
 " Scratch," with a torch in one hand, while the other 
 held a large stained envelope, secured with tape and 
 sealed. 
 
 He had found the secret recess of the box, and 
 Barbara's fate was in his hands. 
 
 Julian lowered his revolver. 
 
 " Hands up ! " he ordered. " Hands up, or I'll 
 kill you on the spot ! "
 
 304 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 There was just one muttered curse from 
 " Scratch," then his torch was instantly dark. 
 
 He was scrambling actively to his feet, when Vail 
 plunged forward to get him. 
 
 He made no attempt to shoot, in the dark, as he 
 thought of the door to another room through which 
 his quarry might escape. But the burglar promptly 
 fired. 
 
 With a leap of red flame and a deafening roar his 
 bullet sped close to Julian's ear before they met by 
 the table. 
 
 The two were instantly locked and wrestling wildly 
 about the room, on which absolute darkness had 
 descended. 
 
 There was no more chance for a shot on either 
 side. If Vail was powerful and as relentless as a 
 tiger, " Scratch " was no less active, desperate, or 
 deadly. 
 
 He thrashed like a engine, gouged like a badger, 
 and struck with his gun now held as a club. He 
 was wiry, as hard and stiff as a pair of tongs, as 
 furious and unmanageable as a wildcat. 
 
 Over against the table they were immediately 
 hurled, then as hotly against the trunk and out on the 
 floor in a whirlwind of fighting, where neither could 
 see the slightest thing, but must feel as he grappled 
 with his foe. 
 
 Except for the hard percussions of their breath, 
 the scuffle of feet, and the thud of flesh on flesh, no 
 sounds were made. Not a note escaped assailant or 
 assailed.
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DARK 305 
 
 In the mad melee of action they were hurled en- 
 tirely across the room, and knocked down an iron 
 man. Then backward and forward over its form 
 they stumbled and fought. A second armor came 
 crashing down, to encumber the floor and sound its 
 metallic protest, where they struck it with their 
 feet. 
 
 The table was driven hotly to the wall. The bun- 
 dles thrown from Barbara's trunk were kicked in all 
 directions. 
 
 The burglar, grappled a dozen times, squirmed 
 loose like a human eel. He struck with his gun, and 
 beat Vail's arm and shoulder. 
 
 Julian, versed in a finer art of wrestling, was 
 handicapped doubly by the darkness of the place and 
 the wild, vicious creature with whom he attempted to 
 close. 
 
 No hold was secure for half a minute, no effort 
 to choke the maniacal " Scratch," or lift him bodily 
 up and crash him down, availed to end the struggle. 
 
 Around and around the room they gyrated, stum- 
 bling across the prostrate iron figures, colliding with 
 the walls, blocking each other's efforts to deliver a 
 telling blow. 
 
 Vail was attempting to choke or crush the active 
 little demon eluding the strength of his hands. 
 " Scratch," on the contrary, beat at his foe if his 
 arm were free but half a second. 
 
 And at length he landed a glancing blow that 
 nearly broke Julian's skull. It caught him just 
 above the ear and inflicted an ugly wound. But it
 
 306 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 served to arouse such a mighty wrath as nothing 
 could safely withstand. 
 
 Blindly, without either thought or " science," Vail 
 delivered a short-arm uppercut with all the might in 
 his muscles. By the merest chance it caught his man 
 on the vulnerable point of the chin. 
 
 In the darkness it felt as if a thing of clay had 
 weakened to collapse. It sounded as if a bundle of 
 rags went heavily down to the floor. 
 
 Julian permitted his grip to relax as his foe 
 abruptly wilted. The gun had fallen before its 
 owner slumped. It bounded against the iron plates 
 that had once clothed a warrior's breast. 
 
 Pantingly crouched above the man he could now 
 no longer hear even breathing, Julian presently 
 lighted a match and blinked at the figure at his 
 feet. 
 
 " Scratch " was unconscious, a white, crumpled 
 bundle that barely quivered with life. Twisted awry 
 the two armored figures lay, no more silent or use- 
 less than the man. The light dully gleamed from 
 the rusted gun which the 'thief had used in his 
 battle. 
 
 Vail caught it up without further delay, then 
 went back to his torch, which lay where his fingers 
 had released it. 
 
 Like a huge round target of yellow gleamed the 
 light he threw about the room. It fell upon the en- 
 velope that " Scratch " had dropped in the fight. 
 Vail promptly thrust it in his pocket. 
 
 Once more he returned to the prostrate man, lying
 
 A FIGHT IN THE DARK 307 
 
 like one on a battlefield of old, with steel-clad 
 knights about him. He made no movement what- 
 soever. 
 
 Aware that water and fresher air were highly es- 
 sential to the fellow's recovery, and taking time at 
 last to worry concerning Garrison's assistant, Julian 
 raised his voice. 
 
 " Nettleton ! " he shouted. His voice echoed 
 weirdly through the silent place. Reflecting that the 
 shot must have roused any watchman in or about the 
 place, he hurried to the panel room, to cast his light 
 upon its features. 
 
 There was nothing here, save the door still fas- 
 tened opened, to indicate anything suspicious. Back 
 to the hall and down to the lower rooms he hastened 
 to make a wider search. 
 
 A sense of weakness, resulting from the cut on the 
 side of his head, oppressed him slightly. Deter- 
 mined to go at once to the man up above, revive him, 
 and make him prisoner, then compel him to answer 
 for Garrison's assistant, he returned once more to 
 the armory and blankly gazed about in the target 
 of his torch. 
 
 The man he had fought was gone. 
 
 A quick reconnoiter of the room, with his torch- 
 light thrown even back of the forms in armor along 
 their stand convinced him the fellow must have fled 
 to another apartment. But the room with the panel 
 told the tale, for the panel was not only closed again, 
 but someway fastened on the stairway side, as Julian 
 guessed, with the file.
 
 308 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 Then he thought again of that hole below and the 
 smell of gas from the cellar. The whole situation 
 was dimly presented to his throbbing mind. He ran 
 for the stairway and down to the hall to the regular 
 entrance to the basement. 
 
 The cellar, like the rooms above, was cut into 
 halls and divisions. He hastened from one to the 
 other and was presented guided to a heavy door, 
 where a smell of gas hung in the air. 
 
 This barrier swung inward, heavily, lifting weights 
 that would close it when released. It was no more 
 than barely opened than a rush of poisonous fume 
 escaped that drove Vail reeling from the place. He 
 was back there immediately, however, dragging a 
 box, half -filled with dusty coal, to prop the door back 
 from the frame. 
 
 Then, with the gas reek flowing thickly forth, as 
 the draught from the hole he had opened changed 
 its course, he threw in the rays from his glowing 
 torch and beheld his man lying on the floor. 
 
 It was Nettleton, lured to the deadly place by some 
 sound, or the odor of gas. He was barely alive and 
 had only been saved by the entrance of air through 
 the opening Vail had supplied when he drew the 
 newly made trap from its place behind the spiral 
 stairs. 
 
 Filling his lungs with the purer air, Julian 
 plunged in the chamber, laid hold of the helpless Net- 
 tleton, and dragged him bodily forth. 
 
 Still unaware of the fact that he was bleeding, and 
 attributing his sense of weakness to the impure air,
 
 309 
 
 Vail strained and toiled to get the unconscious form 
 to the hallway up above. 
 
 How he finally managed to boost and drag the in- 
 ert figure to the outside door and slip the lock was 
 more than Vail could have told. Later it seemed 
 like some hideous nightmare, some horrid imagining 
 that all his strength was abruptly sapped, while his 
 work was half-done and was far too vast for human 
 attainment. 
 
 Nevertheless, in his persistency. he tugged the man 
 through the vestibule and so to the outer air. Then 
 at last he collapsed, as inertly as the form he had 
 brought from the tomb of death. While Nettleton 
 lay at the top of the steps, Julian rolled to the 
 bottom.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 AN HOUR OF BECKONING 
 
 VAIL awoke in his own apartments, possessed of 
 a tissue of dreams. 
 
 A nurse was seated at his table, and a tall, gray- 
 haired physician stood idly looking out at the win- 
 dow. 
 
 Julian made no sound. He blinked at the two in 
 puzzlement, recalling some hazy, fantastic procession 
 of events wherein a number of red-faced policemen, 
 Jerold Garrison, fights, and the labor with Nettleton 
 were confusedly intermixed. 
 
 Then the actual facts of the previous night came 
 back like the echoes of the voice, with a sense of 
 truth and conviction. He remembered it all, the 
 furious battle with his unseen foe, the clatter of 
 falling iron armor and the object of his visit to 
 the house. 
 
 At that he sat up suddenly, and felt a sharp pain 
 in his head. The nurse was startled. 
 
 " Oh, I wouldn't do that ! I wouldn't attempt to 
 sit up," she said, arising to come to his side. " Doc- 
 tor, Mr. Vail's awake." 
 
 " Doctor? " said Vail, as the man at the window 
 turned. " Oh, Dale, hello ! What's the meaning of 
 
 310
 
 AN HOUR OF RECKONING 311 
 
 this? this fuss and feathers and the rest? Where 
 are my clothes ? " 
 
 " Well, well," said Dale, coming swiftly to the 
 bed. " It's about as I expected more mere physical 
 exhaustion and lack of proper rest than anything 
 requiring my attentions. How's the head?" 
 
 " Head? " said Vail. " I didn't know I had one 
 a bad one, I mean. Did I get a little cut? " 
 
 " Do you mean to say you don't remember " 
 
 " Hold on," Vail interrupted. " I don't need 3 
 
 nurse, and I do want my clothes, and I beg; 
 
 your pardon, Dale, for interrupting, but I'm anxious 
 
 to know Will you tell me how I come to be in 
 
 these rooms ? " 
 
 Dale made a gesture to the nurse. She brought 
 the clothes that Vail had worn and laid them on a 
 chair. Then she quietly left the apartment. 
 
 Dale brought the garments across to the bed and 
 held up the coat by the collar. 
 
 " Will you tell me first how you could bleed like 
 that and never be the wiser? I say you were struck 
 with a gun." 
 
 " I was, but " 
 
 " Thank you, my son. I knew I was right from 
 the start. Now, then, they found you half-dead on 
 the street, and there you were arrested. That's the 
 rule with the New York police. When a man's dead, 
 or near it, lock him up. The other man they sent to 
 the hospital because, by great good-fortune, he 
 smelled of gas instead of gasoline." 
 
 " Nettleton, yes, I remember." Julian flung off
 
 312 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the bedding and rested his feet on the floor. " How 
 did I get here after that?" 
 
 " The precinct sergeant telephoned to Garrison, 
 at last, and he ordered you home, like the sensible 
 person that he is. In fact, he brought you here him- 
 self and told me to 'phone " 
 
 " What time of the morning is it now? " 
 
 " It's nearly ten." 
 
 " Good Lord ! Do you mean to say I've slept " 
 
 He had risen promptly and caught up his coat 
 to swing it around and search the pocket. 
 
 The envelope was gone. 
 
 He stared at the doctor blankly. A sickening sen- 
 sation made everything swim before his eyes. 
 
 " Lie down ! Lie down there ! by the Lord 
 Harry ! " said Dale, impatiently, noting the changed 
 expression of his patient's face. " You are really 
 hurt, after all!" 
 
 " Hurt ? " repeated Julian, abruptly convinced 
 that while he lay half -dead the man he had fought 
 had come again and taken the papers from his coat. 
 " Look here, who pulled off my duds? " 
 
 " I did," said Dale, " I was here when they car- 
 ried you in." 
 * " Did anything fall from my pockets ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. Do you think I had nothing bet- 
 ter to do than invert your gory garments ? " 
 
 Vail could have groaned, till he thought of the 
 criminologist, who might have taken care of the 
 papers. 
 
 " Here, Dale, call up Garrison," he instructed,
 
 AN HOUR OF RECKONING 313 
 
 " while I'm taking a splash and putting on some 
 duds. Tell him to get to my office as quickly as he 
 can." 
 
 " But, my dear Julian " 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Vail. " You brought me into 
 the world and all the rest. Will you please do as 
 much for the telephone? After Garrison, order up 
 some coffee, fruit, and rolls. I can breakfast while 
 I'm dressing." 
 
 He dived at once into the bathroom, loaded with 
 garments, hastily snatched for his use. The door re- 
 mained wide open as the doctor obeyed directions. 
 
 "Hello!" that gentleman presently called, when 
 the number had finally been given. " Garrison's of- 
 fice? Hello! . . . Yes. Mr. Vail ... . . I don't 
 want you I want your chief. I want . . . What's 
 that? Not in? You're sure of that, young man? 
 You're . . ,. Then when is he going to be 
 in?" 
 
 Julian thrust his head from behind the door. " Not 
 in? But where " 
 
 The physician looked across from the desk. 
 
 " They don't know where he's gone." 
 
 ' Tell them to send him straight to me the min- 
 ute he returns ! " 
 
 The message was sent. 
 
 Portions of Vail and a towel appeared as before. 
 
 " Order up the coffee and rolls. And tell them 
 five minutes is the limit I can wait ! " 
 
 The breakfast was soon on the way. Vail was 
 half-dressed and moving like a freshly oiled machine
 
 314 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 when the telephone bell jangled sharply. He ran 
 to snatch up the receiver. 
 
 " Hello ! hello ! is that you, Garrison? " he called. 
 ..." Oh, Broughton. Well? . . . Gardner? . . . 
 Trying to cover trying to buy? . . . No. Let it 
 alone. I'll be down there in fifteen minutes and fin- 
 ish him up by noon ! " 
 
 " Young man," said Dale, " I'm going home. I'm 
 no longer a doctor I'm a valet." 
 
 " God bless you," said Vail, " you're a trump. I 
 beg your pardon, dear old friend, but I've lost a lot 
 of time. However, you never misunderstand." 
 
 He had flung off his bandage, discovered two 
 stitches sewn in his scalp, and now greeted his waiter 
 with the breakfast. 
 
 The physician held out his hand. 
 
 " You are doctor-proof," he said, with a smile. 
 " I have always said your health and strength are 
 incurable, in spite of all medical attacks. I'll drop 
 in to see you later on." 
 
 When he had gone, and Julian rose from his hasty 
 meal, to crowd on his hat and run to the taxicab 
 ordered by the office, the throb and ache in the wound 
 on his skull brought him down to a sensible walk. 
 
 It was only because of the greater worry, concern- 
 ing the papers found and lost, that his physical pains 
 were ignored. And the news from his office that 
 Gardner was thus soon attempting to cover his short- 
 age on B. & K. C. R. R., excited new zest in his fight- 
 ing blood to make him forget himself. 
 
 The " Curb " and Exchanges had barely been
 
 AN HOUR OF RECKONING 315 
 
 opened an hour when Julian's orders, telephoned and 
 wired, began to be felt in those Wall Street pulses 
 that may quicken or creep at a whisper. 
 
 They quickened that day, which was not to be soon 
 forgotten. Gardner and all of his railroad group, 
 who had busied themselves every hour of the day for 
 more than a week to ruin Vail, were stricken with 
 panic by noon. They had " shorted " on B. & K. C. 
 R. R. till it had seemed to be fading from the list. 
 They had hammered it down and chopped it down 
 and sold it down to a finish or so they blindly be- 
 lieved. Now the reckoning hour was at hand. 
 
 Some mere inside rumor that Vail and his loyal 
 supporters had fed out their stock and loaned their 
 stock to make this selling possible, and now in con- 
 trol of both long and short accumulations, were 
 about to demand the return of all said loans, leaving 
 no stock whatever in the market, induced the early 
 efforts of some of the weaklings to cover. These 
 were the traitors to Gardner, smaller, frightened 
 bears, who felt they had played it sufficiently far 
 and would quietly take out their profits. 
 
 These profits, like many in the Wall Street game, 
 were unfortunately all on paper. The awakening 
 came with a shock. 
 
 There was not a share to be had in the world of 
 B. & K. C. R. R. ! 
 
 It was all in the hands of Vail and his crowd, who 
 proceeded to put on the screws. 
 
 The larger alarm began about eleven in the morn- 
 ing. The panic quickened, heightened, and screamed
 
 316 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 through the lofty canons in Broad Street and busy 
 Exchange Place when the truth became bruited 
 about. 
 
 After that it was one mad scramble for any stock 
 at all, with Gardner the wildest bear in the ring. 
 And Vail, at his desk, with the telephone in hand, 
 dictated fates and money destinies and who should 
 be spared and who ruined. 
 
 They were begging at last imploring his mercy 
 a chance to get out with their lives. They had 
 digged them a pit and fallen in and were shrieking 
 mightily for help. 
 
 In the money pandemonium, at length extending to 
 some of the banks allied with the Gardner interests, 
 giants of finance were at last on their knees, be- 
 seeching a let-up of the squeezing. Then Vail, with 
 his hand at the lever of control, made the terms 
 when he wearied of his power. 
 
 It was fairly appalling, even then, to many who 
 had gone to Gardner's camp. As for Gardner him- 
 self, the price he paid laid him prostrate at the scorn- 
 ful feet of the man he would have ruined. 
 
 It was over at one all except the groaning and 
 Julian paused at last to bethink him of a lunch. 
 
 In the press of affairs he had taken no time to 
 think of himself, or even of Barbara. No word had 
 come from Garrison, whom he once more called on 
 the telephone, without results. 
 
 Broughton, who alone of his force had been de- 
 tained beside his chief, by special order, arose at last 
 with a satisfied smile and took up his mass of pagers.
 
 AN HOUR OF RECKONING 317 
 
 " This just about closes the volume," he said, " so 
 far as Gardner is concerned. Ever since that case 
 came into the office, Mr. Vail, I have felt it was 
 he you'd have to fight." He nodded towards the 
 monster box in which Barbara had arrived. 
 
 Julian looked at it indulgently. 
 
 " I think it brought us luck some kinds of luck, 
 at least. I suppose it's time to have it carted away. 
 You might just screw the cover on it lightly and I'll 
 think where it had better be sent." He arose and 
 put on his hat. " I'll be over at Del's for a snack 
 to eat, if anyone calls while I'm out." 
 
 " You're coming back again ? " 
 
 " I'll be back " 
 
 He was interrupted by the telephone, which 
 Broughton answered. 
 
 " It's Garrison's clerk," he said, a minute later. 
 " Mr. Garrison's coming here at two, if you'll be 
 in." 
 
 " Sharp two," said Vail, who was swiftly forget- 
 ting the morning's work as his thoughts of Bar- 
 bara's documents, the ruby still in his vase, and a 
 score of kindred subjects came rushing back to his 
 brain, and then he went, while Broughton disap- 
 peared with his papers. 
 
 On the stroke of two by the monster bell in the 
 Metropolitan tower, Vail discovered his private door 
 ajar as he came once more to his office. He thought 
 at once of Garrison, but no one was there in the 
 place. Beyond the fact the big cardboard case had 
 its cover lightly held in place, there was nothing to
 
 318 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 show that a living soul had entered the room in his 
 absence. 
 
 He was busied for fifteen minutes, and no Garri- 
 son appeared. He caught up the telephone and had 
 only secured the criminologist's office when a well- 
 known knock was sounded on the door. 
 
 Then, in response to his summons to enter, ap- 
 peared not only Garrison, but also a big, alarmed- 
 looking person, at whom Vail stared in surprise. 
 
 It was he whom he knew as " Willard " the man 
 with the brick-red hair.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 
 
 THAT the big red-headed being was not only act- 
 ing under compulsion, but was likewise fright- 
 ened to his marrow, Vail was promptly made aware. 
 
 Garrison desired his captive to sit in the strongest 
 light, and ordered him there as he might have di- 
 rected an animal whose intelligence had been scat- 
 tered by alarm. 
 
 " Mr. Vail," he said, " permit me to make you ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Willard Abbey, of endless aliases, 
 once the framework of an English gentleman, and 
 now a near-criminal, begging for mercy. He has 
 come, partly by his own inclination, and partly by 
 mine, to unburden his mind of a few confessions and 
 to beg for his precious life." 
 
 Julian studied Mr. Abbey attentively, the while 
 that ex-gentleman fidgeted in awkward guilt, shift- 
 ing his eyes and the hat he held in his hands. 
 
 A vague apprehension crept to Julian's mind, at 
 thoughts of what might presently be revealed con- 
 cerning the fellow's relationship with the girl at 
 Garrison's home. Yet he faced the situation grimly, 
 aware he must probe it to the end. 
 
 " It's a pleasure to see you in good tight quar- 
 ters, Mr. Abbey," he said. " You are doubtless 
 
 319
 
 320 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ready to admit I have seen you before on at least two 
 notable occasions." 
 
 Abbey's alarm arose from facts far more vital than 
 Julian suspected. In seeking for Garrison, and in- 
 cidentally arrest, he had chosen the lesser of two 
 evil fates by which he was confronted. 
 
 " I'll admit that, certainly, Mr. Vail," he answered, 
 in a treble voice that ridiculed his size. " But I hope, 
 Mr. Vail " 
 
 " It's a little premature to begin with your hopes," 
 said Garrison, interrupting. " I wish you to state 
 to Mr. Vail your entire connection with the affair in- 
 volving Miss Lee, the murdered Maharajah, the Ga- 
 tama ruby, and all the subsequent events." 
 
 Abbey settled further in his chair. 
 
 "Does Mr. Vail know how it started?" 
 
 " He knows that a certain lady here in New York 
 set the original atrocity in motion. You may ignore 
 that portion of the story and make the statement 
 suggested." 
 
 " I was broke," began Mr. Abbey, obediently, 
 " and I happened to think of Madame Starlight, 
 and called to see her one Saturday afternoon. Miss 
 Puryn was there at the time. She departed directly. 
 Starlight made me unusually welcome and said she 
 needed some unknown young woman to send to a 
 man for a birthday gift, and wanted to know if I 
 had any such in mind." 
 
 Garrison inquired, " Did she not also add that a 
 parentless and friendless victim, from out of town, 
 would be particularly acceptable? "
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 
 
 " Probably," was Abbey's admission. " As it hap- 
 pened I had long known Miss Lee I say, there's 
 
 nothing new in this, you know. If Mr. Vail's already 
 informed of this business, I would take it as a fa- 
 
 vor- 
 
 " Get on ! " said Vail. 
 
 " I will, Mr. Vail, certainly. Well, as I was say- 
 ing, I mentioned Miss Lee as one to fill the bill, and 
 Mrs. Cree, as a friend of mine, so Starlight got her 
 down here, as you know, and had Cree take her di- 
 rectly to the house you're both informed of, which 
 was formerly my uncle's he having married here, 
 you know, and his hobby being armor and all that 
 sort of rot and then I made the mistake of procur- 
 ing the services of Lawbit, Scratch Parkinson, and 
 others, who mixed us all up in the murder and the 
 ruby theft, and all the rest of the mess. And about 
 that ruby, Mr. Vail " 
 
 "We'll come to that in time," was Garrison's 
 interruption. "After Miss Lee was landed in the 
 house of armor, what was the next development?" 
 
 " She was doped and kept in cold storage till " 
 
 "By heavens!" Vail ejaculated, angrily, "I've 
 a notion right now " 
 
 " Let's go on," requested the criminologist, quietly. 
 " You then received the box from Epsilon, destroyed 
 the tree that was ordered, substituted the friendless 
 Miss Lee, and delivered her here. But how, when, 
 and where was the ruby left in her shoe? " 
 
 " That was Lawbit and Scratch," informed the 
 red-headed craven, mopping his forehead. ' They
 
 322 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 dared not keep the bloomin' stone, when they had 
 murdered the Prince " 
 
 " Wait ! " commanded Garrison. " You're as well 
 aware as I that the so-called Maharajah was no In- 
 dian prince whatever, but a thief who stole those 
 gems to finance insurrections. You know he was 
 murdered by a Hindoo fanatic, sent to get the ruby." 
 
 Abbey was pale, and heavily nodded his head. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I don't know why I didn't mean to 
 tell you anything but the truth. But Lawbit and 
 Scratch robbed the Hindoo of the gems and let him 
 in the house, where he was later killed. The fanatic, 
 as you call him, did the rest. Lawbit was frightened 
 to keep the stone afraid the fanatic would get him 
 and we sent it along with the girl." 
 
 Julian rose. 
 
 " To deflect the murderer's attentions to her or to 
 me! Of all the outrageous " 
 
 Garrison waved him a gesture, and Julian resumed 
 his seat. 
 
 " After that," said the criminologist, " the zealot, 
 whose name, I believe, is Dinga Singh, so frightened 
 all you intrepid gentlemen that you made the wild- 
 est, most desperate efforts to recover the ruby 
 again." 
 
 " Good God ! " said Abbey, profusely perspiring 
 with fear, " hasn't he strangled Lawbit ? And I'll go 
 next, I assure you, gentlemen, unless " 
 
 " You stole from this office the shoes in which 
 you had hidden the stone? " insisted Garrison, 
 calmly, as before.
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 323 
 
 "Lawbit did the work." 
 
 " And finding the ruby absent, after all, you en- 
 ticed Mr. Vail down country, to Hackett Tides, to 
 make him assist you by torture." 
 
 Abbey wriggled. 
 
 "What could we do?" 
 
 Vail leaned forward on the desk. " I should like 
 to inquire right now whether or not Miss Lee was 
 ever told that the ruby was placed in her shoe." 
 
 Abbey was frankly surprised. 
 
 " She was not, of course, Mr. Vail. It wouldn't 
 do to permit " 
 
 " Then what is the power that you and others of 
 your ilk have constantly employed to compel her to 
 do as you wished? " 
 
 Abbey had the grace to redden, slightly. 
 
 " That is quite another matter. She would prob- 
 ably prefer to answer that herself." 
 
 Vail continued with the questioning. 
 
 " Did you 'phone up ahead of me from Hackett 
 Tides to arrange her abduction from my car ? " 
 
 Abbey was uneasy. 
 
 " Somebody had to get on the job directly." 
 
 " Mrs. Cree was the woman who carried out the 
 trick? " 
 
 " She calls herself Mrs. Cree." 
 
 Garrison volunteered the information she had al- 
 ways used several names. 
 
 " And then," resumed Julian, " you took Miss Lee 
 at once to Lady Kent's who is doubtless no ' Lady ' 
 whatsoever."
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " She's a Lady, right enough, Mr. Vail, and no 
 worse than many another." 
 
 " What was her part in the game, when I was 
 'doped,' as you call it, with tea?" 
 
 Once more Mr. Abbey squirmed. Only his hope 
 for mercy induced him to continue his confessions. 
 
 " She had nothing to do with that part of the 
 game. That was mine and Scratch's to get you 
 to rights again with Lawbit." 
 
 Garrison nodded. 
 
 " Precisely as I believed." 
 
 Vail continued : " To get me to rights again with 
 Lawbit? I presume that means subject me to pres- 
 sure, as before, at the hands of that cheerful per- 
 son, to compel me to surrender the ruby ? " 
 
 " Quite right. And if only you could appreciate, 
 Mr. Vail " 
 
 " Never mind that at present," interrupted Julian. 
 " To get back to Lady Kent. Will you kindly in- 
 form me what her interest in all this business is? 
 It was she who either sent or took Miss Lee to the 
 Comity Ball?" 
 
 " We managed that together." 
 
 " With what intent? To present her as Lady Con- 
 stance Drew to Sir Hugh Pearson? " 
 
 " Quite right." 
 
 " Has Miss Lee ever been a party to the scheme? " 
 
 Garrison protested. " Oh, my dear old man, I'm 
 certain " 
 
 Julian waved him to silence, and Abbey shook his 
 head.
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 325 
 
 " No, Mr. Vail, she has not." 
 
 " Has it ever been intended to make Miss Lee a 
 spy?" 
 
 Abbey was again surprised. 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 " Why was she presented to Pearson as Lady Con- 
 stance Drew? " 
 
 Once more the ex-gentleman reddened. " Because, 
 sir, now that her uncle is dead, she's I mean to say 
 that was part of Lady Kent's game." 
 
 " A game to entangle that gentleman, perhaps, 
 in a false alliance ? " 
 
 Abbey writhed, with impatience and shame. 
 
 " It was Lady Kent originated that." 
 
 " What did you start to say about the death of 
 Miss Lee's uncle?" 
 
 " Nothing. I mean that's her private concern," 
 
 " And where is Lady Kent ? " 
 
 " The Lord only knows she's fled." 
 
 " She also exercised some power over Miss Lee," 
 Julian continued. " It must have been supplied by 
 you. I demand to know what this power is that 
 you have wielded? " 
 
 Abbey whitened about the gills. 
 
 " That, Mr. Vail, I must refuse." 
 
 Julian rose, as if to strike the cringing man before 
 him. 
 
 " I told you I demand this information." 
 
 Abbey slumped down on his knees. 
 
 " I beg you don't insist on that, Mr. Vail ! I 
 haven't kept faith with anyone. I'm a miserable
 
 326 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 knave and a coward! I've disgraced my blood and 
 the men that went before me. I'm afraid to face the 
 music like a man. I've told you everything but this, 
 Mr. Vail, and I beg you to pass that by. I've done 
 no murders, stolen no gems, but Dinga Singh is a 
 terrible man from whom I can never escape ! 
 
 " Give me the ruby ! Tell me where it is ! Send 
 me to jail if you like, but let me give it him back, 
 or I shall be strangled! The stone isn't yours, nor 
 Mr. Garrison's. It doesn't belong to the law or 
 to anyone here in New York ! Let him have it again 
 and take it away or I'm doomed I'm doomed! 
 I'm doomed ! " 
 
 The fellow was sobbing. His abject fear was a 
 terrible thing to see. He clutched at the hem of 
 Julian's coat and clung there like the wretched cow- 
 ard he had become. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " said Vail, wrenching loose at 
 last and moving a step towards the vase. " I've 
 never wanted the ruby the accursed stone would 
 be well away from America! But to give it to 
 you " 
 
 " No ! No ! Not to me ! Let me tell him where it 
 is? Let me merely send him word that he may have 
 it back? You're not safe an hour while you keep 
 it, Mr. Vail! I swear to you, sir, that's the truth! 
 The gem is a sacred stone!" 
 
 Julian flamed. 
 
 " Sacred, nonsense ! a sacred ruby ! What is it 
 but a lifeless bit of crystal? a piece of polished 
 dross? And what about a human heart? the heart
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 327 
 
 of a beautiful girl, for a sacred treasure worthy the 
 meaning of the word? I've no use for the stone! 
 Garrison, it's time you took it away ! The law can 
 decide whose property it is, for I'll carry the burden 
 no longer ! " 
 
 He caught up the vase, quite empty of water, 
 flung out the withered flowers, and dumped the huge 
 gem on his desk. 
 
 One second it lay there, banefully gleaming, its 
 refulgent depths like crystallized fire and petrified 
 wine and blood. One second the fascinated Abbey 
 stared upon it, dumbly. 
 
 Then came an amazing climax to the hour. 
 
 A strange, wild cry filled the room. The cover 
 flew off from the monster box in the corner and out 
 leaped a fire-eyed demon, clean mad with fanatical 
 fury. 
 
 It was Dinga Singh, the East Indian zealot, who 
 had slain two men for blocking his way to the stone. 
 
 In a single pounce he was at the desk and snatch- 
 ing the ruby to his breast. 
 
 He bowled both Vail and Garrison from his path, 
 the detective going down by the desk. He cried out 
 again, in some crazy exultation and bounded to the 
 door. 
 
 He flung it open, brandishing a flame-shaped blade 
 of steel, and was instantly darting down the hall. 
 
 Garrison was swiftly on his feet. He, too, gave a 
 cry, and he and Vail were in pursuit. 
 
 They were barely in time at the elevator shafts 
 to see their man leaping down the stairs.
 
 328 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 They were ten flights up, and one car only com- 
 ing, from seven floors above. 
 
 Garrison shouted for the car with all his might, 
 while Vail plunged hotly down the stairs. He was 
 far behind the desperate Singh, whom only the car 
 could possibly catch before he could gain the bottom 
 floor. 
 
 The car was descending rapidly, in response to 
 Garrison's shouts. 
 
 But the Hindoo's plan was complete. Suddenly 
 halting at one of the doors, where an elevator's cable 
 hung motionless from the top to the basement of the 
 building, he slipped in his hand and flung it open 
 as if by long practice at the lock. 
 
 Even as Vail came racing down the stairs, and the 
 car with Garrison started to drop, the black man 
 leaped for the cables. They were barely three feet 
 out from his stand, hanging straight in the center 
 of the shaft. 
 
 He clung to them precisely like a monkey, sway- 
 ing for a second with their oscillation, then down he 
 shot, as a fireman slides on his polished rod, the 
 grease hotly smoking on his clothes. 
 
 He struck like a plummet on top of the car that 
 was halted for the hour in the basement. Its top was 
 about at the level of the floor that led to the hall and 
 street. 
 
 One wrench with his powerful hand and wrist sent 
 the door banging back with a vibrant jar, and he 
 darted madly out past the starter. 
 
 Garrison's car had raced at full speed to the bot-
 
 THE SACRED RUBY'S SLAVE 329 
 
 torn. It had certainly been less than five floors away 
 when Dinga was dashing from the building. 
 
 Garrison, dancing with impatience, saw the oper- 
 ator fail to throw back his lever in time. The car 
 dropped half its length below the floor before it 
 came to a halt. It was back in a jot, but the trifling 
 delay was never to be recovered. 
 
 Hardly less quickly than Singh himself, Garrison 
 darted outward to the street. But up or down, or 
 near or far, there was not a sign of his man. Run- 
 ning here to a boy and there to a porter, wildly 
 asking questions of both, the criminologist vainly 
 sought help and presently knew he was beaten.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 BARBARA'S DOCUMENTS 
 
 VAIL came belated to the sidewalk, already con- 
 vinced of their defeat. He had given up hope 
 when the Hindoo took to the cables and scorched 
 down the well like a fiend. 
 
 He presently found the criminologist, still rooting 
 around in vain regret. By the look of chagrin on 
 Garrison's face he felt they had probably seen the 
 last of Singh and the great Gatama ruby. 
 
 " As clean and quick a get-away as ever hap- 
 pened!" was Garrison's just, if somewhat mournful, 
 comment. " Take it all in all it was certainly 
 * slick ' in every meaning of the phrase. I'm clean 
 ashamed ! " 
 
 " I'm clean relieved," was Julian's reply. " The 
 ruby wasn't ours, nor the law's, as Abbey truthfully 
 suggested." 
 
 " Abbey ! " cried Garrison, suddenly. " We've 
 lost that gentleman, too ! " 
 
 And, hastening at once to gain a car, he was pres- 
 ently darting to the office, to confirm his latest fear. 
 Mr. Abbey had certainly departed. There was no 
 one present but Broughton, who had entered at the 
 sounds of haste when the man from the box had fled. 
 He had seen not so much as the heels of the red- 
 
 330
 
 BARBARA'S DOCUMENTS 331 
 
 headed Briton who had come here to beg for his 
 life. 
 
 " I'll get him ! I'll get him again, by George ! " 
 said Garrison, emphatically. " I'll not be cheated 
 of them all ! " He started at once to set his ma- 
 chinery in motion, but Julian caught him by the 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Never mind Abbey let him go. There is some- 
 thing of far greater importance. I want to know, 
 Garrison, what became of some papers I found in 
 that armory room last night? My one hope is that 
 you got them." 
 
 " Papers? What sort of papers? " Garrison asked 
 him, at once. " I haven't had time to ask you yet 
 what you did at that house last night." 
 
 Vail was enabled to render a decidedly lucid, if 
 brief, account of everything done before he fell, 
 after dragging Nettleton out to the top of the steps. 
 
 " I am certain I pocketed an envelope, sealed, and 
 wrapped with tape," he concluded. " As a matter of 
 fact, I may as well confess I went to the place to 
 secure it. I feel convinced the documents are of 
 vital importance to Barbara. I can scarcely face 
 her without them. I have lived on the hope that 
 you secured them, after I was taken to the station. 
 If the fellow I fought returned and got them, after 
 all " 
 
 " Hold up," said Garrison, quietly interrupting. 
 " You were probably searched at the station, as 
 everyone is who arrives there under arrest. Let me 
 get them on the 'phone." He reached for the instru-
 
 332 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 ment and presently demanded a number. "You 
 see," he resumed, while awaiting his connection, " the 
 blue-coats took you for a thief. Nettleton they 
 know. He was lying unconscious at the top of the 
 steps, and naturally Hello, there, hello ! " 
 
 The answer had come to his call. 
 
 " Is that you, Sergeant Duffy ? . . . Yes, this is 
 Garrison. . . . Say, last night you fellows had Mr. 
 Julian Vail there, charged with being never mind 
 the charge. You had him, and 'phoned to me. I 
 want you to find out immediately whether or not he 
 was searched, and, if so, whether papers were found 
 in his possession a large sealed envelope and, if 
 so, where that envelope is at the present moment. 
 t . . . All right, I'll wait." 
 
 He turned to Vail as before. " Nettleton is going 
 to recover, thanks to that hole you opened in the 
 cellar and your efforts in getting him out. Valu- 
 able man to me. Did you say that the fellow you 
 encountered had rifled the trunk when you came ? " 
 
 " Pitched everything out on the floor." 
 
 " After those papers himself, of course. He must 
 have thought them important. And, by the way, any 
 further developments from Gardner, since our little 
 seance at the Puryns' ? " 
 
 " I cleaned him up at noon, when he thought he 
 had me ruined." 
 
 " I told you he had inside information when the 
 frame-up was worked on your birthday. Miss Enid 
 
 Puryn had him posted, to complete her little 
 
 Yes, yes, Duffy. ... .. . Hello!"
 
 BARBARA'S DOCUMENTS 333 
 
 He cast a glance at Julian, then turned again to 
 the telephone. 
 
 " You've got it ? you've found ... I didn't 
 say it was marked with Mr. Vail's name. . . . It's 
 marked, ' Miss Barbara Lee,' or ... Right ! It 
 was taken from his pocket. Hold it for me and I'll 
 be there in fifteen minutes ! " 
 
 Vail had leaped to his feet and caught up his 
 hat. 
 
 " They've found it, all right? " 
 
 " They have, the blundering idiots not to have 
 told me at once! Will you 'phone to Miss Lee be- 
 fore we go? " 
 
 " Not till I get it in my hand." 
 
 He was already moving for the door, and Gar- 
 rison swiftly followed. 
 
 In even less time than Garrison had promised, his 
 car had fetched them to the station. 
 
 The envelope was there at the Sergeant's desk and 
 was formally surrendered. Then Julian fled to the 
 telephone, to report his bit of news. 
 
 His brief appeal to Barbara not to run away, no 
 matter what the envelope contained, aroused such a 
 joy that much of the nervous dread and apprehen- 
 sion she felt was driven from her brave little heart. 
 
 " I won't run away," she answered, at the end, 
 " but perhaps you . . . I'm almost afraid but it's 
 got to be faced, of course. . . . You'll come as soon 
 as you can? " 
 
 Vail and the criminologist were soon once more in 
 the car.
 
 334 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I think," said Garrison, naively, " I'll take my 
 wife for a ride." 
 
 If Julian understood the delicacy of the hint, that 
 the house would be left to himself and Barbara, he 
 made no particular sign. 
 
 He merely said, " I have wondered when you took 
 your recreation, or gave your wife a moment of your 
 time." 
 
 " Some day," said Garrison, into whose eyes had 
 come a wonderful light, " I'll tell you all about the 
 romance of Dorothy and myself." 
 
 It was four o'clock when they came to his house, 
 where Barbara was watching from the window. 
 
 She was pale, with some feeling of the moment's 
 fatality for both their lives and happiness, and the 
 sealed uncertainty contained within the parcel when 
 he read her the inscription on the envelope for which 
 she had hunted in vain. 
 
 " For my Daughter, Barbara Lee, 
 The sole and only issue of my 
 body, to be opened by her at 
 my demise. 
 
 " HENBY LEE." 
 
 She made no effort to speak as she took it in her 
 hand, but she trembled with emotion and excitement. 
 
 Julian understood. 
 
 " You will doubtless prefer to read it by yourself," 
 he said. " I will wait till you return. Meantime 
 God be with you, little friend, and bring you the 
 fortune you deserve."
 
 BARBARA'S DOCUMENTS 335 
 
 He kissed her hand, and, with brimming eyes, she 
 fled. 
 
 Garrison, as good as his word, had readily coaxed 
 his wife from the house for a treat in the open air. 
 The big bright room where Julian waited overlooked 
 the street, with the Park just over the way. 
 
 Julian stood there gazing forth and awaiting the 
 fate that the hour must finally bring.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 \ 
 
 THE VITAL MOMENT 
 
 WHAT time had actually sped, by the clock, 
 Vail never really knew. It seemed to him a 
 century dragged its weary length across the world. 
 
 His wildest imaginings had come into play to peo- 
 ple the house with sinister forms that would crowd 
 between him and his love. He was certain that Bar- 
 bara had happened on something that neither she 
 nor he could ever bear to face. He was torn with 
 regret at the thought that, with the papers in his 
 hands, he had weakly surrendered to the fates. 
 
 Had he burned them unopened and scattered the 
 ashes to the winds, no power on earth, he argued to 
 himself, could have kept him and Barbara apart. 
 
 He had paced up and down the apartment times 
 without number, listening for any possible sound 
 where Barbara had gone. He began to fear she had 
 fled the house and gone, and was oscillating there 
 in indecision when she finally came to the door. 
 
 He hastened across the floor to greet her. 
 
 She watched him, faintly smiling. She had wept, 
 and her eyes were still brimming. In her hand she 
 held a number of tear-stained documents, disordered 
 and crumpled.
 
 THE VITAL MOMENT 337 
 
 " If you want me to come, when you've read 
 them," she said, " just give a little whistle, up 
 the stairs." 
 
 She thrust the lot in his eager hands, and once 
 more fled to an upper apartment. 
 
 " But, wait ! " he implored. " Can't you tell me 
 just as well?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " Please read them." And she was gone. 
 
 He carried the papers to the window and read 
 them swiftly, uttering now and again a sound of 
 indignation. 
 
 The written sheets set forth an extraordinary tale. 
 
 It was the story of the life and sufferings of Bar- 
 bara's father. Briefly, the man was the second son 
 of Earl Harkingby, Augustus-Francis Drew, whose 
 elder son, a profligate young rascal, had utterly dis- 
 graced himself and family, finally committing a 
 forgery for which imprisonment was imminent. 
 
 In one of those incredible impulses of sacrifices, 
 possible only in the noble families of the older world, 
 where blood and tradition are paramount, and the 
 title's honor a fetish to be kept at any price, Bar- 
 bara's father had taken the guilt upon himself, con- 
 fessed to a crime of his brother's doing, and served 
 a term to satisfy the law. 
 
 He had been released when his term expired, and 
 had instantly departed the realm, making America 
 his home and assuming but part of the family name, 
 by which he could never be known. He had finally 
 married an American lady of refinement, and with
 
 338 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 her had been happy for a few brief years, till she 
 died. 
 
 Barbara " Lee," his only surviving daughter, had 
 been religiously kept in ignorance of the blot on the 
 family escutcheon and her father's abandoned name. 
 
 At length had come one Willard Abbey, a fellow 
 Englishman, himself of an old, distinguished family, 
 and a dissolute associate of Earl Harkingby's elder 
 son. This man, having discovered in " Henry Lee " 
 the second son of the Earl, had blackmailed him con- 
 sistently for years, with threats of revealing the past. 
 
 From Abbey, " Lee " had fled repeatedly, no more 
 to avoid being impovferished than to remove his 
 daughter from possible contact with the fellow. 
 
 After long deliberation, countless misgivings, 
 Henry Lee had determined to set forth the facts and 
 inclose the affidavits for Barbara's final perusal. The 
 man's reluctance in acquainting his child with all 
 these lamentable facts, was written large between the 
 lines. His question of the honor, profit, or advantage 
 of linking her name and identity at last with that of 
 the ancient family that had flowered in his 'brother 
 had long been present in his mind. 
 
 " Yet if only one day to free her spirit of the 
 doubts it may have entertained," said the script, " I 
 must hazard the pain she must experience to know 
 what her father has been, and give her both the dis- 
 tress and the negative comfort of this confession of 
 family facts." 
 
 Brief mention was made of the various towns where 
 the man had made his home, Appended to that was
 
 THE VITAL MOMENT 339 
 
 a short, clearly stated history of all the Harking- 
 bys, even including a brief synopsis of the original 
 patent by which the title was created. And this, 
 with the lands and possessions appurtenant thereto 
 having, as the statement set forth, been " entailed to 
 the heirs, male or female, of the first Earl's body, law- 
 fully begotten," could possibly descend to Barbara 
 and create her a Countess thereby. 
 
 It was not this possibility, however, despite the 
 fact he suddenly remembered that Abbey had let slip 
 the fact that Barbara's uncle was dead, that brought 
 Vail suddenly to his feet. 
 
 He understood everything at last the fears that 
 Barbara must have entertained, aware of some dark 
 family secret, constantly dreaded and the loyalty 
 of her spirit in guarding her father's name the 
 courage with which she would have sacrificed herself 
 and love rather than bring a sullied name to any man 
 she might finally marry. 
 
 Vail could wait for no whistles or quiet signs that 
 would summon her back to his side. 
 
 " Barbara Barbara ! " he called. 
 
 She came to the head of the stairs and started 
 down. 
 
 He ran halfway up to meet her. 
 
 " Sweetheart " he started, as he caught at 
 
 both her hands. 
 
 She held him off. 
 
 "You've read it all?" 
 
 " Enough to know what a wonderful little woman 
 you are your father's loyal little defender! But
 
 340 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 the worst of it is, your uncle's dead. You're the 
 Countess Barbara something ! M 
 
 Her eyes were very wide at that, and the smile 
 departed from her lips. 
 
 " Oh, but I'd rather not, Julian please. I'd 
 rather be just your little Friend." 
 
 He caught her abruptly to his heart, two soft 
 lips on his own. He released her, just for a second, 
 to look in her eyes, then clasp her as before. 
 
 " Barbara, my little mate ! " he said. " My little 
 friend forever ! "
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 EDEN 
 
 IT was nearly a week before at last a letter came 
 from Willard Abbey to explain that Lady 
 Kent, having come to New York with authentic 
 news of the death of Barbara's uncle, plus inside 
 knowledge of Henry " Lee's " history and fam- 
 ily affairs, had hoped to turn it to her personal 
 account. 
 
 She had done no more than take advantage 
 of Barbara's fear of her father's past affairs 
 and present her to Sir Hugh Pearson as Lady 
 Constance Drew, which name would be hers, in 
 addition to others, on succession to the titles and 
 estates. 
 
 This letter had purposely been delayed while Ab- 
 bey raised funds to escape from the land and return 
 to European fields. 
 
 A month from the day Vail saw him last, by a 
 queer, if unimportant coincidence, two related events 
 transpired. 
 
 Julian and Barbara were married and the New 
 York Evening Star contained the following bit of 
 telegraphic news: 
 
 341
 
 342 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " GATAMA RUBY BACK IN HOLY TEMPLE 
 
 " Bombay, India, June 23. After several months 
 of absence from the ancient Kindure temple, in the 
 Punjaub, the great Gatama ruby, so mysteriously 
 spirited away, has been returned to the holy shrine. 
 A few days ago, it is authentically alleged, the price- 
 less stone was restored to the image of Buddha, where 
 countless millions of Indian souls have cringed in su- 
 perstitious dread, or knelt in transcendent ecstasy 
 and fervor. 
 
 " Readers of the Star will recall our exclusive ac- 
 count of the murder of a Maharajah in this city in 
 May, when this famous gem was stolen. The mys- 
 tery of the ruby's presence in America, and of the 
 crimes its possession entailed, and of the methods 
 whereby it was finally restored as above related, has 
 never been, and doubtless never will be, fully re- 
 lated." 
 
 The account might have added that one 
 " Scratch " Parkinson, all-round crook and con- 
 scienceless scoundrel, having failed to obtain the 
 great Gatama ruby, for return to Dinga Singh, had 
 fled from Gotham, late one balmy night, taking 
 steamer for the. Argentine Republic, whence he 
 never more meant to return, The story, however,
 
 EDEN 343 
 
 was fairly complete without this crumb of com- 
 fort. 
 
 Out of his world of wanderings and eccentricity 
 the lone and silent skipper of a motor-boat, 
 christened the Kelpie, sent a singular wedding 
 gift. 
 
 It was a fair-sized bronze propeller, broken, but 
 highly polished and suitably engraved. 
 
 This was the legend on the blade: 
 
 To 
 
 JULE AND BARBARA 
 
 from 
 
 Jim and Kelpie 
 Good Luck 
 
 Perhaps it was this that reminded the pair that 
 Eden might possibly lie off alone, entirely surrounded 
 by water. 
 
 Whatsoever it was, as a prelude to their honey- 
 moon abroad, they came by themselves, on a sunny 
 afternoon, to a bit of an island, set in the sea like 
 a priceless jewel of grass and trees, and were mar- 
 velously filled with nature's joy. 
 
 And they stood out at night, with the stars and 
 the tides reflecting the glories of their love. 
 
 Barbara nestled against his side in the absolute 
 sweetness of surrender.
 
 344 
 
 THE HOUSE OF IRON MEN 
 
 " I'm so happy," she said, " I don't know what to 
 say." 
 
 " I do," Vail answered, folding her close in his 
 arms, " my wondrous little Gift of the Godsl "
 
 A 000 133 504 1