Agatha Webb Read Free

women of any station, were so majestic in their
calm repose, that Mr. Sutherland, accustomed as he was to her
noble appearance, experienced a shock of surprise that found vent
in these words:
    "Murdered! she? You have made some mistake, my friends. Look at
her face!"
    But even in the act of saying this his eyes fell on the blood
which had dyed her cotton dress and he cried:
    "Where was she struck and where is the weapon which has made this
ghastly wound?"
    "She was struck while standing or sitting at this table," returned
the constable, pointing to two or three drops of blood on its
smooth surface. "The weapon we have not found, but the wound shows
that it was inflicted by a three-sided dagger."
    "A three-sided dagger?"
    "Yes."
    "I didn't know there was such a thing in town. Philemon could have
had no dagger."
    "It does not seem so, but one can never tell. Simple cottages like
these often contain the most unlooked-for articles."
    "I cannot imagine a dagger being among its effects," declared Mr.
Sutherland. "Where was the body of Mrs. Webb lying when you came
in?"
    "Where you see it now. Nothing has been moved or changed."
    "She was found here, on this lounge, in the same position in which
we see her now?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "But that is incredible. Look at the way she lies! Hands crossed,
eyes closed, as though made ready for her burial. Only loving
hands could have done this. What does it mean?"
    "It means Philemon; that is what it means Philemon."
    Mr. Sutherland shuddered, but said nothing. He was dumbfounded by
these evidences of a crazy man's work. Philemon Webb always seemed
so harmless, though he had been failing in mind for the last ten
years.
    "But" cried Mr. Sutherland, suddenly rousing, "there is another
victim. I saw old woman Batsy hanging from a window ledge, dead."
    "Yes, she is in this other room; but there is no wound on Batsy."
    "How was she killed, then?"
    "That the doctors must tell us."
    Mr. Sutherland, guided by Mr. Fenton's gesture, entered a small
room opening into the one in which they stood. His attention was
at once attracted by the body of the woman he had seen from below,
lying half in and half out of the open window. That she was dead
was evident; but, as Mr. Fenton had said, no wound was to be seen
upon her, nor were there any marks of blood on or about the place
where she lay.
    "This is a dreadful business," groaned Mr. Sutherland, "the worst
I have ever had anything to do with. Help me to lift the woman in;
she has been long enough a show for the people outside."
    There was a bed in this room (indeed, it was Mrs. Webb's bedroom),
and upon this poor Batsy was laid. As the face came uppermost both
gentlemen started and looked at each other in amazement. The
expression of terror and alarm which it showed was in striking
contrast to the look of exaltation to be seen on the face of her
dead mistress.

III - The Empty Drawer
*
    As they re-entered the larger room, they were astonished to come
upon Miss Page standing in the doorway. She was gazing at the
recumbent figure of the dead woman, and for a moment seemed
unconscious of their presence.
    "How did you get in? Which of my men was weak enough to let you
pass, against my express instructions?" asked the constable, who
was of an irritable and suspicious nature.
    She let the hood drop from her head, and, turning, surveyed him
with a slow smile. There was witchery in that smile sufficient to
affect a much more cultivated and callous nature than his, and
though he had been proof against it once he could not quite resist
the effect of its repetition.
    "I insisted upon entering," said she. "Do not blame the men; they
did not want to use force against a woman." She had not a good
voice and she knew it; but she covered up this defect by a choice
of intonations that carried her lightest speech to the heart.
Hard-visaged Amos Fenton gave a grunt, which was as near an
expression of approval as he ever gave to anyone.
    "Well! well!" he growled, but not