“I haven’t! Don’t look at me like that! What do you mean?”
“It must have been a burglar,” went on Kitty, “because it couldn’t have been any one else. But why didn’t he steal things? Perhaps he did! We never thought to look!”
“How you do run on! Nobody could steal the presents, because there was a policeman in the house all the time.”
“Then, why didn’t he catch the burglar?” demanded Kitty, grasping Miss Morton’s arm, as if that lady had information that must be dragged from her by force.
Feeling interested in getting at the facts in the case, and thinking that he could learn little from these two excited women, Rob Fessenden turned into the hall just in time to meet Doctor Hills, who was coming from the library.
“May I introduce myself?” he said. “I’m Robert Fessenden, of New York, a lawyer, and I was to have been best man at the wedding. You, I know, are Doctor Hills, and I want to say to you that if the earnest endeavor of an amateur detective would be of any use to you in this matter, it is at your disposal. Mr. Carleton is my old and dear friend, and I need not tell you how he now calls forth my sympathy.”
Instinctively, Doctor Hills liked this young man. His frank manner and pleasant, straightforward ways impressed the doctor favorably, and he shook hands warmly as he said, “This is most kind of you, Mr. Fessenden, and you may prove the very man we need. At first, we were all convinced that Miss Van Norman’s death was a suicide; and though the evidence still strongly points to that, I am sure that there is a possibility, at least, that it is not true.”
“May I learn the details of the case? May I go into the library?” said Fessenden, hesitating to approach the closed door until invited.
“Yes, indeed; I’ll take you in at once. Doctor Leonard, who is in there, is the county physician, and, though a bit brusque in his manner, he is an honest old soul, and does unflinchingly what he judges to be his duty.”
Neither then nor at any time, neither to Doctor Leonard himself nor to any one else, did Doctor Hills ever mention the difference of opinion which the two men had held for so long the night before, nor did he tell how he had proved his own theory so positively that Doctor Leonard had been obliged to confess himself wrong. It was not in Doctor Hills’ nature to say “I told you so,” and, fully appreciating this, Doctor Leonard said nothing either, but threw himself into the case heart and soul in his endeavors to seek truth and justice.