The Film of Fear

by Frederic Arnold Kummer

"The Ford girl and her sister had evidently just come in, and rushing to the room found evidences of some one having been there. The monkey had been shut in a closet, and by opening the door I had, of course, released it. Fearing discovery, they arranged to flee at once. Jane Ford went uptown. Her sister remained to pack up her belongings.

"The visit to your hotel, the attack on you, was a crazy inspiration of the moment. Not knowing that my wife was following her, and having seen me on the sidewalk on Fifty-seventh Street as she drove away, Miss Norman naturally felt that if she could get you, Mrs. Morton, out of the way, she would be perfectly safe in going up to your rooms.

"Even when alone with your daughter, she did not attempt to do her any serious bodily injury, but contented herself with hurling the ammonia in her face, counting, no doubt, upon the effect of the shock that would result. As I have said, the woman is mentally a little unbalanced. The things she does are not normal."

"Nevertheless, they came very near being fatal," Mrs. Morton remarked grimly. "The doctor informed me that the fright, the shock of her experience, might readily have caused Ruth's death, or upset her reason."

"I do not doubt it," replied Duvall. "The woman has all the cunning of an insane person. She showed it when, overcome by the sight of the death's-head seal I had flashed upon the screen at the theater, she so quickly recovered herself that she was able to deceive me completely regarding her condition, and subsequently to make her escape.

"Both she and her sister realized that it had become necessary for them to leave the city. Marcia Ford, taking the monkey with her in a cab, hastened uptown to join her sister at the latter's apartment. She knew that I was not following her, for she had seen me drive off to join you, Mrs. Morton, at my hotel. They both thought themselves quite safe, and able to leave the city without interference.

"The arrival of my wife at their apartment caused them to hasten their plans. They realized that we were close upon their heels. Jane Ford knew that the ring containing the death's-head seal was about the only evidence that existed against her, yet she hesitated to throw it away, as it had belonged to her father, and she prized it highly. With the cunning that she had exhibited throughout, she conceived the idea of hiding it in one of the tassels upon the handle of her umbrella.

"These tassels, as you perhaps know, are usually made of round bits of wood, enclosed in a covering of knitted silk. The girl removed one of the wooden balls, and having embedded the ring in a ball of black sealing wax, put it in place of the wooden one. It was a most ingenious hiding place, and one extremely unlikely to be discovered."

"How did you happen to discover it, Mr. Duvall?" Mrs. Morton asked.

"In this way. When my wife called my attention to the spots of black wax on the tray of the candlestick, I saw at once that a far larger amount of the wax had been melted than would have been required in making an ordinary seal. The impressions on the warnings the woman sent were very small and flat, so as to readily be inserted in the envelopes containing the letters without being bulky, or becoming broken while passing through the mails. But here were spots of the wax that had dripped down as large as a silver quarter and larger. What, I wondered, had caused the woman to melt so large a quantity of wax?