“Returned to her parents in Canada,” interjected Curtis. “I was brought up in the wilds of the far Northwest and taught by the trappers not to depend upon sight alone, but to use my hearing and my reasoning faculties to gauge my sense of direction. It has proved invaluable training for my present condition,” touching his sightless eyes. “Shortly after my mother’s death I went to McGill Institute and worked my way through college. The rest of my career you already know.”
“Uncle John learned of your parentage and went at once to Walter Reed Hospital,” went on Anne. “He took an instant liking to you and invited you here.” Again Anne’s white cheeks crimsoned. “He hit upon the plan of our marriage as an act of restitution.”
“Very thoughtful of him,” remarked Mrs. Meredith dryly, feeling that she had been in the background quite long enough. Her sensations at the rapid progress of events had been beyond speech. “Continue your story, Anne.”
“I left Uncle John in anger.” Anne’s voice was slightly husky, the emotional strain was telling upon her. “But I could not sleep. I felt that I must tell him that I agreed to his plan.” She bit her lip and partly turned her back on Curtis. “As I got to his room I met Uncle John and his ghastly appearance horrified me. Staggering past me, he thrust a key into my hand, saying in a whisper: ‘Keep this, Anne.’ But in pronouncing my name his voice rose, as he added: ‘I’ve caught you, you devil.’ Ruffles, the parrot, took up his cry as Uncle John disappeared up the dimly lighted corridor. Completely dazed by the situation, I hesitated, then started to follow him, when a handkerchief was thrust under my nose and I was carried into Uncle John’s bedroom—”
“By Gerald Armstrong,” stated Curtis. He turned in the direction of the silent figure hunched in a chair. “Why did you use Anne’s handkerchief to chloroform her?”
Armstrong stirred and glanced up in sullen rage. His evident intention of not answering was changed by Brown’s peremptory tug at the handcuffs.
“The handkerchief, as well as Meredith’s razor, was lying by a bottle of chloroform on Meredith’s bureau near the window by which I entered,” he admitted, squirming about in his seat so as to avoid Mrs. Hull’s gaze. “I thought Anne had seen me in her uncle’s bedroom. As she lost consciousness I raced down the hall and caught Meredith”—he sucked in his breath and a shudder shook him—“never mind the details. I got back to the bedroom—”
“And chloroformed the parrot also?” asked Curtis.
“Yes. I was afraid the infernal bird would awaken the household. I had overheard Mrs. Hull’s interview with Meredith, having slipped up the back stairs to my bedroom and from there along the balcony to Meredith’s open window. I heard him speak of the money in the safe and went in to get the key of his secret compartment as he staggered into the hall, evidently in pursuit of Mrs. Hull. It came to me in a flash that if I took the money Mrs. Hull would be suspected, and, God! how I needed money!” His voice rose and cracked. “I knew our firm was going to the wall and with one hundred thousand dollars in cash I could get out of the country. I searched Meredith’s body”—another shudder shook Armstrong and he drew his coat sleeve across his forehead to wipe away the beads of moisture—“then I searched his bedroom. Where did you conceal the key, Anne?”
“In the cuff of my dressing gown,” answered Anne. “When I regained consciousness my one idea was to follow Uncle John, and I went down the corridor and found his body.” She looked at Penfield. “I did catch my hair in that button, trying to find out if Uncle John was alive. And later you caught me trying to remove the hair.”