“I am sure of it.”
“But why, then, did she have them in her possession?[Pg 22]” Chick demanded, racking his brain to fathom it. “Why did she leave them in her bureau drawer?”
“She can have had only one logical reason, Chick, consistent with all of the other circumstances,” Nick replied. “She did not buy them to wear. Though she wore feminine outside garments, she preferred another kind next to her evil skin. She left these in her bureau, Chick, only that persons having occasion to seek her, or investigate her conduct, might not for a moment suspect that Pauline Perrot is—not a woman.”
“Not a woman!” echoed Chick, with a gasp of surprise.
“That’s what I said,” Nick nodded.
“But you don’t for a moment suspect her of being a man?”
“That is precisely what I suspect.”
“Nonsense! Remember that she has for several months been employed as Gordon’s stenographer, and that she——”
“Wait a bit,” Nick interrupted. “We quite frequently know of women masquerading as men. Take the case of Murray Hall, who for a quarter of century wore only male attire, blinding all with whom she associated, and the secret of her sex was not discovered until after she died.”
“I know about that, Nick, but——”