Early in the day on which she disappeared, Miss Templin made a call on a friend whom she had known in Italy, but who at that time was married, and living in New York.
Greene and Dent followed her to the house.
When Miss Templin was leaving her friend’s residence, the two men strolled past and heard the hostess from the step say:
“If Tom comes home to-day, which is not likely, I’ll send him around after you, and you must come back with him to spend the evening. I know he’ll be glad to meet you, and you’ll be sure to like him.”
This gave the desperate couple their clew.
A forged note, stating that Tom had arrived, after all, and would fetch Miss Templin to the house in a carriage, was written, a livery carriage hired from a public stable, the driver drugged, Dent substituted, and Miss Templin was trapped very easily.
The agreement made with the Mackenzies that night was faithfully carried out, and the couple are serving out a fifteen years’ sentence in Sing Sing.
Louise will never know that her father’s remains were cremated on Long Island, but will be left in the belief that they lie in the vault at San Francisco.
At Elmwood the theory is prevalent that lightning destroyed the Mackenzie residence and killed the two servants; for the body of the dead man was recognized as being that of a person who worked for Mackenzie when the latter first came to the village.
The only mystery that has never been cleared up by the good people of that section is the sudden disappearance of Mrs. Mackenzie and the son.