Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Major Discoveries

His eyes are constantly moving, looking around to avoid accidents The cross holds the front tightly, while advancing, while peeking through the cross. Miss Mary Leavenworth seemed to have an inexplicable fear of all the people and things in the room, as long as she had not observed them before.Now that there were only a few of us left, she immediately kept her distance from me, mourning by herself in a far corner.So I turn my attention to Mr. Gritz.I noticed that he was busy counting his fingers, with a puzzled expression on his face, wondering if it was because he was trying to count his fingers.As soon as I approached him, maybe he also understood that no matter how many fingers there are, there are only ten fingers, so he lowered his hands and smiled at me.When you think about it carefully, it is full of hints, which seem uncomfortable.

"Well," I said, standing in front of him, "I don't blame you. You have the right to do what you think is best. But, how can you be cruel? Before you took out that ruthless handkerchief, she had She suffered. Maybe she dropped her handkerchief in the room, maybe she didn’t, but just because the handkerchief was in the room and it was covered in gun grease, it doesn’t mean she was directly involved in the murder.” "Mr. Raymond," he answered, "as the detective in charge of the murder, I think it is the best course of action." "Of course," I replied immediately, "I'm the one who least wants you to evade responsibility, but you can't be so reckless as to claim that she's involved in this case. She's young and weak, how could she commit such a brutal and unreasonable crime?" What about the criminal case? You can't just because another lady suspects..."

At this point Mr. Gritz interrupted me. "Your attention should be on more important things than talking here. That other lady you spoke of—who you and I agree is the most beautiful person in New York—is sitting there sobbing. Go over and comfort her. her." I stared blankly at him, still thinking about whether to listen to him or not.But then he felt that he was very serious, so he went to Mary Leavenworth and sat down.She was in tears, weeping slowly and uncontrollably, as if her grief had been overwhelmed by fear.The fearlessness of her expression and the naturalness of her grief made me doubt the authenticity of both.

"Miss Leavenworth," I said, "I'm only a stranger, and it would be foolish for me to comfort you at this moment, but I want you to understand that circumstantial evidence is not infallible." She showed a surprised expression, and cast her eyes on my face, her eyes were soft, and she stared at me full of understanding.It was a joy to be looked at by such tender and feminine eyes. "Yes," she repeated, "the circumstantial evidence is not infallible—but Eleanor didn't know it. She was so impatient that she could only see one thing at a time, and couldn't keep her head together, and, Oh..." She stopped and grabbed my arm eagerly and said, "Do you think she's in danger? Would they..." She couldn't go on.

"Miss Leavenworth," I asked the detective with a warning look, "what do you mean?" Her gaze quickly moved away from mine, and her complexion also changed quickly. "Your cousin may be getting impatient," I went on, pretending nothing had happened, "but you say she's been having trouble getting her head around, and I don't know what you mean." "I mean," she replied firmly, "whether she meant it or not, she's avoiding too many questions. Everyone in this room thinks she knows more than that about this tragedy. Her words and actions... "Mary lowered her voice, but enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Let everyone think that she is eager to hide something. But, she didn't, I'm pretty sure she didn't. Eleanor and I are not friends, But no matter what anyone says, there's no way I'm going to believe she knows more about the murder than I do. Can you tell her, can you go and tell her that she's behaving badly for her and it's going to raise suspicions .Does this already arouse suspicion? Oh, and don’t forget..." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Tell her what you just said, and tell her that circumstantial evidence does not necessarily prove anything. "

I looked at her carefully, quite surprised.This woman is so good at acting! "You want me to tell her?" I said. "Wouldn't it be better if you told her yourself?" "Eleanor and I are not sisters to whisper," she answered. It was not difficult for me to believe this, but I was perplexed.Indeed, there was something puzzling about her words and deeds from beginning to end.I didn't know what to say, so I had to say, "That's really unfortunate. Someone should tell her. It's definitely best to say something straight." Mary Leavenworth just sobbed.

"Why am I in this trouble? How happy I was!" "Maybe it's because you've always been so happy." "That's not going to cause my dear uncle to die tragically. It's just that my own cousin..." I touched her arm, and she bit her lip as if she knew she should be restrained, and stopped talking. "Miss Leavenworth," I whispered, "you should look out for the best, and I really don't think you need to torture yourself like this. If nothing new follows, your cousin will just have to prevaricate at the interrogation." A sentence or two is enough, it won't do her any harm."

I say this to see if she has any reason to doubt future developments.The result is really satisfying. "New clues? She said innocently, how could there be new clues?" She seemed to have a sudden thought, and turned around in her seat until her scented robe lightly touched my knee.She asked: "Why didn't they ask me more questions? I could have told them Eleanor didn't leave the room all night." "Can you?" What mystery is this lady hiding? "Yes. My room is closer to the landing than hers. If she passes my door, I should hear her. Don't you?"

Ah, that's all. "It's useless to say that," I replied sadly. "Have you no other reason?" "I'll say anything if necessary," she whispered. I leaned back sharply.Yes, the lady is now lying to save her cousin.She lied during the interrogation.At the time I thanked her for lying, but now I feel nothing but horror. "Miss Leavenworth," I said, "if a person acts against his conscience, no matter what he does, he can't find a way for himself, not even to save someone he doesn't like very much." "Really?" She replied, with timidity in the corners of her mouth, chest heaving up and down, and her eyes gently turning away.

If the beauty of Eleanor had not excited my reverie, and the danger of her situation had not aroused so much anxiety in my mind, I should not at this moment be overwhelmed. "I'm not talking about doing evil against your conscience," continued Miss Leavenworth. "You mustn't think too badly of me." "No no." I said. Any man of flesh and blood would have said the same thing in this situation. What we said next on the same subject, I don't remember exactly, because at that moment the door opened and a man entered.I recognized him as the man who had parted with Eleanor some time ago.

"Mr. Gritz," he paused as he entered the door, "may I speak to you?" Detective Gritz nodded, but he didn't walk over immediately. Instead, he deliberately walked to the other side of the room, opened the lid of the ink stand, murmured something indistinct to the ink stand, and then quickly closed the lid .I suddenly thought that if I jumped to the edge of the inkstand and opened the inkstand to check, maybe I could hear the secret he was telling.But I resisted my stupid urge, and was just delighted to see the submissive respect on the man's face, like a subordinate's when watching a superior approach. "How?" Gritz walked up to him and asked, "What now?" He shrugged and ushered his superior through the door.As soon as they entered the hall, they lowered their conversation voices, and only their backs could be seen, so I had to turn to look at Miss Mary beside me.She was pale, but emotionally stable. "Is he from Eleanor?" "I don't know, I'm afraid, Miss Leavenworth," I went on, "is it possible that your cousin is hiding something unknown?" "You say that because you think she's trying to hide something?" "I didn't mean it that way. It was just talking a lot about a piece of paper..." "They will never find any papers or other suspicious items on Eleanor," Mary interrupted me. "First of all, there is no paper that is important..." I saw Mr. Gritz suddenly tense Get up, "Get it by stealing and hiding." "Are you sure? Could it be your cousin who knows something..." "There's nothing to know, Mr. Raymond. Our lives are simple and regular. I can't see why there's such a fuss. Uncle was undoubtedly murdered by a burglar. The fact that the house is in good condition doesn't mean that no burglars came in. As for Locking the doors and windows is such an important place, can you trust the Irish servant to be true? I don’t believe it. I believe the murderer must be a professional thief. If you can’t agree with me, please seriously consider the possibility of this explanation Sex. If it’s not to protect the reputation of this family, then..." Her sweet face was facing me, her eyes, cheeks, and mouth were all so delicate and moving, "It can be considered as protecting my reputation." Mr. Gritz turned now to face us both. "Mr. Raymond, may I ask you to come here?" I was glad to be out of the scene, so I did it right away. "What happened?" I asked. "We want you to keep it a secret," he replied easily. "Mr. Raymond, this is Mr. Forbes." I bowed to the man in front of me and stood uncomfortably.Because of my urgency to know that my fears are true, I still instinctively refrain from proactively communicating with anyone I would consider a detective. "This is a more important matter," continued the detective. "I don't have to remind you to keep it secret, do I?" "No need." "I think so. Mr. Forbes, you may say so." Forbes' entire expression changed immediately.Immediately, with an air of responsibility, he stretched out his broad palm on his chest, and began: "Mr. Gritz ordered me to observe Miss Eleanor Leavenworth's every move, so I followed her. After leaving here, I went upstairs with her and the two servants who supported her and entered her boudoir. Once there..." Mr. Gritz interrupted him. "Once in there? What is 'there'?" "Her own room, sir." "Where is the location?" "staircase." "That's not her room. Go on." "It's not her room? So...she wants to be fired!" He slapped his hands on his knees and yelled. "fire?" "Sorry, I spoke too fast. Even though I was standing right behind her, she didn't seem to notice me very much until she reached the door of that room. So it wasn't her room!" he added Created a dramatic effect, "Then she turned her head and asked the servant to leave, and only then did she notice someone following. She first looked at me with condescending eyes, but quickly restrained herself, and walked in with a tolerant expression. Although the door of the room is not closed, I cannot compliment her attitude." I can't help frowning.This man seems to be honest, but he is obviously just an obedient guy.Seeing my frown, he softened his demeanor a little. "The only way I could continue to watch her was through the door, so I followed her through the door and sat far away in a corner. When I sat down, she glanced at me and started pacing anxiously. The anxious look on her face made me wonder." Lesson learned. Finally she stopped and stood in the middle of the room. 'Get me a glass of water!' she gasped, 'my head is starting to dizzy again... Hurry up! On the little table in the corner. ' I had to go around a dressing mirror so big it almost touched the ceiling in order to get to the water, so naturally I was a little hesitant. But she turned to look at me, and... Guys, I'm sure you two will immediately Do what she asks, if not at least..." He looked at Mr. Gritz suspiciously, "let your ears enjoy the privilege of hearing her voice, even if you can resist the temptation not to listen." "Come on!" cried Mr. Gritz impatiently. "I'll go on," he said. "I was out of her sight for a while, but that seemed to be enough time for her to complete her task. She was kneeling when I came from behind the mirror with a glass in my hand. Fumbling by the hearth five feet from where she had just stood, hands at the waist of her dress. It made me believe she was hiding something and was desperate to dispose of it right away. I held her close as I handed her the tea Look at her, but she was staring at the fireplace, as if not paying attention to me. She gave me back the tea without drinking a drop, and then put her hands over the fire. 'Oh, I'm cold!' she exclaimed, 'It's true Cold.' I believed it, because she was indeed shaking naturally, but there were some dying embers in the fireplace. When I saw her fumbling again in the creases of her dress, I began to mistrust her intentions. I I took a step closer to her and saw what she was doing from behind her shoulder. At this time, I clearly saw that she threw something into the fireplace, and there was a crisp sound when it landed. I wanted to know what it was, and was about to go to bed. Before intervening, she stood up and grabbed the coal box on the fireplace, and poured all the coals on the dying ashes at once. 'I want to make a fire,' she cried, 'Fire!' I said: 'You can't start a fire that way.' And carefully removing the coals piece by piece with your bare hands and putting them back into the coal box, when—” "What's the matter?" I asked, when he and Mr. Gritz exchanged a quick glance. "And I found this!" He spread out his big hand, which contained a key with a damaged handle.