The Doctor, his Wife, and the Clock Read online

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  THE AUTONYM LIBRARY.

  Small works by representative writers, whose contributions will beartheir signatures.

  32mo, limp cloth, each 50 cents.

  The Autonym Library is published in co-operation with Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, of London.

  I. THE UPPER BERTH, by F. Marion Crawford.

  II. FOUND AND LOST, by Mary Putnam-Jacobi.

  III. THE DOCTOR, HIS WIFE, AND THE CLOCK, by Anna Katharine Green.

  These will be followed by volumes by other well-known writers.

  [Handwritten signature: Anna Katharine Green]

  THE DOCTOR HIS WIFE AND THE CLOCK

  BY

  ANNA KATHARINE GREEN (MRS. CHARLES ROHLFS)

  Author of "The Leavenworth Case," "Hand and Ring," "Marked 'Personal,'" etc., etc.

 

  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

  NEW YORK LONDON 27 West Twenty-third Street 24 Bedford Street, Strand

  The Knickerbocker Press 1895

  COPYRIGHT, 1895 BY ANNA KATHARINE ROHLFS All rights reserved

  Electrotyped, Printed and Bound by The Knickerbocker Press, New York G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

  THE DOCTOR, HIS WIFE, AND THE CLOCK

  _The Doctor, his Wife, and the Clock._

  I.

  On the 17th of July, 1851, a tragedy of no little interest occurred inone of the residences of the Colonnade in Lafayette Place.

  Mr. Hasbrouck, a well-known and highly respected citizen, was attackedin his room by an unknown assailant, and shot dead before assistancecould reach him. His murderer escaped, and the problem offered to thepolice was, how to identify this person who, by some happy chance or bythe exercise of the most remarkable forethought, had left no tracesbehind him, or any clue by which he could be followed.

  The affair was given to a young man, named Ebenezer Gryce, toinvestigate, and the story, as he tells it, is this:

  * * * * *

  When, some time after midnight, I reached Lafayette Place, I found theblock lighted from end to end. Groups of excited men and women peeredfrom the open doorways, and mingled their shadows with those of the hugepillars which adorn the front of this picturesque block of dwellings.

  The house in which the crime had been committed was near the centre ofthe row, and, long before I reached it, I had learned from more thanone source that the alarm was first given to the street by a woman'sshriek, and secondly by the shouts of an old man-servant who hadappeared, in a half-dressed condition, at the window of Mr. Hasbrouck'sroom, crying "Murder! murder!"

  But when I had crossed the threshold, I was astonished at the paucity ofthe facts to be gleaned from the inmates themselves. The old servitor,who was the first to talk, had only this account of the crime to give.

  The family, which consisted of Mr. Hasbrouck, his wife, and threeservants, had retired for the night at the usual hour and under theusual auspices. At eleven o'clock the lights were all extinguished, andthe whole household asleep, with the possible exception of Mr.Hasbrouck himself, who, being a man of large business responsibilities,was frequently troubled with insomnia.

  Suddenly Mrs. Hasbrouck woke with a start. Had she dreamed the wordsthat were ringing in her ears, or had they been actually uttered in herhearing? They were short, sharp words, full of terror and menace, andshe had nearly satisfied herself that she had imagined them, when therecame, from somewhere near the door, a sound she neither understood norcould interpret, but which filled her with inexplicable terror, and madeher afraid to breathe, or even to stretch forth her hand towards herhusband, whom she supposed to be sleeping at her side. At length anotherstrange sound, which she was sure was not due to her imagination, droveher to make an attempt to rouse him, when she was horrified to find thatshe was alone in the bed, and her husband nowhere within reach.

  Filled now with something more than nervous apprehension, she flungherself to the floor, and tried to penetrate, with frenzied glances, thesurrounding darkness. But the blinds and shutters both having beencarefully closed by Mr. Hasbrouck before retiring, she found thisimpossible, and she was about to sink in terror to the floor, when sheheard a low gasp on the other side of the room, followed by thesuppressed cry:

  "God! what have I done!"

  The voice was a strange one, but before the fear aroused by this factcould culminate in a shriek of dismay, she caught the sound ofretreating footsteps, and, eagerly listening, she heard them descend thestairs and depart by the front door.

  Had she known what had occurred--had there been no doubt in her mind asto what lay in the darkness on the other side of the room--it is likelythat, at the noise caused by the closing front door, she would have madeat once for the balcony that opened out from the window before which shewas standing, and taken one look at the flying figure below. But heruncertainty as to what lay hidden from her by the darkness chained herfeet to the floor, and there is no knowing when she would have moved, ifa carriage had not at that moment passed down Astor Place, bringing withit a sense of companionship which broke the spell that held her, andgave her strength to light the gas, which was in ready reach of herhand.

  As the sudden blaze illuminated the room, revealing in a burst the oldfamiliar walls and well-known pieces of furniture, she felt for a momentas if released from some heavy nightmare and restored to the commonexperiences of life. But in another instant her former dread returned,and she found herself quaking at the prospect of passing around the footof the bed into that part of the room which was as yet hidden from hereyes.

  But the desperation which comes with great crises finally drove her fromher retreat; and, creeping slowly forward, she cast one glance at thefloor before her, when she found her worst fears realized by the sightof the dead body of her husband lying prone before the open doorway,with a bullet-hole in his forehead.

  Her first impulse was to shriek, but, by a powerful exercise of will,she checked herself, and, ringing frantically for the servants who slepton the top-floor of the house, flew to the nearest window and endeavoredto open it. But the shutters had been bolted so securely by Mr.Hasbrouck, in his endeavor to shut out light and sound, that by the timeshe had succeeded in unfastening them, all trace of the flying murdererhad vanished from the street.

  Sick with grief and terror, she stepped back into the room just as thethree frightened servants descended the stairs. As they appeared in theopen doorway, she pointed at her husband's inanimate form, and then, asif suddenly realizing in its full force the calamity which had befallenher, she threw up her arms, and sank forward to the floor in a deadfaint.

  The two women rushed to her assistance, but the old butler, boundingover the bed, sprang to the window, and shrieked his alarm to thestreet.

  In the interim that followed, Mrs. Hasbrouck was revived, and themaster's body laid decently on the bed; but no pursuit was made, nor anyinquiries started likely to assist me in establishing the identity ofthe assailant.

  Indeed, every one, both in the house and out, seemed dazed by theunexpected catastrophe, and as no one had any suspicions to offer as
tothe probable murderer, I had a difficult task before me.

  I began, in the usual way, by inspecting the scene of the murder. Ifound nothing in the room, or in the condition of the body itself, whichadded an iota to the knowledge already obtained. That Mr. Hasbrouck hadbeen in bed; that he had risen upon hearing a noise; and that he hadbeen shot before reaching the door, were self-evident facts. But therewas nothing to guide me further. The very simplicity of thecircumstances caused a dearth of clues, which made the difficulty ofprocedure as great as any I ever encountered.

  My search through the hall and down the stairs elicited nothing; and aninvestigation of the bolts and bars by which the house was secured,assured me that the assassin had either entered by the front door, orhad already been secreted in the house when it was locked up for thenight.

  "I shall have to trouble Mrs. Hasbrouck for a short interview," Ihereupon announced to the trembling old servitor, who had followed melike a dog about the house.

  He made no demur, and in a few minutes I was ushered into the presenceof the newly made