The Poisoned Pen (From the Craig Kennedy series)

o had calculated by the calendar rather than by the weather were r

ough on this particular day there was a lull in the succession o

till half deserted, though the few pedestrians who had returned or remained in town like ourselves were, as usual, to be found

ic man's whistle to halt the crush of automobil

had recently been appointed to a position in the customs house of New York. Herndon, I may add, represented the yo

urb, and Jack tore down the

ok hands, "and wondering whether you and Walter were in town

s?" laughed Kennedy. "Or perhaps you hav

nt. "We're having a big shake-up down at the office, none of yo

coming?" inquired Craig

e force as a special deputy surveyor to rout out some smuggling that we know is going on. If I make good

asked Kennedy observantly.

m and walked us over to a stone bench

e peculiar death of Mademoiselle Violette, the little Fre

y. "What has that to d

thering us all summer. It's the first really big thing I've been up against and

smuggle gowns and jewellery from Paris. Smuggling jewellery is pretty common because jewels take up little space and are very valuable. Perhaps it doesn't sound to you like a big thing to smuggle dresses, but when you realise that one of those filmy lacy creations may often be worth several hundred, if not thousand, dollars, and that it needs only a few of them on each ship that comes in to run up i

incriminating herself-or himself. Strange to say, this new clue came from the wife of one of the customs men. She happened to be in a Broadway manicure shop one day when she heard a woman talking with the manicurist about fall styles, and she was all attention when she heard the customer say, 'Yo

, indeed. But then, I guess she meant that she had to pay the duty now. You know they ar

lied the customer

shrug of the shoulders and a

case was progressing favourably and he had become acquainted with one of the girls who worked in the shop. We might have got some evidence, but suddenly this morning he walked up to my desk and handed me an early edition of an afternoon paper. Mademoiselle

nection between her death an

lery this season. For one thing, we believe he has acquired from a syndicate a rather famous diamond necklace which it has taken years to assemble and match up, worth about three hundred thousand. You know the duty on made-up jewellery is sixty per cent., and even if he brought the stones in loose it would be ten per cent., which on a valuation of, say, two hundred thousand, means twenty thousand dollars duty alone. Then he has a sple

en from the bench and

en

the basement and first floor had been remodelled for business purposes. Mademoiselle's place, which was on

n the same street, while almost directly across was a sign which proclaimed that on September

there, and the former was expecting Herndon. Kennedy

f, the second as a workroom for the girls whom she employed, while she lived on the top floor, which had been fitted for light housekeepin

o take in the situation. "I suppose they told nearly all the story, but wha

his pocket. It had four round holes in it and through each hole he slipped a finger, then closed his ha

king hastily at the body, which showed n

ed under his little finger, there shot out as if released by a magic spring a thin keen little blade of the brightest and toughest steel. He was holding, instead of a meaningless

the underworld of Paris," broke out Ke

by expert medical testimony that we can determine whether it was placed on her fingers be

profuse flow of blood which we had expected to see, there was a single round spot. And in the wh

he weapon to the dead woman and back again. "Internal hemorrhage. I suppose you

from Pierre, the jeweller. They seem to have been engaged, and yet the letters stopped abruptl

The same notepaper and the same handwri

edy might he could find nothing further than

demoiselle's and were riding downtown to the customs house with Herndon. "What do

ps abroad, mostly Pierre. Pierre, as you see, was very intimate with Mademoiselle, and the letters simply confirm what the girls told my detective. He was believed to be engaged to h

r? What role does he p

seem always to be plentifully supplied with money and to have a good trade. Lang lives most of the time up on the west shore of the Hudson, and seems to be more interested in

Kennedy, "what about

ere they-ah

to go motor-boating with Lang, but only when her fiance, Pierre, was along. No, I don't think she ever had anything to do with Lang, if that's what you are driving at. He may h

d with his stenographer to get the very latest reports fr

lved a death. Really, I've come to look on smuggling as one of the fine arts among crimes. Once the smuggler, like the pirate and the highwayman, was a sort of gentleman-rogue. But now it has become a very ladylike art. The extent of it is almost beyond belief, too. It begins with the steerage and runs right up to the

er they call it? Well, here's another cable from our Paris Secret Service with a belated tip. They tell us to look out for a Mademoiselle Gabrielle-on La Montaigne, too. That's another interesting thing. You know the various lines are all ranked, at

ographer, who had entered while he was speaking, "and she is three

and 'bring in the ship,' as our men call it when the deputy surveyor and his acting deputies go down to meet it at Quarantine. I can't tell you how

oked more blue as they danced in the early sunlight, flecked here and there by a foaming whitecap as the conflicting tides eddied about. The shores of Staten Island were

t was not a revenue cutter, however, on which we were ploughing down the bay. The cutter lay, white and gleaming in the morning sun, at anchor off Stapleton, li

, where she had been waiting since early morning for the tide and the customs officials. The tug steamed alongside, and quickly up the high ladders swarmed the boarding officer and the deputy collectors. We followed Herndon straight

number at the bottom and handed the number back, to be presented at the in

we want to watch," I

tall dark fel

iled his declaration and was chatting vivaciously with a lady who was just about to file hers. S

do that, but now you simply sign your name-and take a cha

ector detached the stub and handed it t

out to the deck, s

ular," I heard him say, "I always used to get the courtes

of approaching autumn. We had passed up the lower bay and the Narrows, and the pass

g a sharp watch on the tall, thin man. Incidentally he sought out the wireless operator and from him

ponds with any of the goods mentioned in the first cable from Paris," a collector

e," was his laconic reply. "Tha

deposited on the wharf and slowly the passengers filed down the plank to meet the line of white-capped un

seen. In the semi-light of the little windows in the enclosed sides of the pier, under the steel

n inspector was quickly assigned to him. It was all done neatly in the regular course of business apparently. He did not know that

xposed to the gaze of that part of the public which was not too much concerned over the same thing as to its own goods and chattels. Reticules and purses were being inspected. Every trunk was pre

nied by us, posing as visitors, was sauntering about. At last we came within

. "Call the appraiser," he said at last, with the air of a man standing on his rights. "I object to this frisking of passeng

sure he knew he was being watched, but as the dispute proceeded he assumed the look of a man keenly amused. The matter, involving only a few

hat he must be so expert, that, if he really were a smuggler, he had all the poise

hispered. "She says she is just comin

guileless ingenue, M

rying to bring in as personal effects of a foreign resident gowns w

had got rid of us temporarily, but we knew the inspector would be,

shabby, and cheap. She denied everything, raged and threatened. But when, instead of ordering the stamp "Passed" to be placed on her half dozen trunks and bags which contained in reality onl

nd, "generally even for a first offence the goods are confiscated and the court or district attorney is content to let the person of

ppose if I must, I must," she said, and the only result of the diversion was that she

n rejoined us and we casually returned to the vicinity of our tall friend, Number 140, for whom I felt even less respect than ever after his apparently un

ess jewels, not a suspicious bulging of any garment or of the lining of a trunk or grip. Some of the goods might have been on his person, but not much, and certainly there was no excuse for ordering a personal examinat

d savagely as the stamp "Passed" was at last affixed and he paid in cash at the little window with its sign, "Pay Duty He

sengers as well, to prevent any of them from being in league with the smugglers, t

o, when Craig's attention was called

ked as he lifted one. It

Miss Gabrielle," answered an inspector. "Bonded for Tro

uld it be that the real seat of trouble was not here but at some other place,

a thing of value in them. Most of the contents consisted of clothes that had plainly been made in America and were being brought back here. It was anoth

the goods in Paris,

any doubts about his opinion on that score. "I thought perhaps we had a case of-what do you call it, Herndo

. No expressman would dare try it now. I m

en at every turn in the game. Herndon seemed to feel that there was a bitter sting in the defeat, particularly because the smuggler or sm

se," he remarked, "Mademoiselle Gabrielle wasn't an actress. But we can't deny that she had v

imate with her at first," I venture

blind, to divert attention from himself. I suspect th

ur backs were turned and whisked the goods invisibly into the country? I could find no explanation for the little drama on the pier.

essage came in from one of his shadows. The men trailing Pierre and Mademoiselle Gabrielle had crossed trails and run together at a little French restaurant on the lower West S

f the death of Mademoiselle Violette, they had paid no attention. It seemed evident that whatever the fate of the modiste, Mademoisel

The party had left the restaurant hurriedly, and though they had taken the only taxicab in sight he had been able to follow them in time to find out that they

front near La Montaigne's pier, after dinner. The change in Kennedy's spirits was obvious, though it did not in the least enlighten my curiosity. Even after a dinner which was lengthened out c

hbourhood did not appeal to me at night, and even though there were two of us I w

eet and turned down the next pier, where a couple of freighters were lying. The odour of salt water, sewage, rotting

ingerly across the dirty deck of the freight ship. Below we could hear the water lapping the piles of the pier. Across a dark abyss

taken from me. It proved to be a huge reflector in front of which was placed a little arrangement w

a couple of dry cells and a cylinder with a broadened end, made of vulcanised rubb

otion on the opposite side of the pier distracted my attention. A ship was coming in and was being c

as he rejoined us. To my look of in

hed and had pointed t

spered hasty word of

e along with him d

ed. The customs service night watchman-there is always a watchman of some kind aboard every ship, passenger

tric lights the longshoremen were working feverishly, for the unloading and loading of a giant trans-Atlantic vessel in the rush seas

by one of the many entrances and then proceeded down to a deck where apparently no one was working. It was more like a great house than a ship, I felt

nd chests, stacked up and marked as belonging to the ship. Kennedy's attention was attracted to them imme

to verify his suspicions, a sudden approach of footsteps startled us

eak into the boxes, if you think the stuf

e while their tools take all t

compartment looked about as

wn," a gruff voice s

men, and from the ease with which they shifted the cases

re polished but unfa

alised it. With a taunting laugh, some one turned a key in the lock and before we

ndon and our friends. We had run up against professional smugglers, of whom I

t, but it was impossible for a man to squeeze out. There was one of the lower decks directly before us while a bright arc light gleam

at the next wharf and speculated as to the location where we had left Herndon with the huge reflector. There was no moon and

the river front, with lights extinguished, and had pushed a cautious nose into the slip where our ship lay at the quay. None of your romantic low-lying, rakish cra

I grumbled as I understood now what was a

e followed. It was one of the boxes which we had seen outside

etectives locked in a cabin here. We can't stay no

gs into a little bundle. We'll take that, but you'll have to ge

ide, and from the sound we could infer that t

ellows in there. We're going up the dock. Sorry to leave you

nder the rays of the arc light overhead. He was holding something in his hand. It seemed like a little silver-backed piece of thin glass wi

ried, beating on the door, to which only a

ps after the code wireless message was received. But we have been overpowered and locked in a cabin with a port too small to crawl through. The cases have been lowered over the side of the ship to a motor-boat that was waiting below. The li

who might have chanced on the deck outside. There was no one. The only t

s the use of repeating it now? The thing to do is to get out of th

er, but kept his eyes glued on the Cim

aving back and forth as it was lowered to the dark waters of the river. It was a searchlight. At once I thought of the huge reflecto

sked eagerly. "Wh

r had been answered

tai

this side of La Montaigne, I knew, would serve. What I did, Walter, was merely to talk into the mouthpiece back of this little silvered mirror which reflects light. The vibrations of the voice caused a diaph

ries over there-and there you are. It is very simple. In the ordinary carbon telephone transmitter a variable electrical resistance is produced by pressure, since carbon is not so good a conductor under pressure. Then these variations are transmitted along two wires. This photophone is wireless. Selenium even emits notes under a vibratory beam of light, the pitch depending on the frequency. Changes in the intensity of

head in quickly recalled my attention. "Look out on the river, Walter," he c

ess motor-boat bobbing up and down, crowding on all speed, yet followed rele

was an unequal race. Nor would it have made much difference if it had been otherwise, for a shot rang out fro

shoved aside and a key in the door of our compartment turned

nquired anxiously. "We've got that st

ed Craig. "The cutter

eaded toward us. She came alongside, and Herndon quickly seized a rope, fastened it

ce that must have been Lang's protesting. "By wha

e capes of the Delaware, demand an inspection of any vessel's manifest and papers, board anything from La Montai

sides, you were violating

en another. Inside he disclosed thousands of dollars' worth of finery, while f

crushed, all his

It wasn't as easy as you thought to throw her over for a new soul mate, this Mademoiselle Gabrielle whom you were going to set up as a r

him by the wrist and ground his knuckles into the back of Pierre's clenched fist until he winced with pain. An Apache dagger similar to that which the little modis

ng him. "You can't cheat the government out of