You know, you dont have to get up at this ungodly hour, Lora said, as she smiled her greeting, but we are wideawakes here.
Suits me perfectly, I told her. Ive no love for the feathers after the day has really begun.
Twice during our cosy breakfast I was moved to tell about the girl in the canoe, but both times I suddenly decided not to do so. I couldnt tell why, but something forbade the telling of that tale, and I concluded to defer it, at any rate.
The chat was light and trifling. Somehow it drifted round to the subject of happiness.
My idea of happiness, Lora said, which I know full well I shall never attain, is to do something I want to do without feeling that I ought to be doing something else.
Heavens and earth, exploded her husband, any one would think you a veritable slave! What are these onerous duties you have to perform that keep you from doing your ruthers?
Lora laughed. Oh, not all the time, but there is much to do in a house where the servants are ill-trained and incompetent
And where one has guests, Maud Merrill smiled at her, and I smiled, too.
Im out of it, I cried. You ought to help your friend out, Mrs. Merrill, but, being a mere man, I cant do anything to help around the house.
Lora laughed gaily, and said, Dont take it all too seriously. I do as I please most of the time, but well, I suppose the truth is, Im too conscientious.
Thats it, Kee agreed. And you know, conscience is only a form of vanity. One wants to do right, so one can pat oneself on the back, and feel a glow of holy satisfaction.
Thats so, Kee, Lora quickly agreed, and I oughtnt to pamper my vanity. So, I wont make that blackberry shortcake youre so fond of this morning, Ill read a novel, and bear with a smile the slings and arrows of my conscience as it reproves me.
No, Kee told her, thats carrying your vanity scourging too far. Make the shortcake, dear girl, not so much for me, as for Norris here. I want him to see what a bird of a cook you are.
Lora shook her head, but I somehow felt that the shortcake would materialize, and then Kee and I went out on the lake.
We went in a small motor launch, and he proposed that I should have a survey of the lake before we began to fish.
Its one of the most beautiful and picturesque lakes in the county, he said, and I could easily believe that, as we continually came upon more and more rugged coves and strange rock formations.
Those are dells, Kee said, pointing to weird and wonderful rocks that disclosed caves, grottoes, chasms, natural bridges and here and there cascades and waterfalls. Please be duly impressed, Gray, for they are really wonderful. You know Wisconsin is the oldest state of all, I mean as to its birth. Geologists say that this whole continent was an ocean, and when the first island was thrust up above the surface of the waters, it was Wisconsin itself. Then the earth kindly threw up the other states, and so, here we are.
I thought all these lakes were glacial.
Oh, yes, so they are. But you dont know much, do you? The glacial period came along a lot later, and as the slow-moving fields of ice plowed down through this section they scooped out the Mississippi valley, the beds of the Great Lakes and also the beds of innumerable little lakes. There are seven thousand in Wisconsin, and two thousand in Oneida County alone.
I am duly impressed, Kee, but quite as much by the way you rattle off this information as by the knowledge itself. Whered you get it all?
Out of the Automobile Book, he returned, unabashed. Most interesting reading. Better have a shy at it some time.
I will. Now is this Pleasure Dome were coming to?
Yes. Thought youd like to see it. Its really a wonder house, you know. Well be invited there to dine or something, but I want you to see it now as a picture.
It was impressive, the great pile rising against the background of dark trees, and with a foreground of brilliant flower beds, fountains, and arbours.
A critic might call it too ornate, too elaborate, but he would have to admit it was beautiful.
A building of pure white marble, its lines were simple and true, its proportions vast and noble, and save for the gilded dome, all its effects were of the utmost dignity and perfection.
And the dome, to my way of thinking, was in keeping with the majesty of it all. No lesser type of architecture could have stood it, but this semi-barbaric pile proudly upheld its glittering crown with a sublime daring that justified the whole.
There were numerous and involved terraces, all of white marble, that disappeared and reappeared among the trees in a fascinating way. White pergolas bore masses of beautiful flowers or vines, and back of it all rose the black, wooded slopes that surrounded most of the lake.
Well slip around for a glimpse of the Sunless Sea, Kee said, and I almost cried out as we came upon the place.
A strange chance had made a huge pool of water, almost square, as an arm of the lake, and this, stretched behind the house, was like a midnight sea.
Dark, even in broad daytime, because of the dense woods all round it, it also looked deep and treacherous. A slight breeze was blowing but this proved enough to ruffle the waters of the Sunless Sea in a dangerous-looking way.
Dont go in there! I cried, and Kee turned aside.
I didnt intend to, he said, I was just throwing a scare into you. Its really devilish. A sudden wave can suck you down to interminable depths. Youre not afraid, really?
Oh, no, I assured him, but its pesky frightensome to look at, especially
Again I was on the verge of telling him of the scene on the lake the night before, and again I stopped, held back by some force outside myself.
Especially why? he asked, curiously, but I evaded the issue by saying, Especially when one is on a holiday.
He laughed and we turned away from Pleasure Dome.
Now Ill show you the island, he said, and then well tackle the tackle.
We went rapidly back past Pleasure Dome, on down the lake, past Moores own place, and then on a bit farther to the Island.
They call it Whistling Reeds, and its a good name, he said. When the winds a certain way, and its quiet otherwise, you can hear the reeds whistle like birds.
You do have most interesting places, I said. And who lives here? And wheres the house?
Alma Remsen lives here, the niece of Sampson Tracy I told you about last night. You cant see the house, the trees are so thick.
I should say they were! and I stared at the dense black mass. Why doesnt she cut a vista, at least?
She doesnt want it, I believe. Thinks its more picturesque like this.
Id be scared to death to live there!
No reason to be. Nothing untoward ever happens up here. All peaceable citizens.
But fancy living in such a place. How do they get provisions and all that?
Oh, thats easy. Lots of the dealers deliver their stuff in canoes or motor boats. See, theres the boathouse. Some day well call here. Alma likes my wife, shell be glad to see us.
I suppose shes a canoeist.
Everybodys that, around here. I mean the people who live all the year round. A good many people live on islands. They like it. This island, you see, is a big one. About two or three acres, say. That gives Miss Remsen room for tennis courts and gardens and pretty much anything she wants, and the house is very pleasant. Nothing like Pleasure Dome, but a bigger house than the one were in.
We turned then, and started off toward the spot where Kee elected to do his fishing.
Hello, he said, as we moved on, theres Alma now. Thats Miss Remsen.
We were now about midway between the Moore bungalow and the Island of Whistling Reeds. I looked, to see a girl come down to the floating dock of the boathouse, spring into a canoe and paddle away.
I said nothing aloud, but to myself I said it was the girl I had seen in a canoe the night before.
There was no mistaking that slim, lithe figure, that graceful capable way of managing the boat, and she even wore what seemed to me to be the same clothes, a white skirt and white sweater. She had on a small white felt hat, and I noticed that she did not limp at all. As I had surmised, the limp was occasioned by some slight and temporary strain or bruise.
Well, dont eat her up with your eyes! exclaimed Moore, and I realized I had been staring.
Also I was just about to tell him of seeing her before, but the chaffing tone he used somehow shut me up on the subject.
So I only said, gaily: Bowled over by the Lady of the Lake! and laughed back at him.
Thats what shes called up here, he informed me. Shes in her canoe so much and manages it so perfectly, she seems like a part of it. Of course, wherever she goes, she has to go in that or in some boat. Cant get on and off an island in a motor car.
Must be an awful nuisance.
She doesnt find it so. Says she likes it better than a motor. Look at her paddle. Isnt she an expert?
She sure is. And I held my tongue tightly to refrain from saying that she seemed to me to have paddled even more beautifully the night before. But, I said to myself, that was doubtless the glamour loaned by the moonlight and the witchery of the night scene.
Miss Remsen soon reached Pleasure Dome, and we could see her beach her canoe and follow her with our eyes for a few steps until she disappeared behind a clump of tall trees.
We set to work then in good earnest and I saw in Keeley Moore for the time being an embodiment of perfect happiness.
He loved to fish, even alone, but better still, he loved to fish with a congenial companion. And we were that. Though not friends of such very long standing, we were similar in our likes and dislikes as well as in our dispositions.
We had an identical liking for silence at times, and as a rule we chose the same times. Often we would sit for half an hour in a sociable silence, and then break into the most animated conversation.
This morning, after we had begun to fish, such a spell fell upon us. I was glad, for I wanted to think things out; to learn, if possible, why I was so interested, or why, indeed, I was interested at all, in Alma Remsen.
Just because I saw her paddling over to her uncles house the night before and again this morning, was that enough to make me feel that I must keep still about the first excursion? And, if so, why?
I didnt even know yet what she looked like. So it couldnt be that I had fallen for a pretty face I didnt even know whether she had one.
I thought of asking Kee that, but decided not to. A strange, vague instinct held me back from mentioning Alma Remsens name.
Suddenly he said, Damn! in a most explosive way, and not unnaturally I thought he had lost one of those biggest of all big fishes.
But as he began pulling in his empty line and making other evident preparations for bringing our fishing party to an end, I mildly asked for light on the subject.
Got to go home, he said, like a sulky child.
What for?
See that red flag in the bungalow window? That means come home at once. Lora only uses it in cases of real importance, so weve got to go.
CHAPTER III
THE TRAGEDY
As we went up the steps and crossed the porch of the Moore bungalow, we saw a man seated in the lounge, talking to Lora.
Both jumped up at our approach, and Lora cried out, Oh, Kee, Mr. Tracy is dead!
Sampson Tracy! Dead? exclaimed Moore, with a look of blank consternation.
Yes, the man said, tersely, and not only dead, but murdered. Im Police Detective March. Ive just come from the Tracy house. You see, everything is at sixes and sevens over there. Nobody authorized to take the helm, though plenty of them want to do so. In a way, Everett, the secretary, is head of the heap, but a guest there, Mr. Ames, refuses to acknowledge that Everett has any say at all. Claims he is Tracys oldest and closest friend, and insists on taking charge himself.
Why shouldnt he? asked Keeley Moore, quietly.
Well, why should he? countered the policeman. And, besides, I think hes the man who killed Tracy. But heres my errand here. It seems Mr. Ames was here last night to dinner?
Lora nodded assent to his inquiring glance.
Well, he formed a high opinion of Mr. Moores detective ability, and he wants to engage his services, if possible.
Kee Moore was a tall, dark man, about thirty-five or so. But when he undertook a case, or even thought about undertaking a case, he seemed to change his personality. Rather, he intensified it. He seemed to be taller, darker and older.
I saw this change come over him at once, as he listened to the police detectives words.
There is a phrase about an old warhorse scenting the battle. Ive never seen such a thing, but I am sure it implies the same attitude that Moore showed at the moment. His eyes took on a far-away look that was yet alert and receptive. His hands showed strained muscles as he grasped the back of a chair that stood in front of him. His lips lost their smiling curve and set in a straight line. I knew all these gestures well, and I knew that not only would he take up this case, but that he was anxious to get at it at once.
Lora knew it, too, and I heard her sigh as she resigned herself to the inevitable. It wasnt necessary for any of us to say we had hoped Kee was to have a rest from his work, an idle vacation. The two Moores and I knew that, and we all knew, too, that the vacation was broken in upon and there would be no rest for the busy, inquiring brain until the Tracy case was settled for all time.
I dont know about accepting this offer of Mr. Ames to engage my services, Kee said, but I will most certainly look into the matter and if I can be of help we can make definite arrangements. Tell me a little more of the circumstances, please, and then we will go over to Pleasure Dome.
It seems the butler or housekeeper was in the habit of taking tea to Mr. Tracys room of a morning, at nine oclock. Well, this morning, the door was locked and nobody responded to knocks on it. So you can get the connecting data later, sir they broke in, and found Mr. Tracy dead in bed, with the strangest doings all about.
What do you mean by strange doings?
Well, he was all dolled up with flowers and a long red scarf, and, if you please, a red feather duster sticking up behind his head
Did you see all this? demanded Moore, his eyes growing darker every minute.
Yes, and thats not half! There was an orange in his hand and crackers on his pillow and a crucifix against his breast
Come on, said Moore, quietly, but in a tone of suppressed excitement. Lets get over there before they disturb all that scenery! I never heard of such astounding conditions.
No, sir, Ill say you didnt, March agreed. I felt a bit miffed when they told me to come and get you; any detective would, you know, but when I came to think over all that hodge-podge of evidence, I knew it was a case too big for me to tackle alone. I hope youll let me help you, sir.