human
Well, you are a very faithful man, and I desire a confidential talk with you.
gpt
What I say to you is purely confidential.
human
All right, madam.
gpt
You captured the burglars?
human
I did.
gpt
You saw their faces?
human
I did.
gpt
Plainly enough to identify them in case you had known them?
human
Yes.
gpt
Did you recognize any of them?
human
I recognized them all.
gpt
You did?
human
I did.
gpt
Well?
human
What is it you want to know?
gpt
Was _he_ among them?
human
Who?
gpt
The young man Alphonse Donetti?
human
No.
gpt
I am sorry.
human
You are sorry, madam.
gpt
Yes, I am sorry.
human
Why?
gpt
I have no confidence in that young man.
human
Do you know that he is in New York?
gpt
I do not know, but I suspect that he is.
human
And you wanted him captured as a burglar?
gpt
Yes.
human
After he sent you the warning note?
gpt
Yes.
human
It may appear strange to you.
gpt
Yes.
human
I can trust you?
gpt
Yes.
human
Yesterday I made a discovery, or rather you made one for me.
gpt
I did?
human
Yes.
gpt
How?
human
By the finding of that photograph in that album. I have long suspected a certain fact, now I have evidence that there are grounds for my suspicions.
gpt
Will you speak plainly, madam?
human
I will.
gpt
Do so.
human
Again I ask, can I trust you?
gpt
You can.
human
In a matter purely personal?
gpt
Yes.
human
Then I will declare that I have reason to suspect that the rascal, Alphonse Donetti, has fascinated my niece, and I fear the girl has been deliberately deceiving me.
gpt
At the terror of fearing that my own flesh and blood has been fascinated by a thief--in my opinion a born thief--the son of a thief--a low, vile, reckless scoundrel, yes, that is what I fear. It was this suspicion that caused me to leave Paris. And now, Oscar Dunne, you can make your fortune. I am a very rich woman; I can pay a great price. I want you to aid me to save my niece, even if she is compelled to gaze on the dead face of her lover.
human
Madam, what do you mean? Can you believe that money will tempt me to commit a murder?
gpt
No, sir, I am not a murderess, but I believe money will induce you to bring a murderer to justice, and have him hung as he deserves.
human
Well, thought the detective,
gpt
Madam, are you sure you have made a discovery?
human
Yes, I have other evidences. What I learned yesterday was only confirmatory.
gpt
I see you are disposed to trust me.
human
Yes.
gpt
Let me say for myself that your confidence is not displaced, and if you have reason to believe that your niece is in love with a criminal, and if we prove the man to be a criminal, I will aid you in removing the human toy beyond her reach. I will send him up to the gallows.
human
Well, now, you are assuming that he is a murderer.
gpt
I have every reason to believe that he is, and I think the evidence can be secured to convict him; but why should he seek to marry your niece?
human
He knows she is an heiress--yes, a great heiress. She is heir to millions, and will have the money in her own right without any restraint upon her use or misuse of it whatever.
gpt
When?
human
When she becomes of age.
gpt
How old is she now?
human
In about three years she will come into absolute possession of her fortune.
gpt
And this man, you think, has bewitched her?
human
I do.
gpt
And yet she denied ever having met him.
human
I know it, and I will say this in her favor; she is a noble and truthful girl. She believes that wretch innocent. She thinks I am unwarrantably prejudiced, and that under the circumstances it is not wrong to deceive me. She thinks he is a wronged young man. She has been assailed on a woman's weakest side--her sympathies.
gpt
Have you positive evidence that the young man is the villain you believe him to be?
human
Not positive evidence, not convicting evidence; that is what I want you to obtain.
gpt
Is it not possible that your niece is right?
human
Right!
gpt
Yes.
human
Right, how?
gpt
Is it not possible that the young man has been wronged and is innocent?
human
No, she is not right. He is guilty, and you must obtain the proofs, and I will pay you an enormous reward.
gpt
Madam, I will try and earn the reward, and in order to do so you must tell me what evidence you have of this young man's guilt.
human
I have no evidence.
gpt
You have no evidence?
human
No actual evidence.
gpt
On what do you found your suspicions?
human
His general character.
gpt
What is his general character?
human
I don't know positively. All I know is what I have heard and general rumor.
gpt
One more question. Have you any evidence that he is in America?
human
Here again I have no evidence, but there are certain circumstances that point conclusively to the fact that he is in New York.
gpt
And do you believe he sent you the warning note?
human
I do.
gpt
What could have been his object?
human
Oh, it was a cunning trick on his part. He is making evidence, that's all.
gpt
Making evidence?
human
Yes.
gpt
To establish what?
human
That he is a pure young man and has been wronged. I really believed he would be with the burglars. You are to establish the fact that he instigated the robbery, that these men are his pals, as you detectives call them, and you are to follow him up and establish his career as a professional thief and criminal.
gpt
I must find him first.
human
Yes, you must find him, and I think you will succeed. You have his photograph; it is an excellent picture; when she got it I don't know, and I tell you it was hard for me to dissimulate yesterday, but I do not desire her to know that I suspect, even when we have all the proofs, and want it to come as a revelation to her. I never wish her to know that I ever suspected the truth.
gpt
Madam, I will undertake to establish the fact that this young man is a criminal, or the victim of cruel suspicions.
human
He is a criminal, I am sure of it.
gpt
One moment; do you wish it to be established that he is a criminal, whether he is or not?
human
Yes.
gpt
Under these circumstances, madam, you will have to secure the services of another person.
human
But do not forget your reward.
gpt
Madam, all your wealth would not induce me to manufacture evidence making it appear that an innocent man was a criminal.
human
I said that to try you. I know now I can trust you--yes, trust your honor and your judgment. I will amend my answer. It will please me very much to learn that the young man is innocent. All I ask of you is to prove his guilt if he is guilty, his innocence if he is innocent.
gpt
With that understanding I will undertake the case, and I will say here that at present evidences point to the suspicion that he is a guilty man, possibly guilty of the crime of murder.
human
What evidence have you?
gpt
No evidence yet, but I have a suspicion. I propose to follow it up.
human
Tell me about it.
gpt
I can tell you nothing at present. My first object will be to establish the fact that Alphonse Donetti is in America, and that he wrote the note to you. I will communicate with you later.