human
Hitchin, said Anthony,
gpt
Heaven alone knows what concern of yours it can be, but the Prentiss boy--the son of an old friend of mine who has seen better days--came back here with me last night for some things, cast-offs, I had promised his unfortunate father. We met him on the street on the way home.
human
Just around the corner,
gpt
And having come upstairs with us and having selected the things he thought his father would like best, Anthony went on,
human
At least, said he,
gpt
I----
human
And now, Mr. Hitchin broke in incisively,
gpt
You didn't see him,
human
Because he was not there! Listen, please, and do not interrupt, Fry. I like you, or I should not be here. I wish to help you, if such a thing is possible, or I should have gone at once to the police, said the remarkable Mr. Hitchin.
gpt
You, like many a man before you, forget perfectly plain details. In this case, you have forgotten that my apartment is directly beneath yours--that the elevators here have latticed gates, so that one can see from any floor whoever may be passing in one of the cars--that sound travels perfectly in this building when the street is quiet, as at night. So to get to item two. About two o'clock this morning there was the sound of a heavy fall in this very room!
human
I fell!
gpt
Did you really? asked the demon detective.
human
Yet--you're in that room, I take it? Yet you got out of bed immediately after and walked in here; I heard your step. Don't flush, Boller! It takes practice to carry out a thing of this kind and whatever the motive may have been, you gentlemen are not old hands. And so to item three: it must have been about four when a policeman came to this door. _Why?_
gpt
There was supposed to be a burglar here. It was a false alarm,
human
That is the tale they tell in the office, he said.
gpt
I confess that that detail puzzles me and as yet I haven't had time to get inside information from my good friend our police captain. However, we can well call this detail immaterial and pass to item four.
human
The woman in the case!
gpt
There was no woman! Anthony exploded.
human
And----
gpt
The Frenchwoman, Fry!
human
Well, she----
gpt
Don't explain her, said Hobart Hitchin.
human
Let us see just what happened when she was about. She came after daylight. She passed through the office downstairs so suddenly that nobody was able to stop her, and she knew where to come. She was in the elevator naming her floor to the man--who supposed her to have been passed by the office--perhaps two seconds after she entered the house itself. She came directly to this apartment, Fry, and almost immediately she burst into hysterical weeping!
gpt
Fry, he said,
human
Nothing,
gpt
There was nothing to cause her acute grief?
human
No, and----
gpt
Wait! She wept all the way down in the elevator; I saw her myself! She wept so violently when she reached the street that an officer approached her--and she fled from him and disappeared.
human
Hitchin, said he,
gpt
You're a curious customer, Fry, he said, leaning back comfortably.
human
I had hoped before this that your nerve would have broken and--however, listen to this little theory of mine. The boy knew something, I can't say what, about _you_, something which had to be suppressed at any cost. You brought him here, I can't say on what pretext, but the boy fancied that all was well. Perhaps you promised him money; I'm inclined to believe that, for the girl came, evidently by appointment, ready to travel. Doesn't take much deduction to guess that they were going to be married with the money you gave him, does it? She came and she saw what happened, and then----
gpt
Well, what had happened?
human
That's what I'm waiting for you to tell me, so that I can give you a helping hand, said the crime student.
gpt
And while I'm waiting, and while you're still plainly convinced that I know nothing at all, let me ask you one question again: did the Prentiss boy leave here with the clothes he wore when he entered?
human
Yes!