The Filigree Ball

THE FILIGREE BALL
by Anna Katherine Green

CONTENTS
BOOK I
I "THE MOORE HOUSE?"
II I ENTER
III I REMAIN
IV SIGNED, VERONICA
V MASTER AND DOG
VI GOSSIP
VII SLY WORK
VIII SLYER WORK
IX JINNY
X FRANCIS JEFFREY
BOOK II
XI DETAILS
XII THRUST AND PARRY

XIII CHIEFLY THRUST
XIV "LET US HAVE TALLMAN!"
XV WHITE BOW AND PINK
XVI AN EGOTIST OF THE FIRST WATER
XVII A FRESH START
XVIII IN THE GRASS
BOOK III
XIX IN TAMPA
XX "THE COLONEL'S OWN"
XXI THE HEART OF THE PUZZLE
XXII A THREAD IN HAND
XXIII WORDS IN THE NIGHT
XXIV TANTALIZING TACTICS
XXV "WHO WILL TELL THE MAN!"
XXVI RUDGE
XXVII "YOU HAVE COME!"

BOOK I
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM

THE FILIGREE BALL

I
"THE MOORE HOUSE? ARE YOU SPEAKING OF THE MOORE
HOUSE?"
For a detective whose talents, had not been recognized at headquarters,
I possessed an ambition which, fortunately for my standing with the
lieutenant of the precinct, had not yet been expressed in words. Though
I had small reason for expecting great things of myself, I had always
cherished the hope that if a big case came my way I should be found
able to do something with it something more, that is, than I had seen
accomplished by the police of the District of Columbia since I had had
the honor of being one of their number. Therefore, when I found myself
plunged, almost without my own volition, into the Jeffrey Moore affair,
I believed that the opportunity had come whereby I might distinguish
myself.
It had complications, this Jeffrey-Moore affair; greater ones than the
public ever knew, keen as the interest in it ran both in and out of
Washington. This is why I propose to tell the story of this great tragedy
from my own standpoint, even if in so doing I risk the charge of
attempting to exploit my own connection with this celebrated case. In
its course I encountered as many disappointments as triumphs, and
brought out of the affair a heart as sore as it was satisfied; for I am a
lover of women and -
But I am keeping you from the story itself.
I was at the station-house the night Uncle David came in. He was
always called Uncle David, even by the urchins who followed him in
the street; so I am showing him no disrespect, gentleman though he is,
by giving him a title which as completely characterized him in those
days, as did his moody ways, his quaint attire and the persistence with
which he kept at his side his great mastiff, Rudge. I had long since
heard of the old gentleman as one of the most interesting residents of
the precinct. I had even seen him more than once on the avenue, but I
had never before been brought face to face with him, and consequently
had much too superficial a knowledge of his countenance to determine

offhand whether the uneasy light in his small gray eyes was natural to
them, or simply the result of present excitement. But when he began to
talk I detected an unmistakable tremor in his tones, and decided that he
was in a state of suppressed agitation; though he appeared to have
nothing more alarming to impart than the fact that he had seen a light
burning in some house presumably empty.
It was all so trivial that I gave him but scant attention till he let a name
fall which caused me to prick up my ears and even to put in a word.
"The Moore house," he had said.
"The Moore house?" I repeated in amazement. "Are you speaking of
the Moore house?"
A thousand recollections came with the name.
"What other?" he grumbled, directing toward me a look as keen as it
was impatient. "Do you think that I would bother myself long about a
house I had no interest in, or drag Rudge from his warm rug to save
some ungrateful neighbor from a possible burglary? No, it is my house
which some rogue has chosen to enter. That is," he suavely corrected,
as he saw surprise in every eye, "the house which the law will give me,
if anything ever happens to that chit of a girl whom my brother left
behind him."
Growling some words at the dog, who showed a decided inclination to
lie down where he was, the old man made for the door and in another
moment would have been in the street, if I had not stepped after him.
"You are a Moore and live in or near that old house?" I asked.
The surprise with which he met this question daunted me a little.
"How long have you been in Washington, I should like to ask?" was