The Red Seal | Page 9

reply at once; instead, she glanced carefully
around. The room was generally the rallying place of the McIntyres. It
stretched across almost the entire width of the house; the
diamond-paned and recessed windows gave it a medieval air in keeping
with its antique furniture, and the seven doors opening from it led,
respectively, to the large dining room beyond, a morning room, billiard
room, the front and back halls, and the Italian loggia which over-looked
the stretch of ground between the McIntyre residence and its neighbor
on the north. Apparently, she and Dr. Stone had the room to
themselves.
"I cannot answer your question with positiveness," she stated. "Frankly,
Jimmie appeared impartial in his attentions to the twins. When he
wasn't with Barbara he was with Helen, and vice versa."
Stone gazed at her in some perplexity. "Are you aware that Helen
stated at the police court this morning that she was Turnbull's fiancee?"
"What!" Mrs. Brewster actually bounced in her seat. "You - you
astound me!"
"I was a bit surprised myself," acknowledged the physician. "I thought
Rochester - however, that is neither here nor there. Helen not only
announced she was Jimmie's fiancee but as such demanded that a
post-mortem examination be held to determine the cause of his death."
Mrs. Brewster's pretty color faded and the glance she turned on her
cousin was sharp. "Why should Helen suspect foul play?" she
demanded. "For that is what her request hinted."

"True." Stone pulled his beard absentmindedly. "Ah, here is Colonel
McIntyre," he exclaimed as the portieres before the hall door parted and
a tall man strode into the library.
McIntyre was a favorite with the old physician, and he welcomed his
arrival with warmth. Exchanging a word of greeting with Mrs.
Brewster, McIntyre drew up a chair and dropped into it.
"I called at your office, doctor," he said. "Went there at once on
learning the shocking news about poor Turnbull. Why in the world
didn't he announce who he was when my daughter had him arrested as
a burglar? He must have realized that prolonged excitement was bad for
his weak heart."
Mrs. Brewster, who had settled herself more comfortably in her corner
of the sofa on McIntyre's arrival, answered his remark.
"I only knew Jimmie superficially," she said, "but he had one
distinguishing trait patent to all, his inordinate fondness for practical
jokes. Probably the predicament he found himself in was highly to his
taste - until his heart failed."
Her voice, slightly raised, carried across the room and reached the ears
of a tall, slender girl who had stood hesitating on the threshold of the
dining worn door on beholding the group by the sofa. All hesitation
vanished, however, as the meaning of Mrs. Brewster's remark dawned
on her, and she walked over to the sofa.
"You are very unjust, Margaret," she stated, and at sound of her low
triante voice McIntyre whirled around and frowned slightly. "Jimmie
was thinking of the predicament of others, not of himself."
"What do you mean, Helen?" her father demanded.
"Why, how could Jimmie reveal his identity in court without involving
us?" she asked. "Good afternoon, doctor," recollecting her manners,
and her attention thus diverted, she missed the sudden questioning look
which Mrs. Brewster and her father exchanged. "No," she continued,

"Jimmie sacrificed himself for others."
"By becoming a burglar." McIntyre laughed shortly. "Don't talk arrant
nonsense, Helen."
The girl flushed at his tone, and Dr. Stone, an interested onlooker,
marveled at the fleeting flash of disdain which lighted her dark eyes.
Stone's interest grew. The McIntyre family had always been
particularly congenial, and the devotion of Colonel McIntyre (left a
widower when the twins were in short frocks) to his daughters had been
commented on frequently by their wide circle of friends in Washington
and by acquaintances made in their travels abroad.
Colonel McIntyre had married when quite a young man. Frugality and
industry and a brilliant mind had reaped their reward, and, wiser than
the majority of Americans, he retired early from business and devoted
himself to a life of leisure and the education of his daughters. Their
debut the previous autumn had been one of the social events of the
Washington season, and the instant popularity the girls had attained
proved a source of pride to Colonel McIntyre. His chief pleasure
consisted in gratifying their every whim, and Dr. Stone, knowing the
family as he did, wondered at the faintly discernible air of constraint in
the girl's manner. Usually frank to a sometimes embarrassing degree,
she appeared to some disadvantage as she sat gazing moodily at the tips
of her patent-leather pumps. Dr. Stone's attention shifted to Colonel
McIntyre and lastly to the pretty widow at his elbow. Had Dame
Rumor spoken truly in the report, widely circulated,