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CHAPTER VII

Miss Holladay Becomes Capricious

The body of Hiram Holladay was placed beside that of his wife in his
granite mausoleum at Woodlawn on the Sunday following his death; two
days later, his will, which had been drawn up by Mr. Graham and
deposited in the office safe, was read and duly admitted to probate.
As was expected, he had left all his property, without condition or
reserve, to his daughter Frances. There were a few bequests to old
servants, Rogers receiving a handsome legacy; about half a million was
given to various charities in which he had been interested during his
life, and the remainder was placed at the absolute disposal of his
daughter.

We found that his fortune had been over-estimated, as is usually the
case with men whose wealth depends upon the fluctuations of the
Street, but there still remained something over four millions for the
girl--a pretty dowry. She told us at once that she wished to leave her
affairs in our hands, and in financial matters would be guided
entirely by our advice. Most of this business was conducted by our
junior, and while, of course, he told me nothing, it was evident that
Miss Holladay's kindly feelings toward him had suffered no diminution.
The whole office was more or less conversant with the affair, and
wished him success and happiness.

So a week or ten days passed. The utmost endeavor of newspapers and
police had shed no new light on the tragedy, and for the great public
it had passed into the background of the forgotten. But for me, at
least, it remained of undiminished interest, and more than once I
carefully reviewed its features to convince myself anew that our
theory was the right one. Only one point occurred to me which would
tend to prove it untrue. If there was an illegitimate daughter, the
blow she had dealt her father had also deprived her of whatever income
he had allowed her, or of any hope of income from him. So she had
acted in her own despite--still, Godfrey's theory of sudden passion
might explain this away. And then, again, Miss Holladay could probably
be counted upon, her first grief past, to provide suitably for her
sister. Granting this, the theory seemed to me quite impregnable.

One other thing puzzled me. How had this woman eluded the police? I
knew that the French quarter had been ransacked for traces of her,
wholly without success, and yet I felt that the search must have been
misconducted, else some trace of her wo