Yet he was far from sinister. Rather, romantic and emotional.
His boyhood had been one of poverty and neglect, causing him in his later and somewhat more successful years to look on those with whom life had dealt more kindly as too favorably treated.
The son of a poor farmer’s widow, he had seen his mother put to such straits to make ends meet that by the time he reached the age of twelve he had surrendered nearly all of the pleasures of youth in order to assist her.
And then, at fourteen, while skating, he had fallen and broken his nose in such a way as to forever disfigure his face.
Thereafter, feeling himself handicapped in the youthful sorting contests which gave to other boys the female companions he most craved, he had grown exceedingly sensitive to the fact of his facial handicap.
And this had eventually resulted in what the Freudians are accustomed to describe as a psychic sex scar.
At the age of seventeen, however, he had succeeded in interesting the publisher and editor of the Bridgeburg Republican to the extent that he was eventually installed as official local news-gatherer of the town.
Later he came to be the Cataraqui County correspondent of such papers as the Albany Times–Union and the Utica Star, ending eventually at the age of nineteen with the privilege of studying law in the office of one ex-Judge Davis Richofer, of Bridgeburg.
And a few years later, after having been admitted to the bar, he had been taken up by several county politicians and merchants who saw to it that he was sent to the lower house of the state legislature for some six consecutive years, where, by reason of a modest and at the same time shrewd and ambitious willingness to do as he was instructed, he attained favor with those at the capital while at the same time retaining the good will of his home-town sponsors.
Later, returning to Bridgeburg and possessing some gifts of oratory, he was given, first, the position of assistant district attorney for four years, and following that elected auditor, and subsequently district attorney for two terms of four years each.
Having acquired so high a position locally, he was able to marry the daughter of a local druggist of some means, and two children had been born to them.
In regard to this particular case he had already heard from Miss Saunders all she knew of the drowning, and, like the coroner, had been immediately impressed with the fact that the probable publicity attendant on such a case as this appeared to be might be just what he needed to revive a wavering political prestige and might perhaps solve the problem of his future.
At any rate he was most intensely interested. So that now, upon sight of Heit, he showed plainly the keen interest he felt in the case.
“Well, Colonel Heit?”
“Well, Orville, I’m just back from Big Bittern.
It looks to me as though I’ve got a case for you now that’s going to take quite a little of your time.”
Heit’s large eyes bulged and conveyed hints of much more than was implied by his non-committal opening remark.
“You mean that drowning up there?” returned the district attorney.
“Yes, sir. Just that,” replied the coroner.
“You’ve some reason for thinking there’s something wrong up there?”
“Well, the truth is, Orville, I think there’s hardly a doubt that this is a case of murder.”
Heit’s heavy eyes glowed somberly.
“Of course, it’s best to be on the safe side, and I’m only telling you this in confidence, because even yet I’m not absolutely positive that that young man’s body may not be in the lake.
But it looks mighty suspicious to me, Orville.
There’s been at least fifteen men up there in row-boats all day yesterday and to-day, dragging the south part of that lake.
I had a number of the boys take soundings here and there, and the water ain’t more than twenty-five feet deep at any point.
But so far they haven’t found any trace of him.
They brought her up about one o’clock yesterday, after they’d been only dragging a few hours, and a mighty pretty girl she is too, Orville — quite young — not more than eighteen or twenty, I should say.
But there are some very suspicious circumstances about it all that make me think that he ain’t in there.
In fact, I never saw a case that I thought looked more like a devilish crime than this.”
As he said this, he began to search in the right-hand pocket of his well-worn and baggy linen suit and finally extracted Roberta’s letter, which he handed his friend, drawing up a chair and seating himself while the district attorney proceeded to read.
“Well, this does look rather suspicious, don’t it?” he announced, as he finished.
“You say they haven’t found him yet.
Well, have you communicated with this woman to see what she knows about it?”
“No, Orville, I haven’t,” replied Heit, slowly and meditatively. “And I’ll tell you why.
The fact is, I decided up there last night that this was something I had better talk over with you before I did anything at all.
You know what the political situation here is just now.
And how the proper handling of a case like this is likely to affect public opinion this fall.
And while I certainly don’t think we ought to mix politics in with crime there certainly is no reason why we shouldn’t handle this in such a way as to make it count in our favor.
And so I thought I had better come and see you first.
Of course, if you want me to, Orville, I’ll go over there.
Only I was thinking that perhaps it would be better for you to go, and find out just who this fellow is and all about him.
You know what a case like this might mean from a political point of view, if only we clean it up, and I know you’re the one to do it, Orville.”
“Thanks, Fred, thanks,” replied Mason, solemnly, tapping his desk with the letter and squinting at his friend.
“I’m grateful to you for your opinion and you’ve outlined the very best way to go about it, I think.
You’re sure no one outside yourself has seen this letter?”
“Only the envelope.
And no one but Mr. Hubbard, the proprietor of the inn up there, has seen that, and he told me that he found it in her pocket and took charge of it for fear it might disappear or be opened before I got there.
He said he had a feeling there might be something wrong the moment he heard of the drowning.
The young man had acted so nervous — strange-like, he said.”