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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1888-0.txt b/1888-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6228d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1888-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7857 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. Punshon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bittermeads Mystery + +Author: E. R. Punshon + +Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1888] +Release Date: September, 1999 +Last Updated: March 16, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer + + + + + + + + + +THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY + +By E. R. Punshon + + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE LONE PASSENGER + + II THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS + + III A COINCIDENCE + + IV A WOMAN WEEPS + + V A WOMAN AND A MAN + + VI A DISCOVERY + + VII QUESTION AND ANSWER + + VIII CAPTIVITY CAPTURE + + IX THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + + X THE NEW GARDENER + + XI THE PROBLEM + + XII AN AVOWAL + + XIII INVISIBLE WRITING + + XIV LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + + XV THE SOUND OF A SHOT + + XVI IN THE WOOD + + XVII A DECLARATION + + XVIII ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + + XIX THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + + XX ELLA'S WARNING + + XXI DOUBTS AND FEARS + + XXII PLOTS AND PLANS + + XXIII COUNTER PLANS + + XXIV AN APHORISM + + XXV THE UNEXPECTED + + XXVI A RACE AGAINST TIME + + XXVII FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + XXVIII BACK AT BITTERMEADS + + XXIX THE ATTIC + + XXX SOME EXPLANATIONS + + XXXI CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE LONE PASSENGER + + +That evening the down train from London deposited at the little country +station of Ramsdon but a single passenger, a man of middle height, +shabbily dressed, with broad shoulders and long arms and a most unusual +breadth and depth of chest. + +Of his face one could see little, for it was covered by a thick growth +of dark curly hair, beard, moustache and whiskers, all overgrown and +ill-tended, and as he came with a somewhat slow and ungainly walk along +the platform, the lad stationed at the gate to collect tickets grinned +amusedly and called to one of the porters near: + +“Look at this, Bill; here's the monkey-man escaped and come back along +of us.” + +It was a reference to a travelling circus that had lately visited the +place and exhibited a young chimpanzee advertised as “the monkey-man,” + and Bill guffawed appreciatively. + +The stranger was quite close and heard plainly, for indeed the youth at +the gate had made no special attempt to speak softly. + +The boy was still laughing as he held out his hand for the ticket, and +the stranger gave it to him with one hand and at the same time shot out +a long arm, caught the boy--a well-grown lad of sixteen--by the middle +and, with as little apparent effort as though lifting a baby, swung him +into the air to the top of the gate-post, where he left him clinging +with arms and legs six feet from the ground. + +“Hi, what are you a-doing of?” shouted the porter, running up, as the +amazed and frightened youth, clinging to his gate-post, emitted a dismal +howl. + +“Teaching a cheeky boy manners,” retorted the stranger with an angry +look and in a very gruff and harsh voice. “Do you want to go on top of +the other post to make a pair?” + +The porter drew back hurriedly. + +“You be off,” he ordered as he retreated. “We don't want none of your +sort about here.” + +“I certainly have no intention of staying,” retorted the other as +gruffly as before. “But I think you'll remember Bobbie Dunn next time I +come this way.” + +“Let me down; please let me down,” wailed the boy, clinging desperately +to the gate-post on whose top he had been so unceremoniously deposited, +and Dunn laughed and walked away, leaving the porter to rescue his +youthful colleague and to cuff his ears soundly as soon as he had done +so, by way of a relief to his feelings. + +“That will learn you to be a bit civil to folk, I hope,” said the porter +severely. “But that there chap must have an amazing strong arm,” he +added thoughtfully. “Lifting you up there all the same as you was a +bunch of radishes.” + +For some distance after leaving the station, Dunn walked on slowly. + +He seemed to know the way well or else to be careless of the direction +he took, for he walked along deep in thought with his eyes fixed on the +ground and not looking in the least where he was going. + +Abruptly, a small child appeared out of the darkness and spoke to him, +and he started violently and in a very nervous manner. + +“What was that? What did you say, kiddy?” he asked, recovering himself +instantly and speaking this time not in the gruff and harsh tones he had +used before but in a singularly winning and pleasant voice, cultivated +and gentle, that was in odd contrast with his rough and battered +appearance. “The time, was that what you wanted to know?” + +“Yes, sir; please, sir,” answered the child, who had shrunk back in +alarm at the violent start Dunn had given, but now seemed reassured by +his gentle and pleasant voice. “The right time,” the little one added +almost instantly and with much emphasis on the “right.” + +Dunn gravely gave the required information with the assurance that to +the best of his belief it was “right,” and the child thanked him and +scampered off. + +Resuming his way, Dunn shook his head with an air of grave +dissatisfaction. + +“Nerves all to pieces,” he muttered. “That won't do. Hang it all, the +job's no worse than following a wounded tiger into the jungle, and I've +done that before now. Only then, of course, one knew what to expect, +whereas now--And I was a silly ass to lose my temper with that boy at +the station. You aren't making a very brilliant start, Bobby, my boy.” + +By this time he had left the little town behind him and he was walking +along a very lonely and dark road. + +On one side was a plantation of young trees, on the other there was the +open ground, covered with furze bush, of the village common. + +Where the plantation ended stood a low, two-storied house of medium +size, with a veranda stretching its full length in front. It stood back +from the road some distance and appeared to be surrounded by a large +garden. + +At the gate Dunn halted and struck a match as if to light a pipe, and +by the flickering flame of this match the name “Bittermeads,” painted on +the gate became visible. + +“Here it is, then,” he muttered. “I wonder--” + +Without completing the sentence he slipped through the gate, which was +not quite closed, and entered the garden, where he crouched down in the +shadow of some bushes that grew by the side of the gravel path leading +to the house, and seemed to compose himself for a long vigil. + +An hour passed, and another. Nothing had happened--he had seen nothing, +heard nothing, save for the passing of an occasional vehicle or +pedestrian on the road, and he himself had never stirred or moved, so +that he seemed one with the night and one with the shadows where +he crouched, and a pair of field-mice that had come from the common +opposite went to and fro about their busy occupations at his feet +without paying him the least attention. + +Another hour passed, and at last there began to be signs of life about +the house. + +A light shone in one window and in another, and vanished, and soon the +door opened and there appeared two people on the threshold, clearly +visible in the light of a strong incandescent gas-burner just within the +hall. + +The watcher in the garden moved a little to get a clearer view. + +In the paroxysm of terror at this sudden coming to life of what they had +believed to be a part of the bushes, the two little field-mice scampered +away, and Dunn bit his lip with annoyance, for he knew well that some of +those he had had traffic with in the past would have been very sure, +on hearing that scurrying-off of the frightened mice, that some one was +lurking near at hand. + +But the two in the lighted doorway opening on the veranda heard and +suspected nothing. + +One was a man, one a woman, both were young, both were extraordinarily +good-looking, and as they stood in the blaze of the gas they made a +strikingly handsome and attractive picture on which, however, Dunn +seemed to look from his hiding-place with hostility and watchful +suspicion. + +“How dark it is, there's not a star showing,” the girl was saying. +“Shall you be able to find your way, even with the lantern? You'll keep +to the road, won't you?” + +Her voice was low and pleasant and so clear Dunn heard every word +distinctly. She seemed quite young, not more than twenty or twenty-one, +and she was slim and graceful in build and tall for a woman. Her face, +on which the light shone directly, was oval in shape with a broad, low +forehead on which clustered the small, unruly curls of her dark brown +hair, and she had clear and very bright brown eyes. The mouth and chin +were perhaps a little large to be in absolute harmony with the rest of +her features, and she was of a dark complexion, with a soft and +delicate bloom that would by itself have given her a right to claim her +possession of a full share of good looks. She was dressed quite simply +in a white frock with a touch of colour at the waist and she had a very +flimsy lace shawl thrown over her shoulders, presumably intended as a +protection against the night air. + +Her companion was a very tall and big man, well over six feet in height, +with handsome, strongly-marked features that often bore an expression a +little too haughty, but that showed now a very tender and gentle look, +so that it was not difficult to guess the state of his feelings towards +the girl at his side. His shoulders were broad, his chest deep, and his +whole build powerful in the extreme, and Dunn, looking him up and down +with the quick glance of one accustomed to judge men, thought that he +had seldom seen one more capable of holding his own. + +Answering his companion's remark, he said lightly: + +“Oh, no, I shall cut across the wood, it's ever so much shorter, you +know.” + +“But it's so dark and lonely,” the girl protested. “And then, after last +week--” + +He interrupted her with a laugh, and he lifted his head with a certain +not unpleasing swagger. + +“I don't think they'll trouble me for all their threats,” he said. “For +that matter, I rather hope they will try something of the sort on. They +need a lesson.” + +“Oh, I do hope you'll be careful,” the girl exclaimed. + +He laughed again and made another lightly-confident, almost-boastful +remark, to the effect that he did not think any one was likely to +interfere with him. + +For a minute or two longer they lingered, chatting together as they +stood in the gas-light on the veranda and from his hiding-place Dunn +watched them intently. It seemed that it was the girl in whom he was +chiefly interested, for his eyes hardly moved from her and in them there +showed a very grim and hard expression. + +“Pretty enough,” he mused. “More than pretty. No wonder poor Charles +raved about her, if it's the same girl--if it is, she ought to know +what's become of him. But then, where does this big chap come in?” + +The “big chap” seemed really going now, though reluctantly, and it was +not difficult to see that he would have been very willing to stay longer +had she given him the least encouragement. + +But that he did not get, and indeed it seemed as if she were a little +bored and a little anxious for him to say good night and go. + +At last he did so, and she retired within the house, while he came +swinging down the garden path, passing close to where Dunn lay hidden, +but without any suspicion of his presence, and out into the high road. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE FIGHT IN THE WOOD + + +From his hiding-place in the bushes Dunn slipped out, as the big man +vanished into the darkness down the road, and for the fraction of a +second he seemed to hesitate. + +The lights in the house were coming and going after a fashion that +suggested that the inmates were preparing for bed, and almost at once +Dunn turned his back to the building and hurried very quickly and softly +down the road in the direction the big man had just taken. + +“After all,” he thought, “the house can't run away, that will be still +there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big chap is and +where he comes from.” + +In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness of +his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he moved, +a shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man did as he +melted through the darkness and a swift runner would have difficulty in +keeping pace with him. + +An old labourer going home late bade the big man a friendly good night +and passed on without seeing or hearing Dunn following close behind, +and a solitary woman, watching at her cottage door, saw plainly the big +man's tall form and heard his firm and heavy steps and would have been +ready to swear no other passed that way at that time, though Dunn was +not five yards behind, slipping silently and swiftly by in the shelter +of the trees lining the road. + +A little further beyond this cottage a path, reached by climbing a +stile, led from the high road first across an open field and then +through the heart of a wood that seemed to be of considerable extent. + +The man Dunn was following crossed this stile and when he had gone a +yard or two along the path he halted abruptly, as though all at once +grown uneasy, and looked behind. + +From where he stood any one following him across the stile must have +shown plainly visible against the sky line, but though he lingered for +a moment or two, and even, when he walked on, still looked back very +frequently, he saw nothing. + +Yet Dunn, when his quarry paused and looked back like this, was only a +little distance behind, and when the other moved on Dunn was still very +near. + +But he had not crossed the stile, for when he came to it he realised +that in climbing it his form would be plainly visible in outline for +some distance, and so instead, he had found and crawled through a gap in +the hedge not far away. + +They came, Dunn so close and so noiseless behind his quarry he might +well have seemed the other's shadow, to the outskirts of the wood, and +as they entered it Dunn made his first fault, his first failure in an +exhibition of woodcraft that a North American Indian or an Australian +“black-fellow” might have equalled, but could not have surpassed. + +For he trod heavily on a dry twig that snapped with a very loud, sharp +retort, clearly audible for some distance in the quiet night, and, as +dry twigs only snap like that under the pressure of considerable weight, +the presence of some living creature in the wood other than the small +things that run to and fro beneath the trees, stood revealed to all ears +that could hear. + +Dunn stood instantly perfectly still, rigid as a statue, listening +intently, and he noted with satisfaction and keen relief that the +regular heavy tread of the man in front did not alter or change. + +“Good,” he thought to himself. “What luck, he hasn't heard it.” + +He moved on again, as silently as before, perhaps a little inclined to +be contemptuous of any one who could fail to notice so plain a warning, +and he supposed that the man he was following must be some townsman who +knew nothing at all of the life of the country and was, like so many of +the dwellers in cities, blind and deaf outside the range of the noises +of the streets and the clamour of passing traffic. + +This thought was still in his mind when all at once the steady sound of +footsteps he had been following ceased suddenly and abruptly, cut off on +the instant as you turn off water from a tap. + +Dunn paused, too, supposing that for some reason the other had stopped +for a moment and would soon walk on again. + +But a minute passed and then another and there was still no sound of +the footsteps beginning again. A little puzzled, Dunn moved cautiously +forward. + +He saw nothing, he found nothing, there was no sign at all of the man he +had been following. + +It was as though he had vanished bodily from the face of the earth, and +yet how this had happened, or why, or what had become of him, Dunn could +not imagine, for this spot was, it seemed, in the very heart of the +wood, there was no shelter of any sort or kind anywhere near, and though +there were trees all round just the ground was fairly open. + +“Well, that's jolly queer,” he muttered, for indeed it had a strange and +daunting effect, this sudden disappearance in the midst of the wood of +the man he had followed so far, and the silence around seemed all the +more intense now that those regular and heavy footsteps had ceased. + +“Jolly queer, as queer a thing as ever I came across,” he muttered +again. + +He listened and heard a faint sound from his right. He listened again +and thought he heard a rustling on his left, but was not sure and all +at once a great figure loomed up gigantic before him and the light of +lantern gleamed in his face. + +“Now, my man,” a voice said, “you've been following me ever since I left +Bittermeads, and I'm going to give you a lesson you won't forget in a +hurry.” + +Dunn stood quite still. At the moment his chief feeling was one of +intense discomfiture at the way in which he had been outwitted, and he +experienced, too, a very keen and genuine admiration for the woodcraft +the other had shown. + +Evidently, all the time he had known, or at any rate, suspected, that +he was being followed, and choosing this as a favourable spot he had +quietly doubled on his tracks, come up behind his pursuer, and taken him +unawares. + +Dunn had not supposed there was a man in England who could have played +such a trick on him, but his admiration was roughly disturbed before he +could express it, for the grasp upon his collar tightened and upon his +shoulders there alighted a tremendous, stinging blow, as with all his +very considerable strength, the big man brought down his walking-stick +with a resounding thwack. + +The sheer surprise of it, the sudden sharp pain, jerked a quick cry from +Dunn, who had not been in the least prepared for such an attack, and in +the darkness had not seen the stick rise, and the other laughed grimly. + +“Yes, you scoundrel,” he said. “I know very well who you are and what +you want, and I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life.” + +Again the stick rose in the air, but did not fall, for round about his +body Dunn laid such a grip as he had never felt before and as would for +certain have crushed in the ribs of a weaker man. The lantern crashed to +the ground, they were in darkness. + +“Ha! Would you?” the man exclaimed, taken by surprise in his turn, and, +giant as he was, he felt himself plucked up from the ground as you pluck +a weed from a lawn and held for a moment in mid-air and then dashed down +again. + +Perhaps not another man alive could have kept his footing under such +treatment, but, somehow, he managed to, though it needed all his great +strength to resist the shock. + +He flung away his walking-stick, for he realized very clearly now that +this was not going to be, as he had anticipated, a mere case of the +administration of a deserved punishment, but rather the starkest, +fiercest fight that ever he had known. + +He grappled with his enemy, trying to make the most of his superior +height and weight, but the long arms twined about him, seemed to press +the very breath from his body and for all the huge efforts he put forth +with every ounce of his tremendous strength behind them, he could not +break loose from the no less tremendous grip wherein he was taken. + +Breast to breast they fought, straining, swaying a little this way or +that, but neither yielding an inch. Their muscles stood out like bars of +steel, their breath came heavily, neither man was conscious any more of +anything save his need to conquer and win and overthrow his enemy. + +The quick passion of hot rage that had come upon Dunn when he felt the +other's unexpected blow still burned and flamed intensely, so that he +no longer remembered even the strange and high purpose which had brought +him here. + +His adversary, too, had lost all consciousness of all other things in +the lust of this fierce physical battle, and when he gave presently a +loud, half-strangled shout, it was not fear that he uttered or a cry +for aid, but solely for joy in such wild struggle and efforts as he had +never known before. + +And Dunn spake no word and uttered no sound, but strove all the more +with all the strength of every nerve and muscle he possessed once again +to pluck the other up that he might dash him down a second time. + +In quick and heavy gasps came their breaths as they still swayed and +struggled together, and though each exerted to the utmost a strength few +could have withstood, each found that in the other he seemed to have met +his match. + +In vain Dunn tried again to lift his adversary up so that he might hurl +him to the ground. It was an effort, a grip that seemed as though it +might have torn up an oak by the roots, but the other neither budged nor +flinched beneath it. + +And in vain, in his turn, did he try to bend Dunn backwards to crush him +to the earth, it was an effort before which one might have thought that +iron and stone must have given away, but Dunn still sustained it. + +Thus dreadfully they fought, there in the darkness, there in the silence +of the night. + +Dreadfully they wrestled, implacable, fierce, determined, every primeval +passion awake and strong again, and slowly, very slowly, that awful grip +laid upon the big man's body began to tell. + +His breathing grew more difficult, his efforts seemed aimed more to +release himself than to overcome his adversary, he gave way an inch or +two, no more, but still an inch or two of ground. + +There was a sharp sound, like a thin, dry twig snapping beneath a +careless foot. + +It was one of his ribs breaking beneath the dreadful and intolerable +pressure of Dunn's enormous grip. But neither of the combatants heard +or knew, and with one last effort the big man put forth all his vast +strength in a final attempt to bear his enemy down. + +Dunn resisted still, resisted, though the veins stood out like cords on +his brow, though a little trickle of blood crept from the corner of his +mouth and though his heart swelled almost to bursting. + +There was a sound of many waters in his ears, the darkness all around +grew shot with little flames, he could hear some one breathing very +noisily and he was not sure whether this were himself or his adversary +till he realized that it was both of them. With one sudden, almost +superhuman effort, he heaved his great adversary up, but had not +strength enough left to do more than let him slip from his grasp to fall +on the ground, and with the effort he himself dropped forward on his +hands and knees, just as a lantern shone at a distance and a voice +cried: + +“This way, Tom. Master John, Master John, where are you?” + + + +CHAPTER III. A COINCIDENCE + + +Another voice answered from near by and Dunn scrambled hurriedly to his +feet. + +He had but a moment in which to decide what to do, for these new +arrivals were coming at a run and would be upon him almost instantly if +he stayed where he was. + +That they were friends of the man he had just overthrown and whose huge +bulk lay motionless in the darkness at his feet, seemed plain, and it +also seemed plain to him that the moment was not an opportune one for +offering explanations. + +Swiftly he decided to slip away into the darkness. What had happened +might be cleared up later when he knew more and was more sure of his +ground; at present he must think first, he told himself, of the success +of his mission. + +Physically, he was greatly exhausted and his gait was not so steady nor +his progress so silent and skillful as it had been before, as now he +hurried away from the scene of the combat. + +But the two new-comers made no attempt to pursue him and indeed did not +seem to give his possible presence in the vicinity even a thought, as +with many muttered exclamations of dismay and anger, they stooped over +the body of his prostrate enemy. + +It was evident they recognized him at once, and that he was the “Mr. +John” whose name they had called, for so they spoke of him to each other +as they busied themselves about him. + +“I expect I've been a fool again,” Dunn thought to himself ruefully, as +from a little distance, well-sheltered in the darkness, he crouched upon +the ground and listened and watched. “I may have ruined everything. Any +one but a fool would have asked him what he meant when he hit out like +that instead of flying into a rage and hitting back the way I did. Most +likely it was some mistake when he said he knew who I was and what I +wanted--at least if it wasn't--I hope I haven't killed him, anyhow.” + +Secure in the protection the dark night afforded him, he remained +sufficiently near at hand to be able to assure himself soon that his +overthrown adversary was certainly not killed, for now he began to +express himself somewhat emphatically concerning the manner in which the +two new-comers were ministering to him. + +Presently he got to his feet and, with one of them supporting him on +each side, began to limp away, and Dunn followed them, though cautiously +and at a distance, for he was still greatly exhausted and in neither the +mood nor the condition for running unnecessary risks. + +The big man, Mr. John, as the others called him, seemed little inclined +for speech, but the others talked a good deal, subsiding sometimes when +he told them gruffly to be quiet but invariably soon beginning again +their expressions of sympathy and vows of vengeance against his unknown +assailant. + +“How many of them do you think there were, Mr. John, sir?” one asked +presently. “I'll lay you marked a fair sight of the villains.” + +“There was only one man,” Mr. John answered briefly. + +“Only one?” the other repeated in great surprise. “For the Lord's sake, +Mr. John--only one? Why, there ain't any one man between here and Lunnon +town could stand up to you, sir, in a fair tussle.” + +“Well, he did,” Mr. John answered. “He had the advantage, he took me by +surprise, but I never felt such a grip in my life.” + +“Lor', now, think of that,” said the other in tones in which surprise +seemed mingled with a certain incredulity. “It don't seem possible, but +for sure, then, he don't come from these here parts, that I'll stand +to.” + +“I knew that much before,” retorted Mr. John. “I said all the time +they were outsiders, a London gang very likely. You'll have to get Dr. +Rawson, Bates. I don't know what's up, but I've a beast of a pain in my +side. I can hardly breathe.” + +Bates murmured respectful sympathy as they came out of the shelter +of the trees, and crossing some open ground, reached a road along the +further side of which ran a high brick wall. + +In this, nearly opposite the spot where they emerged on the road, was a +small door which one of the men opened and through which they passed and +locked it behind them, leaving Dunn without. + +He hesitated for a moment, half-minded to scale the wall and continue on +the other side of it to follow them. + +Calculating the direction in which the village of Ramsdon must lie, he +turned that way and had gone only a short distance when he was overtaken +by a pedestrian with whom he began conversation by asking for a light +for his pipe. + +The man seemed inclined to be conversational, and after a few casual +remarks, Dunn made an observation on the length of the wall they were +passing and to the end of which they had just come. + +“Must be a goodish-sized place in there,” he said. “Whose is it?” + +“Oh, that there's Ramsdon Place,” the other answered. “Mr. John Clive +lives there now his father's dead.” + +Dunn stood still in the middle of the road. + +“Who? What?” he stammered. “Who--who did you say?” + +“Mr. John Clive,” the other repeated. “Why--what's wrong about that?” + +“Nothing, nothing,” Dunn answered, but his voice shook a little with +what seemed almost fear, and behind the darkness of the friendly night +his face had become very pale. “Clive--John Clive, you say? Oh, that's +impossible.” + +“Needn't believe it if you don't want to,” grumbled the other. “Only +what do you want asking questions for if you thinks folks tells lies +when they answers them?” + +“I didn't mean that, of course not,” exclaimed Dunn hurriedly, by no +means anxious to offend the other. “I'm very sorry, I only meant it was +impossible it should be the same Mr. John Clive I knew once, though I +think he came from about here somewhere. A little, middle-aged man, I +mean, quite bald and wears glasses?” + +“Oh, that ain't this 'un,” answered the other, his good humour quite +restored. “This is a young man and tremendous big. I ain't so small +myself, but he tops me by a head and shoulders and so he does most +hereabouts. Strong, too, with it, there ain't so many would care to +stand up against him, I can tell you. Why, they do say he caught two +poachers in the wood there last month and brought 'em out one under each +arm like a pair of squealing babes.” + +“Did he, though?” said Dunn. “Take some doing, that, and I daresay the +rest of the gang will try to get even with him for it.” + +“Well, they do say as there's been threats,” the other agreed. “But what +I says is as Mr. John can look after hisself all right. There was a tale +as a man had been dodging after him at night, but all he said when they +told him, was as if he caught any one after him he would thrash them +within an inch of their lives.” + +“Serve them right, too,” exclaimed Dunn warmly. + +Evidently this explained, in part at least, what had recently happened. +Mr. Clive, finding himself being followed, had supposed it was one of +his poaching enemies and had at once attempted to carry out his threat +he had made. + +Dunn told himself, at any rate, the error would have the result of +turning all suspicion away from him, and yet he still seemed very +disturbed and ill at ease. + +“Has Mr. Clive been here long?” he asked. + +“It must be four or five years since his father bought the place,” + answered his new acquaintance. “Then, when the old man was killed a year +ago, Mr. John inherited everything.” + +“Old Mr. Clive was killed, was he?” asked Dunn, and his voice sounded +very strange in the darkness. “How was that?” + +“Accident to his motor-car,” the other replied. “I don't hold with them +things myself--give me a good horse, I say. People didn't like the old +man much, and some say Mr. John's too fond of taking the high hand. But +don't cross him and he won't cross you, that's his motto and there's +worse.” + +Dunn agreed and asked one or two more questions about the details of the +accident to old Mr. Clive, in which he seemed very interested. + +But he did not get much more information about that concerning which his +new friend evidently knew very little. However, he gave Dunn a few more +facts concerning Mr. John Clive, as that he was unmarried, was said to +be very wealthy, and had the reputation of being something of a ladies' +man. + +A little further on they parted, and Dunn took a side road which he +calculated should lead him back to Bittermeads. + +“It may be pure coincidence,” he mused as he walked slowly in a very +troubled and doubtful mood. “But if so, it's a very queer one, and if +it isn't, it seems to me Mr. John Clive might as well put his head in +a lion's jaws as pay visits at Bittermeads. But of course he can't have +the least suspicion of the truth--if it is the truth. If I hadn't lost +my temper like a fool when he whacked out at me like that I might have +been able to warn him, or find out something useful perhaps. And his +father killed recently in an accident--is that a coincidence, too, I +wonder?” + +He passed his hand across his forehead on which a light sweat stood, +though he was not a man easily affected, for he had seen and endured +many things. + +His mind was very full of strange and troubled thoughts as at last he +came back to Bittermeads, where, leaning with his elbows on the garden +gate, he stood for a long time, watching the dark and silent house and +thinking of that scene of which he had been a spectator when John Clive +and the girl had stood together on the veranda in the light of the gas +from the hall and had bidden each other good night. + +“It seems,” he mused, “as though the last that was seen of poor Charley +must have been just like that. It was just such a dark night as this +when Simpson saw him. He was standing on that veranda when Simpson +recognized him by the light of the gas behind, and a girl was bidding +him good night--a very pretty girl, too, Simpson said.” + +Silent and immobile he stood there a long time, not so much now as one +who watched, but rather as if deep in thought, for his head was bent and +supported on his hands and his eyes were fixed on the ground. + +“As for this John Clive,” he muttered presently, rousing himself. “I +suppose that must be a coincidence, but it's queer, and queer the father +should have died--like that.” + +He broke off, shuddering slightly, as though at thoughts too awful to be +endured, and pushing open the gate, he walked slowly up the gravel path +towards the house, round which he began to walk, going very slowly +and cautiously and often pausing as if he wished to make as close +examination of the place as the darkness would permit. + +More by habit than because he thought there was any need of it, he moved +always with that extreme and wonderful dexterity of quietness he could +assume at will, and as he turned the corner of the building and came +behind it, his quick ear, trained by many an emergency to pick out the +least unusual sound, caught a faint, continued scratching noise, so +faint and low it might well have passed unnoticed. + +All at once he understood and realized that some one quite close at +hand was stealthily cutting out the glass from one of the panes of a +ground-floor window. + + + +CHAPTER IV. A WOMAN WEEPS + + +Cautiously he glided nearer, moving as noiselessly as any shadow, +seeming indeed but one shadow the more in the heavy surrounding +darkness. + +The persistent scratching noise continued, and Dunn was now so close he +could have put out his hand and touched the shoulder of the man who was +causing it and who still, intent and busy, had not the least idea of the +other's proximity. + +A faint smile touched Dunn's lips. The situation seemed not to be +without a grim humour, for if one-half of what he suspected were true, +one might as sensibly and safely attempt to break into the condemned +cell at Pentonville Gaol as into this quiet house. + +But then, was it perhaps possible that this fellow, working away so +unconcernedly, within arm's-length of him, was in reality one of them, +seeking to obtain admittance in this way for some reason of his own, +some private treachery, it might be, or some dispute? To Dunn that +did not seem likely. More probably the fellow was merely an +ordinary burglar--some local practitioner of the housebreaking art, +perhaps--whose ill-fortune it was to have hit upon this house to rob +without his having the least idea of the nature of the place he was +trying to enter. + +“He might prove a useful recruit for them, though,” Dunn thought, and a +sudden idea flashed into his mind, vivid and startling. + +For one moment he thought intently, weighing in his mind this idea that +had come to him so suddenly. He was not blind to the risks it involved, +but his eager temperament always inclined him to the most direct and +often to the most dangerous course. His mind was made up, his plan of +action decided. + +The scratching of the burglar's tool upon the glass ceased. Already he +had smeared treacle over the square of glass he intended to remove and +had covered it with paper so as to be able to take it out easily and in +one piece without the risk of falling fragments betraying him. + +Through the gap thus made he thrust his arm and made sure there were no +alarms fitted and no obstacles in the way of his easy entrance. + +Cautiously he unfastened the window and cautiously and silently lifted +the sash, and when he had done so he paused and listened for a space to +make sure no one was stirring and that no alarm had been caused within +the house. + +Still very cautiously and with the utmost precaution to avoid making +even the least noise, he put one knee upon the window-sill, preparatory +to climbing in, and as he did so Dunn touched him lightly on the +shoulder. + +“Well, my man, what are you up to?” he said softly. And without a +word, without giving the least warning, the burglar, a man evidently +of determination and resource, swung round and aimed at Dunn's head a +tremendous blow with the heavy iron jemmy he held in his right hand. + +But Dunn was not unprepared for an attack and those bright, keen eyes of +his seemed able to see as well in the dark as in the light. He threw up +his left hand and caught the other's wrist before that deadly blow he +aimed could descend and at the same instant he dashed his own clenched +fist full into the burglar's face. + +As it happened, more by good luck than intended aim, the blow took him +on the point of the chin. He dropped instantly, collapsing in on himself +as falls a pole-axed bullock, and lay, unconscious, in a crumpled heap +on the ground. + +For a little Dunn waited, crouching above him and listening for the +least sound to show that their brief scuffle had been heard. + +But it had all passed nearly as silently as quickly. Within the house +everything remained silent, there was no sound audible, no gleam of +light to show that any of the inmates had been disturbed. + +Taking from his pocket a small electric flash-lamp Dunn turned its light +on his victim. + +He seemed a man of middle age with a brutal, heavy-jawed face and a low, +receding forehead. His lips, a little apart, showed yellow, irregular +teeth, of which two at the front of the lower jaw had been broken, and +the scar of an old wound, running from the corner of his left eye down +to the centre of his cheek, added to the sinister and forbidding aspect +he bore. + +His build was heavy and powerful and near by, where he had dropped it +when he fell, lay the jemmy with which he had struck at Dunn. It was +a heavy, ugly-looking thing, about two feet in length and with one end +nearly as sharp as that of a chisel. + +Dunn picked it up and felt it thoughtfully. + +“Just as well I got my blow in first,” he mused. “If he had landed that +fairly on my skull I don't think anything else in this world would ever +have interested me any more.” + +Stooping over the unconscious man, he felt in his pockets and found an +ugly-looking revolver, fully loaded, a handful of cartridges, a coil +of thin rope, an electric torch, a tiny dark lantern no bigger than a +match-box, and so arranged that the single drop of light it permitted +to escape fell on one spot only, a bunch of curiously-shaped wires Dunn +rightly guessed to be skeleton keys used for opening locks quietly, +together with some tobacco, a pipe, a little money, and a few other +personal belongings of no special interest or significance. + +These Dunn replaced where he had found them, but the revolver, the rope, +the torch, the dark lantern, and the bunch of wires he took possession +of. + +He noticed also that the man was wearing rubber-soled boots and rubber +gloves, and these last he also kept. Stooping, he lifted the unconscious +man on to his shoulder and carried him with perfect ease and at a quick +pace out of the garden and across the road to the common opposite, +where, in a convenient spot, behind some furze bushes, he laid him down. + +“When he comes round,” Dunn muttered. “He won't know where he is or +what's happened, and probably his one idea will be to clear off as +quickly as possible. I don't suppose he'll interfere with me at all.” + +Then a new idea seemed to strike him, and he hurriedly removed his own +coat and trousers and boots and exchanged them for those the burglar was +wearing. + +They were not a good fit, but he could get them on and the idea in his +mind was that if the police of the district began searching, as very +likely they would, for Mr. John Clive's assailant, and if they had +discovered any clues in the shape of footprints or torn bits of clothing +or buttons--and Dunn knew his attire had suffered considerably during +the struggle--then it would be as well that such clues should lead not +to him, but to this other man, who, if he were innocent on that score, +had at any rate been guilty of attempting to carry out a much worse +offence. + +“I'm afraid your luck's out, old chap,” Dunn muttered, apostrophizing +the unconscious man. “But you did your best to brain me, and that gives +me a sort of right to make you useful. Besides, if the police do run you +in, it won't mean anything worse than a few questions it'll be your own +fault if you can't answer. Anyhow, I can't afford to run the risk of +some blundering fool of a policeman trying to arrest me for assaulting +the local magnate.” + +Much relieved in mind, for he had been greatly worried by a fear that +this encounter with John Clive might lead to highly inconvenient legal +proceedings, he left the unlucky burglar lying in the shelter of the +furze bushes and returned to the house. + +All was as he had left it, the open window gaped widely, almost inviting +entrance, and he climbed silently within. The apartment in which he +found himself was apparently the drawing-room and he felt his way +cautiously and slowly across it, moving with infinite care so as to +avoid making even the least noise. + +Reaching the door, he opened it and went out into the hall. All was dark +and silent. He permitted himself here to flash on his electric torch for +a moment, and he saw that the hall was spacious and used as a lounge, +for there were several chairs clustered in its centre, opposite the +fireplace. There were two or three doors opening from it, and almost +opposite where he stood were the stairs, a broad flight leading to a +wide landing above. + +Still with the same extreme silence and care, he began to ascend these +stairs and when he was about half-way up he became aware of a faint and +strange sound that came trembling through the silence and stillness of +the night. + +What it was he could not imagine. He listened for a time and then +resumed his silent progress with even more care than previously, and +only when he reached the landing did he understand that this faint and +low sound he heard was caused by a woman weeping very softly in one of +the rooms near by. + +Silently he crossed the landing in the direction whence the sound seemed +to come. Now, too, he saw a thread of light showing beneath a door at a +little distance, and when he crept up to it and listened he could hear +for certain that it was from within this room that there came the sound +of muffled, passionate weeping. + +The door was closed, but he turned the handle so carefully that he made +not the least sound and very cautiously he began to push the door back, +the tiniest fraction of an inch at a time, so that even one watching +closely could never have said that it moved. + +When, after a long time, during which the muffled weeping never ceased, +he had it open an inch or two, he leaned forward and peeped within. + +It was a bed-chamber, and, crouching on the floor near the fireplace, in +front of a low arm-chair, her head hidden on her arms and resting on +the seat of the chair, was the figure of a girl. She had made no +preparations for retiring, and by the frock she wore Dunn recognized her +as the girl he had seen on the veranda bidding good-bye to John Clive. + +The sound of her weeping was very pitiful, her attitude was full of an +utter and poignant despair, there was something touching in the extreme +in the utter abandonment to grief shown by this young and lovely +creature who seemed framed only for joy and laughter. + +The stern features and hard eyes of the unseen watcher softened, then +all at once they grew like tempered steel again. + +For on the mantlepiece, just above where the weeping girl crouched, +stood a photograph--the photograph of a young and good-looking, +gaily-smiling man. Across it, in a boyish and somewhat unformed hand, +was written, + + “Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright.” + +It was this photograph that had caught Dunn's eyes. Both it and the +writing and the signature he recognized, and his look was very stern, +his eyes as cold as death itself, as slowly, slowly he pushed back the +door of the room another inch or so. + + + +CHAPTER V. A WOMAN AND A MAN + + +The girl stirred. It was as though some knowledge of the slow opening of +the door had penetrated to her consciousness before as yet she actually +saw or heard anything. + +She rose to her feet, drying her eyes with her handkerchief, and as she +was moving to a drawer near to get a clean one her glance fell on the +partially-open door. + +“I thought I shut it,” she said aloud in a puzzled manner. + +She crossed the floor to the door and closed it with a push from her +hand and in the passage outside Dunn stood still, not certain what to do +next. + +But for that photograph he might have gone quietly away, giving up the +reckless plan that had formed itself so suddenly in his mind while he +watched the burglar at work. + +That photograph, however, with its suggestion that he stood indeed on +the brink of the solution of the mystery, seemed a summons to him to go +on. It was as though a voice from the dead called him to continue on his +task to punish and to save, and slowly, very slowly, with an infinite +caution, he turned again the handle of the door and still very slowly, +still with the same infinite caution, he pushed back the door the merest +fraction of an inch at a time so that not even one watching could have +said that it moved. + +When he had it once more so far open that he could see within, he bent +forward to look. The girl was beginning her preparations for the night +now. She had assumed a long, comfortable-looking dressing-gown and, +standing in front of the mirror, she had just finished brushing her hair +and was beginning to fasten it up in a long plait. He could see her face +in the mirror; her deep, sad eyes, swollen with crying, her cheeks still +tear-stained, her mouth yet quivering with barely-repressed emotion. + +He was still watching her when, as if growing uneasy, she turned her +head and glanced over her shoulder, and though he moved back so quickly +that she did not catch sight of him, she saw that the door was open once +more. + +“What can be the matter with the door?” she exclaimed aloud, and +she crossed the room towards it with a quick and somewhat impatient +movement. + +But this time, instead of closing it, she pulled it open and found +herself face to face with Dunn. + +He did not speak or move, and she stood staring at him blankly. Slowly +her mouth opened as though to utter a cry that, however, could not rise +above her fluttering throat. Her face had taken on the pallor of death, +her great eyes showed the awful fear she felt. + +Still without speaking, Dunn stepped forward into the room and, closing +the door, stood with his back to it. + +She shrank away and put her hand upon a chair, but for the support of +which she must certainly have fallen, for her limbs were trembling so +violently they gave her little support. + +“Don't hurt me,” she panted. + +In truth he presented a strange and terrifying appearance. The unkempt +hair that covered his face and through which his keen eyes glowed like +fire, gave him an unusual and formidable aspect. In one hand he held the +ugly-looking jemmy he had taken from the burglar, and the new clothes +he had donned, ill-fitting and soiled, served to accentuate the +ungainliness of his form. + +The frightened girl was not even sure that he was human, and she shrank +yet further away from him till she sank down upon the bed, dizzy with +fear and almost swooning. + +As yet he had not spoken, for his eyes had gone to the mantlepiece on +which he saw that the photograph signed with the name “Charley Wright,” + did not now stand upright, but had fallen forward on its face so that +one could no longer see what it represented. + +It must have fallen just as he entered the room and this seemed to him +an omen, though whether of good or ill, he did not know. + +“Who are you?” the girl stammered. “What do you want?” + +He looked at her moodily and still without answering, though in his +bright and keen eyes a strange light burned. + +She was lovely, he thought, of that there could be no question. But her +beauty made to him small appeal, for he was wondering what kind of soul +lay behind those perfect features, that smooth and delicate skin, those +luminous eyes. Yet his eyes were still hard and it was in his roughest, +gruffest tones that he said: + +“You needn't be afraid, I won't hurt you.” + +“I'll give you everything I have,” she panted, “if only you'll go away.” + +“Not so fast as all that,” he answered, coolly, for indeed he had not +taken so mad a risk in order to go away again if he could help it. “Who +is there in the house besides you?” + +“Only mother,” she answered, looking up at him very pleadingly as if in +hopes that he must relent when he saw her in distress. “Please, won't +you take what you want and go away? Please don't disturb mother, it +would nearly kill her.” + +“I'm not going to hurt either you or your mother if you'll be sensible,” + he said irritably, for, unreasonably enough, the extreme fear she showed +and her pleading tones annoyed him. He had a feeling that he would +like to shake her, it was so absurd of her to look at him as though she +expected him to gobble her up in a mouthful. + +She seemed a little reassured. + +“Mother will be so dreadfully frightened,” she repeated, “I'll give you +everything there is in the house if only you'll go at once.” + +“I can take everything I want without your giving it me,” he retorted. +“How do I know you're telling the truth when you say there's no one else +in the house? How many servants have you?” + +“None,” she answered. “There's a woman comes every day, but she doesn't +sleep here.” + +“Do you live all alone here with your mother?” he asked, watching her +keenly. + +“There's my stepfather,” she answered. “But he's not here tonight.” + +“Oh, is he away?” Dunn asked, his expression almost one of +disappointment. + +The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching him +as keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of disappointment, and +could not help wondering what sort of burglar it was who was not pleased +to hear that the man of the house was away, and that he had only two +women to deal with. + +And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but rather +at a loss what to do next. + +As in truth he was, for that the stepfather should be away, and this +girl and her mother all alone, was, perhaps, the one possibility that he +had never considered. + +She noticed, too, that he did not pay any attention to her jewellery, +which was lying close to his hand on the toilet-table, and though in +point of actual fact this jewellery was not of any great value, it was +exceedingly precious in her eyes, and she did not understand a burglar +who showed no eagerness to seize on it. + +“Did you want to see Mr. Dawson?” she asked, her voice more confident +now and even with a questioning note in it. + +“Mr. Dawson! Who's he?” Dunn asked, disconcerted by the question, but +not wishing to seem so. + +“My stepfather, Mr. Deede Dawson,” she answered. “I think you knew that. +If you want him, he went to London early today, but I think it's quite +likely he may come back tonight.” + +“What should I want him for?” growled Dunn, more and more disconcerted, +as he saw that he was not playing his part too well. + +“I don't know,” she answered. “I suppose you do.” + +“You suppose a lot,” he retorted roughly. “Now you listen to me. I don't +want to hurt you, but I don't mean to be interfered with. I'm going over +the house to see what I can find that's worth taking. Understand?” + +“Oh, perfectly,” she said. + +She was watching him closely, and she noticed that he still made no +attempt to take possession of her jewellery, though it lay at his hand, +and that puzzled her very much, indeed, for she supposed the very first +thing a burglar did was always to seize such treasures as these of hers. +But this man paid them no attention whatever, and did not even notice +them. + +He was feeling in his pockets now and he took out the revolver and the +coil of thin rope he had secured from the burglar. + +“Now, do you know what I'm going to do?” he asked, with an air of +roughness and brutality that was a little overdone. He put the revolver +and the rope down on the bed, the revolver quite close to her. + +“I'm going,” he continued, “to tie you up to one of those chairs. I +can't risk your playing any tricks or giving an alarm, perhaps, while +I'm searching the house. I shall take what's worth having, and then I +shall clear off, and if your stepfather's coming home tonight you won't +have to wait long till he releases you, and if he don't come I can't +help it.” + +He turned his back to her as he spoke and took hold of one of the chairs +in the room, and then of another and looked at them as though carefully +considering which would be the best to use for the carrying out of his +threat. + +He appeared to find it difficult to decide, for he kept his back turned +to her for two or three minutes, during all of which time the revolver +lay on the bed quite close to her hand. + +He listened intently for he fully expected her to snatch it up, and he +wished to be ready to turn before she could actually fire. But, indeed, +nothing was further from her thoughts, for she did not know in the least +how to use the weapon or even how to fire it off, and the very thought +of employing it to kill any one would have terrified her far more even +than had done her experiences of this night. + +So the pistol lay untouched by her side, while, very pale and trembling +a little, she waited what he would do, and on his side he felt as much +puzzled by her failure to use the opportunity he had put in her way as +she was puzzled by his neglect to seize her jewellery lying ready to his +hand. + +He was still hesitating, still appearing unable to decide which chair to +employ in carrying out his proclaimed purpose of fastening her up when +she asked a question that made him swing round upon her very quickly and +with a very startled look. + +“Are you a real burglar?” she said. + + + +CHAPTER VI. A DISCOVERY + + +“What do you mean?” Dunn asked quickly. The matted growth of hair on his +face served well to hide any change of expression, but his eyes betrayed +him with their look of surprise and discomfiture, and in her own clear +and steady glance appeared now a kind of puzzled mockery as if she +understood well that all he did was done for some purpose, though what +that purpose was still perplexed her. + +“I mean,” she said slowly, “well--what do I mean? I am only asking +a question. Are you a burglar--or have you come here for some other +reason?” + +“I don't know what you're getting at,” he grumbled. “Think I'm here for +fun? Not me. Come and sit on this chair and put your hands behind you +and don't make a noise, or scream, or anything, not if you value your +life.” + +“I don't know that I do very much,” she answered with a manner of +extreme bitterness, but more as if speaking to herself than to him. + +She did as he ordered, and he proceeded to tie her wrists together and +to fasten them to the back of the chair on which she had seated herself. +He was careful not to draw the cords too tight, but at the same time he +made the fastening secure. + +“You won't disturb mother, will you?” she asked quietly when he had +finished. “Her room's the one at the end of the passage.” + +“I don't want to disturb any one,” he answered. “I only want to get off +quietly. I won't gag you, but don't you try to make any noise, if you do +I'll come back. Understand?” + +“Oh, perfectly,” she answered. “May I ask one question? Do you feel very +proud of yourself just now?” + +He did not answer, but went out of the room quickly, and he had an +impression that she smiled as she watched him go, and that her smile was +bitter and a little contemptuous. + +“What a girl,” he muttered. “She scored every time. I didn't find out a +thing, she didn't do anything I expected or wanted her to. She seemed as +if she spotted me right off--I wonder if she did? I wonder if she could +be trusted?” + +But then he thought of that photograph on the mantelpiece and his look +grew stern and hard again. He was careful to avoid the room the girl had +indicated as occupied by her mother, but of all the others on that floor +he made a hasty search without discovering anything to interest him or +anything of the least importance or at all unusual. + +From the wide landing in the centre of the house a narrow stairway, +hidden away behind an angle of the wall so that one did not notice it +at first, led above to three large attics with steeply-sloping roofs and +evidently designed more for storage purposes than for habitation. + +The doors of two of these were open and within was merely a collection +of such lumber as soon accumulates in any house. + +The door of the third attic was locked, but by aid of the jemmy he still +carried, he forced it open without difficulty. + +Within was nothing but a square packing-case, standing in the middle of +the floor. Otherwise the light of the electric torch he flashed around +showed only the bare boarding of the floor and the bare plastered walls. + +Near the packing-case a hammer and some nails lay on the floor and the +lid was in position but was not fastened, as though some interruption +had occurred before the task of nailing it down could be completed. + +Dunn noted that one nail had been driven home, and he was on the point +of leaving the attic, for he knew he had not much time and hoped that +downstairs he would be able to make some discoveries of importance, when +it occurred to him that it might be wise to see what was in this case, +the nailing down the lid of which had not been completed. + +He crossed the room to it, and without drawing the one nail, pushed back +the lid which pivoted on it quite easily. + +Within appeared a covering of coarse sacking. He pulled this away with +a careless hand, and beneath the beam of his electric torch showed the +pale and dreadful features of a dead man--of a man, the center of whose +forehead showed the small round hole where a bullet had entered in; of +a man whose still-recognizable features were those of the photograph on +the mantel-piece of the room downstairs, the photograph that was signed: + + “Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright.” + +For a long time Robert Dunn stood, looking down in silence at that dead +face which was hardly more still, more rigid than his own. + +He shivered, for he felt very cold. It was as though the coldness of the +death in whose presence he stood had laid its chilly hand on him also. + +At last he stirred and looked about him with a bewildered air, then +carefully and with a reverent hand, he put back the sackcloth covering. + +“So I've found you, Charley,” he whispered. “Found you at last.” + +He replaced the lid, leaving everything as it had been when he entered +the attic, and stood for a time, trying to collect his thoughts which +the shock of this dreadful discovery had so disordered, and to decide +what to do next. + +“But, then, that's simple,” he thought. “I must go straight to the +police and bring them here. They said they wanted proof; they said I had +nothing to go on but bare suspicion. But that's evidence enough to hang +Deede Dawson--the girl, too, perhaps.” + +Then he wondered whether it could be that she knew nothing and was +innocent of all part or share in this dreadful deed. But how could that +be possible? How could it be that such a crime committed in the house in +which she lived could remain unknown to her? + +On the other hand, when he thought of her clear, candid eyes; when he +remembered her gentle beauty, it did not seem conceivable that behind +them could lie hidden the tigerish soul of a murderess. + +“That's only sentiment, though,” he muttered. “Nothing more. Beautiful +women have been rotten bad through and through before today. There's +nothing for me to do but to go and inform the police, and get them here +as soon as possible. If she's innocent, I suppose she'll be able to +prove it.” + +He hesitated a moment, as he thought of how he had left her, bound and a +prisoner. + +It seemed brutal to leave her like that while he was away, for he would +probably be some time absent. But with a hard look, he told himself that +whatever pain she suffered she must endure it. + +His first and sole thought must be to bring to justice the murderers of +his unfortunate friend; and to secure, too, thereby, the success almost +certainly of his own mission. + +To release her and leave her at liberty might endanger the attainment of +both those ends, and so she must remain a prisoner. + +“Only,” he muttered, “if she knew the attic almost over her head held +such a secret, why, didn't she take the chance I gave her of getting +hold of my revolver? That she didn't, looks as if she knew nothing.” + +But then he thought again of the photograph in her room and remembered +that agony of grief to which she had been surrendering herself when he +first saw her. Now those passionate tears of hers seemed to him like +remorse. + +“I'll leave her where she is,” he decided again. “I can't help it; I +mustn't run any risks. My first duty is to get the police here and have +Deede Dawson arrested.” + +He went down the stairs still deep in thought, and when he reached the +landing below he would not even go to make sure that his captive was +still secure. + +An obscure feeling that he did not wish to see her, and still more that +he did not wish her to see him, prevented him. + +He descended the second flight of steps to the hall, taking fewer +precautions to avoid making a noise and still very deep in thought. + +For some time he had had but little hope that young Charley Wright still +lived. + +Nevertheless, the dreadful discovery he had made in the attic above had +affected him profoundly, and left his mind in a chaos of emotions so +that he was for the time much less acutely watchful than usual. + +They had spent their boyhood together, and he remembered a thousand +incidents of their childhood. They had been at school and college +together. And how brilliantly Charley had always done at work and play, +surmounting every difficulty with a laugh, as if it were merely some new +and specially amusing jest! + +Every one had thought well of him, every one had believed that his +future career would be brilliant. Now it had ended in this obscure and +dreadful fashion, as ends the life of a trapped rat. + +Dunn found himself hardly able to realize that it was really so, +and through all the confused medley of his thoughts there danced and +flickered his memory of a young and lovely face, now tear-stained, now +smiling, now pale with terror, now calmly disdainful. + +“Can she have known?” he muttered. “She must have known--she can't have +known--it's not possible either way.” + +He shuddered and as he put his foot on the lowest stair he raised his +hands to cover his face as though to shut out the visions that passed +before him. + +Another step forward he took in the darkness, and all at once there +flashed upon him the light of a strong electric torch, suddenly switched +on. + +“Put up your hands,” said a voice sharply. “Or you're a dead man.” + +He looked bewilderedly, taken altogether by surprise, and saw he was +faced by a fat little man with a smooth, chubby, smiling face and eyes +that were cold and grey and deadly, and who held in one hand a revolver +levelled at his heart. + +“Put up your hands,” this newcomer said again, his voice level and calm, +his eyes intent and deadly. “Put up your hands or I fire.” + + + +CHAPTER VII. QUESTION AND ANSWER + + +Dunn obeyed promptly. + +There was that about this little fat, smiling man and his unsmiling eyes +which proclaimed very plainly that he was quite ready to put his threat +into execution. + +For a moment or two they stood thus, each regarding the other very +intently. Dunn, his hands in the air, the steady barrel of the other's +pistol levelled at his heart, knew that never in all his adventurous +life had he been in such deadly peril as now, and the grotesque +thought came into his mind to wonder if there were room for two in that +packing-case in the attic. + +Or perhaps no attempt would be made to hide his death since, after all, +it is always permissible to shoot an armed burglar. + +The clock on the stairs began to strike the hour, and he wondered if he +would still be alive when the last stroke sounded. + +He did not much think so for he thought he could read a very deadly +purpose in the other's cold grey eyes, nor did he suppose that a man +with such a secret as that of the attic upstairs to hide was likely to +stand on any scruple. + +And he thought that if he still lived when the clock finished striking +he would take it for an omen of good hope. + +The last stroke sounded and died away into the silence of the night. + +The revolver was still levelled at his heart, the grim purpose in the +other's eyes had not changed, and yet Dunn drew a breath of deep relief +as though the worst of the danger was past. + +Through his mind, that had been a little dulled by the sudden +consciousness of so extreme a peril, thought began again to race with +more than normal rapidity and clearness. + +It occurred to him, with a sense of the irony of the position, that +when he entered this house it had been with the deliberate intention +of getting himself discovered by the inmates, believing that to show +himself to them in the character of a burglar might gain him their +confidence. + +It had seemed to him that so he might come to be accepted as one of them +and perhaps learn in time the secret of their plans. + +The danger that they might adopt the other course of handing him over to +the police had not seemed to him very great, for he had his reasons for +believing that there would be no great desire to draw the attention of +the authorities to Bittermeads for any reason whatever. + +But the discovery he had made in the attic changed all that. It changed +his plans, for now he could go to the police immediately. And it changed +also his conception of how these people were likely to act. + +Before, it had not entered his mind to suppose that he ran any special +risk of being shot at sight, but now he understood that the only thing +standing between him and instant death was the faint doubt in his +captor's mind as to how much he knew. + +It seemed to him his only hope was to carry out his original plan and +try to pass himself off as the sort of person who might be likely to be +useful to the master of Bittermeads. + +“Don't shoot, sir,” he said, in a kind of high whine. “I ain't done no +harm, and it's a fair cop--and me not a month out of Dartmoor Gaol. I +shall get a hot 'un for this, I know.” + +The little fat man did not answer; his eyes were as deadly, the muzzle +of his pistol as steady as before. + +Dunn wondered if it were from that pistol had issued the bullet that had +drilled so neat and round a hole in his friend's forehead. He supposed +so. + +He said again + +“Don't shoot, Mr. Deede Dawson, sir; I ain't done no harm.” + +“Oh, you know my name, do you, you scoundrel?” Deede Dawson said, a +little surprised. + +“Yes, sir,” Dunn answered. “We always find out as much as we can about a +crib before we get to work.” + +“I see,” said Mr. Dawson. “Very praiseworthy. Attention to business and +all that. Pray, what did you find out about me?” + +“Only as you was to be away tonight, sir,” answered Dunn. “And that +there didn't seem to be any other man in the house, and, of course, +how the house lay and the garden, and so. But I didn't know as you was +coming home so soon.” + +“No, I don't suppose you did,” said Deede Dawson. + +“I ain't done no harm,” Dunn urged, making his voice as whining and +pleading as he could. “I've only just been looking round the two top +floors--I ain't touched a thing. Give a cove a chance, sir.” + +“You've been looking round, have you?” said Deede Dawson slowly. “Did +you find anything to interest you?” + +“I've only been in the bedrooms and the attics,” answered Dunn, changing +not a muscle of his countenance and thinking boldness his safest course, +for he knew well the slightest sign or hint of knowledge that he gave +would mean his death. “I'd only just come downstairs when you copped me, +sir; I ain't touched a thing in one of these rooms down here.” + +“Haven't you?” said Deede Dawson slowly, and his face was paler, his +eyes more deadly, the muzzle of his pistol yet more inflexibly steady +than before. + +More clearly still did Dunn realize that the faintest breath of +suspicion stirring in the other's mind that he knew of what was hidden +in the attic would mean certain death and just such another neat little +hole bored through heart or brain as that he had seen showing in the +forehead of his dead friend. + +“Haven't you, though?” Deede Dawson repeated. “The bedrooms--the +attics--that's all?” + +“Yes, sir, that's all, take my oath that's all,” Dunn repeated +earnestly, as if he wished very much to impress on his captor that he +had searched bedrooms and attics thoroughly, but not these downstairs +rooms. + +Deede Dawson was plainly puzzled, and for the first time a little doubt +seemed to show in his hard grey eyes. + +Dunn perceived that a need was on him to know for certain whether his +dreadful secret had been discovered or not. + +Until he had assured himself on that point Dunn felt comparatively safe, +but he still knew also that to allow the faintest suspicion to dawn in +Deede Dawson's mind would mean for him instant death. + +He saw, too, watching very warily and ready to take advantage of any +momentary slip or forgetfulness, how steady was Deede Dawson's hand, how +firm and watchful his eyes. + +With many men, with most men indeed, Dunn would have seized or made some +opportunity to dash in and attack, taking the chance of being shot +down first, since there are few indeed really skilled in the use of a +revolver, the most tricky if the most deadly of weapons. + +But he realized he had small hope of taking unawares this fat little +smiling man with the unsmiling eyes and steady hand, and he was well +convinced that the first doubtful movement he made would bring a bullet +crashing through his brain. + +His only hope was in delay and in diverting suspicion, and Deede +Dawson's voice was very soft and deadly as he said: + +“So you've been looking in the bedrooms, have you? What did you find +there?” + +“Nothing, sir, not a thing,” protested Dunn. “I didn't touch a thing, +I only wanted to look round before coming down here to see about the +silver.” + +“And the attics?” asked Deede Dawson. “What did you find there?” + +“There wasn't no one in them,” Dunn answered. “I only wanted to make +sure the young lady was telling the truth about there being no servants +in the house to sleep.” + +“Did you look in all the attics, then?” asked Deede Dawson. + +“Yes,” answered Dunn. “'There was one as was locked, but I tooked the +liberty of forcing it just to make sure. I ain't done no harm to speak +of.” + +“You found one locked, eh?” said Deede Dawson, and his smile grew still +more pleasant and more friendly. “That must have surprised you a good +deal, didn't it?” + +“I thought as perhaps there was some one waiting already to give the +alarm,” answered Dunn. “I didn't mind the old lady, but I couldn't risk +there being some one hiding there, so I had to look, but I ain't done no +damage to speak of, I could put it right for you myself in half-an-hour, +sir, if you'll let me.” + +“Could you, indeed?” said Deede Dawson. “Well, and did you find any one +sleeping there?” + +But for that hairy disguise upon his cheeks and chin, Dunn would almost +certainly have betrayed himself, so dreadful did the question seem to +him, so poignant the double meaning that it bore, so clear his memory of +his friend he had found there, sleeping indeed. + +But there was nothing to show his inner agitation, as he said, shaking +his head. + +“There wasn't no one there, any more than in the other attics, nothing +but an old packing-case.” + +“And what?” said Deede Dawson, his voice so soft it was like a caress, +his smile so sweet it was a veritable benediction. “What was in that +packing-case?” + +“Didn't look,” answered Dunn, and then, with a sudden change of manner, +as though all at once understanding what previously had puzzled him. +“Lum-me,” he cried, “is that where you keep the silver? Lor', and to +think I never even troubled to look.” + +“You never looked?” repeated Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head with an air of baffled regret. “Never thought of +it,” he said. “I thought it was just lumber like in the other attics, +and I might have got clear away with it if I had known, as easy as not.” + +His chagrin was so apparent, his whole manner so innocent, that Deede +Dawson began to believe he really did know nothing. + +“Didn't you wonder why the door was locked?” he asked. + +“Lor',” answered Dunn, “if you stopped to wonder about everything you +find rummy in a crib you're cracking, when would you ever get your +business done?” + +“So you didn't look--in that packing-case?” Deede Dawson repeated. + +“If I had,” answered Dunn ruefully, “I shouldn't be here, copped like +this. I should have shoved with the stuff and not waited for nothing +more. But I never had no luck.” + +“I'm not so sure of that,” said Deede Dawson grimly, and as he spoke a +soft voice called down from upstairs. + +“Is there any one there?” it said. “Oh, please, is any one there?” + +“Is that you, Ella?” Deede Dawson called back. “Come down here.” + +“I can't,” she answered. “I'm fastened to a chair.” + +“I didn't hurt the young lady,” Dunn interposed quickly. “I only +tied her up as gentle as I could to a chair so as to stop her from +interfering.” + +“Oh, that's it, is it?” said Deede Dawson, and seemed a little amused, +as though the thought of his stepdaughter's plight pleased him rather +than not. “Well, if she can't come down here, we'll go up there. Turn +round, my man, and go up the stairs and keep your hands over your head +all the time. I shan't hesitate to shoot if you don't, and I never +miss.” + +Dunn was not inclined to value his life at a very high price as he +turned and went awkwardly up the stairs, still holding his hands above +his head. + +But he meant to save it if he could, for many things depended on it, +among them due punishment to be exacted for the crime he had discovered +this night; and also, perhaps, for the humiliation he was now enduring. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE + +Up the stairs, across the landing, and down the passage opposite Dunn +went in silence, shepherded by the little man behind whose pistol was +still levelled and still steady. + +His hands held high in the air, he pushed open with his knee the door +of the girl's room and entered, and she looked up as he did so with an +expression of pure astonishment at his attitude of upheld hands that +changed to one of comprehension and of faint amusement as Deede Dawson +followed, revolver in hand. + +“Oh,” she murmured. “Captivity captive, it seems.” + +At the fireplace Dunn turned and found her looking at him very intently, +while from the doorway Deede Dawson surveyed them both, for once his +eyes appearing to share in the smile that played about his lips as +though he found much satisfaction in what he saw. + +“Well, Ella,” he said. “You've been having adventures, it seems, but you +don't look too comfortable like that.” + +“Nor do I feel it,” she retorted. “So please set me free.” + +“Yes, so I will,” he answered, but he still hesitated, and Dunn had the +idea that he was pleased to see the girl like this, and would leave +her so if he could, and that he was wondering now if he could turn her +predicament to his own advantage in any way. + +“Yes, I will,” he said again. “Your mother--?” + +“She hasn't wakened,” Ella answered. “I don't think she has heard +anything. I don't suppose she will, for she took two of those pills last +night that Dr. Rawson gave her for when she couldn't sleep.” + +“It's just as well she did,” said Deede Dawson. + +“Yes, but please undo my hands,” she asked him. “The cords are cutting +my wrists dreadfully.” + +As she spoke she glanced at Dunn, standing by the fireplace and +listening gravely to what they said, and Deede Dawson exclaimed with an +air of great indignation:-- + +“The fellow deserves to be well thrashed for treating you like that. +I've a good mind to do it, too, before handing him over to the police.” + +“But you haven't released me yet,” she remarked. + +“Oh, yes, yes,” he said, starting as if this were quite a new idea. +“I'll release you at once--but I must watch this scoundrel. He must have +frightened you dreadfully.” + +“Indeed he did not,” she answered quickly, again looking at Dunn. “No, +he didn't,” she said again with a touch of defiance in her manner and a +certain slightly lifting her small, round chin. “At least not much after +just at first,” she added. + +“I'll loose you,” Deede Dawson said once more, and coming up to her, he +began to fumble in a feeble, ineffectual way at the cords that secured +her wrists. + +“Jove, he's tied you up pretty tight, Ella!” he said. + +“He believes in doing his work thoroughly, I suppose,” she remarked, +lifting her eyes to Dunn's with a look in them that was partly +questioning and partly puzzled and wholly elusive. “I daresay he always +likes to do everything thoroughly.” + +“Seems so,” said Deede Dawson, giving up his fumbling and ineffectual +efforts to release her. + +He stepped back and stood behind her chair, looking from her to Dunn and +back again, and once more Dunn was conscious of an impression that he +wished to make use for his own purposes of the girl's position, but that +he did not know how to do so. + +“You are a nice scoundrel,” said Deede Dawson suddenly, with an +indignation that seemed to Dunn largely assumed. “Treating a girl like +this. Ella, what would you like done to him? He deserves shooting. Shall +I put a bullet through him for you?” + +“He might have treated me worse, I suppose,” said Ella quietly. “And +if you would be less indignant with him, you might be more help to me. +There are scissors on the table somewhere.” + +“I'll get them,” Deede Dawson said. “I'll get them,” he repeated, as +though now at last finally making up his mind. + +He took the scissors from the toilet-table where they lay before the +looking-glass and cut the cords by which Ella was secured. + +With a sigh of relief she straightened herself from the confined +position in which she had been held and began to rub her wrists, which +were slightly inflamed where the cords had bruised her soft skin. + +“Like to tie him up that way now?” asked Deede Dawson. “You shall if you +like.” + +She turned and looked full at Dunn and he looked back at her with eyes +as steady and as calm as her own. + +Again she showed that faint doubt and wonder which had flickered through +her level gaze before as though she felt that there was more in all this +than was apparent, and did not wish to condemn him utterly without a +hearing. + +But it was plain also that she did not wish to say too much before her +stepfather and she answered carelessly: + +“I don't think I could tie him tight enough, besides, he looks +ridiculous enough like that with his hands up in the air.” + +It was her revenge for what he had made her suffer. He felt himself +flush and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft had struck +home. + +“Well, go and look through his pockets,” Deede Dawson said. “And see if +he's got a revolver. Don't be frightened; if he lowers his hands he'll +be a dead man before he knows it.” + +“He has a pistol,” she said. “He showed it me, it's in his coat pocket.” + +“Better get it then,” Deede Dawson told her. She obeyed and brought +him the weapon, and he nodded with satisfaction as he put it in his own +pocket. + +“I think we might let you put your hands down now,” he remarked, and +Dunn gladly availed himself of the permission, for every muscle in his +arms was aching badly. + +He remained standing by the wall while Deede Dawson, seating himself on +the chair to which Ella had been bound, rested his chin on his left +hand and, with the pistol still ready in his right, regarded Dunn with a +steady questioning gaze. + +Ella was standing near the bed. She had poured a few drops of +eau-de-Cologne on her wrists and was rubbing them softly, and for ever +after the poignant pleasant odour of the scent has remained associated +in Robert Dunn's mind with the strange events of that night so that +always even the merest whiff of it conjures up before his mind a picture +of that room with himself silent by the fireplace and Ella silent by +the bed and Deede Dawson, pistol in hand, seated between them, as silent +also as they, and very watchful. + +Ella appeared fully taken up with her occupation and might almost have +forgotten the presence of the two men. She did not look at either of +them, but continued to rub and chafe her wrists softly. + +Deede Dawson had forgotten for once to smile, his brow was slightly +wrinkled, his cold grey eyes intent and watchful, and Dunn felt very +sure that he was thinking out some plan or scheme. + +The hope came to him that Deede Dawson was thinking he might prove of +use, and that was the thought which, above all others, he wished the +other to have. It was, indeed, that thought which all his recent actions +had been aimed to implant in Deede Dawson's mind till his dreadful +discovery in the attic had seemed to make at last direct action +possible. How, in his present plight that thought, if Deede Dawson +should come to entertain it, might yet prove his salvation. Now and +again Deede Dawson gave him quick, searching glances, but when at last +he spoke it was Ella he addressed. + +“Wrists hurt you much?” he asked. + +“Not so much now,” she answered. “They were beginning to hurt a great +deal, though.” + +“Were they, though?” said Deede Dawson. “And to think you might have +been like that for hours if I hadn't chanced to come home. Too bad, what +a brute this fellow is.” + +“Men mostly are, I think,” she observed indifferently. + +“And women mostly like to get their own back again,” he remarked with +a chuckle, and then turned sharply to Dunn. “Well, my man,” he asked, +“what have you got to say for yourself?” + +“Nothing,” Dunn answered. “It was a fair cop.” + +“You've had a taste of penal servitude before, I suppose?” Deede Dawson +asked. + +“Maybe,” Dunn answered, as if not wishing to betray himself. “Maybe +not.” + +“Well, I think I remember you said something about not being long out +of Dartmoor,” remarked Deede Dawson. “How do you relish the prospect of +going back there?” + +“I wonder,” interposed Ella thoughtfully. “I wonder what it is in you +that makes you so love to be cruel, father?” + +“Eh what?” he exclaimed, quite surprised. “Who's being cruel?” + +“You,” she answered. “You enjoy keeping him wondering what you are going +to do with him, just as you enjoyed seeing me tied to that chair and +would have liked to leave me there.” + +“My dear Ella!” he protested. “My dear child!” + +“Oh, I know,” she said wearily. “Why don't you hand the man over to +the police if you're going to, or let him go at once if you mean to do +that?” + +“Let him go, indeed!” exclaimed Deede Dawson. “What an idea! What should +I do that for?” + +“If you'll give me another chance,” said Dunn quickly, “I'll do +anything--I should get it pretty stiff for this lot, and that wouldn't +be any use to you, sir, would it? I can do almost anything--garden, +drive a motor, do what I'm told, It's only because I've never had a +chance I've had to take to this line.” + +“If you could do what you're told you certainly might be useful,” said +Deede Dawson slowly. “And I don't know that it would do me any good +to send you off to prison--you deserve it, of course. Still--you talk +sometimes like an educated man?” + +“I had a bit of education,” Dunn answered. + +“I see,” said Deede Dawson. “Well, I won't ask you any more questions, +you'd probably only lie. What's your name?” + +With that sudden recklessness which was a part of his impulsive and +passionate nature, Dunn answered: + +“Charley Wright.” + +The effect was instantaneous and apparent on both his auditors. + +Ella gave a little cry and started so violently that she dropped the +bottle of eau-de-Cologne she had in her hands. + +Deede Dawson jumped to his feet with a fearful oath. His face went +livid, his fat cheeks seemed suddenly to sag, of his perpetual smile +every trace vanished. + +He swung his revolver up, and Dunn saw the crooked forefinger quiver as +though in the very act of pressing the trigger. + +The pressure of a hair decided, indeed, whether the weapon was to fire +or not, as in a high-pitched, stammering voice, Deede Dawson gasped: + +“What--what do you mean? What do you mean by that?” + +“I only told you my name,” Dunn answered. “What's wrong with it?” + +Doubtful and afraid, Deede Dawson stood hesitant. His forehead had +become very damp, and he wiped it with a nervous gesture. + +“Is that your name--your real name?” he muttered. + +“Never had another that I know of,” Dunn answered. + +Deede Dawson sat down again on the chair. He was still plainly very +disturbed and shaken, and Ella seemed scarcely less agitated, though +Dunn, watching them both very keenly, noticed that she was now looking +at Deede Dawson with a somewhat strange expression and with an air as +though his extreme excitement puzzled her and made her--afraid. + +“Nothing wrong with the name, is there?” Dunn muttered again. + +“No, no,” Deede Dawson answered. “No. It's merely a coincidence, that's +all. A coincidence, I suppose, Ella?” + +Ella did not answer. Her expression was very troubled and full of doubt +as she stood looking from her stepfather to Dunn and back again. + +“It's only that your name happens to be the same as that of a friend of +ours--a great friend of my daughter's,” Deede Dawson said as though he +felt obliged to offer some explanation. “That's all--a coincidence. It +startled me for the moment.” He laughed. “That's all. Well, my man, it +happens there is something I can make you useful in. If you do prove +useful and do what I tell you, perhaps you may get let off. I might even +keep you on in a job. I won't say I will, but I might. You look a likely +sort of fellow for work, and I daresay you aren't any more dishonest +than most people. Funny how things happen--quite a coincidence, your +name. Well, come on; it's that packing-case you saw in the attic +upstairs. I want you to help me downstairs with that--Charley Wright.” + + +CHAPTER IX. THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + + +Robert Dunn was by no means sure that he was not going to his death as +he went out of Ella's room on his way to the attics above, for he had +perceived a certain doubt and suspicion in Deede Dawson's manner, and he +thought it very likely that a fatal intention lay behind. + +But he obeyed with a brisk promptitude of manner, like one who saw a +prospect of escape opening before him, and as he went he saw that Ella +had relapsed into her former indifference and was once more giving all +her attention to bathing her wrists with eau-de-Cologne; and he saw, +too, that Deede Dawson, following close behind, kept always his revolver +ready. + +“Perhaps he only wants to get me out of her way before he shoots,” he +reflected. “Perhaps there is room in that packing-case for two. It will +be strange to die. Shall I try to rush him? But he would shoot at once, +and I shouldn't have a chance. One thing, if anything happens to me, no +one will ever know what's become of poor Charley.” + +And this seemed to him a great pity, so that he began to form confused +and foolish plans for securing that his friend's fate should become +known. + +With a sudden start, for he had not known he was there, he found himself +standing on the threshold of that attic of death. It was quite dark +up here, and from behind Deede Dawson's voice told him impatiently to +enter. + +He obeyed, wondering if ever again he would cross that threshold alive, +and Deede Dawson followed him into the dark attic so that Dunn was +appalled by the man's rashness, for how could he tell that his victim +would not take this opportunity to rise up from the place where he had +been thrust and take his revenge? + +“What an idea,” he thought to himself. “I must be going dotty, it's the +strain of expecting a bullet in my back all the time, I suppose. I was +never like this before.” + +Deede Dawson struck a match and put it to a gas-jet that lighted up +the whole room. Between him and Dunn lay the packing-case, and Dunn was +surprised to see that it was still there and that nothing had changed or +moved; and then again he said to himself that this was a foolish thought +only worthy of some excitable, hysterical girl. + +“It's being too much for me,” he thought resignedly. “I've heard of +people being driven mad by horror. I suppose that's what's happening to +me.” + +“You look--queer,” Deede Dawson's voice interrupted the confused medley +of his thoughts. “Why do you look like that--Charley Wright?” + +Dunn looked moodily across the case in which the body of the murdered +man was hidden to where the murderer stood. + +After a pause, and speaking with an effort, he said: + +“You'd look queer if some one with a pistol was watching you all the +time the way you watch me.” + +“You do what I tell you and you'll be all right,” Deede Dawson answered. +“You see that packing-case?” + +Dunn nodded. + +“It's big enough,” he said. + +“Would you like to know?” asked Deede Dawson slowly with his slow, +perpetual smile. “Would you like to know what's in it--Charley Wright?” + +And again Dunn was certain that a faint suspicion hung about those last +two words, and that his life and death hung very evenly in the balance. + +“Silver, you said,” he muttered. “Didn't you?” + +“Ah, yes--yes--to be sure,” answered Deede Dawson. “Yes, so I did. +Silver. I want the lid nailed down. There's a hammer and nails there. +Get to work and look sharp.” + +Dunn stepped forward and began to set about a task that was so terrible +and strange, and that yet he had, at peril of his life--at peril of more +than that, indeed--to treat as of small importance. + +Standing a little distance from the lighted gas-jet, Deede Dawson +watched him narrowly, and as Dunn worked he was very sure that to betray +the least sign of his knowledge would be to bring instantly a bullet +crashing through his brain. + +It seemed curious to him that he had so carefully replaced everything +after making his discovery, and that without any forethought or special +intention he had put back everything so exactly as he had found it when +the slightest neglect or failure in that respect would most certainly +have cost him his life. + +And he felt that as yet he could not afford to die. + +One by one he drove in the nails, and as he worked at his gruesome task +he heard the faintest rustle on the landing without--the faintest sound +of a soft breath cautiously drawn in, of a light foot very carefully set +down. + +Deede Dawson plainly heard nothing; indeed, no ear less acute and less +well-trained than Dunn's could have caught sounds that were so slight +and low, but he, listening between each stroke of his hammer, was sure +that it was Ella who had followed them, and that she crouched upon the +landing without, watching and listening. + +Did that mean, he wondered, that she, too, knew? Or was it merely +natural curiosity; hostile in part, perhaps, since evidently the +relations between her and her stepfather were not too friendly--a desire +to know what task there could be in the attics so late at night for +which Deede Dawson had such need of his captive's help? + +Or was it by any chance because she wished to know how things went with +him, and what was to be his fate? + +In any case, Dunn was sure that Ella had followed then, and was on the +landing without. + +He drove home the last nail and stood up. “That's done,” he said. + +“And well done,” said Deede Dawson. “Well done--Charley Wright.” + +He spoke the name softly and lingeringly, and then all at once he began +to laugh, a low and somewhat dreadful laughter that had in it no mirth +at all, and that sounded horrible and strange in the chill emptiness of +the attic. + +Leaning one hand on the packing-case that served as the coffin of his +dead friend, Dunn swore a silent oath to exact full retribution, and +henceforth to put that purpose on a level with the mission on which +originally he had come. + +Aloud, and in a grumbling tone he said: + +“What's the matter with my name? It's a name like any other. What's +wrong with it?” + +“What should there be?” flashed Deede Dawson in reply. + +“I don't know,” Dunn answered. “You keep repeating it so, that's all.” + +“It's a very good name,” Deede Dawson said. “An excellent name. But +it's not suitable. Not here.” He began to laugh again and then stopped +abruptly. + +“Do you know, I think you had better choose another?” he said. + +“It's all one to me,” declared Dunn. “If Charley Wright don't suit, how +will Robert Dunn do? I knew a man of that name once.” + +“It's a better name than Charley Wright,” said Deede Dawson. “We'll call +you Robert Dunn--Charley Wright. Do you know why I can't have you call +yourself Charley Wight?” + +Dunn shook his head. + +“Because I don't like it,” said Deede Dawson. “Why, that's a name that +would drive me mad,” he muttered, half to himself. + +Dunn did not speak, but he thought this was a strange thing for the +other to say and showed that even he, cold and remorseless and without +any natural feeling, as he had seemed to be, yet had about him still +some touch of humanity. + +And as he mused on this, which seemed to him so strange, though really +it was not strange at all, his attentive ears caught the sound of a soft +step without, beginning to descend the stairs. + +Had that name, then, been more than she also could bear? + +If so, she must know. + +“I don't see why, I don't see what's wrong with it,” he said aloud. “But +Robert Dunn will suit me just as well.” + +“All a matter of taste,” said Deede Dawson, his manner more composed and +natural again. + +“It's a funny thing now--suppose my name was Charley Wright, then there +would be two Charley Wrights in this attic, eh? A coincidence, that +would be?” + +“I suppose so,” answered Dunn. “I knew another man named Charley Wright +once.” + +“Did you? Where's he?” + +“Oh, he's dead,” answered Dunn. + +Deede Dawson could not repress the start he gave and for a moment Dunn +thought that his suspicions were really roused. He came a little nearer, +his pistol still ready in his hand. + +“Dead, is he?” he said. “That's a pity. He's not here, then; but it +would be funny wouldn't it, if there were two Charley Wrights in one +room?” + +“I don't know what you mean,” Dunn answered. “I think there are lots of +funnier things than that would be.” + +“That's where you're wrong,” retorted Deede Dawson, and he laughed +again, shrilly and dreadfully, a laughter that had in it anything but +mirth. + +“Can you carry that packing-case downstairs if I help you get it on your +shoulder?” he asked abruptly. + +“It's heavy, but I might,” Dunn answered. + +He supposed that now it was about to be hidden somewhere and he felt +that he must know where, since that knowledge would mean everything and +enable him to set the authorities to work at once immediately he could +communicate with them. + +The weight of the thing taxed even his great strength to the utmost, but +he managed it somehow, and bending beneath his burden, he descended the +stairs to the hall and then, following the orders Deede Dawson gave him +from behind, out into the open air. + +He was nearly exhausted when at last his task-master told him he could +put it down as he stood still for a minute or two to recover his breath +and strength. + +The night was not very dark, for a young moon was shining in a clear +sky, and it appeared to Dunn, as he felt his strength returning, that +now at last he might find an opportunity of making an attack upon his +captor with some chance of success. + +Hitherto, in the house, in the bright glare of the gas lights, he had +known that the first suspicious movement he made would have ensured his +being instantly and remorselessly shot down, his mission unfulfilled. + +But here in the open air, in the night that the moon illumined but +faintly, it was different, and as he watched for his opportunity he felt +that sooner or later it was sure to come. + +But Deede Dawson was alert and wary, his pistol never left his hand, he +kept so well on his guard he gave Dunn no opening to take him unawares, +and Dunn did not wish to run too desperate a chance, since he was sure +that sooner or later one giving fair chance of success would present +itself. + +“Do you want it carried any further?” he asked. “It's very heavy.” + +“I suppose you mean you're wondering what's in it?” said Deede Dawson +sharply. + +“It's nothing to me what's in it--silver or anything else,” retorted +Dunn. “Do you want me to carry it further, that's all I asked?” + +“No,” answered Deede Dawson. “No, I don't. Do you know, if you knew what +was really in it, you'd be surprised?” + +“Very likely,” answered Dunn. “Why not?” + +“Yes, you would be surprised,” Deede Dawson repeated, and suddenly +shouted into the darkness: “Are you ready? Are you ready there?” + +Dunn was very startled, for somehow, he had supposed all along that +Deede Dawson was quite alone. + +There was no answer to his call, but after a minute or two there was +the sound of a motor-car engine starting and then a big car came gliding +forward and stopped in front of them, driven by a form so muffled in +coats and coverings as to be indistinguishable in that faint light. + +“Put the case inside,” Deede Dawson said. “I'll help you.” + +With some trouble they succeeded in getting the case in and Deede Dawson +covered it carefully with a big rug. + +When he had done so he stepped back. + +“Ready, Ella?” he said. + +“Yes,” answered the girl's soft and low voice that already Dunn could +have sworn to amidst a thousand others. + + + +CHAPTER X. THE NEW GARDENER + + +“Go ahead, then,” said Deede Dawson, and the great car with its terrible +burden shot away into the night. + +For a moment or two Deede Dawson stood looking after it, and then +he turned and walked slowly towards the house, and mechanically Dunn +followed, the sole thought in his mind, the one idea of which he was +conscious, that of Ella driving away into the darkness with the dead +body of his murdered friend in the car behind her. + +Did she--know? he asked himself. Or was she ignorant of what it was she +had with her? + +It seemed to him that that question, hammering itself so awfully upon +his mind and clamouring for an answer, must soon send him mad. + +And still before him floated perpetually a picture of long, dark, lonely +roads, of a rushing motor-car driven by a lovely girl, of the awful +thing hidden in the car behind her. + +Dully he recognized that the opportunity for which he had watched and +waited so patiently had come and gone a dozen times, for Deede Dawson +had now quite relaxed his former wary care. + +It was as though he supposed all danger over, as though in the reaction +after an enormous strain he could think of nothing but the immediate +relief. He hardly gave a single glance at Dunn, whose faintest movement +before had never escaped him. He had even put his pistol back in his +pocket, and at almost any moment Dunn, with his unusual strength and +agility, could have seized and mastered him. + +But for such an enterprise Dunn had no longer any spirit, for all his +mind was taken up by that one picture so clear in his thoughts of Ella +in her great car driving the dead man through the night. “She must +know,” he said to himself. “She must, or she would never have gone off +like that at that time--she can't know, it's impossible, or she would +never have dared.” + +And again it seemed to him that this doubt was driving him mad. + +Deede Dawson entered the house and got a bottle of whisky and a syphon +of soda-water and mixed himself a drink. For the first time since Ella's +departure he seemed to remember Dunn's presence. + +“Oh, there you are,” he said. + +Dunn did not answer. He stood moodily on the threshold, wondering why he +did not rush upon the other, and with his knee upon his chest, his +hands about his throat, force him to answer the question that was still +whispering, shouting, screaming itself into his ears: + +“Does she know what it is she drives with her on that big car through +the black and lonely night?” + +“Like a drink?” asked Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head, and it came to him that he did not attack Deede +Dawson and force the truth from him because he dared not, because he was +afraid, because he feared what the answer might be. + +“There's a tool-shed at the bottom of the garden,” Deede Dawson said to +him. “You can sleep there, tonight. You'll find some sacks you can make +a bed of.” + +Without a word in reply Dunn turned and stumbled away. He felt very +tired--physically exhausted--and the idea of a bed, even of sacks in an +outhouse, became all at once extraordinarily attractive. + +He found the place without difficulty, and, making a pile of the sacks, +flung himself down on them and was asleep almost at once. But almost +as promptly he awoke again, for he had dreamed of Ella driving her car +through the night towards some strange peril from which in his dream he +was trying frantically and ineffectively to save her when he awoke. + +So it was all through the night. + +His utter and complete exhaustion compelled him to sleep, and every time +some fresh, fantastic dream in which Ella and the huge motor-car and the +dreadful burden she had with her always figured, awoke him with a fresh +start. + +But towards morning he fell into a heavy sleep from which presently +he awoke to find it broad daylight and Deede Dawson standing on the +threshold of the shed with his perpetually smiling lips and his cold, +unsmiling eyes. + +“Well, my man; had a good sleep?” he said. + +“I was tired,” Dunn answered. + +“Yes, we had a busy night,” agreed Deede Dawson. “I slept well, too. +I've been wondering what to do with you. Of course, I ought to hand +you over to the police, and it's rather a risk taking on a man of your +character, but I've decided to give you a chance. Probably you'll misuse +it. But I'll give you an opportunity as gardener and chauffeur here. You +can drive a car, you say?” + +Dunn nodded. + +“That's all right,” said Deede Dawson. + +“You shall have your board and lodging, and I'll get you some decent +clothes instead of those rags; and if you prove satisfactory and make +yourself useful you'll find I can pay well. There will be plenty of +chances for you to make a little money--if you know how to take them.” + +“When it's money,” growled Dunn, “you give me the chance, and see.” + +“I think,” added Deede Dawson, “I think it might improve your looks if +you shaved.” + +Dunn passed his hand over the tangle of hair that hid his features so +effectually. + +“What for?” he asked. + +“Oh, well: please yourself,” answered Deede Dawson; “I don't know that +it matters, and perhaps you have reasons of your own for preferring a +beard. Come on up to the house now and I'll tell Mrs. Dawson to give you +some breakfast. And you might as well have a wash, too, perhaps--unless +you object to that as well as to shaving.” + +Dunn rose without answering, made his toilet by shaking off some of +the dust that clung to him, and followed his new employer out of the +tool-house into the open air. + +It was a fresh and lovely morning, and coming towards them down one of +the garden paths was Ella, looking as fresh and lovely as the morning in +a dainty cotton frock with lace at her throat and wrists. + +That she could possibly have spent the night tearing across country in a +powerful car conveying a dead man to an unknown destination, appeared to +Dunn a clean impossibility, and for a moment he almost supposed he had +been mistaken in thinking he recognized her voice. + +But he knew he had not, that he had made no mistake, that it had indeed +been Ella he had seen dash away into the darkness on her strange and +terrible errand. + +“Oh, my daughter,” said Deede Dawson carelessly, noticing Dunn's +surprise. “Oh, yes, she's back--you didn't expect to see her this +morning. Well, Ella, Dunn's surprised to see you back so soon, aren't +you, Dunn?” + +Dunn did not answer, for a kind of vertigo of horror had come upon him, +and for a moment all things revolved about him in a whirling circle +wherein the one fixed point was Ella's gentle lovely face that +sometimes, he thought, had a small round hole with blue edges in the +very centre of the forehead, above the nose. + +It was her voice, clear and a little loud, that called him back to +himself. + +“He's not well,” she was saying. “He's going to faint.” + +“I'm all right,” he muttered. “It was nothing, nothing, it's only that +I've had nothing to eat for so long.” + +“Oh, poor man!” exclaimed Ella. + +“Come up to the house,” Deede Dawson said. + +“Breakfast's ready,” Ella said. “Mother told me to find you.” + +“Has the woman come yet?” Deede Dawson asked. “If she has, you might +tell her to give Dunn some breakfast. I've just been telling him I'm +willing to give him another chance and to take him on as gardener and +chauffeur, so you can keep an eye on him and see if he works well.” + +Ella was silent for a moment, but her expression was grave and a little +puzzled as though she did not quite understand this and wondered what it +meant, and when she looked up at her stepfather, Dunn was certain there +was both distrust and suspicion in her manner. + +“I suppose,” she said then, “last night seemed to you a good +recommendation?” As she spoke she glanced at her wrists where the +bruises still showed, and Deede Dawson's smile broadened. + +“One should always be ready to give another chance to a poor fellow +who's down,” he said. “He may run straight now he's got an opportunity. +I told him he had better shave, but he seems to think a beard suits him +best. What do you say?” + +“Breakfast's waiting,” Ella answered, turning away without taking any +notice of the question. + +“I'll go in then,” said Deede Dawson. “You might show Dunn the way to +the kitchen--his name's Robert Dunn, by the way--and tell Mrs. Barker to +give him something to eat.” + +“I should think he could find his way there himself,” Ella remarked. + +But though she made this protest, she obeyed at once, for though she +used a considerable liberty of speech to her stepfather, it was none the +less evident that she was very much afraid of him and would not be very +likely to disobey him or oppose him directly. + +“This way,” she said to Dunn, and walked on along a path that led to the +back of the house. Once she stopped and looked back. She smiled slightly +and disdainfully as she did so, and Dunn saw that she was looking at a +clump of small bushes near where they had been standing. + +He guessed at once that she believed Deede Dawson to be behind those +bushes watching them, and when she glanced at him he understood that she +wished him to know it also. + +He said nothing, though a faint movement visible in the bushes convinced +him that her suspicions, if, indeed, she had them, were well-founded, +and they walked on in silence, Ella a little ahead, and Dunn a step or +two behind. + +The garden was a large one, and had at one time been well cultivated, +but now it was neglected and overgrown. It struck Dunn that if he was to +be the gardener here he would certainly not find himself short of work, +and Ella, without looking round, said to him over her shoulder: + +“Do you know anything about gardening?” + +“A little, miss,” he answered. + +“You needn't call me 'miss,'” she observed. “When a man has tied a girl +to a chair I think he may regard himself as on terms of some familiarity +with her.” + +“What must I call you?” he asked, and his words bore to himself a double +meaning, for, indeed, what name was it by which he ought to call her? + +But she seemed to notice nothing as she answered “My name is Cayley +--Ella Cayley. You can call me Miss Cayley. Do you know anything of +motoring?” + +“Yes,” he answered. “Though I never cared much for motoring at night.” + +She gave him a quick glance, but said no more, and they came almost +immediately to the back door. + +Ella opened it and entered, nodding to him to follow, and crossing a +narrow, stone-floored passage, she entered the kitchen where a tall +gaunt elderly woman in a black bonnet and a course apron was at work. + +“This is Dunn, Mrs. Barker,” she called, raising her voice. “He is the +new gardener. Will you give him some breakfast, please?” She added to +Dunn: + +“When you've finished, you can go to the garage and wash the car, and +when you speak to Mrs. Barker you must shout. She is quite deaf, that is +why my stepfather engaged her, because he was sorry for her and wanted +to give her a chance, you know...” + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE PROBLEM + + +When he had finished his breakfast, and after he had had the wash of +which he certainly stood in considerable need, Dunn made his way to the +garage and there occupied himself cleaning the car. He noticed that the +mud with which it was liberally covered was of a light sandy sort, and +he discovered on one of the tyres a small shell. + +Apparently, therefore, last night's wild journey had been to the coast, +and it was a natural inference that the sea had provided a secure +hiding-place for the packing-case and its dreadful contents. + +But then that meant that there was no evidence left on which he could +take action. + +As he busied himself with his task, he tried to think out as clearly as +he could the position in which he found himself and to decide what he +ought to do next. + +To his quick and hasty nature the swiftest action was always the most +congenial, and had he followed his instinct, he would have lost no time +in denouncing Deede Dawson. But his cooler thoughts told him that he +dared not do that, since it would be to involve risks, not for himself, +but for others, that he simply dared not contemplate. + +He felt that the police, even if they credited his story, which he +also felt that very likely they would not do, could not act on his sole +evidence. + +And even if they did act and did arrest Deede Dawson, it was certain no +jury would convict on so strange a story, so entirely uncorroborated. + +The only result would be to strengthen Deede Dawson's position by the +warning, to show him his danger, and to give him the opportunity, if he +chose to use it, of disappearing and beginning again his plots and plans +after some fresh and perhaps more deadly fashion. + +“Whereas at present,” he mused, “at any rate, I'm here and he doesn't +seem to suspect me, and I can watch and wait for a time, till I see my +way more clearly.” + +And this decision he came to was a great relief to him, for he desired +very greatly to know more before he acted and in especial to find out +for certain what was Ella's position in all this. + +It was Deede Dawson's voice that broke in upon his meditations. + +“Ah, you're busy,” he said. “That's right, I like to see a man working +hard. I've got some new things for you I think may fit fairly well, and +Mrs. Dawson is going to get one of the attics ready for you to sleep +in.” + +“Very good, sir,” said Dunn. + +He wondered which attic was to be assigned to him and if it would be +that one in which he had found his friend's body. He suspected, too, +that he was to be lodged in the house so that Deede Dawson might watch +him, and this pleased him, since it meant that he, in his turn, would be +able to watch Deede Dawson. + +Not that there appeared much to watch, for the days passed on and it +seemed a very harmless and quiet life that Deede Dawson lived with his +wife and stepdaughter. + +But for the memory, burned into Dunn's mind, of what he had seen that +night of his arrival, he would have been inclined to say that no more +harmless, gentle soul existed than Deede Dawson. + +But as it was, the man's very gentleness and smiling urbanity filled him +with a loathing that it was at times all he could do to control. + +The attic assigned to him to sleep in was that where he had made his +dreadful discovery, and he believed this had been done as a further test +of his ignorance, for he was sure Deede Dawson watched him closely to +see if the idea of being there was in any way repugnant to him. + +Indeed at another time he might have shrunk from the idea of sleeping +each night in the very room where his friend had been foully done +to death, but now he derived a certain grim satisfaction and a +strengthening of his nerves for the task that lay before him. + +Only a very few visitors came to Bittermeads, especially now that Mr. +John Clive, who had come often, was laid up. But one or two of the +people from the village came occasionally, and the vicar appeared two or +three times every week, ostensibly to play chess with Deede Dawson, +but in reality, Dunn thought, drawn there by Ella, who, however, seemed +quite unaware of the attraction she exercised over the good man. + +Dunn did not find that he was expected to do very much work, and in +fact, he was left a good deal to himself. + +Once or twice the car was taken out, and occasionally Deede Dawson +would come into the garden and chat with him idly for a few minutes on +indifferent subjects. When it was fine he would often bring out a little +travelling set of chessmen and board and proceed to amuse himself, +working out or composing problems. + +One day he called Dunn up to admire a problem he had just composed. + +“Pretty clever, eh?” he said, admiring his own work with much +complacence. “Quite an original idea of mine and I think the key move +will take some finding. What do you say? I suppose you do play chess?” + +“Only a very little,” answered Dunn. + +“Try a game with me,” said Deede Dawson, and won it easily, for in fact, +Dunn was by no means a strong player. + +His swift victory appeared to delight Deede Dawson immensely. + +“A very pretty mate I brought off there against you,” he declared. “I've +not often seen a prettier. Now you try to solve that problem of mine, +it's easy enough once you hit on the key move.” + +Dunn thought to himself that there were other and more important +problems which would soon be solved if only the key move could be +discovered. + +He said aloud that he would try what he could do, and Deede Dawson +promised him half a sovereign if he solved it within a week. + +“I mayn't manage it within a week,” said Dunn. “I don't say I will. But +sooner or later I shall find it out.” + +During all this time he had seen little of Ella, who appeared to come +very little into the garden and who, when she did so, avoided him in a +somewhat marked manner. + +Her mother, Mrs. Dawson, was a little faded woman, with timid eyes and +a frightened manner. Her health did not seem to be good, and Ella looked +after her very assiduously. That she went in deadly fear of her husband +was fairly evident, though he seemed to treat her always with great +consideration and kindness and even with a show of affection, to which +at times she responded and from which at other times she appeared to +shrink with inexplicable terror. + +“She doesn't know,” Dunn said to himself. “But she suspects +--something.” + +Ella, he still watched with the same care and secrecy, and sometimes he +seemed to see her walking amidst the flowers as an angel of sweetness +and laughing innocence; and sometimes he saw her, as it were, with +the shadow of death around her beauty, and behind her gentle eyes and +winning ways a great and horrible abyss. + +Of one thing he was certain--her mind was troubled and she was not at +ease; and it was plain, also, that she feared her smiling soft-spoken +stepfather. + +As the days passed, too, Dunn grew convinced that she was watching him +all the time, even when she seemed most indifferent, as closely and as +intently as he watched her. + +“All watching together,” Dunn thought grimly. “It would be simple +enough, I suppose, if one could hit on the key move, but that I suppose +no one knows but Deede Dawson himself. One thing, he can't very well +be up to any fresh mischief while he's lounging about here like this. I +suppose he is simply waiting his time.” + +As for the chess problem, that baffled him entirely. He said as much +to Deede Dawson, who was very pleased, but would not tell him what the +solution was. + +“No, no, find it out for yourself,” he said, chuckling with a merriment +in which, for once his cold eyes seemed to take full share. + +“I'll go on trying,” said Dunn, and it grew to be quite a custom between +them for Deede Dawson to ask him how he was getting on with the problem; +and for Dunn to reply that he was still searching for the key move. + +Several times little errands took Dunn into the village, where, +discreetly listening to the current gossip, he learned that Mr. John +Clive of Ramsdon Place had been injured in an attack made upon him by a +gang of ferocious poachers--at least a dozen in number--but was making +good progress towards recovery. + +Also, he found that Mr. John Clive's visits to Bittermeads had not gone +unremarked, or wholly uncriticized, since there was a vague feeling that +a Mr. Clive of Ramsdon Place ought to make a better match. + +“But a pretty face is all a young man thinks of,” said the more +experienced; and on the whole, it seemed to be felt that the open +attention Clive paid to Ella was at least easily to be understood. + +Almost the first visit Clive paid, when he was allowed to venture out, +was to Bittermeads; and Dunn, returning one afternoon from an errand, +found him established on the lawn in the company of Ella, and looking +little the worse for his adventure. + +He and Ella seemed to be talking very animatedly, and Dunn took the +opportunity to busy himself with some gardening work not far away, so +that he could watch their behaviour. + +He told himself it was necessary he should know in what relation they +stood to each other, and as he heard them chatting and laughing together +with great apparent friendliness and enjoyment, he remembered with +considerable satisfaction how he had already broken one rib of Clive's, +and he wished very much for an opportunity to break another. + +For, without knowing why, he was beginning to conceive an intense +dislike for Clive; and, also, it did not seem to him quite good taste +for Ella to sit and chat and laugh with him so readily. + +“But we were told,” he caught a stray remark of Ella's, “that it was a +gang of at least a dozen that attacked you.” + +“No,” answered Clive reluctantly. “No, I think there was only one. But +he had a grip like a bear.” + +“He must have been very strong,” remarked Ella thoughtfully. + +“I would give fifty pounds to meet him again, and have it out in the +light, when one could see what one was doing,” declared Clive with great +vigour. + +“Oh, you would, would you?” muttered Dunn to himself. “Well, one of +these days I may claim that fifty.” + +He looked round at Clive as he thought this, and Clive noticed him, and +said: + +“Is that a new man you've got there Miss Cayley? Doesn't he rather want +a shave? Where on earth did Mr. Dawson pick him up?” + +“Oh, he came here with the very best testimonials, and father engaged +him on the spot,” answered Ella, touching her wrists thoughtfully. “He +certainly is not very handsome, but then that doesn't matter, does it?” + +She spoke more loudly than usual, and Dunn was certain she did so +in order that he might hear what she said. So he had no scruple in +lingering on pretence of being busy with a rose bush, and heard Clive +say: + +“Well, if he were one of my chaps, I should tell him to put the +lawn-mower over his own face.” + +Ella laughed amusedly. + +“Oh, what an idea, Mr. Clive,” she cried, and Dunn thought to himself: + +“Yes, one day I shall very certainly claim that fifty pounds.” + + + +CHAPTER XII. AN AVOWAL + + +When Clive had gone that afternoon, Ella, who had accompanied him as far +as the gate, and had from thence waved him a farewell, came back to the +spot where Dunn was working. + +She stood still, watching him, and he looked up at her and then went +on with his work without speaking, for now, as always, the appalling +thought was perpetually in his mind: “Must she not have known what it +was she had with her in the car when she went driving that night?” + +After a little, she turned away, as if disappointed that he took no +notice of her presence. + +At once he raised himself from the task he had been bending over, and +stood moodily watching the slim, graceful figure, about which hung such +clouds of doubt and dread, and she, turning around suddenly, as if +she actually felt the impact of his gaze, saw him, and saw the strange +expression in his eyes. + +“Why do you look at me like that?” she asked quickly, her soft and +gentle tones a little shrill, as though swift fear had come upon her. + +“Like what?” he mumbled. + +“Oh, you know,” she cried passionately. “Am I to be the next?” she +asked. + +He started, and looked at her wonderingly, asking himself if these words +of hers bore the grim meaning that his mind instantly gave them. + +Was it possible that if she did know something of what was going on in +this quiet country house, during these peaceful autumn days, she knew it +not as willing accomplice, but as a helpless, destined victim who saw no +way of escape. + +As if she feared she had said too much, she turned and began to walk +away. + +At once he followed. + +“Stop one moment,” he exclaimed. “Miss Cayley.” + +She obeyed, turning quickly to face him. They were both very pale, and +both were under the influence of strong excitement. But between +them there hung a thick cloud of doubt and dread that neither could +penetrate. + +All at once Dunn, unable to control himself longer, burst out with that +question which for so long had hovered on his lips. + +“Do you know,” he said, “do you know what you took away with you in the +car that night I came here?” + +“The packing-case, you meant,” she asked. “Of course I do; I helped to +get it ready--what's the matter?” + +“Nothing,” he muttered, though indeed he had staggered as beneath some +sudden and violent blow. “Oh--did you?” he said, with an effort. + +“Certainly,” she answered. “Now I've answered your question, will you +answer me one? Why did you tell us your name was Charley Wright?” + +“I knew a man of that name once,” he answered. “He's dead now.” + +“I thought perhaps,” she said slowly and quite calmly, “that it was +because you had seen the name written on a photograph in my room.” + +“No, it wasn't that,” he answered gravely, and his doubts that for a +moment had seemed so terribly confirmed, now came back again, for though +she had said that she knew of the contents of the packing-case, yet, +if that were really so, how was it conceivable that she should speak of +such a thing so calmly? + +And yet again, if she could do it, perhaps also she could talk of it +without emotion. Once more there was fear in his eyes as he watched her, +and her own were troubled and doubtful. + +“Why do you have all that hair on your face?” she asked. + +“Well, why shouldn't I?” he retorted. “It saves trouble.” + +“Does it?” she said. “Do you know what it looks like--like a disguise?” + +“A disguise?” he repeated. “Why should I want a disguise?” + +“Do you think I'm quite a fool because I'm a woman?” she asked +impatiently. “Do you suppose I couldn't see very well when you came that +night that you were not an ordinary burglar? You had some reason of your +own for breaking into this house. What was it?” + +“I'll tell you,” he answered, “if you'll tell me truly what was in that +packing-case?” + +“Oh, now I understand,” she cried excitedly. “It was to find that out +you came--and then Mr. Dawson made you help us get it away. That was +splendid.” + +He did not speak, for once more a kind of horror held him dumb, as it +seemed to him that she really--knew. + +She saw the mingled horror and bewilderment in his eyes, and she laughed +lightly as though that amused her. + +“Do you know,” she said, “I believe I guessed as much from the first, +but I'm afraid Mr. Dawson was too clever for you--as he is for most +people. Only then,” she added, wrinkling her brows as though a new point +puzzled her, “why are you staying here like this?” + +“Can't you guess that too?” he asked hoarsely. + +“No,” she said, shaking her head with a frankly puzzled air. “No, I +can't. That's puzzled me all the time. Do you know--I think you ought to +shave?” + +“Why?” + +“A beard makes a good disguise,” she answered, “so good it's hardly fair +for you to have it when I can't.” + +“Perhaps you need it less,” he answered bitterly, “or perhaps no +disguise could be so effective as the one you have already.” + +“What's that?” she asked. + +“Bright eyes, a pretty face, a clear complexion,” he answered. + +He spoke with an extreme energy and bitterness that she did not in the +least understand, and that quite took away from the words any suspicion +of intentional rudeness. + +“If I have all that, I suppose it's natural and not a disguise,” she +remarked. + +“My beard is natural too,” he retorted. + +“All the same, I wish you would cut it off,” she answered. “I should +like to see what you look like.” + +She turned and walked away, and the more Dunn thought over this +conversation, the less he felt he understood it. + +What had she meant by that strange start and look she had given him +when she had asked if she were to be the next? And when she asserted so +confidently that she knew what was in the packing-case, was that true, +or was she speaking under some mistaken impression, or had she wished to +deceive him? + +The more he thought, the more disturbed he felt, and every hour that +passed he seemed to feel more and more strongly the influence of her +gracious beauty, the horror of his suspicions of her. + +The next day Clive came again, and again Ella seemed very pleased to see +him, and again Dunn, hanging about in their vicinity, watched gloomily +their friendly intercourse. + +That Clive was in love with Ella seemed fairly certain; at any rate, +he showed himself strongly attracted by her, and very eager for her +company. + +How she felt was more doubtful, though she made no concealment of the +fact that she liked to see him, and found pleasure in having him there. +Dunn, moving about near at hand, was aware of an odd impression that she +knew he was watching them, and that she wished him to do so for several +times he saw her glance in his direction. + +He could always move with a most extraordinary lightness of foot, so +that, big and clumsy as he seemed in build, he could easily go unheard +and even unseen, and John Clive seemed to have little idea that he +remained so persistently near at hand. + +This gift or power of Dunn's he had acquired in far-off lands, +where life may easily depend on the snapping of a twig or the right +interpretation of a trampled grass-blade, and he was using it now, +almost unconsciously, so as to make his presence near Ella and Clive as +unobtrusive as possible, when his keen eye caught sight of a bush, of +which leaves and branches were moving against the wind. + +For that he knew there could be but one explanation, and when he walked +round, so as to get behind this bush, he was not surprised to see Deede +Dawson crouching there, his eyes very intent and eager, his unsmiling +lips drawn back to show his white teeth in a threatening grin or snarl. + +Near by him was his little chess-board and men, and as Dunn came up +behind he looked round quickly and saw him. + +For a moment his eyes were deadly and his hand dropped to his +hip-pocket, where Dunn had reason to believe he carried a formidable +little automatic pistol. + +But almost at once his expression changed, and with a gesture he invited +Dunn to crouch down at his side. For a little they remained like this, +and then Deede Dawson moved cautiously away, signing to Dunn to follow +him. + +When they were at a safe distance he turned to Dunn and said + +“Is he serious, do you think, or is he playing with her? I'll make him +pay for it if he is.” + +“How should I know?” answered Dunn, quite certain it was no such anxiety +as this that had set Deede Dawson watching them so carefully. + +Deede Dawson seemed to feel that the explanation he had offered was a +little crude, and he made no attempt to enlarge on it. + +With a complete change of manner, with his old smile on his lips and his +eyes as dark and unsmiling as ever, he said, + +“Pretty girl, Ella--isn't she?” + +“She is more than pretty, she is beautiful,” Dunn answered with an +emphasis that made Deede Dawson look at him sharply. + +“Think so?” he said, and gave his peculiar laugh that had so little +mirth in it. “Well, you're right, she is. He'll be a lucky man that +gets her--and she's to be had, you know. But I'll tell you one thing, it +won't be John Clive.” + +“I thought it rather looked,” observed Dunn, “as if Miss Cayley might +mean--” + +Deede Dawson interrupted with a quick jerk of his head. + +“Never mind what she means, it'll be what I mean,” he declared. “I am +boss; and what's more, she knows it. I believe in a man being master in +his own family. Don't you?” + +“If he can be,” retorted Dunn. “But still, a girl naturally--” + +“Naturally nothing,” Deede Dawson interrupted again. “I tell you what I +want for her, a man I can trust--trust--that's the great thing. Some one I +can trust.” + +He nodded at Dunn as he said this and then walked off, and Dunn felt +very puzzled as he, too, turned away. + +“Was he offering her to me?” he asked himself. “It almost sounded like +it. If so, it must mean there's something he wants from me pretty bad. +She's beautiful enough to turn any man's head--but did she know about +poor Charlie's murder?--help in it, perhaps?--as she said she did with +the packing-case.” + +He paused, and all his body was shaken by strong and fierce emotion. + +“God help me,” he groaned. “I believe I would marry her tomorrow if I +could, innocent or guilty.” + + + +CHAPTER XIII. INVISIBLE WRITING + + +It was the next day that there arrived by the morning post a letter for +Dunn. + +Deede Dawson raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw it; and he did not +hand it on until he had made himself master of its contents, though that +did not prove to be very enlightening or interesting. The note, in fact, +merely expressed gratification at the news that Dunn had secured steady +work, a somewhat weak hope that he would keep it, and a still fainter +hope that now perhaps he would be able to return the ten shillings +borrowed, apparently from the writer, at some time in the past. + +Mr. Deede Dawson, in spite of the jejune nature of the communication, +read it very carefully and indeed even went so far as to examine the +letter through a powerful magnifying-glass. + +But he made no discovery by the aid of that instrument, and he +neglected, for no man thinks of everything, to expose the letter to a +gentle heat, which was what Dunn did when, presently, he received it, +apparently unopened and with not the least sign to show that it had been +tampered with in any way whatever. + +Gradually, however, as Dunn held it to the fire, there appeared between +the lines fresh writing, which he read very eagerly, and which ran: + +“Jane Dunsmore, born 1830, married, against family wishes, John Clive +and had one son, John, killed early this year in a motor-car accident, +leaving one son, John, now of Ramsdon Place and third in line of +succession to the Wreste Abbey property.” + +When he had read the message thus strangely and with such precaution +conveyed to him, Dunn burnt the letter and went that day about his work +in a very grave and thoughtful mood. + +“I knew it couldn't be a mere coincidence,” he mused. “It wasn't +possible. I must manage to warn him, somehow; but, ten to one, he won't +believe a word, and I don't know that I blame him--I shouldn't in his +place. And he might go straight to Deede Dawson and ruin everything. I +don't know that it wouldn't be wiser and safer to say nothing for the +present, till I'm more sure of my ground--and then it may be too late.” + +“Just possibly,” he thought, “the job Deede Dawson clearly thinks he can +make me useful in may have something to do with Clive. If so, I may be +able to see my way more clearly.” + +As it happened, Clive was away for a few days on some business he had to +attend to, so that for the present Dunn thought he could afford to wait. + +But during the week-end Clive returned, and on the Monday he came again +to Bittermeads. + +It was never very agreeable to Dunn to have to stand aloof while Clive +was laughing and chatting and drinking his tea with Ella and her mother, +and of those feelings of annoyance and vexation he made this time a +somewhat ostentatious show. + +That his manner of sulky anger and resentment did not go unnoticed by +Deede Dawson he was very sure, but nothing was said at the time. + +Next morning Deede Dawson called him while he was busy in the garage and +insisted on his trying to solve another chess problem. + +“I haven't managed the other yet,” Dunn protested. “It's not too easy to +hit on these key-moves.” + +“Never mind try this one,” Deede Dawson said; and Ella, going out for a +morning stroll with her mother, saw them thus, poring together over the +travelling chess-board. + +“They seem busy, don't they?” she remarked. “Father is making quite a +friend of that man.” + +“I don't like him,” declared Mrs. Dawson, quite vigorously for her. “I'm +sure a man with such a lot of hair on his face can't be really nice, and +I thought he was inclined to be rude yesterday.” + +“Yes,” agreed Ella. “Yes, he was. I think Mr. Clive was a little vexed, +though he took no notice, I suppose he couldn't very well.” + +“I don't like the man at all,” Mrs. Dawson repeated. “All that hair, +too. Do you like him?” + +“I don't know,” Ella answered, and after she and her mother had returned +from their walk she took occasion to find Dunn in the garden and ask him +some trifling question or another. + +“You are interested in chess?” she remarked, when he had answered her. + +“All problems are interesting till one finds the answer to them,” he +replied. + +“There's one I know of,” she retorted. “I wish you would solve for me.” + +“Tell me what it is,” he said quickly. “Will you?” + +She shook her head slightly, but she was watching him very intently from +her clear, candid eyes, and now, as always, her nearness to him, the +infinite appeal he found in her every look and movement, the very +fragrance of her hair, bore him away beyond all purpose and intention. + +“Tell me what it is,” he said again. “Won't you? Miss Cayley, if you and +I were to trust each other--it's not difficult to see there's something +troubling you.” + +“Most people have some trouble or another,” she answered evasively. + +He came a little nearer to her, and instead of the gruff, harsh tones he +habitually used, his voice was singularly pleasant and low as he said: + +“People who are in trouble need help, Miss Cayley. Will you let me help +you?” + +“You can't,” she answered, shaking her head. “No one could.” + +“How can you tell that?” he asked eagerly. “Perhaps I know more already +than you think.” + +“I daresay you do,” she said slowly. “I have thought that a long time. +Will you tell me one thing?--Are you his friend or not?” + +There was no need for Dunn to ask to whom the pronoun she used referred. + +“I am so much not his friend,” he answered as quietly and deliberately +as she had spoken. “That it's either his life or mine.” + +At that she drew back in a startled way as though his words had gone +beyond her expectations. + +“How do I know I can trust you?” she said presently, half to herself, +half to him. + +“You can,” he said, and it was as though he flung the whole of his +enigmatic and vivid personality into those two words. + +“You can,” he said again. “Absolutely.” + +“I must think,” she muttered, pressing her hands to her head. “So much +depends--how can I trust you? Why should I--why?” + +“Because I'll trust you first,” he answered with a touch of exultation +in his manner. “Listen to me and I'll tell you everything. And that +means I put my life in your hands. Well, that's nothing; I would do that +any time; but other people's lives will be in your power, too--yes, and +everything I'm here for, everything. Now listen.” + +“Not now,” she interrupted sharply. “He may be watching, listening--he +generally is.” Again there was no need between them to specify to whom +the pronoun referred. “Will you meet me tonight near the sweet-pea +border--about nine?” + +She glided away as she spoke without waiting for him to answer, and as +soon as he was free from the magic of her presence, reaction came and he +was torn by a thousand doubts and fears and worse. + +“Why, I'm mad, mad,” he groaned. “I've no right to tell what I said I +would, no right at all.” + +And again there returned to him his vivid, dreadful memory of how she +had started on that midnight drive with her car so awfully laden. + +And again there returned to him his old appalling doubt: + +“Did she not know?” + +And though he would willingly have left his life in her hands, he knew +he had no right to put that of others there, and yet it seemed to him he +must keep the appointment and the promise he had made. + +About nine that evening, then, he made his way to the sweet-pea border, +though, as he went, he resolved that he would not tell her what he had +said he would. + +Because he trusted his own strength so little when he was with her, he +confirmed this resolution by an oath he swore to himself: and even that +he was not certain would be a sure protection against the witchery she +wielded. + +So it was with a mind doubtful and troubled more than it had ever been +since the beginning of these things that he came to the border where the +sweet-peas grew, and saw a dark shadow already close by them. + +But when he came a little nearer he saw that it was not Ella who was +there but Deede Dawson and his first thought was that she had betrayed +him. + +“That you, Dunn?” Deede Dawson hailed him in his usual pleasant, +friendly manner. + +“Yes,” Dunn answered warily, keeping himself ready for any eventuality. + +Deede Dawson took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it and offered one +to Dunn, who refused it abruptly. + +Deede Dawson laughed at that in his peculiar, mirthless way. + +“Am I being the third that's proverbially no company?” he asked. “Were +you expecting to find some one else here? I thought I saw a white frock +vanish just as I came up.” + +Dunn made no answer, and Deede Dawson continued after a pause + +“That's why I waited. You are being just a little bit rapid in this +affair, aren't you?” + +“I don't know why. You said something, didn't you?” muttered Dunn, +beginning to think that, after all, Deede Dawson's presence here was due +to accident--or rather to his unceasing and unfailing watchfulness, and +not to any treachery of Ella's. + +“Yes, I did, didn't I?” he agreed pleasantly. “But you are a working +gardener taken on out of charity to give you a chance and keep you +out of gaol, and you are looking a little high when you think of your +master's ward and daughter, aren't you?” + +“There was a time when I shouldn't have thought so,” answered Dunn. + +“We're talking of the present, my good man,” Deede Dawson said +impatiently. “If you want the girl you must win her. It can be done, but +it won't be easy.” + +“Tell me how,” said Dunn. + +“Oh, that's going too fast and too far,” answered the other with his +mirthless laugh. “Now, there's Mr. John Clive--what about him?” + +“I'll answer for him,” replied Dunn slowly and thickly. “I've put better +men than John Clive out of my way before today.” + +“That's the way to talk,” cried Deede Dawson. “Dunn, dare you play a big +game for big stakes?” + +“Try me,” said Dunn. + +“If I showed you,” Deede Dawson's voice sank to a whisper, “if I showed +you a pretty girl for a wife--a fortune to win--what would you say?” + +“Try me,” said Dunn again, and then, making his voice as low and hoarse +as was Dunn's, he asked: + +“Is it Clive?” + +“Later--perhaps,” answered Deede Dawson. “There's some one else--first. +Are you ready?” + +“Try me,” said Dunn for the third time, and as he spoke his quick ear +caught the faint sound of a retreating footstep, and he told himself +that Ella must have lingered near and had perhaps heard all they said. + +“Try me,” he said once more, speaking more loudly and clearly this time. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + + +Dunn went to his room that night with the feeling that a crisis was +approaching. And he wished very greatly that he knew how much Ella had +overheard of his talk with her stepfather, and what interpretation she +had put upon it. + +He determined that in the morning he would take the very first +opportunity he could find of speaking to her. + +But in the morning it appeared that Mrs. Dawson had had a bad night, and +was very unwell, and Ella hardly stirred from her side all day. + +Even when Clive called in the afternoon she would not come down, but +sent instead a message begging to be excused because of her mother's +indisposition, and Dunn, from a secure spot in the garden, watched the +young man retire, looking very disconsolate. + +This day, too, Dunn saw nothing of Deede Dawson, for that gentleman +immediately after breakfast disappeared without saying anything to +anybody, and by night had still not returned. + +Dunn therefore was left entirely to himself, and to him the day seemed +one of the longest he had ever spent. + +That Ella remained so persistently with her mother troubled him a good +deal, for he did not think such close seclusion on her part could be +really necessary. + +He was inclined to fear that Ella had overheard enough of what had +passed between him and Deede Dawson to rouse her mistrust, and that she +was therefore deliberately keeping out of his way. + +Then too, he was troubled in another fashion by Deede Dawson's absence, +for he was afraid it might mean that plans were being prepared, or +possibly action being taken, that might mature disastrously before he +himself was ready to act. + +All day this feeling of unrest and apprehension continued, and at +night when he went upstairs to bed it was stronger than ever. He felt +convinced now that Ella was deliberately avoiding him. But then, if +she distrusted him, that must be because she feared he was on her +stepfather's side, and if it seemed to her that who was on his side was +of necessity an object of suspicion to herself, then there could be no +such bond of dread and guilt between them as any guilty knowledge on her +part of Wright's death would involve. + +The substantial proof this exercise in logic appeared to afford of +Ella's innocence brought him much comfort, but did not lighten his sense +of apprehension and unrest, for he thought that in this situation in +which he found himself his doubts of Ella had merely been turned into +doubts on Ella's part of himself, and that the one was just as likely as +the other to end disastrously. + +“Though I don't know what I can do,” he muttered as he stood in his +attic, “if I gain Deede Dawson's confidence I lose Ella's, and if I win +Ella's, Deede Dawson will at once suspect me.” + +He went over to the window and looked out, supporting himself on his +elbows, and gazing moodily into the darkness. + +As he stood there a faint sound came softly to his ear through the +stillness of the quiet night in which nothing stirred. + +He listened, and heard it again. Beyond doubt some one was stirring in +the garden below, moving about there very cautiously and carefully, +and at once Dunn glided from the room and down the stairs with all that +extraordinary lightness of tread and agility of movement of which his +heavy body and clumsy-looking build gave so small promise. + +He had not been living so many days in the house without having taken +certain precautions, of which one had been to secure for himself a swift +and silent egress whenever necessity might arise. + +Keys to both the front and back doors were in his possession, and the +passage window on the ground floor he could at need lift bodily from +its frame, leaving ample room for passage either in or out. This was +the method of departure he chose now since he did not know but that the +doors might be watched. + +Lifting the window down, he swung himself outside, replacing behind him +the window so that it appeared to be as firmly in position as ever, but +could be removed again almost instantly should need arise. + +Once outside he listened again, and though at first everything was +quiet, presently he heard again a cautious step going to and fro at a +little distance. + +Crouching in the shadow of the house, he listened intently, and soon was +able to assure himself that there was but one footstep and that he would +have only one individual to deal with. + +“It won't be Deede Dawson's,” he thought to himself, “but it may very +likely be some one waiting for him to return. I must find out who--and +why.” + +Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he seemed +to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of them, he moved +quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps he had listened to. + +They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint +multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in the +woods and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men. + +A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept +forward a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would not +be safe to venture further till he was more sure of his direction, and +till some fresh sound to guide him reached his ears. + +He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he heard +something that surprised and perplexed him equally--a deep, long-drawn +sigh. + +Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this could be +who came into another person's garden late at night to stand and sigh, +and what such a proceeding could mean. + +Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after it +a low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but then +caught the name of Ella being whispered over and over again. + +He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out +something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow had +hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form so tall +and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to. + +“John Clive--what on earth--!” Dunn muttered, his bewilderment +increasing, and the next moment he understood and had some difficulty in +preventing himself from bursting out laughing as there reached him the +unmistakable sound of a kiss lightly blown through the air. + +Clive was sending a kiss through the night towards Ella's room and his +nocturnal visit was nothing more than the whim of a love-sick youth. + +With Dunn, his first amusement gave way almost at once to an extreme +annoyance. + +For, in the first place, these proceedings seemed to him exceedingly +impertinent, for what possible right did Clive imagine he had to come +playing the fool like this, sighing in the dark and blowing kisses like +a baby to its mammy? + +And secondly, unless he were greatly mistaken, John Clive might just as +sensibly and safely have dropped overboard from a ship in mid-Atlantic +for a swim as come to indulge his sentimentalities in the Bittermeads +garden at night. + +“You silly ass!” he said in a voice that was very low, but very distinct +and very full of an extreme disgust and anger. + +Clive fairly leaped in the air with his surprise, and turned and made a +sudden dash at the spot whence Dunn's voice had come, but where Dunn no +longer was. + +“What the blazes--?” he began, spluttering in ineffectual rage. +“You--you--!” + +“You silly ass!” Dunn repeated, no less emphatically than before. + +Clive made another rush that a somewhat prickly bush very effectually +stopped. + +“You--who are you--where--what--how dare you?” he gasped as he picked +himself up and tried to disentangle himself from the prickles. + +“Don't make such a row,” said Dunn from a new direction. “Do you want +to raise the whole neighbourhood? Haven't you played the fool enough? +If you want to commit suicide, why can't you cut your throat quietly and +decently at home, instead of coming alone to the garden at Bittermeads +at night?” + +There was a note of sombre and intense conviction in his voice that +penetrated even the excited mind of the raging Clive. + +“What do you mean?” he asked, and then: + +“Who are you?” + +“Never mind who I am,” answered Dunn. “And I mean just what I say. You +might as well commit suicide out of hand as come fooling about here +alone at night.” + +“You're crazy, you're talking rubbish!” Clive exclaimed. + +“I'm neither crazy nor talking rubbish,” answered Dunn. “But if you +persist in making such a row I shall take myself off and leave you to +see the thing through by yourself and get yourself knocked on the head +any way you like best.” + +“Oh, I'm beginning to understand,” said Clive. “I suppose you're one +of my poaching friends--are you? Look here, if you know who it was +who attacked me the other night you can earn fifty pounds any time you +like.” + +“Your poaching friends, as you call them,” answered Dunn, “are most +likely only anxious to keep out of your way. This has nothing to do with +them.” + +“Well, come nearer and let me see you,” Clive said. “You needn't be +afraid. You can't expect me to take any notice of some one I can't see, +talking rubbish in the dark.” + +“I don't much care whether you take any notice or not,” answered Dunn. +“You can go your own silly way if you like, it's nothing to me. I've +warned you, and if you care to listen I'll make my warning a little +clearer. And one thing I will tell you--one man already has left this +house hidden in a packing-case with a bullet through his brain, and I +will ask you a question: 'How did your father die?'” + +“He was killed in a motor-car accident,” answered Clive hesitatingly, +as though not certain whether to continue this strange and puzzling +conversation or break it off. + +“There are many accidents,” said Dunn. “And that may have been one, +for all I know, or it may not. Well, I've warned you. I had to do that. +You'll probably go on acting like a fool and believing that nowadays +murders don't happen, but if you're wise, you'll go home to bed and run +no more silly risks.” + +“Of course I'm not going to pay the least attention,” began Clive, when +Dunn interrupted him sharply. + +“Hush! hush!” he said sharply. “Crouch down: don't make a sound, don't +stir or move. Hush!” + +For Dunn's sharp ear had caught the sound of approaching footsteps that +were drawing quickly nearer, and almost instantly he guessed who it +would be, for there were few pedestrians who came along that lonely road +so late at night. + +There were two of them apparently, and at the gate of Bittermeads they +halted. + +“Well, good night,” said then a voice both Dunn and Clive knew at once +for Deede Dawson's. “That was a pretty check by the knight I showed you, +wasn't it?” + +A thin, high, somewhat peculiar voice cursed Deede Dawson, chess, and +the pretty mate by the knight very comprehensively. + +“It's young Clive that worries me,” said the voice when it had finished +these expressions of disapproval. + +“No need,” answered Deede Dawson's voice with that strange mirthless +laugh of his. “No need at all; before the week's out he'll trouble no +one any more.” + +When he heard this, Clive would have betrayed himself by some startled +movement or angry exclamation had not Dunn's heavy hand upon his +shoulder held him down with a grave and steady pressure there was no +disregarding. + +Deede Dawson and his unknown companion went on towards the house, and +admitted themselves, and as the door closed behind them Clive swung +round sharply in the darkness towards Dunn. + +“What's it mean?” he muttered in the bewildered and slightly-pathetic +voice of a child at once frightened and puzzled. “What for? Why should +any one--?” + +“It's a long story,” began Dunn, and paused. + +He saw that the unexpected confirmation of his warning Clive had +thus received from Deede Dawson's own lips had rendered his task of +convincing Clive immensely more easy. + +What he had wished to say had now at least a certainty of being listened +to, a probability of being believed, and there was at any rate, he +supposed, no longer the danger he had before dreaded of Clive's going +straight with the whole story to Deede Dawson in arrogant disbelief of a +word of it. + +But he still distrusted Clive's discretion, and feared some rash and +hasty action that might ruin all his plans, and allow Deede Dawson time +to escape. + +Besides he felt that the immediate task before him was to find out who +Deede Dawson's new companion was, and, if possible, overhear anything +they might have to say to each other. + +That, and the discovery of the new-comer's identity, might prove to be +of the utmost importance. + +“I can't explain now,” he said hurriedly. “I'll see you tomorrow +sometime. Don't do anything till you hear from me. Your life may depend +on it--and other people's lives that matter more.” + +“Tell me who you are first,” Clive said quickly, incautiously raising +his voice. “I can manage to take care of myself all right, I think, but +I want to know who you are.” + +“H-ssh!” muttered Dunn. “Not so loud.” + +“There was a fellow made an attack on me one night a little while ago,” + Clive went on unheedingly. “You remind me of him somehow. I don't think +I trust you, my man. I think you had better come along to the police +with me.” + +But Dunn's sharp ears had caught the sound of the house door opening +cautiously, and he guessed that Deede Dawson had taken the alarm and +was creeping out to see who invaded so late at night the privacy of his +garden. + +“Clear out quick! Quiet! If you want to go on living. I'll stop them +from following if I can. If you make the least noise you're done for.” + +Most likely the man they had seen in his company would be with him, and +both of them would be armed. Neither Clive nor Dunn had a weapon, and +Dunn saw the danger of the position and took the only course available. + +“Go,” he whispered fiercely into Clive's ear. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE SOUND OF A SHOT + + +He melted away into the darkness as he spoke, and through the night he +slipped, one shadow more amongst many, from tree to bush, from bush to +tree. Across a patch of open grass he crawled on his hands and knees; +and once lay flat on his face when against the skyline he saw a figure +he was sure was Deede Dawson's creep by a yard or two on his right hand. + +On his left another shadow showed, distinguishable in the night only +because it moved. + +In a moment both shadows were gone, secret and deadly in the dark, +and Dunn was very sure that Clive's life and his own both hung upon a +slender chance, for if either of them was discovered the leaping bullet +would do the rest. + +It would be safe and easy--suspected burglars in a garden at +midnight--nothing could be said. He lay very still with his face to the +dewy sod, and all the night seemed full to him of searching footsteps +and of a swift and murderous going to and fro. + +He heard distinctly from the road a sudden, muffled sound as Clive in +the darkness blunderingly missed his footing and fell upon one knee. + +“That's finished him,” Dunn thought grimly, his ears straining for the +sharp pistol report that would tell Clive's tale was done, and then he +was aware of a cat, a favourite of Ella's and often petted by himself, +that was crouching near by under a tree, most likely much puzzled +and alarmed by this sudden irruption of hurrying men into its domain. +Instantly Dunn saw his chance, and seizing the animal, lifted it and +threw it in the direction where he guessed Deede Dawson to be. + +His guess was good and fortune served him well, for the tabby flying +caterwauling through the air alighted almost exactly in front of Deede +Dawson on top of a small bush. For a moment it hung there, quite unhurt, +but very frightened, and emitted a yell, then fled. + +In the quietness the tumult of its scrambling flight sounded +astonishingly loud, so that it sounded as through a miniature avalanche +had been let loose in the garden. + +“Only cats,” Deede Dawson exclaimed disgustedly, and from behind, nearer +the house, Dunn called: + +“Who's there? What is it? What's the matter? Is it Mr. Dawson? Is +anything wrong?” + +“I think there is,” said Deede Dawson softly. “I think, perhaps, there +is. What are you doing out here at this time of night, Charley Wright?” + +“I heard a noise and came down to see what it was,” answered Dunn. +“There was a light in the breakfast-room, but I didn't see any one, and +the front door was open so I came out here. Is anything wrong?” + +“That's what I want to know,” said Deede Dawson. “Come back to the house +with me. If any one is about, he can just take himself off.” + +He spoke the last sentence loudly, and Dunn took it as a veiled +instruction to his companion to depart. + +He realized that if he had saved Clive he had done so at the cost of +missing the best opportunity that had yet come his way of obtaining very +important, and, perhaps, decisive information. + +To have discovered the identity of this stranger who had come visiting +Deede Dawson might have meant much, and he told himself angrily that +Clive's safety had certainly not been worth purchasing at the cost of +such a lost chance, though he supposed that was a point on which Clive +himself might possibly entertain a different opinion. + +But now there was nothing for it but to go quietly back to the house, +for clearly Deede Dawson's suspicions were aroused and he had his +revolver ready in his hand. + +“I suppose it was only cats all the time,” he observed, with apparent +unconcern. “But at first I made sure there were no burglars in the +house.” + +“And I suppose,” suggested Deede Dawson. “You think one burglar's enough +in a household.” + +“I don't mean to have any one else mucking around,” growled Dunn in +answer. + +“Very admirable sentiments,” said Deede Dawson and asked several more +questions that showed he still entertained some suspicion of Dunn, and +was not altogether satisfied that his appearance in the garden was quite +innocent, or that the noise heard there was due solely to cats. + +Dunn answered as best he could, and Deede Dawson listened and smiled, +and smiled again, and watched him from eyes that did not smile at all. + +“Oh, well,” Deede Dawson said at last, with a yawn. “Anyhow, it's all +right now. You had better get along back to bed, and I'll lock up.” He +accompanied Dunn into the hall and watched him ascend the stairs, and +as Dunn went slowly up them he felt by no means sure that soon a bullet +would not come questing after him, searching for heart or brain. + +For he was sure that Deede Dawson still suspected him, and he knew Deede +Dawson to be very sudden and swift in action. But nothing happened, he +reached the broad, first landing in safety, and he was about to go on up +to his attic when he beard a door at the end of the passage open and saw +Ella appear in her dressing-gown. + +“What is the matter?” she asked, in a low voice. + +“It's all right,” he answered. “There was a noise in the garden, and I +came down to see what it was, but it's only cats.” + +“Oh, is that all?” she said distrustfully. + +“Yes,” he answered, in a lower voice still, he said: + +“Will you tell me something? Do you know any one who talks in a very +peculiar shrill high voice?” + +She did not answer, and, after a moment's hesitation, went back into her +room and closed the door behind her. + +He went on up to his attic with the feeling that she could have answered +if she had wished to, and lay down in a troubled and dispirited mood. + +For he was sure now that Ella mistrusted him and would give him +no assistance, and that weighed upon him greatly, as did also his +conviction that what it behoved him above all else to know--the identity +of the man who, in this affair, stood behind Deede Dawson and made use +of his fierce and fatal energies--he had had it in his power to discover +and had failed to make use of the opportunity. + +“I would rather know that,” he said to himself, “than save a dozen +Clives ten times over.” Though again it occurred to him that on this +point Clive might hold another opinion. “If he hadn't made such a +blundering row I might have got to know who Deede Dawson's visitor was. +I must try to get a word with Clive tomorrow by hook or crook, though I +daresay Deede Dawson will be very much on the lookout.” + +However, next morning Deede Dawson not only made no reference to the +events of the night, but had out the car and went off immediately after +breakfast without saying when he would be back. + +As soon after his departure as possible, Dunn also set out and took +his way through the woods towards Ramsdon Place on the look-out for an +opportunity to speak to Clive unobserved. + +He thought it most likely that Clive would be drawn towards the vicinity +of Bittermeads by the double fascination of curiosity and fear, and he +supposed that if he waited and watched in the woods he would be sure +presently to see him. + +But though he remained for long hidden at a spot whence he could command +the road to Bittermeads from Ramsdon Place, he saw nothing at all of +Clive, and the sunny lazy morning was well advanced when he was startled +by the sound of a gun shot some distance away. + +“A keeper shooting rabbits, I suppose,” he thought, looking round just +in time to see Ella running through the wood from the direction whence +the sound of the shot had seemed to come, and then vanish again with a +quick look behind her into the heart of a close-growing spinney. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. IN THE WOOD + + +There had been an air of haste, almost of furtiveness, about this swift +appearance and more swift vanishing of Ella, that made Dunn ask himself +uneasily what errand she could have been on. + +He hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see her return again, +or that there would be some other development, but he heard and saw +nothing. + +He caught no further glimpse of Ella, whom the green depths of the +spinney hid well; and he heard no more shots. + +After a little, he left the spot where he had been waiting and went +across to where he had seen her. + +The exact spot where she had entered the spinney was marked, for she +had broken the branch of a young tree in brushing quickly by it, and a +bramble she had trodden on had not yet lifted itself from the earth to +which she had pressed it. + +By other signs like these, plain enough and easy to read--for she had +hurried on in great haste and without care, almost, indeed, as one who +fled from some great danger or from some dreadful sight, and who had no +thought to spare save for flight alone--he followed the way she had gone +till it took him to a beaten public path that almost at once led over a +stile to the high road which passed in front of Bittermeads. Along this +beaten path, trodden by many, Ella's light foot had left no perceptible +mark, and Dunn made no attempt to track her further, since it seemed +certain that she had been simply hurrying back home. + +“She was badly frightened over something or another,” he said to +himself. “She never stopped once, she went as straight and quick as she +could. I wonder what upset her like that?” + +He went back the way he had come, and at the spot where he had seen her +enter the spinney he set to work to pick up her trail in the direction +whence she had appeared, for he thought that if he followed it he might +find out what had been the cause of her evident alarm. + +The ground was much more open here, and the trail correspondingly more +difficult to follow, for often there was little but a trodden blade of +grass to show where she had passed; and sometimes, where the ground was +bare and hard, there was no visible sign left at all. + +Once or twice at such places he was totally at fault, but by casting +round in a wide circle like a dog scenting his prey he was able to pick +up her tracks again. + +They seemed to lead right into the depths of the wood, through lonely +spots that only the keepers knew, and where others seldom came. + +But that he was on the right trail he presently had proof, for on +the bank of a lovely and hidden dell he picked up a tiny embroidered +handkerchief with the initials “E. C.” worked in one corner. + +It had evidently been lying there only a very short time, for it was +perfectly clean and fresh, and he picked it up and held it for a moment +in his hands, smiling to himself with pleasure at its daintiness and +smallness, and yet still uneasily wondering why she had come here, and +why she had fled away again so quickly. + +The morning was very fine and calm, though in the west heavy clouds were +gathering and seemed to promise rain soon. But overhead the sun shone +brightly, the air was calm and warm, and the little dell on whose verge +he stood a very pretty and pleasant place. + +A small stream wandered through it, the grass that carpeted it was +green and soft, near by a great oak stood alone and spread its majestic +branches far out on every side to give cool shelter from the summer +heat. + +The thought occurred to Dunn that this was just such a pretty and +secluded spot as two lovers might choose to exchange their vows in, and +the thought stung him intolerably as he wondered whether it was for such +a reason that Ella had come here. + +But if so, why had she fled away again in such strange haste? + +He walked on slowly for a yard or two, not now attempting to follow +Ella's trail, for he had the impression that this was her destination, +and that she had gone no further than here. + +All at once he caught sight of the form of a man lying hidden in +the long grass that nearly covered him from view just where the +far-spreading branches of the great oak ceased to give their shade. + +At first Dunn thought he was sleeping, and he was just about to call +out to him when something in the rigidity of the man's position and his +utter stillness struck him unpleasantly. + +He went quickly to the man's side, and the face of dead John Clive, +supine and still, stared up at him from unseeing eyes. + +He had been killed by a charge of small shot fired at such close +quarters that his breast was shot nearly in two and his clothing and +flesh charred by the burning powder. + +But Dunn, standing staring down at the dead man, saw not him, but Ella. +Ella fleeing away silently and furtively through the trees as from some +sight or scene of guilt and terror. + +He stooped closer over the dead man. Death had been instantaneous. Of +course there could be no doubt. From one hand a piece of folded paper +had fallen. + +Dunn picked it up, and saw that there was writing on it, and he read it +over slowly. + + “Dear Mr. Clive,--Can you meet me as before by the oak + tomorrow at eleven? There is something I very much want to + say to you.--Yours sincerely, + “ELLA CAYLEY.” + + +Was that, then, the lure which had brought John Clive to meet his +death? Was this the bait that had made him disregard the warnings he had +received, and come alone to so quiet and solitary a spot? + +Dunn had a moment of quick envy of him; he lay so quiet and still in +the warm sunshine, with nothing to trouble or distress him any more for +ever. + +Then, stumblingly and heavily, Dunn turned an went away, and his eyes +were very hard, his bearded face set like iron. + +Like a man in a dream, or one obsessed by some purpose before which all +other things faded into nothingness, he went his way, the way Ella had +taken in her flight--through the wood, through the spinney to the public +foot-path, and then out on the road that led to Bittermeads. + +When he entered the garden there, he saw Ella sitting quietly on a +deck-chair close to her mother, quietly busy with some fancy work. + +He could not believe it; he stood watching in bewilderment, appalled and +wondering, watching her white hands flashing busily to and fro, hearing +the soft murmur of her voice as now and then she addressed some remark +to her mother, who nodded drowsily in the sunshine over a book open on +her knees. + +Ella was dressed all in white; she had flung aside her hat, and the +quiet breeze played in her fair hair, and stirred gently a stray curl +that had escaped across her broad low brow. + +The picture was one of gentleness and peace and an innocence that +thought no wrong, and yet with his own eyes he had seen her not an hour +ago fleeing with hurried steps and fearful looks from the spot where lay +a murdered man. + +Somewhat unsteadily, for he felt so little master of himself, it was +as though he had no longer even control of his own limbs, Dunn stumbled +forward, and Ella looked up and saw him, and saw also that he was +looking at her very strangely. + +She rose and came towards him, her needlework still in her hands. + +“What is the matter?” she said in a voice of some concern. “Are you +ill?” + +“No,” he answered. “No. I've been looking for Mr. Clive.” + +“Have you?” she said, a little surprised apparently, but in no way +flustered or disturbed. “Did you find him?” + +Dunn did not answer, for indeed he could not, and she said again: + +“Did you find him?” + +Still he made no answer, for it seemed to him those four words were +the most awful that any one had ever uttered since the beginning of the +world. + +“What is the matter?” she said again. “Is anything the matter?” + +“Oh, no, no,” he said, and he gave himself a little shake like a man +wakening from deep sleep and trying to remember where he was. + +“Well, then,” she said. + +“I found Mr. Clive,” he said hardly and abruptly. And he repeated again: +“Yes, I found him.” + +They remained standing close together and facing each other, and he saw +her as through a veil of red, and it was as though a red mist enveloped +her, and where her shadow lay the earth was red, he thought, and where +she put her foot it seemed to him red tracks remained, and never before +had he understood how utterly he loved her and must love her, now and +for evermore. + +But he uttered no sound and made no movement, only stood very still, +thinking to himself how dreadful it was that he loved her so greatly. + +She was not paying him, any attention now. A rose bush was near by, and +she picked one of the flowers, and arranged it carefully at her waist. + +She said, still looking at him: + +“Do you know--I wish you would shave yourself?” + +“Why?” he mumbled. + +“I should like to see you,” she answered. “I think I have a curiosity to +see you.” + +“I should think you could do that well enough,” he said in the same low, +mumbled tones. + +“No,” she answered. “I can only see some very untidy hair and a pair of +eyes--not very nice eyes, rather frightening eyes. I should like to see +the rest of your face some day so as to know what it's like.” + +“Perhaps you shall--some day,” he said. + +“Is that a threat?” she asked. “It sounded like one.” + +“Perhaps,” he answered. + +She laughed lightly and turned away. + +“You make me very curious,” she said. “But then, you've always done +that.” + +She went back to her seat by her mother, and he walked on moodily to the +house. + +Mrs. Dawson said to Ella: + +“How can you talk to that man, my dear? I think he looks perfectly +dreadful--hardly like a human being.” + +“I was just telling him he ought to shave himself,” said Ella. “I told +him I should like to know what he was really like.” + +“I shall ask father,” said Mrs. Dawson sternly, “to make it a condition +of his employment here.” + + + +CHAPTER XVII. A DECLARATION + + +Dunn knew very well that he ought to give immediate information to the +authorities of what had happened. + +But he did not. He told himself that nothing could help poor John +Clive, and that any precipitate action on his part might still fatally +compromise his plans, which were now so near completion. + +But his real reason was that he knew that if he came forward he would be +very closely questioned, and sooner or later forced to tell the things +he knew so terribly involving Ella. + +And he knew that to surrender her to the police and proclaim her to the +world as guilty of such things were tasks beyond his strength; though, +to himself, with a touch of wildness in his thoughts, he said that +no proved and certain guilt should go unpunished even though his own +hand--It was a train of ideas he did not pursue. + +“Charley Wright first and now John Clive,” he said to himself. “But the +end is not yet.” + +Again he would not let his thoughts go on but checked them abruptly. + +In this dark and troubled mood he went out to busy himself with the +garden, and all the time he worked he watched with a sort of vertigo of +horror where Ella sat in the sunshine by her mother's side, her white +hands moving nimbly to and fro upon her needlework. + +It was not long, however, before the tragedy of the wood was discovered, +for Clive had been seen to go in that direction, and when he did not +return a search was made that was soon successful. + +The news was brought to Bittermeads towards evening by a tradesman's +boy, who came up from the village to bring something that had been +ordered from there. + +“Have you heard?” he said to Dunn excitedly. “Mr. Clive's been shot dead +by poachers.” + +“Oh--by poachers?” repeated Dunn. + +“Yes, poachers,” the boy answered, and went on excitedly to tell his +tale with many, and generally very inaccurate, details. + +But that the crime had been discovered and instantly set down to +poachers was at least certain, and Dunn realized at once that the +adoption of this simple and apparently plausible theory would put an end +to all really careful investigation of the circumstances and make the +discovery of the truth highly improbable. + +For the idea that the murder was the work of poachers would, when once +adopted, fill the minds of the police and of every one else, and no +suspicion would be directed elsewhere. + +By the tremendous relief he felt, Dunn understood how heavy had been the +burden of fear and apprehension that till now had oppressed him. + +If he had not found that handkerchief--if he had not secured that +letter--why, by now the police would be at Bittermeads. + +“All the same,” he thought. “No one who is guilty shall escape through +me.” + +But what this phrase meant, and what he intended to do, he would not +permit himself to think out clearly or try to understand. + +The boy, having told his story, hurried off to spread the news elsewhere +to more appreciative ears, for, he thought disgustedly, it might +have been just nothing at all for all the interest the gardener at +Bittermeads had shown. + +As soon as he was gone, Dunn went across to the house, and going up to +the window of the drawing-room where Ella and her mother were having +tea, he tapped on the pane. + +Ella looked up and saw him, and came at once to open the window, while +from behind Mrs. Dawson frowned in severe disapproval of what she +considered a great liberty. + +“Mr. Clive has been shot,” Dunn said abruptly. “They say poachers did +it. He was killed instantly.” + +Ella did not seem at first to understand. She looked puzzled and +bewildered, and did not seem to grasp the full import of his words. + +“What--what do you say?” she asked. “Mr. Clive--Who's killed?” + +Dunn thought to himself that her acting was the most wonderful thing he +had ever seen. + +It was extraordinary that she should be able to make that grey pallor +come over her cheeks as though the meaning of what he said were only now +entering her mind; wonderful that she should be able so well to give the +idea of a great horror and a great doubt coming slowly into her startled +eyes. + +“Mr. Clive?” she said again. + +“Yes, he's been killed,” Dunn said. “By poachers, apparently.” + +“What is that? What is that man saying?” shrilled Mrs. Dawson from +behind. “Mr. Clive--John--why, he was here yesterday.” + +Dunn turned his back and walked away. He heard Ella call after him, but +he would not look back because he feared what he might do if he obeyed +her call. + +With an odd buzzing in his ears, with the blood throbbing through his +brain as though something must soon break there, he walked blindly on, +and as he came to the gate of Bittermeads he saw a motor-car coming up +the road. + +It was Deede Dawson's car, and he was driving it, and by his side sat a +sulkily-smiling stranger, his air that of one not sure of his welcome, +but determined to enforce it, in whom, with a quick start, Dunn +recognized his burglar, the man whose attempt to break into Bittermeads +he had frustrated, and whose place he had taken. + +He put up his hand instinctively for them to stop, and Deede Dawson at +once obeyed the gesture. + +Dunn noticed that the smile upon his lips was more gentle and winning +than ever, the look in his eyes more dark and menacing. + +“Well, Dunn, what is it?” he said as pleasantly as he always spoke. “Mr. +Allen,” he added to his companion, “this is my man, Dunn, I told +you about, my gardener and chauffeur, and a very industrious steady +fellow--and quite trustworthy.” + +He seemed to lay a certain emphasis on the last two words, and Allen +put his head on one side and looked at Dunn with an odd, mixture of +familiarity, suspicion, hesitation, and an uncertain assumption of +superiority, but with no hint of recognition showing. + +“Glad to hear it,” he said. “You always want to know whom you can +trust.” + +“Mr. Clive has been murdered,” Dunn said abruptly. “Poachers, it is +said. Did you know?” + +“We heard about it as we came through the village,” answered Deede +Dawson. “Very sad, very dreadful. It will be a great shock to poor Ella, +I fear. Take the car on to the garage, will you?” he added. + +He drove on up the drive, and at the front door they alighted and +entered the house together. Dunn followed, and getting into the car, +drove it to the garage, where he busied himself cleaning it. As he +worked he wondered very much what was the meaning of this sudden +appearance on terms of friendship with Deede Dawson of this man Allen, +whom he had last seen trying to break into the house at night. + +Was Allen an accomplice of Deede Dawson, or a dupe, or, more probably, a +new recruit? + +At any rate, to Dunn it seemed that the crisis he had expected and +prepared for was now fast approaching, and he told himself that if he +had failed in Clive's case, those others he was working for he must not +fail to save. + +“Looks as if Dawson's plans were nearly ready,” he said to himself. +“Well, so are mine.” + +He finished his work and shutting the garage door, he was turning away +when he saw Ella coming towards him. + +She was extremely pale, and her eyes seemed larger than ever, and very +bright against the deathly whiteness of her cheeks. + +She was wearing a blouse that was cut a little low, and he notice with a +kind of terror how soft and round was her throat, like a column of pale +and perfect ivory. + +He hoped she would not speak to him, for he thought perhaps he could not +bear it if she did, but she halted near by, and said: + +“This is very dreadful about poor Mr. Clive.” + +“Very,” he answered moodily. + +“Why should poachers kill him?” she asked. “Why should they want to?” + +“I don't know,” he answered, watching not her but her soft throat, where +he could see a pulse fluttering. “Perhaps it wasn't poachers,” he added. + +She started violently, and gave a quick look that seemed to make yet +more certain the certainty he already entertained. + +“Who else could it be?” she asked in a low voice. + +He did not answer. + +After what seemed a long time she said: + +“You asked me a question once--do you remember?” + +He shook his head. + +“Why don't you speak? Why can't you speak?” she cried angrily. “Why +can't you say something instead of just shaking your head?” + +“You see, I've asked you so many questions,” he said slowly. “Perhaps I +shall ask you some more some day--which question do you mean?” + +“I mean when you asked me if I had ever met any one who spoke in a very +shrill, high whistling sort of voice? Do you remember?” + +“Yes,” he said. “You wouldn't tell me.” + +“Well, I will now,” she said. “I did meet a man once with a voice like +that. Do you remember the night you, came here that I drove away in the +car with a packing-case you carried downstairs?” + +“Do I--remember?” he gasped, for that memory, and the thought of how she +had driven away into the night with, that grisly thing behind her on the +car had never since left his mind by night or by day. + +“Yes,” she exclaimed impatiently. “Why do you keep staring so? Are you +as stupid as you choose to look? Do you remember?” + +“I remember,” he answered heavily. “I remember very well.” + +“Well, then, the man I took that packing-case to had a voice just like +that--high and shrill, whistling almost.” + +“I thought as much,” said Dunn. “May I ask you another question?” + +She nodded. + +“May I smoke?” + +She nodded again with a touch of impatience. + +He took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth and lighted +a match, but the match, when he had lighted it, he used to put light to +a scrap of folded paper with writing on it, like a note. + +This piece of paper he used to light his cigarette with and when he +had done so he watched the paper burn to an ash, not dropping it to the +ground till the little flame stung his fingers. + +The ash that had fallen he ground into the path where they stood with +the heel of his boot. + +“What have you burned there?” she asked, as if she suspected it was +something of importance he had destroyed. + +In fact it was the note that had fallen from dead John Clive's hand +wherein Ella had asked him to meet her at the oak where he had met his +death. + +That bit of paper would have been enough, Dunn thought, to place a harsh +hempen noose about the soft white throat he watched where the little +pulse still fluttered up and down. But now it was burnt and utterly +destroyed, and no one would ever see it. + +At the thought he laughed and she drew back, very startled. + +“Oh, what is the matter?” she exclaimed. + +“Nothing,” he answered. “Nothing in all the world except that I love +you.” + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + + +When he had said this he went a step or two aside and sat down on the +stump of a tree. He was very agitated and disturbed for he had not in +the very least meant to say such a thing, he had not even known that he +really felt like that. + +It was, indeed, a rush and power of quite unexpected passion that had +swept him away and made him for the moment lose all control of himself. +Ella showed much more composure. She had become extraordinarily pale, +but otherwise she did not appear in any way agitated. + +She remained silent, her eyes bent on the ground, her only movement a +gesture by which she rubbed softly and in turn each of her wrists as +though they hurt her. + +“Well, can't you say something?” he asked roughly, annoyed by her +persistent silence. + +“I don't see that there's anything for me to say,” she answered. + +“Oh, well now then,” he muttered; quite disconcerted. + +She raised her eyes from the ground, and for the first time looked full +at him, in her expression both curiosity and resentment. + +“It is perfectly intolerable,” she said with a heaving breast. “Will you +tell me who you are?” + +“I've told you one thing,” he answered sullenly, his eyes on fire. “I +should have thought that was enough. I'll tell you nothing more.” + +“I think you are the most horrid man I ever met,” she cried. “And the +very, very ugliest--all that hair on your face so that no one can see +anything else. What are you like when you cut it off?” + +“Does that matter?” he asked, in the same gruff and surly manner. + +“I should think it matters a good deal when I ask you,” she exclaimed. +“Do you expect any one to care for a man she has never seen--nothing +but hair. You hurt my wrists awfully that night,” she added resentfully. +“And you've never even hinted you're sorry.” + +His reply was unexpected and it disconcerted her greatly and for the +first time, for he caught both her wrists in his hands and kissed them +passionately where the cords had been. + +“You mustn't do that, please don't do that,” she said quickly, trying to +release herself. + +Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm around +her and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and powerful she +could not have resisted it though she had wished to. + +But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she had +lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of his +bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong arms +holding her so firmly. + +He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort he did +not oppose, and she fled away down the path. + +She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that would +make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly to secure it. +She never looked back to where he stood, breathing heavily and looking +after her and thinking not of her, but of two dead men whom he had seen +of late. + +“Shall I make the third?” he wondered. “I do not care if I do, not I.” + +The path Ella had fled by led into another along which when she reached +it she saw Deede Dawson coming. + +She stopped at once and began to busy herself with a flower-bed overrun +with weeds, but she could not entirely conceal her agitation from her +stepfather's cold grey eyes. + +“Oh, there you are, Ella,” he said, with all that false geniality of +his that filled the girl with such loathing and distrust. “Have you seen +Dunn? Oh, there he is, isn't he? I wanted to ask you, Ella, what do you +think of Dunn?” + +She glanced over her shoulder towards where Dunn stood, and she managed +to answer with a passable air of indifference. + +“Well, I suppose,” she said, “that he is quite the ugliest man I ever +saw. Of course, if he cut all of that hair off--” + +Deede Dawson laughed though his eyes remained as hard and cold as ever. + +“I shall have to give him orders to shave,” he said. “Your mother was +telling me I ought to the other day, she said it didn't look respectable +to have a man about with all that hair on his face. Though I don't see +myself why hair isn't respectable, do you?” + +“It looks odd,” answered Ella carelessly. + +Deede Dawson laughed again, and walked on to where Dunn was standing +waiting for him. With his perpetual smile that his cold and evil eyes so +strangely contradicted, he said to him: + +“Well, what have you and Ella been talking about?” + +“Why do you ask?” growled Dunn. + +“Because she looks upset,” answered Deede Dawson. “Oh, don't be shy +about it. Shall I give you a little good advice?” + +“What?” + +“Never shave.” + +“Why not?” + +“Because that thick growth of hair hiding your face gives you an air of +mystery and romance no woman could possibly resist. You're a perpetual +puzzle, and to pique a woman's curiosity is the surest way to interest +her. Why, there are plenty of women who would marry you simply to find +out what is under all that hair. So never you shave.” + +“I don't mean to.” + +“Unless, of course, you have to--for purposes of disguise, for example.” + +“I thought you were hinting that the beard itself was a disguise,” + retorted Dunn. + +“Removing it might become a better one,” answered Deede Dawson. “You +told me once you knew this part fairly well. Do you know Wreste Abbey?” + +Dunn gave his questioner a scowling look that seemed full of anger and +suspicion. + +“What about it if I do?” he asked. + +“I am asking if you do know it,” said Deede Dawson. + +“Yes, I do. Well?” + +“It belongs to Lord Chobham, doesn't it?” + +Dunn nodded. + +“Old man, isn't he?” + +“I'm not a book of reference about Lord Chobham,” answered Dunn. “If +you want to know his age, you can easily find out, I suppose. What's the +sense of asking me a lot of questions like that?” + +“He has no family, and his heir is his younger brother, General +Dunsmore, who has one son, Rupert, I believe. Do you know if that's so?” + +“Look here,” said Dunn, speaking with a great appearance of anger. +“Don't you go too far, or maybe something you won't like will happen. If +you've anything to say, say it straight out. Or there'll be trouble.” + +Deede Dawson seemed a little surprised at the vehemence of the other's +tone. + +“What's the matter?” he asked. “Don't you like the family, or what's +upsetting you?” + +Dunn seemed almost choking with fury. He half-lifted one hand and let it +fall again. + +“If ever I get hold of that young Rupert Dunsmore,” he said with a +little gasp for breath. “If ever I come face to face with him--man to +man--” + +“Dear me!” smiled Deede Dawson, lifting his eyebrows. “I'm treading on +sore toes, it seems. What's the trouble between you?” + +“Never you mind,” replied Dunn roughly. “That's my business. But no man +ever had a worse enemy than he's been to me.” + +“Has he, though?” said Deede Dawson, who seemed very interested and even +a little excited. “What did he do?” + +“Never you mind,” Dunn repeated. “That's my affair, but I swore I'd get +even with him some day and I will, too.” + +“Suppose,” said Deede Dawson. “Suppose I showed you a way?” + +Dunn did not answer at first, and for some moments the two men stood +watching each other and staring into each other's eyes as though each +was trying to read the depths of the other's soul. + +“Suppose,” said Deede Dawson very softly. “Suppose you were to meet +Rupert Dunsmore--alone--quite alone?” + +Still Dunn did not answer, but somehow it appeared that his silence was +full of a very deadly significance. + +“Suppose you did--what would you do?” murmured Deede Dawson again, +and his voice sank lower with each word he uttered till the last was a +scarce-audible whisper. + +Dunn stopped and picked up a hoe that was lying near by. He placed the +tough ash handle across his knee, and with a movement of his powerful +hands, he broke the hoe across. + +The two smashed pieces he dropped on the ground, and looking at Deede +Dawson, he said: + +“Like that--if ever Rupert Dunsmore and I meet alone, only one of us +will go away alive.” And he confirmed it with an oath. + +Deede Dawson clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed. + +“Good!” he cried. “Why, you're the man I've been looking for for a long +time. The fact is, Rupert Dunsmore played me a nasty trick once, and I +want to clear accounts with him. Now, suppose I show him to you--?” + +“You do that,” said Dunn, and he repeated the oath he had sworn before. +“You show him to me, and I'll take care he never troubles any one +again.” + +“That's the way I like to hear a man talk,” cried Deede Dawson. +“Dunsmore has been away for a time on business I can make a guess at, +but he is coming back soon. Should you know him if you saw him?” + +“Should I know him?” repeated Dunn contemptuously. “Should I know +myself?” + +“That's good,” said Deede Dawson again. “By the way, perhaps you can +tell me, hasn't Lord Chobham a rather distant cousin, Walter Dunsmore, +living with him as secretary or something of the sort--quite a distant +relative, I believe, though in the direct line of succession?” + +“Very likely,” said Dunn indifferently. “I think so, but I don't care +anything about the rest of them. It's only Rupert Dunsmore I have +anything against.” + + + +CHAPTER XIX. THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + + +It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject of +Wreste Abbey. + +“Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery and +so on, hasn't he?” he asked. + +“Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there,” Dunn answered. “Why?” + +“Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly profitable,” Deede +Dawson said carelessly, for the first time definitely throwing off his +mask of law-abiding citizen under which he lived at Bittermeads. + +“It would be a risky job,” answered Dunn, showing no surprise at the +suggestion. “The stuff's well guarded, and then, that's not what I'm +thinking about--it's meeting Rupert Dunsmore, man to man, and no one to +come between us. If that ever happens--” + +Deede Dawson nodded reassuringly. + +“That'll be all right,” he said. “So you shall, I promise you that. +But we might as well kill two birds with one stone and clear a bit of +profit, too. I've got to live, like any one else, and I haven't five +thousand a year of my own, so I get my living out of those who have, and +I don't see who has any right to blame me. Mind, if there was any money +in chess, I should be a millionaire, but there isn't, and if a man can +make a fortune on the Stock Exchange, which takes no more thought +or skill than auction-bridge, why shouldn't I make a bit when I can? +There's the 'D. D.' gambit I've invented, people will be studying and +playing for centuries, but it'll never bring me a penny for all the +brain-work I put into it, and so I've got to protect myself, haven't I?” + +“It's what I do with less talk about it,” answered Dunn contemptuously. +“Why, I've guessed all that from the first when you weren't so all-fired +keen on seeing me in gaol, as most of your honest, hard-working lot, +who only do their swindling in business-hours, would have been. And I've +kept my eyes open, of course. It wasn't hard to twig you did a bit on +the cross yourself. Well, that's your affair, but one thing I do want to +know--how much does Miss Cayley know?” + +For all his efforts he could not keep his anxiety entirely out of his +voice as he said this, and recognizing that thereby he had perhaps +risked rousing some suspicion in the other's mind, he added: + +“And her mother--the young lady and her mother, how much do they know?” + +“Oh,” answered Deede Dawson, with his false laugh and cold-watchful +eyes. “My wife knows nothing at all, but Ella's the best helper I've +ever had. She looks so innocent, she can take in any one, and she +never gives the show away, she acts all the time. A wonderful girl and +useful--you'd hardly believe how useful.” + +Dunn did not answer. It was only by a supreme effort that he kept his +hands from Deede Dawson's throat. He did not believe a word of what the +other said, for he knew well the utter falseness of the man. None the +less, the accusation troubled him and chilled him to the heart, as +though with the touch of the finger of death. + +“You remember that packing-case,” Deede Dawson added. “The one you +helped me to get away from here the night you came. Well, she knew what +was in it, though you would never have thought so, to look at her, would +you?” + +His cold eyes were very intent and keen as he said this, and Dunn +thought to himself that it had been said more to test any possible +knowledge or suspicion of his own than for any other reason. With a +manner of only slight interest, he answered carelessly: + +“Did she? Why? Wasn't it your stuff? Had it been pinched? But she +was safe enough, the police would never stop a smart young lady in a +motor-car, except on very strong evidence.” + +“Perhaps not,” agreed Deede Dawson. “That's one reason why Ella's so +useful. But I've been thinking things out, and trying to make them work +in together, and I think the first thing to do is for you to drive Allen +and Ella over to Wreste Abbey this afternoon, so that they may have a +good look around.” + +“Oh, Miss Cayley and Allen,” Dunn muttered. + +The new-comer, Allen, had been making himself very much at home at +Bittermeads since his arrival, though he had not so far troubled to +any great extent either Ella in the house or Dunn outside. His idea of +comfort seemed to be to stay in bed very late, and spend his time when +he did get up in the breakfast-room in the company of a box of cigars +and a bottle of whisky. + +The suggestion that he and Ella should pay a visit together to Wreste +Abbey was one that greatly surprised Dunn. + +“All right,” he said. “This afternoon? I'll get the car ready.” + +“This is the afternoon the Abbey is thrown open to visitors, isn't it?” + asked Deede Dawson. “Allen and Ella can get in as tourists, and have a +good look round, and you can look round outside and get to know the lie +of the land. There won't be long to wait, for Rupert Dunsmore will be +back from his little excursion before long, I expect.” + +He laughed in his mirthless way, and walked off, and Dunn, as he got the +car ready, seemed a good deal preoccupied and a little worried. + +“How can he know that Rupert Dunsmore is coming back?” he said to +himself. “Can he have any way of finding out things I don't know about? +And if he did, how could he know--that? Most likely it's only a guess to +soothe me down, and he doesn't really know anything at all about it.” + +After lunch, Allen and Ella appeared together, ready for their +expedition. Ella looked her best in a big motoring coat and a +close-fitting hat, with a long blue veil. Allen was, for almost the +first time since his arrival, shaved, washed and tidy. + +He looked indeed as respectable as his sinister and forbidding +countenance would permit, and though Deede Dawson had made him as smart +as possible, he had permitted him to gratify his own florid taste in +adornment, so that his air of prosperity and wealth had the appearance +of being that of some recently-enriched vulgarian whose association with +a motor-car and a well-dressed girl of Ella's type was probably due to +the fact that he had recently purchased them both out of newly-acquired +wealth. + +Dunn wore a neat chauffeur's costume, with which, however, his bearded +face did not go too well. He felt indeed that their whole turn-out was +far too conspicuous considering the real nature of their errand, and +far too likely to attract attention, and he wondered if Deede Dawson's +subtle and calculating mind had not for some private reason desired that +to be so. + +“He is keeping well in the background himself,” Dunn mused. “He may +reckon that if things go wrong--in case of any pursuit--it's a good move +perhaps in a way, but he may find an unexpected check to his king opened +on him.” + +The drive was a long one, and Ella noticed that though Dunn consulted +his map frequently, he never appeared in any doubt concerning the way. + +A little before three they drove into the village that lay round the +park gates of Wreste Abbey. + +Motors were not allowed in the park, so Dunn put theirs in the garage +of the little hotel, that was already almost full, for visiting day at +Wreste Abbey generally drew a goodly number of tourists, while Ella +and Allen, in odd companionship, walked up to the Abbey by the famous +approach through the chestnut avenue. + +Allen was quiet and surly, and much on his guard, and very uncomfortable +in Ella's company, and Ella herself, though for different reasons was +equally silent. + +But the beauty of the walk through the chestnut avenue, and of the vista +with the great house at the end, drew from her a quick exclamation of +delight. + +“How beautiful a place this is,” she said aloud. “And how peaceful and +how quiet.” + +“Don't like these quiet places myself,” grumbled Allen. “Don't like 'em, +don't trust 'em. Give me lots of traffic; when everything's so awful +quiet you've only got to kick your foot against a stone or drop a tool, +and likely as not you'll wake the whole blessed place.” + +“Wake,” repeated Ella, noticing the word, and she repeated it with +emphasis. “Why do you say 'wake'?” + + + +CHAPTER XX. ELLA'S WARNING + + +Ella did not say anything more, and in their character of tourists +visiting the place, they were admitted to the Abbey and passed on through +its magnificent rooms, where was stored a collection rich and rare even +for one of the stateliest homes of England. + +“What a wonderful place!” Ella sighed wistfully. Yet she could not enjoy +the spectacle of all these treasures as she would have done at another +time, for she was always watching Allen, who hung about a good deal, and +seemed to look more at the locks of the cases that held some of the +more valuable of the objects shown than at the things themselves, +and generally spent fully half the time in each room at the window, +admiring the view, he said; but for quite another reason, Ella +suspected. + +“I shall speak when I get back,” she said to herself, pale and +resolute. “I don't care what happens; I don't care if I have to tell +mother--perhaps she knows already. Anyhow, I shall speak.” + +Having come to this determination, she grew cheerful and more interested +apparently in what they were seeing, as well as less watchful of her +companion. When, presently, they left the house to go into the gardens, +it happened that they noticed an old gentleman walking at a little +distance behind a gate marked “Private,” and leaning on the arm of a +tall, thin, clean-shaven man of middle-age. + +“Lord Chobham, the old gentleman,” whispered a tourist, who was standing +near. “I saw him once in the House of Lords. That's his secretary with +him, Mr. Dunsmore, one of the family; he manages everything now the old +gentleman is getting so feeble.” + +Ella walked on frowning and a little worried, for she thought she had +seen the secretary before and yet could not remember where. Soon she +noticed Dunn, who had apparently been obeying Deede Dawson's orders to +look round outside and get to know the lie of the land. + +He seemed at present to be a good deal interested in Lord Chobham and +his companion, for he went and leaned on the gate and stared at them so +rudely that one or two of the other tourists noticed it and frowned at +him. But he took no notice, and presently, as if not seeing that the +gate was marked “Private,” he pushed it open and walked through. + +Noticing the impertinent intrusion almost at once, Mr. Dunsmore turned +round and called “This is private.” + +Dunn did not seem to hear, and Mr. Dunsmore walked across to him with +a very impatient air, while the little group of tourists watched, +with much interest and indignation and a very comforting sense of +superiority. + +“He ought to be sent right out of the grounds,” they told each other. +“That's the sort of rude behaviour other people have to suffer for.” + +“Now, my man,” said Mr. Dunsmore sharply, “this is private, you've no +business here.” + +“Sorry, sir; beg pardon, I'm sure,” said Dunn, touching his hat, and as +he did so he said in a sharp, penetrating whisper: “Look out--trouble's +brewing--don't know what, but look out, all the time.” + +He had spoken so quickly and quietly, in the very act of turning away, +that none of the onlookers could have told that a word had passed, +but for the very violent start that Walter Dunsmore made and his quick +movement forward as if to follow the other. Immediately Dunn turned back +towards him with a swift warning gesture of his hand. + +“Careful, you fool, they're looking,” he said in a quick whisper, and +in a loud voice: “Very sorry, sir; beg pardon--I'm sure I didn't mean +anything.” + +Walter Dunsmore swung round upon his heel and went quickly back to where +Lord Chobham waited; and his face was like that of one who has gazed +into the very eyes of death. + +“Lord in Heaven,” he muttered, “it's all over, I'm done.” And his hand +felt for a little metal box he carried in his waistcoat pocket and +that held half a dozen small round tablets, each of them a strong man's +death. + +But he took his hand away again as he rejoined his cousin, patron, and +employer, old Lord Chobham. + +“What's the matter, Walter?” Lord Chobham asked. “You look pale.” + +“The fellow was a bit impudent; he made me angry,” said Walter +carelessly. He fingered the little box in his waistcoat pocket and +thought how one tablet on his tongue would always end it all. “By the +way, oughtn't Rupert to be back soon?” he asked. + +“Yes, he ought,” said Lord Chobham severely. “It's time he married and +settled down--I shall speak to his father about it. The boy is always +rushing off somewhere or another when he ought to be getting to know the +estate and the tenants.” + +Walter Dunsmore laughed. + +“I think he knows them both fairly well already,” he said. “Not a tenant +on the place but swears by Rupert. He's a fine fellow, uncle.” + +“Oh, you always stick up for him; you and he were always friends,” + answered Lord Chobham in a grumbling tone, but really very pleased. “I +know I'm never allowed to say a word about Rupert.” + +“Well, he's a fine fellow and a good friend,” said Walter, and the two +disappeared into the house by a small side-door as Dunn pushed his way +through the group of tourists who looked at him with marked and severe +disapproval. + +“Disgraceful,” one of them said quite loudly, and another added: “I +believe he said something impudent to that gentleman. I saw him go quite +white, and look as if he were in two minds about ordering the fellow +right out of the grounds.” And a third expressed the general opinion +that the culprit looked a real ruffian with all that hair on his face. +“Might be a gorilla,” said the third tourist. “And look what a clumsy +sort of walk he has; perhaps he's been drinking.” + +But Dunn was quite indifferent to, and indeed unaware of this popular +condemnation as he made his way back to the hotel garage where he had +left their car. He seemed rather well pleased than otherwise as he +walked on. + +“Quite a stroke of luck for once,” he mused, and he smiled to himself, +and stroked the thick growth of his untidy beard. “It's been worth +while, for he didn't recognize me in the least, and had quite a shock, +but, all the same, I shan't be sorry to shave and see my own face +again.” + +He had the car out and ready when Ella and Allen came back. Allen at +once made an excuse to leave them, and went into the hotel bar to get +a drink of whisky, and when they were alone, Ella, who was looking very +troubled and thoughtful, said to Dunn, + +“We saw Lord Chobham in the garden with a gentleman some one told us was +a relative of his, a Mr. Walter Dunsmore. Did you see them?” + +“Yes,” answered Dunn, a little surprised, and giving her a quick and +searching look from his bright, keen eyes. “I saw them. Why--” + +“I think I've seen the one they said was Mr. Walter Dunsmore before, +and I can't think where,” she answered, puckering her brows. “I can't +think--do you know anything about him?” + +“I know he is Mr. Walter Dunsmore,” answered Dunn slowly, “and I know +he is one of the family, and a great friend of Rupert Dunsmore's. Rupert +Dunsmore is Lord Chobham's nephew, you know, and heir, after his father, +to the title and estates. His father, General Dunsmore, brought him and +Walter up together like brothers, but recently Walter has lived at the +Abbey as Lord Chobham's secretary and companion. The general likes +to live abroad a good deal, and his son Rupert is always away on some +sporting or exploring expedition or another.” + +“It's very strange,” Ella said again. “I'm sure I've seen Walter +Dunsmore before but I can't think where.” + +Allen came from the bar, having quenched his thirst for the time being, +and they started off, arriving back at Bittermeads fairly early in the +evening, for Dunn had brought them along at a good rate, and apparently +remembered the road so well from the afternoon that he never once had +occasion to refer to the map. + +He took the car round to the garage, and Allen and Ella went into the +house, where Allen made his way at once to the breakfast-room, searching +for more whisky and cigars, while Ella, after a quick word with her +mother to assure her of their safe return, went to find Deede Dawson. + +“Ah, dear child, you are back then,” he greeted her. “Well, how have you +enjoyed yourself? Had a pleasant time?” + +“It was not for pleasure we went there, I think,” she said listlessly. + +He looked up quickly, and though his perpetual smile still played as +usual about his lips, his eyes were hard and daunting as they fixed +themselves on hers. Before that sinister stare her own eyes sank, and +sought the little travelling set of chessmen and board that were before +him. + +“See,” he said, “I've just brought off a mate. Neat isn't it? +Checkmate.” + +She looked up at him, and her eyes were steadier now. + +“I've only one thing to say to you,” she said. “I came here to say it. +If anything happens at Wreste Abbey I shall go straight to the police.” + +“Indeed,” he said, “indeed.” He fingered the chessmen as though all his +attention were engaged by them. “May I ask why?” he murmured. “For what +purpose?” + +“To tell them,” she answered quietly, “what I--know.” + +“And what do you know?” he asked indifferently. “What do you know that +is likely to interest the police?” + +“I ought to have said, perhaps,” she answered after a pause, “what I +suspect.” + +“Ah, that's so different, isn't it?” he murmured gently. “So very +different. You see we all of us suspect so many things.” + +She did not answer, for she had said all she had to say and she was +afraid that her strength would not carry her further. She began to walk +away, but he called her back. + +“Oh, how do you think your mother is today?” he asked. “Do you know, +her condition seems to me quite serious at times. I wonder if you are +overanxious?” + +“She is better--much better!” Ella answered, and added with a sudden +burst of fiercest, white-hot passion: “But I think it would be better if +we had both died before we met you.” + +She hurried away, for she was afraid of breaking down, and Deede Dawson +smiled the more as he again turned his attention to his chessmen, taking +them up and putting them down in turn. + +“She's turning nasty,” he mused. “I don't think she'll dare--but she +might. She's only a pawn, but a pawn can cause a lot of trouble +at times--a pawn may become a queen and give the mate. When a pawn +threatens trouble it's best to--remove it.” + +He went out and came back a little late and busied himself with a +four-move chess problem which absorbed all his attention, and which +he did not solve to his satisfaction till past midnight. Then he went +upstairs to bed, but at the door of his room he paused and went on very +softly up the narrow stairs that led to the attics above. + +Outside the one in which Dunn slept, he waited a little till the +unbroken sound of regular breathing from within assured him that the +occupant slept. + +Cautiously and carefully he crept on, and entered the one adjoining, +where he turned the light of the electric flashlight he carried on a +large, empty packing-case that stood in one corner. + +With a two-foot rule he took from his pocket he measured it carefully +and nodded with great satisfaction. + +“A little smaller than the other,” he said to himself. “But, then, it +hasn't got to hold so much.” He laughed in his silent, mirthless way, as +at something that amused him. “A good deal less,” he thought. “And Dunn +shall drive.” + +He laughed again, and for a moment or two stood there in the darkness, +laughing silently to himself, and then, speaking aloud, he called out: + +“You can come in, Dunn.” + +Dunn, whom a creaking board had betrayed, came forward unconcernedly in +his sleeping attire. + +“I saw it was you,” he remarked. “At first I thought something was +wrong.” + +“Nothing, nothing,” answered Deede Dawson. “I was only looking at this +packing-case. I may have to send one away again soon, and I wanted to be +sure this was big enough. If I do, I shall want you to drive.” + +“Not Miss Cayley?” asked Dunn. + +“No, no,” answered Deede Dawson. “She might be with you perhaps, but she +wouldn't drive. Night driving is always dangerous, I think, don't you?” + +“There's things more dangerous,” Dunn remarked. + +“Oh, quite true,” answered Deede Dawson. “Well, did you enjoy your visit +to Wreste Abbey?” + +“No,” answered Dunn roughly. “I didn't see Rupert Dunsmore, and it +wouldn't have been any good if I had with all those people about.” + +“You're too impatient,” Deede Dawson smiled. “I'm getting everything +ready; you can't properly expect to win a game in a dozen moves. You +must develop your pieces properly and have all ready before you start +your attack. As soon as I'm ready--why, I'll act--and you'll have to do +the rest.” + +“I see,” said Dunn thoughtfully. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. DOUBTS AND FEARS + + +In point of fact Dunn had not been asleep when Deede Dawson came +listening at his door. Of late he had slept little and that little had +been much disturbed by evil, haunting dreams in which perpetually he saw +his dead friend, Charley Wright, and dead John Clive always together, +while behind them floated the pale and lovely face of Ella, at whom the +two dead men looked and whispered to each other. + +In the day such thoughts troubled him less, for when he was under the +influence of Ella's gentle presence, and when he could watch her clear +and candid eyes, he found all doubt and suspicion melting away like snow +beneath warm sunshine. + +But in the silence of the night they returned, returned very dreadfully, +so dreadfully that often as he lay awake in the darkness beads of sweat +stood upon his forehead and he would drive his great hands one against +the other in his passionate effort to still the thoughts that tormented +him. Then, in the morning again, the sound of Ella's voice, the merest +glimpse of her grave and gracious personality, would bring back once +more his instinctive belief in her. + +The morning after Deede Dawson had paid his visit to the attic there +was news, however, that disturbed him greatly, for Mrs. Barker, the +charwoman who came each morning to Bittermeads, told them that two men +in the village--notorious poachers--had been arrested by the police on a +charge of being concerned in Mr. Clive's death. + +The news was a great shock to Dunn, for, knowing as he thought he did, +that the police were working on an entirely wrong idea, he had not +supposed they would ever find themselves able to make any arrest. As +a matter of fact, these arrests they had made were the result of +desperation on the part of the police, who unable to discover anything +and entirely absorbed by their preconceived idea that the crime was the +work of poachers, had arrested men they knew were poachers in the vague +hope of somehow discovering something or of somehow getting hold of some +useful clue. + +But that Dunn did not know, and feared unlucky chance or undesigned +coincidence must have appeared to suggest the guilt of the men and that +they were really in actual danger of trial and conviction. He had, too, +received that morning, through the secret means of communication he kept +open with an agent in London, conclusive proof that at the moment of +Clive's death Deede Dawson was in town on business that seemed obscure +enough, but none the less in town, and therefore undoubtedly innocent of +the actual perpetration of the murder. + +Who, then, was left who could have fired the fatal shot? + +It was a question Dunn dared not even ask himself but he saw very +plainly that if the proceedings against the two arrested men were to be +pressed, he would be forced to come forward before his preparations were +ready and tell all he knew, no matter at what cost. + +All the morning he waited and watched for his opportunity to speak to +Ella, who was in a brighter and gayer mood than he had ever seen her in +before. + +At breakfast Deede Dawson had assured her that he could not conceive +what were the suspicions she had referred to the night previously, and +while he would certainly have no objection to her mentioning them at +any time, in any quarter she thought fit if anything happened at Wreste +Abbey--and would indeed be the first to urge her to do so--he, for his +part, considered it most unlikely that anything of the sort she seemed +to dread would in fact occur. + +“Not at all likely,” he said with his happy, beaming smile that never +reached those cold eyes of his. “I should say myself that nothing ever +did happen at Wreste Abbey, not since the Flood, anyhow. It strikes me +as the most peaceful, secluded spot in all England.” + +“I'm very glad you think so,” said Ella, tremendously relieved and glad +to hear him say so, and supposing, though his smooth words and smiles +and protestations deceived her very little, that, at any rate, what she +had said had forced him to abandon whatever plans he had been forming in +that direction. + +Her victory, as it seemed to her, won so easily and containing good +promise of further success in the future, cheered her immensely, and it +was in almost a happy mood that she went unto the garden after lunch and +met Dunn in a quiet, well-hidden corner, where he had been waiting and +watching for long. + +His appearance startled her--his eyes were so wild, his whole manner so +strained and restless, and she gave a little dismayed exclamation as she +saw him. + +“Oh, what's the matter?” she asked. “Aren't you well? You look--” + +She paused for she did not know exactly how it was he did look; and he +said in his harshest, most abrupt manner, + +“Do you remember Charley Wright?” + +“Why do you ask?” she said, puzzled. “Is anything wrong?” + +“Do you remember John Clive?” he asked, disregarding this. “Have you +heard two men have been arrested for his murder?” + +“Mrs. Barker told me so,” she answered gravely. He came a little nearer, +almost threateningly nearer. + +“What do you think of that?” he asked. + +She lifted one hand and put it gently on his arm. The touch of it +thrilled him through and through, and he felt a little dazed as he +watched it resting on his coat sleeve. She had become very pale also and +her voice was low and strained as she said, + +“Have you had suspicions too?” + +He looked at her as if fascinated for a moment, and then nodded twice +and very slowly. + +“So have I,” she sighed in tones so low he could scarcely hear them. + +“Oh, you, you also,” he muttered, almost suffocating. + +“Yes,” she said. “Yes--perhaps the same as yours. My stepfather,” she +breathed, “Mr. Deede Dawson.” + +He watched her closely and moodily, but he did not speak. + +“I was afraid--at first,” she whispered. “But I was wrong--quite wrong. +It is as certain as it can be that he was in London at the time.” + +From his pocket Dunn took out the handkerchief of hers that he had found +near the body of the dead man. + +“Is this yours?” he asked. + +“Yes,” she answered. “Yes, where did you get it?” + +He did not answer, but he lifted his hands one after the other, and put +them on her shoulder, with the fingers outspread to encircle her +throat. It seemed to him that when she acknowledged the ownership of the +handkerchief she acknowledged also the perpetration of the deed, and he +became a little mad, and he had it in his mind that the slightest, the +very slightest, pressure of his fingers on that soft, round throat +would put it for ever out of her power to do such things again. Then for +himself death would be easy and welcome, and there would be an end to +all these doubts and fears that racked him with anguish beyond bearing. + +“What are you going to do?” she asked, making no attempt to resist or +escape. + +Ever so slightly the pressure of his hands upon her throat strengthened +and increased. A very little more and the lovely thing of life he +watched would be broken and cold for ever. Her eyes were steady, she +showed no sign of fear, she stood perfectly still, her hands loosely +clasped together before her. He groaned, and his arms fell to his side, +helpless. Without the slightest change of expression, she said: + +“What were you going to do?” + +“I don't know,” he answered. “Do you ever go mad? I do, I think. Perhaps +you do too, and that explains it. Do you know where Charley Wright is?” + +“Yes,” she answered directly. “Why? Did you know him, then?” + +“You know where he is now?” Dunn repeated. + +She nodded quietly. + +“I heard from him only last week,” she said. + +“I am certainly mad or you are,” he muttered, staring at her with eyes +in which such wonder and horror showed that it seemed there really was a +touch of madness there. + +“What is the matter?” she asked. + +“You heard from him last week,” he said again, and again she answered: + +“Yes--last week. Why not?” + +He leaned forward, and before she knew what he intended to do he kissed +her pale, cool cheek. + +Once more she stood still and immobile, her hands loosely clasped before +her. It might have been that he had kissed a statue, and her perfect +stillness made him afraid. + +“Ella,” he said. “Ella.” + +“Why did you do that?” she said, a little wildly now in her turn. “It +was not that you were going to do to me before.” + +“I love you,” he muttered excusingly. + +She shook her head. + +“You know too little of me; you have too many doubt and fears,” she +said. “You do not love me, you do not even trust me.” + +“I love you all the same,” he asserted positively and roughly. “I loved +you--it was when I tied your hands to the chair that night and you +looked at me with such contempt, and asked me if I felt proud. That +stung, that stung. I loved you then.” + +“You see,” she said sadly, “you do not even pretend to trust me. I don't +know why you should. Why are you here? Why are you disguised with all +that growth of hair? There is something you are preparing, planning. I +know it. I feel it. What is it?” + +“I told you once before,” he answered, “that the end of this will be +Deede Dawson's death or mine. That's what I'm preparing.” + +“He is very cunning, very clever,” she said. “Do you think he suspects +you?” + +“He suspects every one always,” answered Dunn. “I've been trying to get +proof to act on. I haven't succeeded. Not yet. Nothing definite. If I +can't, I shall act without. That's all.” + +“If I told him even half of what you just said,” she said, looking at +him. “What would happen?” + +“You see, I trust you,” he answered bitterly. + +She shook her head, but her eyes were soft and tender as she said: + +“It wasn't trust in me made you say all that, it was because you didn't +care what happened after.” + +“No,” he said. “But when I see you, I forget everything. Do you love +me?” + +“Why, I've never even seen you yet,” she exclaimed with something like +a smile. “I only know you as two eyes over a tangle of hair that I +don't believe you ever either brush or comb. Do you know, sometimes I am +curious.” + +He took her hand and drew her to sit beside him on the bench under a +tree near by. All his doubts and fears and suspicions he set far from +him, and remembered nothing save that she was the woman for whom yearned +all the depths of his soul as by pre-ordained decree. And she, too, for +man, to her strange, aloof, mysterious, but dominating all her life as +though by primal necessity. + +When they parted, it was with an agreement to meet again that evening, +and in the twilight they spent a halcyon hour together, saying little, +feeling much. + +It was only when at last she had left him that he remembered all that +had passed, that had happened, that he knew, suspected, dreaded, all +that he planned and intended and would be soon called upon to put into +action. + +“She's made me mad,” he said to himself, and for a long time he sat +there in the darkness, in the stillness of the evening, motionless as +the tree in whose shade he sat, plunged in the most profound and strange +reverie, from which presently his quick ear, alert and keen even when +his mind was deep in thought, caught the light and careful sound of an +approaching footstep. + +In a moment he was up and gliding through the darkness to meet who was +coming, and almost at once a voice hailed him cautiously. + +“There you are, Dunn,” Deede Dawson said. “I've been looking for you +everywhere. Tomorrow or next day we shall be able to strike; everything +is ready at last, and I'll tell you now exactly what we are going to +do.” + +“That's good news,” said Dunn softly. + +“Come this way,” Deede Dawson said, and led Dunn through the darkness to +the gate that admitted to the Bittermeads grounds from the high road. + +Here he paused, and stood for a long time in silence, leaning on the +gate and looking out across the road to the common beyond. Close +beside him stood Dunn, controlling his impatience as best he could, and +wondering if at last the secret springs of all these happenings was to +be laid bare to him. + +But Deede Dawson seemed in no hurry to begin. For a long time he +remained in the same attitude, silent and sombre in the darkness, and +when at last he spoke it was to utter a remark that quite took Dunn by +surprise. + +“What a lovely night,” he said in low and pensive tones, very unlike +those he generally used. “I remember when I was a boy--that's a long +time ago.” + +Dunn was too surprised by this sudden and very unexpected lapse into +sentiment to answer. Deede Dawson went on as if thinking to himself: + +“A long time--I've done a lot--seen a lot since then--too much, +perhaps--I remember mother told me once--poor soul, I believe she used +to be rather proud of me--” + +“Your mother?” Dunn said wondering greatly to think this man should +still have such memories. + +But Deede Dawson seemed either to resent his tone or else to be angry +with himself for giving way to such weakness. In a voice more like his +usual one, he said harshly and sneeringly: + +“Oh, yes, I had a mother once, just like everybody else. Why not? Most +people have their mothers, though it's not an arrangement I should care +to defend. Now then, Ella was with you tonight; you and she were alone +together a long time.” + +“Well,” growled Dunn, “what of it?” + +“Fine girl, isn't she?” asked Deede Dawson, and laughed. + +Dunn did not speak. It filled him with such loathing to hear this man +so much as utter Ella's name, it was all he could do to keep his hands +motionless by his side and not make use of them about the other's +throat. + +“She's been useful, very useful,” Deede Dawson went on meditatively. +“Her mother had some money when I married her. I don't mind telling you +it's all spent now, but Ella's a little fortune in herself.” + +“I didn't know we came to talk about her,” said Dunn slowly. “I thought +you had something else to say to me.” + +“So I have,” Deede Dawson answered. “That's why I brought you here. We +are safe from eavesdroppers here, in a house you can never tell who is +behind a curtain or a door. But then, Ella is a part of my plans, a very +important part. Do you remember I told you I might want you to take a +second packing-case away from here in the car one night?” + +“Yes, I remember,” said Dunn slowly. “I remember. What would be in it? +The same sort of thing that was in--that other?” + +“Yes,” answered Deede Dawson. “Much the same.” + +“I shall want to see for myself,” said Dunn. “I'm a trustful sort of +person, but I don't go driving about the country with packing-cases late +at night unless I've seen for myself what's inside.” + + + +CHAPTER XXII. PLOTS AND PLAYS + + +“Very wise of you,” yawned Deede Dawson. “That's just what Ella +said--what's that?” + +For instinctively Dunn had raised his hand, but he lowered it again at +once. + +“Oh, cut the cackle,” he said impatiently. “Tell me what you want me +to do, and make it plain, very plain, for I can tell you there's a good +deal about all this I don't understand, and I'm not inclined to trust +you far. For one thing, what are you after yourself? Where do you come +in? What are you going to get? And there's another thing I want to say. +If you are thinking of playing any tricks on me don't do it, unless you +are ready to take big risks. There's only one man alive who ever made +a fool of me, and his name is Rupert Dunsmore, and I don't think he's +today what insurance companies call a good risk. Not by any manner of +means.” He paused to laugh harshly. “Let's get to business,” he said. +“Look here, how do I know you mean all you say about Rupert Dunsmore? +What's he to you?” + +“Nothing,” answered Deede Dawson promptly. “Nothing. But there's some +one I'm acting for to whom he is a good deal.” + +“Who is that?” Dunn asked sharply. + +“Do you think I'm going to tell you?” retorted the other, and laughed +in his cold, mirthless manner. “Perhaps you aren't the only one who owes +him a grudge.” + +“That's likely enough, but I want to know where I'm standing,” said +Dunn. “Is this unknown person you say you are acting for anxious to +bring about Rupert Dunsmore's death?” + +“I'm not answering any questions, so you needn't ask them,” replied +Deede Dawson. + +“But I will tell you that there's something big going on. Or I shouldn't +be in it, I don't use my brains on small things, you know. If it comes +off all right, I--” He paused, and for once a thrill of genuine +emotion sounded in his voice. “Thousands,” he said abruptly. “Yes, and +more--more. But there's an obstacle--Rupert Dunsmore. It's your place +to remove him. That'll suit you, and it'll mean good pay, as much as you +like to ask for in reason. And Ella, if you want her. The girl won't +be any use to me when this is over, and you can have her if you like. I +don't think she'll object from what I can see--not that it would matter +if she did. So there you are. Put Rupert Dunsmore out of the way and +it'll be the best day's work you've ever done, and you shall have Ella +into the bargain--if you claim her. Makeweight.” + +He began to laugh again and Dunn laughed, too, for while he was not sure +what it was that amused Deede Dawson, there were certain aspects of all +this that bore for him a very curious and ironic humour. + +“All right,” he said. “You bring me face to face with Rupert Dunsmore +and you won't have to grumble about the result, for I swear only one of +us will go away alive. But how are you going to do it?” + +“I've my plan, and it's simple enough,” answered Deede Dawson. “Though +I can tell you it took some working out. But the simplest problem is +always the best, whether in life or in chess.” Again he indulged in +a low and guarded outburst of his thin, mirthless laughter before he +continued: “I suppose you know Rupert Dunsmore is one of those restless +people who are never content except when wandering about in some out of +the way place or another, as often as not no one having the least idea +of his whereabouts. Then he turns up unexpectedly, only to disappear +again when the whim takes him. Lately he has been away on one of these +trips, but I happen to know he is coming back almost at once--what's the +matter?” + +“I was only wondering how you knew that,” answered Dunn, who had given a +sudden start. + +“Oh, I know, never mind how,” Deede Dawson said. “I know that tomorrow +afternoon at four o'clock he will be waiting by the side of Brook Bourne +Spring in Ottom's Wood, near General Dunsmore's place. Which is as out +of the way and quiet and lonely a spot as you could wish for.” + +“And you have information that he will be there?” Dunn said +incredulously. “How can you possibly be sure of that?” + +“Never mind how,” answered Deede Dawson. “I am sure. That's enough. My +information is certain.” + +“Oh, it is, is it?” Dunn muttered. “You are a wonderful man, Mr. +Dawson. You know everything--or nearly everything. You are sure of +everything--or nearly everything--but suppose he changes his mind at the +last moment and doesn't come after all?” + +“He won't,” answered Deede Dawson. “You be there and you'll find him +there all right.” + +“Well, perhaps,” said Dunn slowly. “But what I want to know is why you +are so sure? There's a good deal hangs on your being right, you know.” + +“I only wish I was as certain of everything else,” Deede Dawson said. + +“Oh, all right,” exclaimed Dunn. “I suppose you know and you may be +right.” + +“I am,” Deede Dawson assured him. “Listen carefully now, there mustn't +be any blunders. You are to make an early start tomorrow. I don't want +you to take the car for fear of its being seen and identified. You must +take the train to London and then another train back immediately to +Delsby. From Delsby you'll have an eighteen-mile walk through lonely +country where you aren't likely to meet any one, and must try not to. +The less you are seen the better. You know that for yourself, and for +your own sake you'll be careful. You'll have no time to spare, but you +will be able to get to the place I told you of by four all right--no +earlier, no later. You must arrange to be there at four exactly. You may +spoil all if you are too early. Almost as soon as you get there, Rupert +Dunsmore will arrive. You must do the rest for yourself, and then you +must strike straight across country for here. You can look up your +routes on the map. There will be less risk of attracting attention if +you come and go by different ways. You ought to be here again some time +in the small hours. I'll let you in, and you'll have cleared your own +score with Rupert Dunsmore and earned more money than you ever have had +in all your life before. Now, can I depend on you?” + +“Yes--yes,” answered Dunn, over whom there had come a new and strange +sense of unreality as he stood and listened to cold-blooded murder being +thus calmly, coolly planned, as though it were some afternoon's pleasure +trip that was being arranged, so that he hardly knew whether he did, in +fact, hear this smooth, low, unceasing voice that from the darkness at +his side laid down such a bloody road for his feet to travel. + +“Oh, yes, you can depend on me,” he said. “But can I depend on you, when +you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that place?” + +It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his voice +was very low and soft and confident as he said: + +“Yes, you can--absolutely. You see, I know his plans.” + +“Oh, do you?” Dunn said as though satisfied. “Oh, well then, it's no +wonder you're so sure.” + +“No wonder at all,” agreed Deede Dawson. “There's just one other thing +I can tell you. Some one else will be there, too, at Brook Bourne Spring +in Ottam's Wood.” + +“Who's that?” asked Dunn sharply. + +“The man,” said Deede Dawson, “who is behind all this--the man you and +I are working for--the man who's going to pay us, even better than he +thinks.” + +“He--he will be there?” repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath. + +“Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did,” Deede +Dawson told him. “Most likely he'll be disguised--a mask, perhaps; I +don't know. Anyhow, he'll be there. Watching. I'm not suggesting you +would do such a thing as never go near the place, loaf around a bit, +then come back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of the way for good, +draw your pay and vanish, and leave us to find out he was as lively +and troublesome as ever. I don't think you would do that, because you +sounded as if you meant what you said when you told me he was your +worst enemy. But it's just as well to be sure, and so we mean to have a +witness; and as it's what you might call a delicate matter, that witness +will most likely be our employer himself. So you had better do the job +thoroughly if you want your pay.” + +“I see you take your precautions,” remarked Dunn. “Well, that's all +right, I don't mind.” + +“You understand exactly what you've got to do?” Deede Dawson asked. + +Dunn nodded. + +“What about Allen?” he asked. “Does he take any part in this show?” + +“He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early the +same night, during the dinner-hour most likely,” answered Deede Dawson +carelessly. “We can get in at one of the long gallery windows quite +easily, Allen says. He kept his eyes open that day you all went there. +It may be helpful to give the police two problems to work on at once; +and besides, big as this thing is, there's a shortage of ready money at +present. But our little affair at Wreste Abbey will have nothing to +do with you. You mind what you've got to do, and don't trouble about +anything else. See?” + +“I see,” answered Dunn slowly. “And if you can arrange for Rupert +Dunsmore to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the rest.” + +“You needn't be uneasy about that,” Deede Dawson said, and laughed. +“You see, I know his plans,” he repeated, and laughed again; and still +laughing that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and walked back +towards the house. + +Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he muttered: + +“Yes, but I wonder if you do.” + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. COUNTER-PLANS + + +The hour was late by now, but Dunn felt no inclination for sleep, and +there was no need for him to return indoors as yet, since Deede Dawson, +who always locked up the house himself, never did so till past midnight. +Till the small hours, very often he was accustomed to sit up absorbed in +those chess problems, the composing and solving of which were his great +passion, so that, indeed, it is probable that under other circumstances +he might have passed a perfectly harmless and peaceful existence, known +to wide circles as an extraordinarily clever problemist and utterly +unknown elsewhere. + +But the Fate that is, after all, but man's own character writ large, +had decreed otherwise. And the little, fat, smiling man bending over his +travelling chess board on which he moved delicately to and fro the tiny +red and white men of carved ivory, now and again removing a piece and +laying it aside, had done as much with as little concern to his fellow +creatures from the very beginning of his terrible career. + +Outside, leaning on the gate where Deede Dawson had left him, Dunn was +deep in thought that was not always very comforting, for there was +very much in all this laid out for him to accomplish that he did not +understand and that disturbed him a good deal. + +A careful, cautious “Hist!” broke in upon his thoughts, and in an +instant he stiffened to close attention, every nerve on the alert. + +The sound was repeated, a faint and wary footstep sounded, and in the +darkness a form appeared and stole slowly nearer. + +Dunn poised for a moment, ready for attack or retreat, and then all at +once his tense attitude relaxed. + +“You, Walter,” he exclaimed. “That's good! But how did you get here? And +how did you know where I was?” + +The new-comer drew a little nearer and showed the tall, thin form of +Walter Dunsmore to whom Dunn had spoken at Wreste Abbey. + +“I had to come,” he murmured. “I couldn't rest without seeing you. You +upset me the other day, saying what you did. Isn't it very dangerous +your being here? Suppose Deede Dawson--” + +“Oh, if he suspected, there would soon be an end of me,” answered Dunn +grimly. “But I think I'm going to win--at least, I did till tonight.” + +“What's happened?” the other asked sharply and anxiously. + +“He has been telling me his plans,” answered Dunn. “He has told me +everything--he has put himself entirely in my power--he has done what I +have been waiting and hoping for ever since I came here. He has given +me his full confidence at last, and I never felt more uneasy or less +certain of success than I do at this moment.” + +“He has told you--everything?” Walter Dunsmore asked. “Everything, +except who is behind it all,” answered Dunn. “I asked him who he was +acting for, and he refused to say. But we shall know that tomorrow, +for he told me something almost as good--he told me where this employer +would be at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. So then we shall have him, +unless Deede Dawson was lying.” + +“Of course, it all depends on finding that out,” remarked Walter +thoughtfully. “Finding out his identity.” + +“Yes, that's the key move to the problem,” Dunn said. “And tomorrow we +shall know it, if Deede Dawson was speaking the truth just now.” + +“I should think he was,” said Walter slowly. “I should think it is +certain he was. You may depend on that, I think.” + +“I think so, too,” agreed Dunn. “But how did you find out where I was?” + +“You know that day you came to Wreste Abbey? There was some fellow you +had with you who told the landlord of the Chobham Arms, so I easily +found out from him,” answered Walter. + +“Anyhow, I'm glad you're here,” Dunn said. “I was wondering how to get +in touch with you. Well, this is Deede Dawson's plan in brief. Tomorrow, +at four in the afternoon, Rupert Dunsmore is to be killed--and I've +undertaken to do the deed.” + +“What do you mean?” exclaimed Walter, starting. + +“I've promised that if Deede Dawson will bring me face to face with +Rupert Dunsmore, I'll murder him,” answered Dunn, laughing softly. + +“A fairly safe offer on your part, isn't it?” observed Walter. “At +least, unless there's any saving clause about mirrors.” + +“Oh, none,” answered Dunn. “I told Deede Dawson Rupert Dunsmore was my +worst enemy, and that's true enough, for I think every man's worst enemy +is himself.” + +“I wish I had none worse,” muttered Walter. + +“I think you haven't, old chap,” Dunn said smilingly. “But come across +the road. It'll be safer on the common. Deede Dawson is so cunning +one is never safe from him. One can never be sure he isn't creeping up +behind.” + +“Well, I daresay it's wise to take every precaution,” observed Walter. +“But I can't imagine either him or any one else getting near you without +your knowledge.” + +Robert Dunn,--or rather, Rupert Dunsmore, as was his name by right of +birth--laughed again to himself, very softly in the darkness. + +“Perhaps not,” he said. “But I take no chances I can avoid with Deede +Dawson. Come along.” + +They crossed the road together and sat down on the common at an open +spot, where none could well approach them unheard or unseen. Dunn laid +his hand affectionately on Walter's shoulder as they settled themselves. + +“Old chap,” he said. “It was good of you to come here. You've run some +risk. It's none too safe near Bittermeads. But I'm glad to see you, +Walter. It's a tremendous relief after all this strain of doubt and +watching and suspicion to be with some one I know--some one I can +trust--some one like you, Walter.” + +In the darkness, Walter put out his hand and took Dunn's and held it for +a moment. + +“I have been anxious about you,” he said. Dunn returned the pressure +warmly. + +“I know,” he said. “Jove, old chap, it's good to see you again. You +don't know what it's like after all this long time, feeling that every +step was a step in the dark, to be at last with a real friend again.” + +“I think I can guess,” Walter said softly. + +Dunn shook his head. + +“No one could,” he said. “I tell you I've doubted, distrusted, suspected +till I wasn't sure of my own shadow. Well, that's all over now. Tomorrow +we can act.” + +“Tell me what I'm to do,” Walter Dunsmore said. + +“There's a whole lot I don't understand yet,” Dunn continued slowly. +“I suppose it was that that was making me feel so jolly down before +you came. I don't feel sure somehow--not sure. Deede Dawson is such a +cunning brute. He seems to have laid his whole hand bare, and yet there +may be cards up his sleeve still. Besides, his plan he told me about +seems so bald. And I don't understand why he should think he is so +sure of what I--I mean, of what Rupert--it's a bit confusing to have a +double identity--is going to do. He says he is sure Rupert Dunsmore +is to be at the Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow at four. He says his +information is certain, and that he has full knowledge of what Rupert +Dunsmore is going to do, which is more than I have. But what can it be +that's making him so sure?” + +“That's probably simple enough,” said Walter. “You said you suspected +there was a leakage from Burns & Swift's office, and you told Burns to +make misleading statements about your movements occasionally when he was +dictating his letters. Well, I expect this is one.” + +“That may be; only Deede Dawson seems so very sure,” answered Dunn. “But +what's specially important is his saying that his employer, whoever it +is, who is behind all this, will be there too.” + +“A meeting? Is that it?” exclaimed Walter. + +“No, that's not the idea,” answered Dunn. “You see, the idea is that +Rupert Dunsmore will be there at four, and that I'm to be there in +ambush to murder myself. Whoever is behind all this will be there +too--to see I carry out my work properly. And that gives us our chance.” + +“Oh, that's good,” exclaimed Walter. “We shall have him for certain.” + +“That's what I want you to see to,” said Dunn. “I want you to have men +you can trust well hidden all round, ready to collar him. And I want you +to have all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood well watched and every one +going along them noted. You understand?” + +“That's quite easy,” declared Walter. “I can promise not a soul will get +into Ottam's Wood without being seen, and I'll make very sure indeed of +getting hold of any one hiding anywhere near Brook Bourne Spring. And +once we've done that--once we know who it is--” + +“Yes,” agreed Dunn. “We shall be all right then. That is the one thing +necessary to know--the key move to the problem--the identity of who it +is pulling the strings. He must be a clever beggar; anyhow, I mean to +see him hang for it yet.” + +“I daresay he's clever,” agreed Walter. “He is playing for big stakes. +Anyhow, we'll have him tomorrow all right; that seems certain--at last.” + +“At last,” agreed Dunn, with a long-drawn sigh. “Ugh! it's all been such +a nightmare. It's been pretty awful, knowing there was some one--not +able to guess who. Ever since you discovered that first attempt, ever +since we became certain there was a plot going on to clear out every one +in succession to the Chobham estates--and that was jolly plain, though +the fools of police did babble about no evidence, as if pistol bullets +come from nowhere and poisoned cups of tea--” + +“Ah, I was to blame there, that was my fault,” said Walter. “You see, we +had no proof about the shooting, and when I had spilt that tea, no proof +of poison either. I shall always regret that.” + +“A bit of bad luck,” Dunn agreed. “But accidents will happen. Anyhow, it +was clear enough some one was trying to make a jolly clear sweep. It may +be a madman; it may be some one with a grudge against us; it may be, as +poor Charley thought, some one in the line of succession, who is just +clearing the way to inherit the title and estates himself. I wish I knew +what made Charley suspicious of Deede Dawson in the first place.” + +“You don't know that?” Walter asked. + +“No, he never told me,” answered Dunn. “Poor Charley, it cost him his +life. That's another thing we must find out--where they've hidden his +body.” + +“He was sure from the first,” remarked Walter, “that it was a conspiracy +on the part of some one in the line of succession?” + +“Yes,” agreed Dunn. “It's likely enough, too. You see, ever since that +big family row and dispersion eighty years ago, a whole branch of +the family has been entirely lost sight of. There may be half a dozen +possible heirs we know nothing about. Like poor John Clive. I daresay if +we had known of his existence we should have begun by suspecting him.” + +“There's one thing pretty sure,” remarked Walter. “If these pleasant +little arrangements did succeed, it would be a fairly safe guess that +the inheritor of the title and estates was the guilty person. It might +be brought home to him, too.” + +“Perhaps,” agreed Dunn dryly. “But just a trifle too late to interest me +for one. And I don't mean to let the dad or uncle be sacrificed if I can +help it. I failed with Clive, poor fellow, but I don't mean to again, +and I don't see how we can. Deede Dawson has exposed his hand. Now we +can play ours.” + +“But what are you going to do?” Walter asked. “Are you going to follow +out his instructions?” + +“To the letter,” Dunn answered. “We are dealing with very wary, +suspicious people, and the least thing might make them take alarm. The +important point, of course, is the promise that Deede Dawson's employer +will be at Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow afternoon. That's our trump +card. Everything hangs on that. And to make sure there's no hitch, I +shall do exactly what I've been told to do. I expect I shall be watched. +I shall be there at four o'clock, and ten minutes after I hope we shall +have laid hands on--whoever it is.” + +Walter nodded. + +“I don't see how we can fail,” he said. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. AN APHORISM + + +“No,” Dunn agreed after a long pause. “No, I don't see myself how +failure is possible; I don't see what there is to go wrong. All the +same, I shan't be sorry when it's all over; I suppose I'm nervous, +that's the truth of it. But Deede Dawson's hardly the sort of man I +should have expected to lay all his cards on the table so openly.” + +“Oh, I think that's natural enough,” answered Walter. “Quite natural--he +thinks you are in with him and he tells you what he wants you to do. But +I don't quite see the object of your visit to the Abbey the other day. +You gave me the shock of my life, I think. I hadn't the least idea who +you were--that beard makes a wonderful difference.” + +Dunn laughed quietly. + +“It's a good disguise,” he admitted. “I didn't quite know myself +first time I looked in a mirror. We went to the Abbey to prepare for a +burglary there.” + +“Oh, is that on the cards, too?” exclaimed Walter. “I didn't expect +that.” + +“Yes,” answered Dunn. “My own idea is that Deede Dawson sees an +opportunity for making a bit on his own. After all of us are disposed of +and his friend has got the title and estates, he won't dare to prosecute +of course, and so Deede Dawson thinks it a good opportunity to visit +the Abbey and pick up any pictures or heirlooms or so-so he can that it +would be almost impossible to dispose of in the ordinary way, but that +he expects he will be able to sell back at a good price to the new owner +of the property. I think he calculates that that gentleman will be ready +to pay as much as he is asked. I don't know, but I think that's his idea +from something he said the other day about the uselessness of even good +stuff from a big house unless you knew of a sure market, or could sell +it back again to the owner.” + +“Jolly clever idea if it works all right,” said Walter slowly. “I can +see Mr. Deede Dawson is a man who needs watching. And I suppose we had +better be on the look-out at the Abbey tomorrow night?” + +“Evening,” corrected Dunn. “It's planned for the dinner-hour.” + +“Right,” said Walter. “We shall see some crowded hours tomorrow, I +expect. Well, it's like this, as I understand it--we had better be sure +everything is quite clear. Their idea is that you will meet and murder +Rupert Dunsmore, who they have no notion is really your own self, at +Brook Bourne Spring at four tomorrow afternoon, and the unknown somebody +who is behind all this business will be in hiding there to make sure +you do your work properly. Our idea is to watch all the roads leading to +Ottam's Wood and to have men in ambush near the spring to seize any one +hiding there at that time. Then we shall know who is at the bottom of +all these plots and shall be able to smash the whole conspiracy. In +addition, Deede Dawson and this other man you speak of, Allen, are going +to break into the Abbey tomorrow evening and we are to be ready for them +and catch them in the act?” + +“Yes,” said Dunn, “that's the idea; you can manage all right?” + +“Oh, yes,” answered Walter. “It's all simple enough--you've planned it +out so jolly well there's nothing much left for me to do. And I don't +see what you're nervous about; there's nothing that can go wrong very +well--your plans are perfect, I think.” + +“It's easy enough to make plans when you know just what the other side +are going to do,” observed Dunn. “There's one point more. Miss Cayley--I +mentioned her in one of the notes I sent you through Burns.” + +“Yes, I remember--Deede Dawson's step-daughter,” said Walter. “I suppose +she is in it?” + +“She is not; she knows nothing,” declared Dunn vehemently. + +“But it was she who took away poor Charley's body, wasn't it?” asked +Walter. “But for that you would have had evidence enough to act on at +once, wouldn't you?” + +“She did not know what she was doing,” Dunn replied. “And now she is in +danger herself. I am convinced Deede Dawson is growing afraid of her, +he dropped hints; I'm sure he is planning something, perhaps he means +to murder her as well. So besides these other arrangements I want to see +that there's a trustworthy man watching here. I don't anticipate that +there's any immediate danger--it's almost certain that if he means +anything he will wait till he sees how this other business is turning +out. But I want some one trustworthy to be at hand in case of need. You +will see to that?” + +“Oh, yes, I can spare Simmonds; I'll send him,” answered Walter. +“Though, I must say, my dear chap, I don't think I should trouble much +about that young lady. But it can be easily managed, in fact everything +you want me to do is easy enough; I only wish some of it was a bit +difficult or dangerous.” + +“You're a good chap, Walter,” said Dunn, putting his hand on the other's +shoulder again. “Well, I think it's all settled now. I tell you I'm +looking forward a good deal to four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I feel +as if I would give all I possess to know who it is.” + +“Don't make that offer,” Walter said with a smile, “or the fates may +accept it.” + +“I feel as though there's only one thing in the world I want one half so +much,” Dunn said. “As to know who this--devil is.” + +“Devil?” repeated Walter. “Well, yes, devil's a word like any other.” + +“I think it's justified in this case,” said Dunn sternly. “Poor Charley +Wright dead! One thing I can't understand about that is how they got him +back here when you saw him in London when you did. But they're a cunning +lot. They must have worked it somehow. Then Clive. I feel to blame for +Clive's death--as if I ought to have managed better and saved him. Now +there's this other devilry they are planning. I tell you, Walter, I +feel the whole world will be a sweeter place after four o'clock tomorrow +afternoon.” + +“At any rate,” said Walter, “I think we may be sure of one thing--after +four o'clock tomorrow afternoon you will know all--all.” He paused and +repeated, slightly varying the phrase: “Yes, after four o'clock tomorrow +afternoon you will know everything--everything.” He added in a brisker +tone: “There's nothing else to arrange?” + +“No,” said Dunn, “I don't think so, and I had better go now or Deede +Dawson will be suspecting something. He'll want to know what I've been +stopping out so late for. Good-bye, old chap, and good luck.” + +They shook hands. + +“Good-bye and good luck, Rupert, old man,” Walter said. “You may depend +on me--you know that.” + +“Yes, I do know that,” Dunn answered. + +They shook hands again, and Dunn said: “You've hurt your hand. It's tied +up. Is it anything much?” + +“No, no,” answered Walter with a little laugh. “A mere scratch. I +scratched it on a bit of wood, a lid that didn't fit properly.” + +“Well, good-bye and good luck,” Dunn said again, and they parted, Walter +disappearing into the darkness and Dunn returning to the house. + +Deede Dawson heard him enter, and he came to the door of the room in +which he had been sitting. + +“Oh, there you are,” he said. “Been enjoying the night air or what? +You've been a long time.” + +“I've been thinking,” Dunn muttered in the heavy, sulky manner he always +assumed at Bittermeads. + +“Not weakening, eh?” asked Deede Dawson. + +“No,” answered Dunn. “I'm not.” + +“Good,” Deede Dawson exclaimed. “There's a lot to win, and no fear of +failure. I don't see that failure's possible. Do you?” + +“No,” answered Dunn. “I suppose not.” + +“The mate's sure this time,” Deede Dawson declared. “It's our turn to +move, and whatever reply the other side makes, we're sure of our mate +next move. By the way, did you ever solve that problem I showed you the +other day?” + +“Yes, I think so,” answered Dunn. “It was a long time before I could hit +on the right move, but I managed it at last, I think.” + +“Come and show me, then,” said Deede Dawson, bustling back into his room +and beginning to set up the pieces on his travelling chess-board. “This +was the position, wasn't it? Now, what's your move?” + +Dunn showed him, and Deede Dawson burst into a laugh that had in it for +once a touch of honest enjoyment. + +“Yes, that would do it, but for one thing you haven't noticed,” he said. +“Black can push the pawn at KB7 and make it, not a queen, but a knight, +giving check to your king and no mate for you next move.” + +“Yes, that's so,” agreed Dunn. “I hadn't thought of that.” + +“Unexpected, eh? Making the pawn a knight?” smiled Deede Dawson. “But in +chess, and in life, it's the unexpected you have to look out for.” + +“That's quite an aphorism,” said Dunn. “It's true, too.” + +He went up to bed, but did not sleep well, and when at last he fell into +a troubled slumber, it seemed to him that Charley Wright and John Clive +were there, one on each side of him, and that they had come, not because +they sought for vengeance, but because they wished to warn him of a doom +like their own that they could see approaching but he could not. + +Toward's morning he got an hour's sound rest, and he was down stairs in +good time. He did not see Ella, but he heard her moving about, so knew +that she was safe as yet; and Deede Dawson gave him some elaborate +parting instructions, a little money, and a loaded revolver. + +“I don't know that I want that,” said Dunn. “My hands will be all I need +once I'm face to face with Rupert Dunsmore.” + +“That's the right spirit,” said Deede Dawson approvingly. “But the +pistol may be useful too. You needn't use it if you can manage without, +but you may as well have it. Good-bye, and the best of luck. Take care +of yourself, and don't lose your head or do anything foolish.” + +“Oh, you can trust me,” said Dunn. + +“I think I can,” smiled Deede Dawson. “I think I can. Good-bye. Be +careful, avoid noise and fuss, don't be seen any more than you can help, +and if you shoot, aim low.” + +“There's a vade mecum for the intending assassin,” Dunn thought grimly +to himself, but he said nothing, gave the other a sullen nod, and +started off on his strange and weird mission of murdering himself. +He found himself wondering if any one else had ever been in such a +situation. He did not suppose so. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. THE UNEXPECTED + + +To the very letter Dunn followed the careful and precise instructions +given him by Deede Dawson, for he did not wish to rouse in any way +the slightest suspicion or run the least risk of frightening off that +unknown instigator of these plots who was, it had been promised him, to +be present near Brook Bourne Spring at four that afternoon. + +Even the thought of Ella was perhaps less clear and vivid to his mind +just now than was his intense and passionate desire to discover the +identity of the strange and sinister personality against whom he had +matched himself. + +“Very likely it's some madman,” he thought to himself. “How in the name +of common sense can he expect to inherit the title and estates quietly +after such a series of crimes as he seems to contemplate? Does he think +no one will have any suspicion of him when he comes forward? Even if +he is successful in getting rid of all of us in this way, how does he +expect to be able to reap his reward? Of course he may think that there +will be no direct evidence if he manages cleverly enough, and that mere +suspicion he will be able to disregard and live down in time, but surely +it will be plain enough that 'who benefits is guilty'? The whole thing +is mad, fantastic. Why, the mere fact of any one making a claim to the +title and estates would be almost enough to justify a jury in returning +a verdict of guilty.” + +But though his thoughts ran in this wise all the time he was journeying +to London, and though he repeated them to himself over and over again, +none the less there remained an uneasy consciousness in his mind that +perhaps these people had plans more subtle than he knew, and that even +this difficulty of making their claim without bringing instant suspicion +on themselves they had provided for. + +It was late in the year now, but the day was warm and very calm and +fine. At the London terminus where he alighted he had a strong feeling +that he was watched, and when he took the train back to Delsby he still +had the idea that he was being kept under observation. + +He felt he had been wise in deciding to carry out Deede Dawson's +instructions so closely, for he was sure that if he had failed to do +so in any respect alarm would have been taken at once, and warning +telegrams gone flying on the instant to all concerned. Then that +self-baited trap at Brook Bourne Spring, wherein he hoped to see his +enemy taken, would remain unapproached, and all his work and risk would +have gone for nothing. + +When he alighted at his destination he was a little before time, and so +he got himself something to eat at a small public-house near the station +before starting on his fifteen-mile walk across country. Though he was +not sure, he did not think any one was observing him now. Most likely +his movements up to the present had appeared satisfactory, and it had +not been thought necessary to watch him longer. + +But he was careful to do nothing to rouse suspicion if he were still +being spied upon, and after he had eaten and had a smoke he started off +on his long tramp. + +Even yet he was careful, and so long as he was near the village he made +a show of avoiding observation as much as possible. Later on, when he +had made certain he was not being followed, he did not trouble so much, +though he still kept it in mind that any one he met or passed might well +be in fact one of Deede Dawson's agents. + +He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in other +circumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough. It was a +little curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief preoccupation +seemed to shift from his immediate errand and intense eagerness to +discover the identity of his unknown foe, with whom he hoped to stand +face to face so soon, to a troubled and pressing anxiety about Ella. + +Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least real +danger. He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put on watch at +Bittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy. None the less, +his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile he traversed, till +presently her situation seemed to him the one weak link in his careful +plans. + +That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be taken +in, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt certain +enough. Walter would see to that. Sure was it, too, that the enterprise +Deede Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at the Abbey must result +in their discomfiture and capture. Walter would see to that also. But +concerning Ella's position doubt would insist on intruding, till at last +he decided that the very moment the Brook Bourne Spring business +was satisfactorily finished with he would hurry at his best speed to +Bittermeads and make sure of her safety. + +Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened speed, +and looking at his watch he saw that it was two o'clock, and that he +was still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles from his +destination. + +He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by Deede +Dawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot where the path +he had to take branched off from the road he had been following. At this +spot a heavy country lad was sitting on a gate by the wayside, and as +Dunn approached he clambered heavily down and slouched forward to meet +him. + +“Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?” he asked. + +Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this sudden +recognition in so lonely a spot. + +“Yes, I am,” he said, after a moment's hesitation. “Why?” + +“If you are, there's this as I'm to give you,” the lad answered, drawing +a note from his pocket. + +“Oh, who gave you that?” Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note contained +some final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering if this lad were +one of his agents in disguise, or merely some inhabitant of the district +hired for the one purpose of delivering the letter. + +But the lad's drawled reply disconcerted him greatly. + +“A lady,” he said. “A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait here +and give you this. All alone she was, and drove just like a man.” + +He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it was +addressed to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella's writing. He +blinked at it in very great surprise, for there was nothing he expected +less, and he did not understand how she knew so well where he would be +or how she had managed to get away from Bittermeads uninterfered with by +Deede Dawson. + +His first impulse was to suspect some new trap, some new and cunning +trap that, perhaps, the unconscious Ella was being used to bait. Taking +the letter from the boy, he said: + +“How did you know it was for me?” + +“Lady told me,” answered the boy grinning. “She said as I was to look +out for a chap answering to the name of Robert Dunn, with his face so +covered with hair you couldn't see nothing of it no more'n you can see +a sheep's back for wool. 'As soon as I set eye on 'ee,' says I, 'That's +him,' I says, and so 'twas.” + +He grinned again and slouched away and Dunn stood still, holding the +letter in his hand and not opening it at first. It was almost as though +he feared to do so, and when at last he tore the envelope open it was +with a hand that trembled a little in spite of all that he could do. +For there was something about this strange communication and the means +adopted to deliver it to him that struck him as ominous in the extreme. +Some sudden crisis must have arisen, he thought, and it appeared to him +that Ella's knowledge of where to find him implied a knowledge of Deede +Dawson's plans that meant she was either his willing and active agent +and accomplice, or else she had somehow acquired a knowledge of her +stepfather's proceedings that must make her position a thousand times +more critical and dangerous than before. + +He flung the envelope aside and began to read the contents. It opened +abruptly, without any form of address, and it was written in a hand that +showed plain signs of great distress and agitation: “You are in great +danger. I don't know what. I heard them talking. They spoke as though +something threatened you, something you could not escape. Be careful, +very careful. You asked me once if I had ever heard a man with a high, +squeaky voice, and I did not answer. It was to a man with a voice like +that I gave the packing-case I took away from here the night you came. +Do you remember? He was here all last night, I think. I saw him go very +early. He is Mr. Walter Dunsmore. I saw him that day at Wreste Abbey, +and I knew I had seen him before. This morning I recognized him. I am +sure because he hurt his hand on the packing-case lid, and I saw the +mark there still. He and my stepfather were talking all night, I think +I couldn't hear everything. There is a General Dunsmore. Something is +to happen to him at three o'clock and then to you later, and they both +laughed a great deal because they think you will be blamed for whatever +happens to General Dunsmore. He is to be enticed somewhere to meet +you, but you are not to be there till four, too late. I am afraid, more +afraid than ever I have been. What shall I do? I think they are making +plans to do something awful. I don't know what to do. I think my +stepfather suspects I know something, he keeps looking, looking, smiling +all the time. Please come back and take mother and me away, for I think +he means to kill us both.” + +There was no signature, but written like an afterthought across one +corner of the note were the scribbled words: + +“You told me something once, I don't know if you meant it.” And then, +underneath, was the addition--“He never stops smiling.” + +Twice over Dunn read this strange, disturbing message, and then a third +time, and he made a little gesture of annoyance for it did not seem to +him that the words he read made sense, or else it was that his brain no +longer worked normally, and could not interpret them. + +“Oh, but that's absurd,” he said aloud. + +He looked all around him, surprised to see that the face of the +country-side had not changed in any way, but was all just as it had been +before this letter had been put into his hands. + +He began to read a third, but stopped half-way through the first +sentence. + +“Then it's Walter all the time,” he muttered. “Walter--Walter!” + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. A RACE AGAINST TIME + + +Even when he had said this aloud it was still as though he could not +grasp its full meaning. + +“Walter,” he repeated vaguely. “Walter.” + +His thoughts, that had seemed as frozen by the sudden shock of the +tremendous revelation so unconsciously made to him by Ella, began to +stir and move again, and almost at once, with an extraordinary and +abnormal rapidity. + +As a drowning man is said to see flash before his eyes the whole history +and record of his life, so now Dunn saw the whole story of his life-long +friendship with Walter pictured before him. + +For when he was very small, Walter had been to him like an elder +brother, and when he was older, it was Walter who had taught him to +ride and to shoot, to hunt and to fish, and when he was at school it was +Walter to whom he looked up as the dashing young man of the world, who +knew all life's secrets, and when he was at college it was Walter who +had helped him out of the inevitable foolish scrapes into which it is +the custom of the undergraduate to fall. + +Then, when he had come to man's estate, Walter had still been his +confidential friend and adviser. In Walter's hand he had been accustomed +to leave everything during his absences on his hunting and exploring +trips; and at what time during this long and kindly association of +good-fellowship had such black hate and poison of envy bred in Walter's +heart? + +“Walter!” he said aloud once more, and he uttered the name as though it +were a cry of anguish. + +Yet, too, even in his utter bewilderment and surprise, it seemed strange +to him that he had never once suspected, never dreamed, never once had +the shadow of a suspicion. + +Little things, trifling things, a word, an accent, a phrase that had +passed at the time for a jest, a thousand such memories came back to him +now with a new and terrible significance. + +For, after all, Walter was in the direct line. Only just a few lives +stood between him and a great inheritance, a great position. Perhaps +long brooding on what might so easily be had made him mad. + +Dunn remembered now, too, that it was Walter who had discovered that +first murderous attempt which had first put them on their guard, but +perhaps he had discovered it only because he knew of it, and when it +failed, saw his safest plan was to be foremost in tracking it out. + +And it was Walter who had last seen poor Charley Wright alone, and far +from Bittermeads. But perhaps that was a lie to confuse the search for +the missing man, and a reason why that search had failed so utterly up +to the moment of Dunn's own grim discovery in the attic. + +With yet a fresh shock so that he reeled as he stood with the impact of +the thought, Dunn realized that all this implied that every one of his +precautions had been rendered futile that of all his elaborate plans not +one would take effect since all had been entrusted to the care of the +very man against whom they were aimed. + +It was Walter for whom the net had been laid in Ottam's Wood; and Walter +to whom had been entrusted the task of drawing that net tight at the +right moment. + +It was Walter's friends and agents who were to break into Wreste +Abbey, and Walter to whom had been entrusted the task of defeating and +capturing them. It was Walter from whom Ella stood in most danger if her +action that morning had been observed, and it was Walter to whom he had +given the task of protecting her. + +At this thought, he turned and began to run as fast as he could in the +direction of Bittermeads. + +At all costs she must be saved, she who had exposed the whole awful +plot. For a hundred yards or so he fled, swift as the wind, till on a +sudden he stopped dead with the realization of the fact that every yard +he took that way took him further and further from Ottam's Wood. + +For there was danger there, too--grim and imminent--and sentences +in Ella's hasty letter that bore now to his new knowledge a deep +significance she had not dreamed of. + +As when a flash of lightning lights all the landscape up and shows the +traveller dreadful dangers that beset his path, so a wave of intuition +told Dunn clearly the whole conspiracy; so that he saw it all, and +saw how every detail was to be fitted in together. His father, General +Dunsmore, was to be murdered first at the Brook Bourne Spring, to which +he was being lured; and afterwards, when Dunn arrived, he was to be +murdered, too. And on him, dead and unable to defend himself, the +blame of his father's death would be laid. It would not be difficult to +manage. Walter would arrange it all as neatly as he had been accustomed +to arrange the Dunsmore business affairs placed in his hands for +settlement. + +A forged letter or two, Dunn's own revolver used to shoot the old man +with and then placed in Dunn's dead hand when his own turn had come, +convincing detail like that would be easy to arrange. Why, the very +fact of his disguise, the tangled beard that he had grown to hide his +features with, would appear conclusive. Any coroner's jury would return +a verdict of wilful murder against his memory on that one fact alone. + +Walter would see to that all right. A little false evidence apparently +reluctantly given would be added, and all would be kneaded together into +the one substance till the whole guilt of all that happened would appear +to lie solely on his shoulders. + +As for motive, it would simply be put forward that he had been in a +hurry to succeed his uncle. And very likely some tale of a quarrel with +his father or something of that sort would be invented, and would go +uncontradicted since there would be no one to contradict it. + +And most probably what was contemplated at Wreste Abbey was no ordinary +burglary, but the assassination of old Lord Chobham, of which the guilt +would also be set down to him. + +Very clearly now he realized that this tremendous plot was aimed, not +only at life, but at honour--that not only was his life required, but +also that he should be thought a murderer. + +With the realization of the danger that threatened at Wreste Abbey he +turned and began to run back in the direction where it lay, that he +might take timely warning there, but he did not run a dozen strides when +he remembered Ella again, and paused. + +Surely he must think of her first, alone and unprotected. For she was +the woman he loved; and besides, she had summoned him to her help, and +then she was a woman, and at least, the others were men. + +All this flood of thoughts, this intuitive grasping of a situation +terrible beyond conception, almost unparalleled in bloody and dreadful +horror, passed through his mind with extreme rapidity. + +Once more he turned and began to run--to run as he had never run before, +for now he saw that all depended on the speed with which he could cover +the eight miles that lay between him and Ottam's Wood, whether he could +still save his father or not. + +The district was lonely in the extreme, there was no human habitation +near, no place where he could obtain any help or any swift means of +conveyance. His one hope must be in his speed, his feet must be swift to +save, not only his own life and his father's, but his honour, too, and +Ella and his old uncle as well; and all--all hung upon the speed with +which he could cover the eight long miles that lay between him and Brook +Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood. Even as he ran, as he thought of Ella, +he came abruptly to a pause, wrung with sudden anguish. For each fleet +stride he was making towards Brook Bourne Spring was taking him +further and further away from Bittermeads just as before each step to +Bittermeads had been taking him further from Ottam's Wood. + +He began to run again, even faster than before, and it was towards +Ottam's Wood that he ran, each step taking him further from Bittermeads +and further from the woman he loved in her bitter need and peril, who +looked to him for the help he could not give. With pain and anguish +he ran on, ran as men have seldom run--as seldom so much was hung upon +their running. + +On and on he sped, fleet as the wind, fleet as the light breeze that +blew lightly by. A solitary villager trudging on some errand in this +lonely place, tells to this day the tale of the bearded, wild-eyed man +who raced so madly by him, raced on and down the long, straight road +till his figure dwindled and vanished in the distance. + +A shepherd boy went home with a tale of a strange thing he had seen of +a man running so fast it seemed he was scarcely in sight before he was +gone again. + +And except for those two and one other none saw him at all and he ran +his race alone beneath the skies, across the bare country side. + +It was at a spot where the path ran between two high hedges that he came +upon a little herd of cows a lad was driving home. + +It seemed impossible to pass through that tangle of horns and tails and +plunging hoofs, and so indeed it was, but Dunn took another way, and +with one leap, cleared the first beast clean and alighted on the back of +the second. + +Before the startled beast could plunge away he leaped again from the +vantage of its back and landed on the open ground beyond and so on, +darting full speed past the staring driver, whose tale that he told when +he got home caused him to go branded for years as a liar. + +On and on Dunn fled, without stay or pause, at the utmost of his speed +every second of time, every yard of distance. For he knew he had need +of every ounce of power he possessed or could call to his aid, since he +knew well that all, all, might hang upon a second less or more, and now +four miles lay behind him and four in front. + +Still on he raced with labouring lungs and heart near to bursting +--onward still, swift, swift and sure, and now there were six miles +behind and only two in front, and he was beginning to come to a part of +the country that he knew. + +Whether he was soon or late he had no idea or how long it was that he +had raced like this along the lonely country road at the full extremity +and limit of his strength. + +He dared not take time to glance at his watch, for he knew the fraction +of a second he would thus lose might mean the difference between in time +and too late. On he ran still and presently he left the path and took +the fields. + +But he had forgotten that though the distance might be shorter the going +would be harder, and on the rough grass he stumbled, and across the bare +ground damp earth clung to his boots and hindered him as though each +foot had become laden with lead. + +His speed was slower, his effort greater if possible, and when he came +to a hedge he made no effort to leap, but crashed through it as best he +could and broke or clambered or tumbled a path for himself. + +Now Ottam's Wood was very near, and reeling and staggering like a man +wounded to the death but driven by inexorable fate, he plunged on still, +and there was a little froth gathering at the corners of his mouth and +from one of his nostrils came a thin trickle of blood. + +Yet still he held on, though in truth he hardly knew any longer why he +ran or what his need for haste, and as he came to the wood round a spur +where a cluster of young beeches grew, he saw a tall, upright, elderly +man walking there, well-dressed and of a neat, soldier-like appearance. + +“Hallo--there you are--father--” he gasped and fell down, prone +unconscious. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + +When he came to himself he was lying on his back, and bending over him +was his father's familiar face, wearing an expression of great surprise +and wonder, and still greater annoyance. + +“What is the matter?” General Dunsmore asked as soon as he saw that his +son's senses were returning to him. “Have you all gone mad together? You +send me a mysterious note to meet you here at three, you turn up racing +and running like an escaped lunatic, and with a disgusting growth of +hair all over your face, so that I didn't know you till you spoke, and +then there's Walter dodging about in the wood here like a poacher hiding +from the keepers. Are you both quite mad, Rupert?” + +“Walter,” Rupert repeated, lifting himself on one hand, “Walter--have +you seen him?” + +“Over there,” said the general, nodding towards the right. “He was +dodging and creeping about for all the world like some poaching rascal. +I waved, but he didn't see me, and when I tried to overtake him I lost +sight of him somehow in the trees, and found I had come right out of my +way for Brook Bourne Spring.” + +“Thank God for that,” said Rupert fervently as a picture presented +itself to him of his unsuspecting father trying in that lonely wood to +find and overtake the man whose murderous purpose was aimed at his life. + +“What do you mean?” snapped the general. “And why have you made such a +spectacle of yourself with all that beard? Why, I didn't know you till +you spoke--there's Walter there. What makes him look like that?” + +For Walter had just come out of the wood about fifty yards to their +right, and when he saw them talking together he understood at once that +in some way or another all his plans had failed. + +He was looking at them through a gap in some undergrowth that hid most +of his body, but showed his head and shoulders plainly, and as he stood +there watching them his face was like a fiend's. + +“Walter,” the general shouted, and to his son Rupert he said: “The boy's +ill.” + +Walter moved forward from among the trees. He had a gun in his hand, and +he flung it forward as though preparing to fire, and at the same moment +Rupert Dunsmore drew from his pocket the pistol Deede Dawson had given +him and fired himself. + +But at the very moment that he pulled the trigger the general struck up +his arm so that the bullet flew high and harmless through the tops of +the trees. + +Walter stepped back again into the wood, and Rupert said: + +“You don't know what you have done, father.” + +“You are mad, mad,” the general gasped. + +His face was very pale, and he trembled a little, for though he had +heard many bullets whistle by his ears, that had happened in action +against an enemy, and was altogether different from this. He put out his +hand in an attempt to take the pistol that Rupert easily evaded. + +“Give it to me,” he said. “I saved his life; you might have killed him.” + +“Yes, you saved him, father,” Rupert muttered, thinking to himself that +the saving of Walter's life might well mean the loss of Ella's, since +very likely the failure of their plots would be at once attributed by +the conspirators to her. “Father, I never wrote that letter you say you +had. Walter forged it to get you here, where he meant to kill us both. +That's why he looked like that, that's why he had his gun.” + +General Dunsmore only stared blankly at him for a moment. + +“Kill me? Kill you? What for?” he gasped. + +“So that he might become Lord Chobham of Wreste Abbey instead of Lord +Chobham's poor relation,” answered Rupert. “The poison attempt on uncle +which Walter discovered was first of all his own doing; it was through +him Charley Wright lost his life. He has committed at least one other +murder. Today he meant to kill both of us. Then he would have been heir +to the title and estates, and when uncle died he would have been Lord +Chobham.” + +“Nonsense, absurd, impossible. You're mad, quite mad,” the general +stammered. “Why, he would have been hanged at once.” + +“Not if he could have fixed the blame elsewhere,” Rupert answered. “That +was to have been my part; it was carefully arranged to make it seem I +was responsible for it all. I haven't time to explain now. I don't think +he is coming back. I expect he is only loaded with small shot, and he +doesn't dare try a long range shot or come near now he knows I'm ready +for him.” + +“But it's--it's impossible--Walter,” stammered the general. +“Impossible.” + +“The impossible so often happens,” answered Rupert, and handed his +pistol to him. “You must trust me, father, and do what I tell you. Take +this pistol in case you are attacked on the way home. You may be, but +I don't think it's likely. Get the motor out and go straight to Wreste +Abbey. An attempt on uncle's life will be made tonight, if they still +carry out their plans, about dinner-time tonight. See that every +possible precaution is taken. See to that first. Then send help as soon +as you can to Bittermeads, a house on the outskirts of Ramsdon; any one +there will tell you where it is.” + +“But what are you going to do?” General Dunsmore asked. + +“I'm going to find Walter, if he's still hiding in the wood here, as he +may be,” Rupert answered. “I should like a little chat with him.” For +a moment he nearly lost his self-control, and for a single moment there +showed those fiery and tempestuous passions he was keeping now in such +stern repression. “Yes a little talk with him, just us two,” he said. +“And if he's cleared out, or I can't find him I'm going straight on to +Bittermeads. There's some one there who may be in danger, so the sooner +I am there the better.” + +“But wait a moment,” the general cried. “Are you armed?” + +“Yes, with my hands, I shall want no more when Walter and I meet again,” + Rupert answered, and, without another word, plunged into the wood at the +spot where Walter had vanished. + +At first the track of Walter's flying footsteps was plain enough for he +had fled full speed, panic having overtaken him when he saw Rupert and +his father together and understood that in some way his deep conspiracy +had failed and his treachery become known. + +For a little distance, therefore, he had crashed through bracken and +undergrowth, heedless of all but the one need that was upon him to flee +away and escape while there was yet time. But, after a while, his first +panic subsiding, he had gone more carefully, and, as the weather had +been very dry of late, when he came to open ground his footmarks were +scarcely visible. + +In such spots Rupert could make but slow progress, and he was +handicapped, too, by the fact, that all the time he had to be on his +guard lest from some unsuspected quarter his enemy should come upon him +unawares. + +For, indeed, this enterprise he had undertaken in the flood tide of +his passion and fierce anger was dangerous enough since he, quite +weaponless, was following up a very desperate armed man who would know +that for him there could be henceforth no question of mercy. + +But there was that burning in Rupert's heart that made him heedless of +all danger, and indeed, he who for mere love of sport and adventure, had +followed a wounded tiger into the jungle and tracked a buffalo through +thick reeds, was not likely to draw back now. + +Once he thought he had succeeded, for he saw a bush move and he rushed +at once upon it. But when he reached it there was nothing there, and the +ground about was hard and bare, showing no marks to prove any one +had lately been near. And once he saw a movement in the midst of some +bracken and caught a glimpse of what seemed like Walter's coat, so that +he was sure he had him at last, and he shouted and ran forward. + +But again no one was there, though the bracken was all trampled and +beaten down. The tracks Walter had made in going were plain, too, but +Rupert lost them almost at once and could not find them again, and when +he came a little later to the further edge of the wood, he decided to +waste no more time, but to make his way direct to Bittermeads so as at +least to make sure of Ella's safety. + +He told himself that he had failed badly in woodcraft and, indeed, he +had been too fierce and hot in his pursuit to show his wonted skill. + +The plan that had been in his mind from the moment when he left his +father was to take advantage of the fact that on this edge of the wood +was situated a farm belonging to Lord Chobham, where horses were bred +and where he was well known. + +Some of these horses were sure to be out in the fields, and it would +be easy for him, wasting no time in explanation, to catch one of +them, mount bare-backed and ride through the New Plantation--the New +Plantation was a hundred years old, but still kept that name--over the +brow of the hill beyond, swim the canal in the valley, and so straight +across-country to Ramsdon. + +Riding thus direct he would save time and distance, and arrive more +quickly than by going the necessary distance to secure a motor-car which +would have also to take a much more circuitous route. + +He jumped the hedge, therefore, that lay at the wood's edge and slid +down the steep bank into the sunken road beyond where he found himself +standing in front of Walter, who held in his hands a gun levelled +straight at Rupert's heart. + +“I could have shot you time after time in there you know,” he said +quietly. “From behind that bush and from out of the bracken, too. I +don't know why I didn't. I suppose it wasn't worth while, now I shall +never be Lord Chobham.” + +He flung down his gun as he spoke and sprang on a bicycle that he had +held leaning against his legs. + +Quickly he sped away, leaving Rupert standing staring after him, +realizing that his life had hung upon the bending of Walter's finger, +and that Walter, with at least two cold-blooded murders to his +account, or little more to hope for in this world or the next, had now +inexplicably spared him for whose destruction, of life and honour alike, +he had a little before been laying such elaborate, hellish plans. + +With a gesture of his hands that proved he failed to understand, Rupert +ran on and crossed a field to where he saw some horses grazing. + +One he knew immediately for one of his father's mares, and he knew her +also for an animal of speed and endurance. + +The mare knew him, too, and suffered him to mount her without +difficulty, and without a soul on the farm being aware of what was +happening and without having to waste any precious time on explanations +or declaring his identity, Rupert rode away, sitting the mare +bare-backed, through the New Plantation towards Bittermeads, where he +hoped, arriving unexpectedly, to be able to save Ella before the danger +he was sure threatened her came to a head. + +Of one thing he was certain. Deede Dawson would never do what his +companion in villainy had just done, he would spare no one; fierce, +malignant and evil to the last, his one thought if he knew they had and +vengeance approached would be to do what harm he could before the end. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. BACK AT BITTERMEADS + + +When, riding fast, Rupert Dunsmore came in sight of Bittermeads he +experienced a feeling of extreme relief. Though what he had feared he +did not quite know, for he did not see that any alarm could have reached +here yet or any hint come to Deede Dawson of the failure of all his +plotting. + +Even if Walter had had the idea of returning to give his accomplice +warning, he could not have come by the road on his bicycle as quickly +as Rupert had ridden across country. And that Walter would spend either +time or thought on Deede Dawson did not appear in any way probable. + +To Rupert, therefore, it seemed certain that Deede Dawson could know +nothing as yet. But all the same it was an immense relief to see the +house again and to know that in a few moments he would be there. + +He tied up the mare to a convenient tree, and with eyes that were quick +and alert and every nerve and muscle ready for all emergencies, he drew +near the house. + +All was still and quiet, no smoke came from the chimneys, there was no +sign of life or movement anywhere. For a moment he hesitated and then +made his way round to the back, hoping to find Mrs. Barker there and +perhaps obtain from her information as to the whereabouts of Deede +Dawson and of Ella and her mother. + +For it seemed to him it would be his best plan to get the two women +quietly out of the way if he could possibly do so before making any +attempt to deal with Deede Dawson or letting him know of his return. + +For the mere fact that he was back again so soon would show at once that +something had gone seriously wrong, and once Deede Dawson knew that, he +would be, Rupert well realized, in a very desperate and reckless mood +and ripe for committing any mischief that he could. + +Cautiously Rupert opened the back door and found himself in the +stone-paved passage that ran between the kitchen and the scullery and +pantry. Everything seemed very quiet and still, and there was no sign of +Mrs. Barker nor any appearance that she had been that morning busy about +her usual tasks. The kitchen fire was not lighted, a pile of unwashed +crockery stood on the table, there had apparently been no attempt to +prepare any meals. + +Frowning uneasily, for all this did not seem to him of good omen, Rupert +went quickly on to the living rooms. + +They were unoccupied and did not seem to have been much used that day; +and in the small breakfast-room Deede Dawson had been accustomed +to consider his special apartment, his favourite little travelling +chessboard stood on the table with pieces in position on it. + +There was a letter, too, he had begun but not finished, to the editor +of a chess-column in some paper, apparently to the effect that a certain +problem “cooked,” and that by such and such a move “the mate for the +first player that appeared certain was unexpectedly and instantly +transferred in this dramatic manner into a mate for his opponent.” + +The words seemed somehow oddly appropriate to Rupert, and he smiled +grimly as he read them and then all at once his expression changed and +his whole attitude became one of intense watchfulness and readiness. + +For his quick eye had noted that the ink on the nib of the pen that this +letter had been written with, was not yet dry. + +Then Deede Dawson must have been here a moment or two ago and must have +gone in a hurry. That could only mean he was aware of Rupert's return +and was warned and suspicious. It is perhaps characteristic of Rupert's +passionate and eager temperament that only now did it occur to him +that he was quite unarmed and that without a weapon of any kind he was +matching himself against as reckless and as formidable a criminal as had +ever lived. + +For want of anything better he picked up the heavy glass inkpot standing +on the table, emptied the contents in a puddle on the floor, and held +the inkpot itself ready in his hand. + +He listened intently, but heard no sound--no sound at all in the whole +house, and this increased his apprehensions, for he knew well that Deede +Dawson was a man always the most dangerous when most silent. + +It was possible of course that he had fled, but not likely. He would not +go, Rupert thought, till he had made his preparations and not without +a last effort to take revenge on those who had defeated him and in this +dramatic way turned the mate he had expected to secure into a win for +his opponent. + +Still Rupert listened intently, straining his ears to catch the least +sound to hint to him where his enemy was, for he knew that if he failed +to discover him his first intimation of his proximity might well come in +the shape of the white-hot sting of a bullet, rending flesh and bone. + +Then, too, where was Ella, and where was her mother? + +There was something inexpressibly sinister in the utter quietness of the +house, a quietness not at all of peace and rest but of a brooding, angry +threat. + +Still he could hear nothing, and he left the room, very quickly and +noiselessly, and he made sure there was no one anywhere in any of these +rooms on the ground floor. + +He locked the front door and the back to make sure no one should enter +or leave too easily, and returned on tiptoe, moving to and fro like +a shadow cast by a changing light, so swift and noiseless were his +movements. + +For a little he remained crouching against the side of the stairway, +listening for any sound that might float down to him from above. + +But none came--and on a sudden, in one movement, as it were, he ran up +the stairs and crouched down on the topmost one so that any bullet aimed +at him as he appeared might perhaps fly overhead. + +But none was fired; there was still no sound at all, no sign that the +house held any living creature beside himself. He began to think +that Deede Dawson must have sent the two women away and now have gone +himself. + +But there was the pen downstairs with ink still wet upon the nib to +prove that he had been here recently, and again very suddenly Rupert +leaped to his feet and ran noiselessly down the corridor and entered +quickly into Ella's room. + +He had not been in it since the night of his arrival at Bittermeads, but +it appeared to him extraordinarily familiar and every little object in +it of ornament or use seemed to speak to him softly of Ella's gracious +presence. + +Of Ella herself there was no sign, but he noticed that the tassel at the +end of the window blind cord was moving as if recently disturbed. + +The movement was very slight, almost imperceptible, indeed, but it +existed; and it proved that some one must very shortly before have been +standing at the window. He moved to it and looked out. + +The view commanded the road by which he had approached Bittermeads, and +he wondered if Ella had been standing there and had seen his approach, +and then had concealed herself for some reason. + +But, if so, why and where was she hiding? And where was Deede Dawson? +And why was everything so silent and so still? + +He turned from the window, and as he did so he caught a faint sound in +the passage without. + +Instantly he crouched behind the bed, the heavy glass inkpot that was +his one weapon poised in his hand. + +The sound did not come again, but as he waited, he saw the door begin to +open very slowly, very quietly. + +Lower still he crouched, the inkpot ready to throw, every nerve taut and +tense for the leap at his foe's throat with which he meant to follow it +up. The door opened a little more, very slowly, very carefully. It was +wide enough now to admit of entry, and through the opening there sidled, +pale and red-eyed, Ella's mother, looking so frail and feeble and so +ruffled and disturbed she reminded Rupert irresistibly of a frightened +hen. + +She edged her way in as though she dared not open the door too widely, +and Rupert hesitated in great perplexity and vexation, for he saw that +he must show himself, and he feared that she would announce his presence +by flight or screams. + +But he could not possibly get away without her knowledge; and besides, +she might be able to give him useful information. + +He stood up quickly, with his finger to his lips. “Hush!” he said. “Not +a sound--not a sound.” The warning seemed unnecessary, for Mrs. Dawson +appeared too paralysed with fear to utter even the faintest cry as she +dropped tremblingly on the nearest chair. + +“Hush! Hush!” he said. “Where is Ella?” + +“I--I don't know,” quavered Mrs. Dawson. + +“When did you see her last?” + +“A little while ago,” Mrs. Dawson faltered. “She went upstairs. She +didn't come down, so I thought I would try to find her.” + +“Where's Deede Dawson?” Rupert asked. + +“I--I don't know,” she quavered again. + +“When did you see him last?” + +“I--I--a little while ago,” she faltered. “He went upstairs--he didn't +come down again. I thought I would try to find her--him--I was so +frightened when they didn't either of them come down again.” + +It was evident she was far too confused and upset to give any useful +information of any nature, even if she knew anything. + +“Deede's been so strange,” she said. “And Ella too. I think it's +very hard on me--dreams, too. He said he wanted her to help him get a +packing-case ready he had to send away somewhere. I don't know where. I +don't think Ella wanted to--” + +“A packing-case?” Rupert muttered. “What for?” + +“It's what they came upstairs to do,” Mrs. Dawson said. “And--and--” + She began to cry feebly. “It's my nerves,” she said. “He's looked so +strange at us all day--and neither of them has come down again.” + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. THE ATTIC + + +It was evident that more had occurred to make Mrs. Dawson afraid that +she would, or perhaps could, say. + +“Wait here,” Rupert said to her. “Don't stir.” The command seemed +superfluous, for she had not at that moment the appearance of still +possessing the power to move. Without speaking again, Rupert left the +room and went quickly to the foot of the narrow stairs that led to the +attics above. + +He listened, crouching there, and heard nothing, and a cold fear came to +him that perhaps Deede Dawson had done up above what he wished to do and +then effected his escape while he himself had been lingering in Ella's +room. + +Adopting his plan of a rapid rush to disconcert the aim of any one who +might be about to fire at him, he made a swift dash up the stairs and on +the topmost one crouched down again and waited. + +But still nothing happened, all was very quiet, and the door of one +attic, the one which had been assigned to him as a bed-chamber, was wide +open so that he could see into it and see that it was unoccupied. + +But the doors of both the others were closed, and as he looked he made +out in the gloom, for this landing by the attic was very badly-lighted +by a small and awkwardly-placed skylight, a scattered dozen or so of +hairpins, and a tortoiseshell comb such as he had seen sometimes in +Ella's hair, lying on the floor near the door of the larger of the two +attics, the one in which he remembered well he had found Deede Dawson on +a certain night busy measuring and examining an empty packing-case. + +With one quick rush he crossed the landing and flung himself at the +door. + +It opened at once, for it was not locked, and within he saw Deede +Dawson, screw-driver in his hand, standing behind a large packing-case, +the lid of which he had apparently that minute finished fastening down. + +He looked up as Rupert entered thus precipitately, and he showed no sign +of surprise or alarm. + +“You're back early,” he said. “Something gone wrong?” + +“What are you doing? What's in there?” Rupert asked, looking at the +packing-case, his mouth and lips so suddenly dry he found it difficult +to speak at all. + +Deede Dawson began to laugh, a low and dreadful laughter that had in it +no trace of merriment at all, but only of mockery and malice. + +It was such laughter as a devil from the nethermost pit might give vent +to when he saw at last a good man yield to long temptation. + +“What's in there?” Rupert said again, pointing to the packing-case, and +it was as though his soul swooned within him for fear of what the answer +might be. + +“What do the children say?” Deede Dawson returned with his terrible +smile. “I'll give you three guesses, isn't it? See if you can guess in +three tries.” + +“What's in there?” Rupert asked the third time, and Deede Dawson laid +down the screw-driver with which he had just driven home the last screw. + +“Oh, see for yourself, if you want to,” he said. “But you ought to know. +You know what was in the other case I sent away from here, the one I got +Ella to take in the car for me? I want you to take this one away now, +the sooner it's away the better.” + +“That's it, is it?” Rupert muttered. + +He no longer doubted, and for a moment all things swam together before +him and he felt dizzy and a little sick, and so weak he staggered and +nearly fell, but recovered himself in time. + +The sensation passed and he saw Deede Dawson as it were a long way off, +and between them the packing-case, huge, monstrous, and evil, like a +thing of dread from some other world. Violent shudderings swept though +him one after the other, and he was aware that Deede Dawson was speaking +again. + +“What did you say?” he asked vacantly, when the other paused. + +“You look ill,” Deede Dawson answered. “Anything wrong? Why have you +come back so soon? Have you failed?” + +Rupert passed his hand before his eyes to clear away the mist that hung +there and that hampered his sight. + +He perceived that Deede Dawson held his right hand in the pocket of his +coat, grasping something that bulged out curiously. + +He divined that it was a pistol, and that Deede Dawson was ready to +shoot at any moment, but that he wished very greatly to know first of +all what had happened and why Rupert had returned so soon and whether +there was immediate necessity for flight or not. + +That he was uneasy was certain, for his cold eyes showed a hesitation +and a doubt such as Rupert had never seen in them before. + +“I'll tell you what's happened,” Rupert heard himself saying hoarsely. +“If you'll tell me what's in there.” + +“A bargain, eh?” Deede Dawson said. “It's easy enough. You can look for +yourself if you unscrew the lid, but then, after all, why should we take +all that trouble?” + +As he spoke his pistol showed in his hand, and at once the heavy glass +inkpot Rupert had held all this time flew straight and true, and with +tremendous force, at Deede Dawson's head. + +He avoided it only by the extreme rapidity with which he dropped behind +the packing-case, and it flew over his head and crashed against the +centre panel of a big wardrobe that stood in one corner of the room, +splitting the panel it struck from top to bottom. + +Following it, Rupert hurled himself forward with one great spring, but +agile as a cat that leaps away from the mastiff's teeth, Deede Dawson +slipped from his grasp to the other side of the room. In doing so he +knocked his arm against the corner of the packing-case, so that his +revolver fell to the ground. + +With a shout Rupert stooped and seized it, and straightened himself +to see that Deede Dawson had already another revolver in his hand--a +second one that he had drawn from an inner pocket. + +They remained very still, watching each other intently, neither eager +to fire, since both wished first to make the other speak. For Rupert +desired very greatly that Deede Dawson should tell him where Ella was, +and Deede Dawson needed that Rupert should explain what had gone wrong, +and how imminent and great was the danger that therefore most likely +threatened him. + +Each knew, too, that the slightest movement he made would set the other +shooting, and each realized that in that close and narrow space any +exchange of shots must almost of necessity mean the death of both, since +both were cool and deadly marksmen, well accustomed to the use of the +revolver. + +Deede Dawson was the first to speak. + +“Well, what next?” he said. “If that inkpot of yours had hit me it would +pretty well have knocked my brains out, and if I hadn't hit my elbow +against the corner of the packing-case I would have had you shot through +with holes like a sieve by now. So far the score's even. Let's chat a +bit, and see if we can't come to some arrangement. Look, I'll show I +trust you.” + +As he spoke he laid down, much to Rupert's surprise, and to his equal +suspicion, his revolver on the top of a moth-eaten roll of old carpet +that leaned against the wall near where he was standing. + +“You see, I trust you,” he said once more. + +“Take your pistol up again,” answered Rupert grimly. “I do not trust +you.” + +“Ah, that's a pity.” Deede Dawson smiled, making no effort to do as the +other said. “You see, we are both good shots, and if we start blazing +away at each other up here we shall both be leaking pretty badly before +long. That's a prospect that has no attraction for me; I don't know +if it has for you. But there are things I can tell you that might be +interesting, and things you can tell me I want to know. Why not exchange +a little information, and then separate calmly, rather than indulge in +pistol practice that can only mean the death of us both? For if your +first bullet goes through my brain I swear my first will be in your +heart.” + +“Likely enough,” agreed Rupert, “but worth while perhaps.” + +“Oh, that's fanaticism,” Deede Dawson answered. “Flattering perhaps to +me, but not quite reasonable, eh?” + +“There's only one thing I want to know from you,” Rupert said slowly. + +“Then why not ask it, why not agree to the little arrangement I suggest, +eh? Eh, Rupert Dunsmore?” + +“You know me, then?” + +“Oh, long enough.” + +“Where is Ella?” + +Deede Dawson laughed again. + +“That's a thing I know and you don't,” he said. “Well, she's safe away +in London by this time.” + +“That's a lie, for her mother's here still,” answered Rupert, even +though his heart leapt merely to hear the words. + +“Unbelieving Thomas,” smiled the other. “Well, then, she is where +she is, and that you can find out for yourself. But I'll make another +suggestion. We are both good shots, and if we start to fire we shall +kill each other. I am certain of killing you, but I shan't escape +myself. Well, then, why not toss for it? Equal chances for both, and +certain safety for one. Will you toss me, the one who loses to give up +his pistol to the other?” + +“It seems to me a good idea,” Deede Dawson argued. “Here we are watching +each other like cats, and knowing that the least movement of either will +start the other off, and both of us pulling trigger as hard as we can. +My idea would mean a chance for one. Well, let's try another way; the +best shot to win. You don't trust me, but I will you.” + +Leaving his pistol lying where he had put it down, he crossed the attic, +and with a pencil he took from his pocket drew a circle on the panel of +the wardrobe door that Rupert had split with the inkpot he had thrown. + +In the centre of the circle he marked a dot, and turned smilingly to the +frowning and suspicious Rupert. + +“There you are,” he said, and made another circle near the first one. +“Now you put a bullet into the middle of this circle and I'll put one +afterwards through the second circle, and the one who is nearest to the +dots I've marked, wins. What have you to say to that? Seems to me better +than our killing each other. Isn't it?” + +“I think you're playing the fool for some reason of your own,” answered +Rupert. “There's only one thing I want to know from you. Where is Ella?” + +“Let me know how you can shoot,” answered Deede Dawson, “and I'll tell +you, by all that's holy, I will.” + +Rupert hesitated. He did not understand all this, he could not imagine +what motive was in Deede Dawson's mind, though it was certainly true +enough that once they began shooting at each other neither man was at +all likely to survive, for Rupert knew he would not miss and he did not +think Deede Dawson would either. + +Above all, there was the one thing he wished to know, the one +consideration that weighed with him above all others--what had become of +Ella? And this time there had been in Deede Dawson's voice an accent +of twisted and malign sincerity that seemed to say he really would be +willing to tell the truth about her if Rupert would gratify his whim +about this sort of shooting-match that he was suggesting. + +The purpose of it Rupert could not understand, but it did not seem to +him there would be any risk of harm in agreeing, for Deede Dawson +was standing so far away from his own weapon he could not well be +contemplating any immediate mischief or treachery. + +It did occur to him that the pistol he held might be loaded in one +chamber only and that Deede Dawson might be scheming to induce him to +throw away his solitary cartridge. + +But a glance reassured him on that point. + +“Let me see how you can shoot,” Deede Dawson repeated, leaning +carelessly with folded arms against the wall a little distance away. +“And I promise you I'll tell you where Ella is.” + +Rupert lifted his pistol and was indeed on the very point of firing when +he caught a glimpse of such evil triumph and delight in Deede Dawson's +cold eyes that he hesitated and lowered the weapon, and at the same +time, looking more closely, searching more intently for some indication +of Deede Dawson's hidden purpose, he noticed, caught in the crack of the +wardrobe door, a tiny shred of some blue material only just visible. + +He remembered that sometimes of an afternoon Ella had been accustomed +to wear a frock made of a material exactly like that of which so tiny a +fragment showed now in the crack of the wardrobe door. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. SOME EXPLANATIONS + + +He turned quickly towards Deede Dawson. Their eyes met, and in that +mutual glance Rupert Dunsmore read that his suspicions were correct and +Deede Dawson that his dreadful trap was discovered. + +Neither spoke. For a brief moment they remained impassive, immobile, +their eyes meeting like blows, and then Deede Dawson made one spring to +seize again the revolver he had laid down in the hope of enticing Rupert +into the awful snare prepared for him. + +But quick as he was, Rupert was quicker still, and as Deede Dawson +leaped he lifted his pistol and fired, though his aim was not at the +man, but at the revolver lying on the top of the roll of carpet where +Deede Dawson had placed it. + +The bullet, for Rupert was a man who seldom missed, struck the weapon +fair and whirled it, shattered and useless, to the floor. Deede Dawson, +whose hand had been already outstretched to seize it, drew back with +a snarl that was more like the cry of a trapped wolf than any sound +produced from human lips. + +Still, Rupert did not speak. With the smoking pistol in his hand he +watched silently and steadily his helpless enemy who, for his part, was +silent, too, and very still, for he felt that doom was close upon him. + +Yet he showed not the least sign of fear, but only a fierce and sullen +defiance. + +“Shoot away, why don't you shoot?” he sneered. “Mind you don't miss. I +trusted you when I put my revolver down and I was a fool, but I thought +you would play fair.” + +Without a word Rupert tossed his pistol through the attic window. + +They heard the tinkling fall of the glass, they heard more faintly the +sound of the revolver striking the outhouse roof twenty feet below and +rebounding thence to the paved kitchen yard beneath, and then all was +quiet again. + +“I only need my hands for you,” said Rupert softly, as softly as a +mother coos to her drowsy babe. “My hands for you.” + +For the first time Deede Dawson seemed to fear, for, indeed, there was +that in Rupert Dunsmore's eyes to rouse fear in any man. With a sudden +swift spring, Rupert leaped forward and Deede Dawson, not daring to +abide that onslaught, turned and ran, screaming shrilly. + +During the space of one brief moment, a dreadful and appalling moment, +there was a wild strange hunting up and down the narrow space of that +upper attic, cumbered with lumber and old, disused furniture. + +Round and round Deede Dawson fled, screaming still in a high shrill way, +like some wild thing in pain, and hard upon him followed Rupert, nor had +they gone a second time about that room before Rupert had Deede Dawson +in a fast embrace, his arms about the other's middle. + +One last great cry Deede Dawson gave when Rupert seized him, and then +was silent as Rupert lifted him and swung him high at arm's length. + +As a child in play sports with its doll, so Rupert swung Deede Dawson +twice about his head, round and round and then loosed him so that he +went hurling through the air with awful force, like a stone shot from a +catapult, clean through the window through which Rupert had the moment +before tossed his pistol with but little more apparent effort. + +Right through the window, bearing panes and sash with him, Deede Dawson +flew with the impetus of that great throw and out beyond and down, +turning over and over the while, down through the empty air to fall and +be shattered like a piece of worthless crockery on the stone threshold +of the outhouse door. + +Surprised to find himself alone, Rupert put his hand to his forehead and +looked vacantly around. + +“My God, what have I done?” he thought. + +He was trembling violently, and the fury of the passion that had +possessed him and had given his mighty muscles a force more than human, +was still upon him. + +Going to the window, he looked out, for he did not quite know what had +happened and from it he looked back at the wardrobe door. + +“Oh, yes,” he said. “Yes.” + +He ran to it and tore open the door and from within very tenderly and +gently he lifted down the half-swooning Ella who, securely gagged and +tightly bound, had been thrust into its interior to conceal her from +him. + +Hurriedly he freed her from her bonds and from the handkerchief that was +tied over her mouth and holding her in his arms like a child, pressing +her close to his heart, he carried her lightly out of that dreadful +room. + +Only once did she stir, only once did she speak, when lifting her pale, +strained face to him she murmured very faintly something in which he +just caught the words: + +“Deede Dawson.” + +“He'll trouble us no more nor any one else, I think,” answered Rupert, +and she said no more but snuggled down in his arms as though with a +feeling of perfect security and safety. + +He took her to her own room and left her with her mother, and then went +down to the hall and took a chair and sat at the front door. + +All at once he felt very tired and one of his shoulders hurt him, for he +had strained a muscle there rather badly. + +His one desire was to rest, and he did not even trouble to go round to +the back of the house to see what had happened to Deede Dawson, though +indeed that was not a point on which he entertained much doubt. + +For a long time he sat there quietly, till at last his father arrived in +a motor-car from Wreste Abbey, together with a police-inspector from the +county town whom he had picked up on the way. + +Rupert took them into the room where Deede Dawson's chessmen and the +board were still standing and told them as briefly as he could what had +happened since the first day when he had left his home to try to trace +out and defeat the plot hatched by Walter Dunsmore and Deede Dawson. + +“You people wouldn't act,” he said to the inspector. “You said there +was no evidence, no proof, and I daresay you were right enough from the +legal point of view. But it was plain enough to me that there was +some sort of conspiracy against my uncle's life, I thought against my +father's as well, but I was not sure of that at first. It was through +poor Charley Wright I became so certain. He found out things and told me +about them; but for him the first attempt to poison my uncle would have +succeeded. Even then we had still no evidence to prove the reality of +our suspicions, for Walter destroyed it, by accident, I thought at the +time, purposely, as I know now. It was something Walter said that gave +Charley the idea of coming here. Then he vanished. He must have roused +their suspicions somehow, and they killed him. But again Walter put us +all off the scent by his story of having seen Charley in London, so that +it was there the search for him was made, and no one ever thought of +Bittermeads. I never suspected Walter, such an idea never entered my +head; but luckily I didn't tell him of my idea of coming to Bittermeads +myself to try to find out what was really going on here. He knew nothing +of where I was till I told him that day at Wreste Abbey, then of course +he came over here at once. I thought it was anxiety for my safety, but I +expect really it was to warn his friends. When I saw him here that night +I told him every single thing, I trusted the carrying-out of everything +I had arranged to him. If it hadn't been for a note Miss Cayley wrote +me to warn me, I should have walked right into the trap and so would my +father too.” + +The police-inspector asked a few questions and then made a search of the +room which resulted in the discovery of quite sufficient proof of the +guilt of Deede Dawson and of Walter Dunsmore. + +Among these proofs was also a hastily-scribbled note from Walter that +solved the mystery of John Clive's death. It was not signed, but both +General Dunsmore and Rupert knew his writing and were prepared to swear +to it. Beginning abruptly and scribbled on a torn scrap of paper, it +ran: + +“I found Clive where you said, lucky you got hold of the note and read +it before she sent it, for no doubt she meant to warn him. Take care she +gets no chance of the sort again. I did Clive's business all right. +She saw me and I think recognized me from that time she saw me over the +packing-case business, before I took it out to sink it at sea. At any +rate, she ran off in a great hurry. If you aren't careful, she'll make +trouble yet.” + +“Apparently,” remarked the inspector when he had read this aloud, “the +young lady was very luckily not watched closely enough and did make +trouble for them. Could I see her, do you think?” + +“I don't know, I'll go and ask,” Rupert said. + +Ella was still very shaken, but she consented to see the inspector, and +they all went together to her room where she was lying on her bed with +her mother fussing nervously about her. + +She told them in as few words as possible the story of how she had +always disliked and mistrusted the man whom so unfortunately her mother +had married, and how gradually her suspicions strengthened till she +became certain that he was involved in many unlawful deeds. + +But always her inner certainty had fallen short of absolute proof, so +careful had he been in all he did. + +“I knew I knew,” she said. “But there was nothing I really knew. And +he made me do all sorts of things for him. I wouldn't have cared for +myself, but if I tried to refuse he made mother suffer. She was very, +very frightened of him, but she would never leave him. She didn't dare. +There was one night he made me go very late with a packing-case full of +silver things he had, and he wouldn't tell me where he had got them. I +believe he stole them all, but I helped him pack them, and I took them +away the night Mr. Dunsmore came and gave them to a man wearing a mask. +My stepfather said it was just a secret family matter he was helping +some friends in, and later on I saw the same man in the woods near here +one day--the day Mr. Clive was killed by the poachers--and when he +came another time to the house I thought I must try to find out what he +wanted. I listened while they talked and they said such strange things +I made up my mind to try to warn Mr. Dunsmore, for I was sure there was +something they were plotting.” + +“There was indeed,” said Rupert grimly. “And but for that warning you +sent me they would have succeeded.” + +“Somehow they found out what I had done,” Ella continued. “As soon as +I got back he kept looking at me so strangely. I was afraid--I had been +afraid a long time, for that matter--but I tried not to show it. In the +afternoon he told me to go up to the attic. He said he wanted me to help +him pack some silver. It was the same silver I had packed before; for +some reason he had got it back again. This time I had to pack it in the +little boxes, and after I had finished I waited up there till suddenly +he ran in very quickly and looking very excited. He said I had betrayed +them, and should suffer for it, and he took some rope and he tied me as +tightly as he could, and tied a great handkerchief over my mouth, and +pushed me inside the wardrobe and locked it. I think he would have +killed me then only he was afraid of Mr. Dunsmore, and very anxious to +know what had happened, and why Mr. Dunsmore had come home, and if there +was any danger. And I was a long time there, and I heard a great noise, +and then Mr. Dunsmore opened the door and took me out.” + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. CONCLUSION + + +Three months had passed, and in a quiet little cottage on the outskirts +of a small country town, situated in one of the most beautiful and +peaceful vales of the south-west country, Ella was slowly recovering +from the shock of the dreadful experiences through which she had passed. + +She had been ill for some weeks, but her mother, fussily incompetent +at most times, was always at her best when sickness came, and she had +nursed her daughter devotedly and successfully. + +As soon as possible they had come to this quiet little place where +people, busy with their own affairs and the important progress of the +town, had scarcely heard of what the newspapers of the day called “The +Great Chobham Sensation.” + +But, in fact, very much to Rupert's relief, comparatively little had +been made known publicly, and the whole affair had attracted wonderfully +little attention. + +The one public proceeding had been the inquest of Deede Dawson, and that +the coroner, at the request of the police eagerly searching for Walter +Dunsmore, had made as brief and formal as possible. Under his direction +the jury had returned a verdict of “justifiable homicide,” and Ella's +illness had had at least one good result of making it impossible for her +to attend to give her evidence in person. + +At a trial, of course, everything would have had to be told in full, +but both Allen, Deede Dawson's accomplice, and Walter Dunsmore, his +instigator and employer, had vanished utterly. + +For Walter the search was very hot, but so far entirely without result. +Now could Allen be found. He was identified with a fair degree of +certainty as an old criminal well known to the authorities, and it was +thought almost certain that he had had previous dealings with Deede +Dawson, and knew enough about him to be able to force himself into +Bittermeads. + +Of the actual plot in operation there he most likely knew little or +nothing, but probably Deede Dawson thought he might be useful, and +the store of silver found in the attic that Ella had been employed in +packing ready for removal was identified as part of the plunder from a +recent burglary in a northern town. + +It was thought, therefore, that both Allen and Deede Dawson might have +been concerned in that affair, that Deede Dawson had managed to secure +the greater share of the booty, and that Allen, on the night when Rupert +found him breaking into Bittermeads, was endeavouring to get hold of the +silver for himself. + +But the actual facts are not likely now ever to be known, for from that +day to this nothing has been heard of Allen. His old haunts know him +no more, and to his record, carefully preserved at Scotland Yard, there +have been no recent additions. + +One theory is that Deede Dawson, finding him troublesome, took effectual +steps to dispose of him. Another is that Deede Dawson got him away by +either bribes or threats, and that, not knowing of Deede Dawson's death, +he does not venture to return. + +In any case, he was a commonplace criminal, and his fate is of little +interest to any one but himself. + +It was Walter for whom the police hunted with diligence and effort, but +with a total lack of success, so that they began to think at the end of +three months that he must somehow have succeeded in making his way out +of the country. + +During the first portion of this time Rupert had been very busy with a +great many things that needed his attention. And then Lord Chobham, his +health affected by the crimes and treachery of a kinsman whom he had +known and trusted as he had known and trusted Walter, was attacked by +acute bronchitis which affected his heart and carried him off within the +week. The title and estates passed, therefore, to General Dunsmore, and +Rupert became the Honourable Rupert Dunsmore and the direct heir. All +this meant for him a great deal more to see to and arrange, for the +health of the new Lord Chobham had also been affected and he left +practically everything in his son's hands, so that, except for the +letters which came regularly but had been often written in great haste, +Ella knew and heard little of Rupert. + +But today he was to come, for everything was finally in order, and, +though this she did not know till later, Walter Dunsmore had at last +been discovered, dead from poison self-administered, in a wretched +lodging in an East End slum. Rupert had been called to identify the body +and he had been able to arrange it so that very little was said at +the inquest, where the customary verdict of “Suicide during temporary +insanity” was duly returned by a quite uninterested jury. + +That the last had been heard of the tragedy that had so nearly +overwhelmed his life, Rupert was able now to feel fairly well assured, +and it was therefore in a mood more cheerful than he had known of late +that he started on his journey to Ella's new residence. + +He had sent a wire to confirm his letter, and it was in a mood that +was more than a little nervous that she busied herself with her +preparations. + +She chose her very simplest gown, and when there was absolutely nothing +more to do she went into their little sitting-room to wait alone by the +fire she had built up there, for it was winter now and today was cold +and inclined to be stormy. + +Rupert had not said exactly when she was to expect him, and she sat for +a long time by the fire, starting at every sound and imagining at every +moment that she heard the front-door bell ring. + +“I shall not let him feel himself bound,” she said to herself with great +decision. “I shall tell him I hope we shall always be friends but that's +all; and if he wants anything more, I shall say No. But most likely +he won't say a word about all that nonsense, it would be silly to take +seriously what he said--there.” + +To Ella, now, Bittermeads was always “there,” and though she told +herself several times that probably Rupert had not the least idea of +repeating what he had said to her--there--and that most likely he was +coming today merely to make a friendly call, and that it would never do +for either of them to think again of what they had said when they were +both so excited and overwrought, yet in her heart she knew a great deal +better than all that. + +But she said to herself very often: + +“Anyhow, I shall certainly refuse him.” + +And on this point her mind was irrevocably made up since, after all, +whether Rupert would accept refusal or not would still remain entirely +for him to decide. + +At half-past three she heard the garden-gate creak, and when she ran to +the window to peep, she saw with a kind of chill surprise that there was +a stranger coming through. + +“Some one he's sent,” she said to herself. “He doesn't want to come +himself and so he has sent some one else instead. I am glad.” + +Having said this and repeated again the last three words, and having +gulped down a sob--presumably of joy--that unexpectedly fluttered into +her throat, she went quickly to open the door. + +The newly-arrived stranger smiled at her as she showed herself but did +not speak. He was a man of middle height, quite young, and wrapped in +a big, loose overcoat that very completely hid his figure. His face, +clean-shaven, showed clear, strongly-marked well-shaped features with a +firm mouth round which at this moment played a very gentle and winning +smile, a square-cut chin, and extremely bright, clear kindly eyes that +were just now smiling too. + +When he took off his hat she saw that his hair was cut rather closely, +and very neatly brushed and combed, and she found his smile so +compelling and so winning that in spite of her disappointment she found +herself returning it. + +It occurred to her that she had some time or another seen some one like +this stranger, but when or where she could not imagine. + +Still he did not speak, but his eyes were very tender and kind as they +rested on her so that she wondered a little. + +“Yes?” she said inquiringly. “Yes?” + +“Don't you know me, Ella?” he said then, very softly, and in a voice +that she recognized instantly. + +“Is it you--you?” she breathed. + +Instinctively she lifted her hands to greet him, and at once she found +herself caught up and held, pressed passionately to his strongly-beating +heart. + + ***** + +An hour later, by the fire in the sitting-room, Ella suddenly remembered +tea. + +“Good gracious! You must be starving,” she cried, smitten with remorse. +“And there's poor mother waiting upstairs all this time. Oh, Rupert, are +you very hungry?” + +“Starving,” he asserted, but held her to him as closely as ever. + +“I must get the tea,” she protested. She put one cheek against his and +sighed contentedly. + +“It's nice to see the real you,” she murmured. “But oh, Rupert, I do +miss your dear bristly beard.” + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. 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R. Punshon + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. Punshon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bittermeads Mystery + +Author: E. R. Punshon + +Release Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1888] +Last Updated: March 16, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By E. R. Punshon + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> THE LONE + PASSENGER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> THE + FIGHT IN THE WOOD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> A + COINCIDENCE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> A + WOMAN WEEPS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> A + WOMAN AND A MAN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> A + DISCOVERY <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> QUESTION + AND ANSWER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> CAPTIVITY + CAPTIVE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> THE + ATTIC OF MYSTERY <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> THE + NEW GARDENER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> THE + PROBLEM <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> AN + AVOWAL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> INVISIBLE + WRITING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> LOVE-MAKING + AT NIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> THE + SOUND OF A SHOT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> IN + THE WOOD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> A + DECLARATION <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> ROBERT + DUNN'S ENEMY <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> THE + VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. + </a> ELLA'S WARNING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> + CHAPTER XXI. </a> DOUBTS AND FEARS <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a> PLOTS AND PLAYS + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. </a> COUNTER-PLANS + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. </a> AN + APHORISM <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV. </a> THE + UNEXPECTED <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI. </a> A + RACE AGAINST TIME <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII. + </a> FLIGHT AND PURSUIT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0028"> + CHAPTER XXVIII. </a> BACK AT BITTERMEADS <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX. </a> THE ATTIC <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX. </a> SOME EXPLANATIONS + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI. </a> CONCLUSION + <br /><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE LONE PASSENGER + </h2> + <p> + That evening the down train from London deposited at the little country + station of Ramsdon but a single passenger, a man of middle height, + shabbily dressed, with broad shoulders and long arms and a most unusual + breadth and depth of chest. + </p> + <p> + Of his face one could see little, for it was covered by a thick growth of + dark curly hair, beard, moustache and whiskers, all overgrown and + ill-tended, and as he came with a somewhat slow and ungainly walk along + the platform, the lad stationed at the gate to collect tickets grinned + amusedly and called to one of the porters near: + </p> + <p> + “Look at this, Bill; here's the monkey-man escaped and come back along of + us.” + </p> + <p> + It was a reference to a travelling circus that had lately visited the + place and exhibited a young chimpanzee advertised as “the monkey-man,” and + Bill guffawed appreciatively. + </p> + <p> + The stranger was quite close and heard plainly, for indeed the youth at + the gate had made no special attempt to speak softly. + </p> + <p> + The boy was still laughing as he held out his hand for the ticket, and the + stranger gave it to him with one hand and at the same time shot out a long + arm, caught the boy—a well-grown lad of sixteen—by the middle + and, with as little apparent effort as though lifting a baby, swung him + into the air to the top of the gate-post, where he left him clinging with + arms and legs six feet from the ground. + </p> + <p> + “Hi, what are you a-doing of?” shouted the porter, running up, as the + amazed and frightened youth, clinging to his gate-post, emitted a dismal + howl. + </p> + <p> + “Teaching a cheeky boy manners,” retorted the stranger with an angry look + and in a very gruff and harsh voice. “Do you want to go on top of the + other post to make a pair?” + </p> + <p> + The porter drew back hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “You be off,” he ordered as he retreated. “We don't want none of your sort + about here.” + </p> + <p> + “I certainly have no intention of staying,” retorted the other as gruffly + as before. “But I think you'll remember Bobbie Dunn next time I come this + way.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me down; please let me down,” wailed the boy, clinging desperately to + the gate-post on whose top he had been so unceremoniously deposited, and + Dunn laughed and walked away, leaving the porter to rescue his youthful + colleague and to cuff his ears soundly as soon as he had done so, by way + of a relief to his feelings. + </p> + <p> + “That will learn you to be a bit civil to folk, I hope,” said the porter + severely. “But that there chap must have an amazing strong arm,” he added + thoughtfully. “Lifting you up there all the same as you was a bunch of + radishes.” + </p> + <p> + For some distance after leaving the station, Dunn walked on slowly. + </p> + <p> + He seemed to know the way well or else to be careless of the direction he + took, for he walked along deep in thought with his eyes fixed on the + ground and not looking in the least where he was going. + </p> + <p> + Abruptly, a small child appeared out of the darkness and spoke to him, and + he started violently and in a very nervous manner. + </p> + <p> + “What was that? What did you say, kiddy?” he asked, recovering himself + instantly and speaking this time not in the gruff and harsh tones he had + used before but in a singularly winning and pleasant voice, cultivated and + gentle, that was in odd contrast with his rough and battered appearance. + “The time, was that what you wanted to know?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir; please, sir,” answered the child, who had shrunk back in alarm + at the violent start Dunn had given, but now seemed reassured by his + gentle and pleasant voice. “The right time,” the little one added almost + instantly and with much emphasis on the “right.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn gravely gave the required information with the assurance that to the + best of his belief it was “right,” and the child thanked him and scampered + off. + </p> + <p> + Resuming his way, Dunn shook his head with an air of grave + dissatisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “Nerves all to pieces,” he muttered. “That won't do. Hang it all, the + job's no worse than following a wounded tiger into the jungle, and I've + done that before now. Only then, of course, one knew what to expect, + whereas now—And I was a silly ass to lose my temper with that boy at + the station. You aren't making a very brilliant start, Bobby, my boy.” + </p> + <p> + By this time he had left the little town behind him and he was walking + along a very lonely and dark road. + </p> + <p> + On one side was a plantation of young trees, on the other there was the + open ground, covered with furze bush, of the village common. + </p> + <p> + Where the plantation ended stood a low, two-storied house of medium size, + with a veranda stretching its full length in front. It stood back from the + road some distance and appeared to be surrounded by a large garden. + </p> + <p> + At the gate Dunn halted and struck a match as if to light a pipe, and by + the flickering flame of this match the name “Bittermeads,” painted on the + gate became visible. + </p> + <p> + “Here it is, then,” he muttered. “I wonder—” + </p> + <p> + Without completing the sentence he slipped through the gate, which was not + quite closed, and entered the garden, where he crouched down in the shadow + of some bushes that grew by the side of the gravel path leading to the + house, and seemed to compose himself for a long vigil. + </p> + <p> + An hour passed, and another. Nothing had happened—he had seen + nothing, heard nothing, save for the passing of an occasional vehicle or + pedestrian on the road, and he himself had never stirred or moved, so that + he seemed one with the night and one with the shadows where he crouched, + and a pair of field-mice that had come from the common opposite went to + and fro about their busy occupations at his feet without paying him the + least attention. + </p> + <p> + Another hour passed, and at last there began to be signs of life about the + house. + </p> + <p> + A light shone in one window and in another, and vanished, and soon the + door opened and there appeared two people on the threshold, clearly + visible in the light of a strong incandescent gas-burner just within the + hall. + </p> + <p> + The watcher in the garden moved a little to get a clearer view. + </p> + <p> + In the paroxysm of terror at this sudden coming to life of what they had + believed to be a part of the bushes, the two little field-mice scampered + away, and Dunn bit his lip with annoyance, for he knew well that some of + those he had had traffic with in the past would have been very sure, on + hearing that scurrying-off of the frightened mice, that some one was + lurking near at hand. + </p> + <p> + But the two in the lighted doorway opening on the veranda heard and + suspected nothing. + </p> + <p> + One was a man, one a woman, both were young, both were extraordinarily + good-looking, and as they stood in the blaze of the gas they made a + strikingly handsome and attractive picture on which, however, Dunn seemed + to look from his hiding-place with hostility and watchful suspicion. + </p> + <p> + “How dark it is, there's not a star showing,” the girl was saying. “Shall + you be able to find your way, even with the lantern? You'll keep to the + road, won't you?” + </p> + <p> + Her voice was low and pleasant and so clear Dunn heard every word + distinctly. She seemed quite young, not more than twenty or twenty-one, + and she was slim and graceful in build and tall for a woman. Her face, on + which the light shone directly, was oval in shape with a broad, low + forehead on which clustered the small, unruly curls of her dark brown + hair, and she had clear and very bright brown eyes. The mouth and chin + were perhaps a little large to be in absolute harmony with the rest of her + features, and she was of a dark complexion, with a soft and delicate bloom + that would by itself have given her a right to claim her possession of a + full share of good looks. She was dressed quite simply in a white frock + with a touch of colour at the waist and she had a very flimsy lace shawl + thrown over her shoulders, presumably intended as a protection against the + night air. + </p> + <p> + Her companion was a very tall and big man, well over six feet in height, + with handsome, strongly-marked features that often bore an expression a + little too haughty, but that showed now a very tender and gentle look, so + that it was not difficult to guess the state of his feelings towards the + girl at his side. His shoulders were broad, his chest deep, and his whole + build powerful in the extreme, and Dunn, looking him up and down with the + quick glance of one accustomed to judge men, thought that he had seldom + seen one more capable of holding his own. + </p> + <p> + Answering his companion's remark, he said lightly: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, I shall cut across the wood, it's ever so much shorter, you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “But it's so dark and lonely,” the girl protested. “And then, after last + week—” + </p> + <p> + He interrupted her with a laugh, and he lifted his head with a certain not + unpleasing swagger. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think they'll trouble me for all their threats,” he said. “For + that matter, I rather hope they will try something of the sort on. They + need a lesson.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I do hope you'll be careful,” the girl exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + He laughed again and made another lightly-confident, almost-boastful + remark, to the effect that he did not think any one was likely to + interfere with him. + </p> + <p> + For a minute or two longer they lingered, chatting together as they stood + in the gas-light on the veranda and from his hiding-place Dunn watched + them intently. It seemed that it was the girl in whom he was chiefly + interested, for his eyes hardly moved from her and in them there showed a + very grim and hard expression. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty enough,” he mused. “More than pretty. No wonder poor Charles raved + about her, if it's the same girl—if it is, she ought to know what's + become of him. But then, where does this big chap come in?” + </p> + <p> + The “big chap” seemed really going now, though reluctantly, and it was not + difficult to see that he would have been very willing to stay longer had + she given him the least encouragement. + </p> + <p> + But that he did not get, and indeed it seemed as if she were a little + bored and a little anxious for him to say good night and go. + </p> + <p> + At last he did so, and she retired within the house, while he came + swinging down the garden path, passing close to where Dunn lay hidden, but + without any suspicion of his presence, and out into the high road. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE FIGHT IN THE WOOD + </h2> + <p> + From his hiding-place in the bushes Dunn slipped out, as the big man + vanished into the darkness down the road, and for the fraction of a second + he seemed to hesitate. + </p> + <p> + The lights in the house were coming and going after a fashion that + suggested that the inmates were preparing for bed, and almost at once Dunn + turned his back to the building and hurried very quickly and softly down + the road in the direction the big man had just taken. + </p> + <p> + “After all,” he thought, “the house can't run away, that will be still + there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big chap is and + where he comes from.” + </p> + <p> + In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness of + his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he moved, a + shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man did as he melted + through the darkness and a swift runner would have difficulty in keeping + pace with him. + </p> + <p> + An old labourer going home late bade the big man a friendly good night and + passed on without seeing or hearing Dunn following close behind, and a + solitary woman, watching at her cottage door, saw plainly the big man's + tall form and heard his firm and heavy steps and would have been ready to + swear no other passed that way at that time, though Dunn was not five + yards behind, slipping silently and swiftly by in the shelter of the trees + lining the road. + </p> + <p> + A little further beyond this cottage a path, reached by climbing a stile, + led from the high road first across an open field and then through the + heart of a wood that seemed to be of considerable extent. + </p> + <p> + The man Dunn was following crossed this stile and when he had gone a yard + or two along the path he halted abruptly, as though all at once grown + uneasy, and looked behind. + </p> + <p> + From where he stood any one following him across the stile must have shown + plainly visible against the sky line, but though he lingered for a moment + or two, and even, when he walked on, still looked back very frequently, he + saw nothing. + </p> + <p> + Yet Dunn, when his quarry paused and looked back like this, was only a + little distance behind, and when the other moved on Dunn was still very + near. + </p> + <p> + But he had not crossed the stile, for when he came to it he realised that + in climbing it his form would be plainly visible in outline for some + distance, and so instead, he had found and crawled through a gap in the + hedge not far away. + </p> + <p> + They came, Dunn so close and so noiseless behind his quarry he might well + have seemed the other's shadow, to the outskirts of the wood, and as they + entered it Dunn made his first fault, his first failure in an exhibition + of woodcraft that a North American Indian or an Australian “black-fellow” + might have equalled, but could not have surpassed. + </p> + <p> + For he trod heavily on a dry twig that snapped with a very loud, sharp + retort, clearly audible for some distance in the quiet night, and, as dry + twigs only snap like that under the pressure of considerable weight, the + presence of some living creature in the wood other than the small things + that run to and fro beneath the trees, stood revealed to all ears that + could hear. + </p> + <p> + Dunn stood instantly perfectly still, rigid as a statue, listening + intently, and he noted with satisfaction and keen relief that the regular + heavy tread of the man in front did not alter or change. + </p> + <p> + “Good,” he thought to himself. “What luck, he hasn't heard it.” + </p> + <p> + He moved on again, as silently as before, perhaps a little inclined to be + contemptuous of any one who could fail to notice so plain a warning, and + he supposed that the man he was following must be some townsman who knew + nothing at all of the life of the country and was, like so many of the + dwellers in cities, blind and deaf outside the range of the noises of the + streets and the clamour of passing traffic. + </p> + <p> + This thought was still in his mind when all at once the steady sound of + footsteps he had been following ceased suddenly and abruptly, cut off on + the instant as you turn off water from a tap. + </p> + <p> + Dunn paused, too, supposing that for some reason the other had stopped for + a moment and would soon walk on again. + </p> + <p> + But a minute passed and then another and there was still no sound of the + footsteps beginning again. A little puzzled, Dunn moved cautiously + forward. + </p> + <p> + He saw nothing, he found nothing, there was no sign at all of the man he + had been following. + </p> + <p> + It was as though he had vanished bodily from the face of the earth, and + yet how this had happened, or why, or what had become of him, Dunn could + not imagine, for this spot was, it seemed, in the very heart of the wood, + there was no shelter of any sort or kind anywhere near, and though there + were trees all round just the ground was fairly open. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's jolly queer,” he muttered, for indeed it had a strange and + daunting effect, this sudden disappearance in the midst of the wood of the + man he had followed so far, and the silence around seemed all the more + intense now that those regular and heavy footsteps had ceased. + </p> + <p> + “Jolly queer, as queer a thing as ever I came across,” he muttered again. + </p> + <p> + He listened and heard a faint sound from his right. He listened again and + thought he heard a rustling on his left, but was not sure and all at once + a great figure loomed up gigantic before him and the light of lantern + gleamed in his face. + </p> + <p> + “Now, my man,” a voice said, “you've been following me ever since I left + Bittermeads, and I'm going to give you a lesson you won't forget in a + hurry.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn stood quite still. At the moment his chief feeling was one of intense + discomfiture at the way in which he had been outwitted, and he + experienced, too, a very keen and genuine admiration for the woodcraft the + other had shown. + </p> + <p> + Evidently, all the time he had known, or at any rate, suspected, that he + was being followed, and choosing this as a favourable spot he had quietly + doubled on his tracks, come up behind his pursuer, and taken him unawares. + </p> + <p> + Dunn had not supposed there was a man in England who could have played + such a trick on him, but his admiration was roughly disturbed before he + could express it, for the grasp upon his collar tightened and upon his + shoulders there alighted a tremendous, stinging blow, as with all his very + considerable strength, the big man brought down his walking-stick with a + resounding thwack. + </p> + <p> + The sheer surprise of it, the sudden sharp pain, jerked a quick cry from + Dunn, who had not been in the least prepared for such an attack, and in + the darkness had not seen the stick rise, and the other laughed grimly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you scoundrel,” he said. “I know very well who you are and what you + want, and I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life.” + </p> + <p> + Again the stick rose in the air, but did not fall, for round about his + body Dunn laid such a grip as he had never felt before and as would for + certain have crushed in the ribs of a weaker man. The lantern crashed to + the ground, they were in darkness. + </p> + <p> + “Ha! Would you?” the man exclaimed, taken by surprise in his turn, and, + giant as he was, he felt himself plucked up from the ground as you pluck a + weed from a lawn and held for a moment in mid-air and then dashed down + again. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps not another man alive could have kept his footing under such + treatment, but, somehow, he managed to, though it needed all his great + strength to resist the shock. + </p> + <p> + He flung away his walking-stick, for he realized very clearly now that + this was not going to be, as he had anticipated, a mere case of the + administration of a deserved punishment, but rather the starkest, fiercest + fight that ever he had known. + </p> + <p> + He grappled with his enemy, trying to make the most of his superior height + and weight, but the long arms twined about him, seemed to press the very + breath from his body and for all the huge efforts he put forth with every + ounce of his tremendous strength behind them, he could not break loose + from the no less tremendous grip wherein he was taken. + </p> + <p> + Breast to breast they fought, straining, swaying a little this way or + that, but neither yielding an inch. Their muscles stood out like bars of + steel, their breath came heavily, neither man was conscious any more of + anything save his need to conquer and win and overthrow his enemy. + </p> + <p> + The quick passion of hot rage that had come upon Dunn when he felt the + other's unexpected blow still burned and flamed intensely, so that he no + longer remembered even the strange and high purpose which had brought him + here. + </p> + <p> + His adversary, too, had lost all consciousness of all other things in the + lust of this fierce physical battle, and when he gave presently a loud, + half-strangled shout, it was not fear that he uttered or a cry for aid, + but solely for joy in such wild struggle and efforts as he had never known + before. + </p> + <p> + And Dunn spake no word and uttered no sound, but strove all the more with + all the strength of every nerve and muscle he possessed once again to + pluck the other up that he might dash him down a second time. + </p> + <p> + In quick and heavy gasps came their breaths as they still swayed and + struggled together, and though each exerted to the utmost a strength few + could have withstood, each found that in the other he seemed to have met + his match. + </p> + <p> + In vain Dunn tried again to lift his adversary up so that he might hurl + him to the ground. It was an effort, a grip that seemed as though it might + have torn up an oak by the roots, but the other neither budged nor + flinched beneath it. + </p> + <p> + And in vain, in his turn, did he try to bend Dunn backwards to crush him + to the earth, it was an effort before which one might have thought that + iron and stone must have given away, but Dunn still sustained it. + </p> + <p> + Thus dreadfully they fought, there in the darkness, there in the silence + of the night. + </p> + <p> + Dreadfully they wrestled, implacable, fierce, determined, every primeval + passion awake and strong again, and slowly, very slowly, that awful grip + laid upon the big man's body began to tell. + </p> + <p> + His breathing grew more difficult, his efforts seemed aimed more to + release himself than to overcome his adversary, he gave way an inch or + two, no more, but still an inch or two of ground. + </p> + <p> + There was a sharp sound, like a thin, dry twig snapping beneath a careless + foot. + </p> + <p> + It was one of his ribs breaking beneath the dreadful and intolerable + pressure of Dunn's enormous grip. But neither of the combatants heard or + knew, and with one last effort the big man put forth all his vast strength + in a final attempt to bear his enemy down. + </p> + <p> + Dunn resisted still, resisted, though the veins stood out like cords on + his brow, though a little trickle of blood crept from the corner of his + mouth and though his heart swelled almost to bursting. + </p> + <p> + There was a sound of many waters in his ears, the darkness all around grew + shot with little flames, he could hear some one breathing very noisily and + he was not sure whether this were himself or his adversary till he + realized that it was both of them. With one sudden, almost superhuman + effort, he heaved his great adversary up, but had not strength enough left + to do more than let him slip from his grasp to fall on the ground, and + with the effort he himself dropped forward on his hands and knees, just as + a lantern shone at a distance and a voice cried: + </p> + <p> + “This way, Tom. Master John, Master John, where are you?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. A COINCIDENCE + </h2> + <p> + Another voice answered from near by and Dunn scrambled hurriedly to his + feet. + </p> + <p> + He had but a moment in which to decide what to do, for these new arrivals + were coming at a run and would be upon him almost instantly if he stayed + where he was. + </p> + <p> + That they were friends of the man he had just overthrown and whose huge + bulk lay motionless in the darkness at his feet, seemed plain, and it also + seemed plain to him that the moment was not an opportune one for offering + explanations. + </p> + <p> + Swiftly he decided to slip away into the darkness. What had happened might + be cleared up later when he knew more and was more sure of his ground; at + present he must think first, he told himself, of the success of his + mission. + </p> + <p> + Physically, he was greatly exhausted and his gait was not so steady nor + his progress so silent and skillful as it had been before, as now he + hurried away from the scene of the combat. + </p> + <p> + But the two new-comers made no attempt to pursue him and indeed did not + seem to give his possible presence in the vicinity even a thought, as with + many muttered exclamations of dismay and anger, they stooped over the body + of his prostrate enemy. + </p> + <p> + It was evident they recognized him at once, and that he was the “Mr. John” + whose name they had called, for so they spoke of him to each other as they + busied themselves about him. + </p> + <p> + “I expect I've been a fool again,” Dunn thought to himself ruefully, as + from a little distance, well-sheltered in the darkness, he crouched upon + the ground and listened and watched. “I may have ruined everything. Any + one but a fool would have asked him what he meant when he hit out like + that instead of flying into a rage and hitting back the way I did. Most + likely it was some mistake when he said he knew who I was and what I + wanted—at least if it wasn't—I hope I haven't killed him, + anyhow.” + </p> + <p> + Secure in the protection the dark night afforded him, he remained + sufficiently near at hand to be able to assure himself soon that his + overthrown adversary was certainly not killed, for now he began to express + himself somewhat emphatically concerning the manner in which the two + new-comers were ministering to him. + </p> + <p> + Presently he got to his feet and, with one of them supporting him on each + side, began to limp away, and Dunn followed them, though cautiously and at + a distance, for he was still greatly exhausted and in neither the mood nor + the condition for running unnecessary risks. + </p> + <p> + The big man, Mr. John, as the others called him, seemed little inclined + for speech, but the others talked a good deal, subsiding sometimes when he + told them gruffly to be quiet but invariably soon beginning again their + expressions of sympathy and vows of vengeance against his unknown + assailant. + </p> + <p> + “How many of them do you think there were, Mr. John, sir?” one asked + presently. “I'll lay you marked a fair sight of the villains.” + </p> + <p> + “There was only one man,” Mr. John answered briefly. + </p> + <p> + “Only one?” the other repeated in great surprise. “For the Lord's sake, + Mr. John—only one? Why, there ain't any one man between here and + Lunnon town could stand up to you, sir, in a fair tussle.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he did,” Mr. John answered. “He had the advantage, he took me by + surprise, but I never felt such a grip in my life.” + </p> + <p> + “Lor', now, think of that,” said the other in tones in which surprise + seemed mingled with a certain incredulity. “It don't seem possible, but + for sure, then, he don't come from these here parts, that I'll stand to.” + </p> + <p> + “I knew that much before,” retorted Mr. John. “I said all the time they + were outsiders, a London gang very likely. You'll have to get Dr. Rawson, + Bates. I don't know what's up, but I've a beast of a pain in my side. I + can hardly breathe.” + </p> + <p> + Bates murmured respectful sympathy as they came out of the shelter of the + trees, and crossing some open ground, reached a road along the further + side of which ran a high brick wall. + </p> + <p> + In this, nearly opposite the spot where they emerged on the road, was a + small door which one of the men opened and through which they passed and + locked it behind them, leaving Dunn without. + </p> + <p> + He hesitated for a moment, half-minded to scale the wall and continue on + the other side of it to follow them. + </p> + <p> + Calculating the direction in which the village of Ramsdon must lie, he + turned that way and had gone only a short distance when he was overtaken + by a pedestrian with whom he began conversation by asking for a light for + his pipe. + </p> + <p> + The man seemed inclined to be conversational, and after a few casual + remarks, Dunn made an observation on the length of the wall they were + passing and to the end of which they had just come. + </p> + <p> + “Must be a goodish-sized place in there,” he said. “Whose is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that there's Ramsdon Place,” the other answered. “Mr. John Clive + lives there now his father's dead.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn stood still in the middle of the road. + </p> + <p> + “Who? What?” he stammered. “Who—who did you say?” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. John Clive,” the other repeated. “Why—what's wrong about that?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, nothing,” Dunn answered, but his voice shook a little with what + seemed almost fear, and behind the darkness of the friendly night his face + had become very pale. “Clive—John Clive, you say? Oh, that's + impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “Needn't believe it if you don't want to,” grumbled the other. “Only what + do you want asking questions for if you thinks folks tells lies when they + answers them?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean that, of course not,” exclaimed Dunn hurriedly, by no means + anxious to offend the other. “I'm very sorry, I only meant it was + impossible it should be the same Mr. John Clive I knew once, though I + think he came from about here somewhere. A little, middle-aged man, I + mean, quite bald and wears glasses?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that ain't this 'un,” answered the other, his good humour quite + restored. “This is a young man and tremendous big. I ain't so small + myself, but he tops me by a head and shoulders and so he does most + hereabouts. Strong, too, with it, there ain't so many would care to stand + up against him, I can tell you. Why, they do say he caught two poachers in + the wood there last month and brought 'em out one under each arm like a + pair of squealing babes.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he, though?” said Dunn. “Take some doing, that, and I daresay the + rest of the gang will try to get even with him for it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, they do say as there's been threats,” the other agreed. “But what I + says is as Mr. John can look after hisself all right. There was a tale as + a man had been dodging after him at night, but all he said when they told + him, was as if he caught any one after him he would thrash them within an + inch of their lives.” + </p> + <p> + “Serve them right, too,” exclaimed Dunn warmly. + </p> + <p> + Evidently this explained, in part at least, what had recently happened. + Mr. Clive, finding himself being followed, had supposed it was one of his + poaching enemies and had at once attempted to carry out his threat he had + made. + </p> + <p> + Dunn told himself, at any rate, the error would have the result of turning + all suspicion away from him, and yet he still seemed very disturbed and + ill at ease. + </p> + <p> + “Has Mr. Clive been here long?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “It must be four or five years since his father bought the place,” + answered his new acquaintance. “Then, when the old man was killed a year + ago, Mr. John inherited everything.” + </p> + <p> + “Old Mr. Clive was killed, was he?” asked Dunn, and his voice sounded very + strange in the darkness. “How was that?” + </p> + <p> + “Accident to his motor-car,” the other replied. “I don't hold with them + things myself—give me a good horse, I say. People didn't like the + old man much, and some say Mr. John's too fond of taking the high hand. + But don't cross him and he won't cross you, that's his motto and there's + worse.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn agreed and asked one or two more questions about the details of the + accident to old Mr. Clive, in which he seemed very interested. + </p> + <p> + But he did not get much more information about that concerning which his + new friend evidently knew very little. However, he gave Dunn a few more + facts concerning Mr. John Clive, as that he was unmarried, was said to be + very wealthy, and had the reputation of being something of a ladies' man. + </p> + <p> + A little further on they parted, and Dunn took a side road which he + calculated should lead him back to Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + “It may be pure coincidence,” he mused as he walked slowly in a very + troubled and doubtful mood. “But if so, it's a very queer one, and if it + isn't, it seems to me Mr. John Clive might as well put his head in a + lion's jaws as pay visits at Bittermeads. But of course he can't have the + least suspicion of the truth—if it is the truth. If I hadn't lost my + temper like a fool when he whacked out at me like that I might have been + able to warn him, or find out something useful perhaps. And his father + killed recently in an accident—is that a coincidence, too, I + wonder?” + </p> + <p> + He passed his hand across his forehead on which a light sweat stood, + though he was not a man easily affected, for he had seen and endured many + things. + </p> + <p> + His mind was very full of strange and troubled thoughts as at last he came + back to Bittermeads, where, leaning with his elbows on the garden gate, he + stood for a long time, watching the dark and silent house and thinking of + that scene of which he had been a spectator when John Clive and the girl + had stood together on the veranda in the light of the gas from the hall + and had bidden each other good night. + </p> + <p> + “It seems,” he mused, “as though the last that was seen of poor Charley + must have been just like that. It was just such a dark night as this when + Simpson saw him. He was standing on that veranda when Simpson recognized + him by the light of the gas behind, and a girl was bidding him good night—a + very pretty girl, too, Simpson said.” + </p> + <p> + Silent and immobile he stood there a long time, not so much now as one who + watched, but rather as if deep in thought, for his head was bent and + supported on his hands and his eyes were fixed on the ground. + </p> + <p> + “As for this John Clive,” he muttered presently, rousing himself. “I + suppose that must be a coincidence, but it's queer, and queer the father + should have died—like that.” + </p> + <p> + He broke off, shuddering slightly, as though at thoughts too awful to be + endured, and pushing open the gate, he walked slowly up the gravel path + towards the house, round which he began to walk, going very slowly and + cautiously and often pausing as if he wished to make as close examination + of the place as the darkness would permit. + </p> + <p> + More by habit than because he thought there was any need of it, he moved + always with that extreme and wonderful dexterity of quietness he could + assume at will, and as he turned the corner of the building and came + behind it, his quick ear, trained by many an emergency to pick out the + least unusual sound, caught a faint, continued scratching noise, so faint + and low it might well have passed unnoticed. + </p> + <p> + All at once he understood and realized that some one quite close at hand + was stealthily cutting out the glass from one of the panes of a + ground-floor window. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. A WOMAN WEEPS + </h2> + <p> + Cautiously he glided nearer, moving as noiselessly as any shadow, seeming + indeed but one shadow the more in the heavy surrounding darkness. + </p> + <p> + The persistent scratching noise continued, and Dunn was now so close he + could have put out his hand and touched the shoulder of the man who was + causing it and who still, intent and busy, had not the least idea of the + other's proximity. + </p> + <p> + A faint smile touched Dunn's lips. The situation seemed not to be without + a grim humour, for if one-half of what he suspected were true, one might + as sensibly and safely attempt to break into the condemned cell at + Pentonville Gaol as into this quiet house. + </p> + <p> + But then, was it perhaps possible that this fellow, working away so + unconcernedly, within arm's-length of him, was in reality one of them, + seeking to obtain admittance in this way for some reason of his own, some + private treachery, it might be, or some dispute? To Dunn that did not seem + likely. More probably the fellow was merely an ordinary burglar—some + local practitioner of the housebreaking art, perhaps—whose + ill-fortune it was to have hit upon this house to rob without his having + the least idea of the nature of the place he was trying to enter. + </p> + <p> + “He might prove a useful recruit for them, though,” Dunn thought, and a + sudden idea flashed into his mind, vivid and startling. + </p> + <p> + For one moment he thought intently, weighing in his mind this idea that + had come to him so suddenly. He was not blind to the risks it involved, + but his eager temperament always inclined him to the most direct and often + to the most dangerous course. His mind was made up, his plan of action + decided. + </p> + <p> + The scratching of the burglar's tool upon the glass ceased. Already he had + smeared treacle over the square of glass he intended to remove and had + covered it with paper so as to be able to take it out easily and in one + piece without the risk of falling fragments betraying him. + </p> + <p> + Through the gap thus made he thrust his arm and made sure there were no + alarms fitted and no obstacles in the way of his easy entrance. + </p> + <p> + Cautiously he unfastened the window and cautiously and silently lifted the + sash, and when he had done so he paused and listened for a space to make + sure no one was stirring and that no alarm had been caused within the + house. + </p> + <p> + Still very cautiously and with the utmost precaution to avoid making even + the least noise, he put one knee upon the window-sill, preparatory to + climbing in, and as he did so Dunn touched him lightly on the shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “Well, my man, what are you up to?” he said softly. And without a word, + without giving the least warning, the burglar, a man evidently of + determination and resource, swung round and aimed at Dunn's head a + tremendous blow with the heavy iron jemmy he held in his right hand. + </p> + <p> + But Dunn was not unprepared for an attack and those bright, keen eyes of + his seemed able to see as well in the dark as in the light. He threw up + his left hand and caught the other's wrist before that deadly blow he + aimed could descend and at the same instant he dashed his own clenched + fist full into the burglar's face. + </p> + <p> + As it happened, more by good luck than intended aim, the blow took him on + the point of the chin. He dropped instantly, collapsing in on himself as + falls a pole-axed bullock, and lay, unconscious, in a crumpled heap on the + ground. + </p> + <p> + For a little Dunn waited, crouching above him and listening for the least + sound to show that their brief scuffle had been heard. + </p> + <p> + But it had all passed nearly as silently as quickly. Within the house + everything remained silent, there was no sound audible, no gleam of light + to show that any of the inmates had been disturbed. + </p> + <p> + Taking from his pocket a small electric flash-lamp Dunn turned its light + on his victim. + </p> + <p> + He seemed a man of middle age with a brutal, heavy-jawed face and a low, + receding forehead. His lips, a little apart, showed yellow, irregular + teeth, of which two at the front of the lower jaw had been broken, and the + scar of an old wound, running from the corner of his left eye down to the + centre of his cheek, added to the sinister and forbidding aspect he bore. + </p> + <p> + His build was heavy and powerful and near by, where he had dropped it when + he fell, lay the jemmy with which he had struck at Dunn. It was a heavy, + ugly-looking thing, about two feet in length and with one end nearly as + sharp as that of a chisel. + </p> + <p> + Dunn picked it up and felt it thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “Just as well I got my blow in first,” he mused. “If he had landed that + fairly on my skull I don't think anything else in this world would ever + have interested me any more.” + </p> + <p> + Stooping over the unconscious man, he felt in his pockets and found an + ugly-looking revolver, fully loaded, a handful of cartridges, a coil of + thin rope, an electric torch, a tiny dark lantern no bigger than a + match-box, and so arranged that the single drop of light it permitted to + escape fell on one spot only, a bunch of curiously-shaped wires Dunn + rightly guessed to be skeleton keys used for opening locks quietly, + together with some tobacco, a pipe, a little money, and a few other + personal belongings of no special interest or significance. + </p> + <p> + These Dunn replaced where he had found them, but the revolver, the rope, + the torch, the dark lantern, and the bunch of wires he took possession of. + </p> + <p> + He noticed also that the man was wearing rubber-soled boots and rubber + gloves, and these last he also kept. Stooping, he lifted the unconscious + man on to his shoulder and carried him with perfect ease and at a quick + pace out of the garden and across the road to the common opposite, where, + in a convenient spot, behind some furze bushes, he laid him down. + </p> + <p> + “When he comes round,” Dunn muttered. “He won't know where he is or what's + happened, and probably his one idea will be to clear off as quickly as + possible. I don't suppose he'll interfere with me at all.” + </p> + <p> + Then a new idea seemed to strike him, and he hurriedly removed his own + coat and trousers and boots and exchanged them for those the burglar was + wearing. + </p> + <p> + They were not a good fit, but he could get them on and the idea in his + mind was that if the police of the district began searching, as very + likely they would, for Mr. John Clive's assailant, and if they had + discovered any clues in the shape of footprints or torn bits of clothing + or buttons—and Dunn knew his attire had suffered considerably during + the struggle—then it would be as well that such clues should lead + not to him, but to this other man, who, if he were innocent on that score, + had at any rate been guilty of attempting to carry out a much worse + offence. + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid your luck's out, old chap,” Dunn muttered, apostrophizing the + unconscious man. “But you did your best to brain me, and that gives me a + sort of right to make you useful. Besides, if the police do run you in, it + won't mean anything worse than a few questions it'll be your own fault if + you can't answer. Anyhow, I can't afford to run the risk of some + blundering fool of a policeman trying to arrest me for assaulting the + local magnate.” + </p> + <p> + Much relieved in mind, for he had been greatly worried by a fear that this + encounter with John Clive might lead to highly inconvenient legal + proceedings, he left the unlucky burglar lying in the shelter of the furze + bushes and returned to the house. + </p> + <p> + All was as he had left it, the open window gaped widely, almost inviting + entrance, and he climbed silently within. The apartment in which he found + himself was apparently the drawing-room and he felt his way cautiously and + slowly across it, moving with infinite care so as to avoid making even the + least noise. + </p> + <p> + Reaching the door, he opened it and went out into the hall. All was dark + and silent. He permitted himself here to flash on his electric torch for a + moment, and he saw that the hall was spacious and used as a lounge, for + there were several chairs clustered in its centre, opposite the fireplace. + There were two or three doors opening from it, and almost opposite where + he stood were the stairs, a broad flight leading to a wide landing above. + </p> + <p> + Still with the same extreme silence and care, he began to ascend these + stairs and when he was about half-way up he became aware of a faint and + strange sound that came trembling through the silence and stillness of the + night. + </p> + <p> + What it was he could not imagine. He listened for a time and then resumed + his silent progress with even more care than previously, and only when he + reached the landing did he understand that this faint and low sound he + heard was caused by a woman weeping very softly in one of the rooms near + by. + </p> + <p> + Silently he crossed the landing in the direction whence the sound seemed + to come. Now, too, he saw a thread of light showing beneath a door at a + little distance, and when he crept up to it and listened he could hear for + certain that it was from within this room that there came the sound of + muffled, passionate weeping. + </p> + <p> + The door was closed, but he turned the handle so carefully that he made + not the least sound and very cautiously he began to push the door back, + the tiniest fraction of an inch at a time, so that even one watching + closely could never have said that it moved. + </p> + <p> + When, after a long time, during which the muffled weeping never ceased, he + had it open an inch or two, he leaned forward and peeped within. + </p> + <p> + It was a bed-chamber, and, crouching on the floor near the fireplace, in + front of a low arm-chair, her head hidden on her arms and resting on the + seat of the chair, was the figure of a girl. She had made no preparations + for retiring, and by the frock she wore Dunn recognized her as the girl he + had seen on the veranda bidding good-bye to John Clive. + </p> + <p> + The sound of her weeping was very pitiful, her attitude was full of an + utter and poignant despair, there was something touching in the extreme in + the utter abandonment to grief shown by this young and lovely creature who + seemed framed only for joy and laughter. + </p> + <p> + The stern features and hard eyes of the unseen watcher softened, then all + at once they grew like tempered steel again. + </p> + <p> + For on the mantlepiece, just above where the weeping girl crouched, stood + a photograph—the photograph of a young and good-looking, + gaily-smiling man. Across it, in a boyish and somewhat unformed hand, was + written, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright.” + </pre> + <p> + It was this photograph that had caught Dunn's eyes. Both it and the + writing and the signature he recognized, and his look was very stern, his + eyes as cold as death itself, as slowly, slowly he pushed back the door of + the room another inch or so. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. A WOMAN AND A MAN + </h2> + <p> + The girl stirred. It was as though some knowledge of the slow opening of + the door had penetrated to her consciousness before as yet she actually + saw or heard anything. + </p> + <p> + She rose to her feet, drying her eyes with her handkerchief, and as she + was moving to a drawer near to get a clean one her glance fell on the + partially-open door. + </p> + <p> + “I thought I shut it,” she said aloud in a puzzled manner. + </p> + <p> + She crossed the floor to the door and closed it with a push from her hand + and in the passage outside Dunn stood still, not certain what to do next. + </p> + <p> + But for that photograph he might have gone quietly away, giving up the + reckless plan that had formed itself so suddenly in his mind while he + watched the burglar at work. + </p> + <p> + That photograph, however, with its suggestion that he stood indeed on the + brink of the solution of the mystery, seemed a summons to him to go on. It + was as though a voice from the dead called him to continue on his task to + punish and to save, and slowly, very slowly, with an infinite caution, he + turned again the handle of the door and still very slowly, still with the + same infinite caution, he pushed back the door the merest fraction of an + inch at a time so that not even one watching could have said that it + moved. + </p> + <p> + When he had it once more so far open that he could see within, he bent + forward to look. The girl was beginning her preparations for the night + now. She had assumed a long, comfortable-looking dressing-gown and, + standing in front of the mirror, she had just finished brushing her hair + and was beginning to fasten it up in a long plait. He could see her face + in the mirror; her deep, sad eyes, swollen with crying, her cheeks still + tear-stained, her mouth yet quivering with barely-repressed emotion. + </p> + <p> + He was still watching her when, as if growing uneasy, she turned her head + and glanced over her shoulder, and though he moved back so quickly that + she did not catch sight of him, she saw that the door was open once more. + </p> + <p> + “What can be the matter with the door?” she exclaimed aloud, and she + crossed the room towards it with a quick and somewhat impatient movement. + </p> + <p> + But this time, instead of closing it, she pulled it open and found herself + face to face with Dunn. + </p> + <p> + He did not speak or move, and she stood staring at him blankly. Slowly her + mouth opened as though to utter a cry that, however, could not rise above + her fluttering throat. Her face had taken on the pallor of death, her + great eyes showed the awful fear she felt. + </p> + <p> + Still without speaking, Dunn stepped forward into the room and, closing + the door, stood with his back to it. + </p> + <p> + She shrank away and put her hand upon a chair, but for the support of + which she must certainly have fallen, for her limbs were trembling so + violently they gave her little support. + </p> + <p> + “Don't hurt me,” she panted. + </p> + <p> + In truth he presented a strange and terrifying appearance. The unkempt + hair that covered his face and through which his keen eyes glowed like + fire, gave him an unusual and formidable aspect. In one hand he held the + ugly-looking jemmy he had taken from the burglar, and the new clothes he + had donned, ill-fitting and soiled, served to accentuate the ungainliness + of his form. + </p> + <p> + The frightened girl was not even sure that he was human, and she shrank + yet further away from him till she sank down upon the bed, dizzy with fear + and almost swooning. + </p> + <p> + As yet he had not spoken, for his eyes had gone to the mantlepiece on + which he saw that the photograph signed with the name “Charley Wright,” + did not now stand upright, but had fallen forward on its face so that one + could no longer see what it represented. + </p> + <p> + It must have fallen just as he entered the room and this seemed to him an + omen, though whether of good or ill, he did not know. + </p> + <p> + “Who are you?” the girl stammered. “What do you want?” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her moodily and still without answering, though in his bright + and keen eyes a strange light burned. + </p> + <p> + She was lovely, he thought, of that there could be no question. But her + beauty made to him small appeal, for he was wondering what kind of soul + lay behind those perfect features, that smooth and delicate skin, those + luminous eyes. Yet his eyes were still hard and it was in his roughest, + gruffest tones that he said: + </p> + <p> + “You needn't be afraid, I won't hurt you.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll give you everything I have,” she panted, “if only you'll go away.” + </p> + <p> + “Not so fast as all that,” he answered, coolly, for indeed he had not + taken so mad a risk in order to go away again if he could help it. “Who is + there in the house besides you?” + </p> + <p> + “Only mother,” she answered, looking up at him very pleadingly as if in + hopes that he must relent when he saw her in distress. “Please, won't you + take what you want and go away? Please don't disturb mother, it would + nearly kill her.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not going to hurt either you or your mother if you'll be sensible,” + he said irritably, for, unreasonably enough, the extreme fear she showed + and her pleading tones annoyed him. He had a feeling that he would like to + shake her, it was so absurd of her to look at him as though she expected + him to gobble her up in a mouthful. + </p> + <p> + She seemed a little reassured. + </p> + <p> + “Mother will be so dreadfully frightened,” she repeated, “I'll give you + everything there is in the house if only you'll go at once.” + </p> + <p> + “I can take everything I want without your giving it me,” he retorted. + “How do I know you're telling the truth when you say there's no one else + in the house? How many servants have you?” + </p> + <p> + “None,” she answered. “There's a woman comes every day, but she doesn't + sleep here.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you live all alone here with your mother?” he asked, watching her + keenly. + </p> + <p> + “There's my stepfather,” she answered. “But he's not here tonight.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, is he away?” Dunn asked, his expression almost one of disappointment. + </p> + <p> + The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching him as + keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of disappointment, and could + not help wondering what sort of burglar it was who was not pleased to hear + that the man of the house was away, and that he had only two women to deal + with. + </p> + <p> + And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but rather at + a loss what to do next. + </p> + <p> + As in truth he was, for that the stepfather should be away, and this girl + and her mother all alone, was, perhaps, the one possibility that he had + never considered. + </p> + <p> + She noticed, too, that he did not pay any attention to her jewellery, + which was lying close to his hand on the toilet-table, and though in point + of actual fact this jewellery was not of any great value, it was + exceedingly precious in her eyes, and she did not understand a burglar who + showed no eagerness to seize on it. + </p> + <p> + “Did you want to see Mr. Dawson?” she asked, her voice more confident now + and even with a questioning note in it. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Dawson! Who's he?” Dunn asked, disconcerted by the question, but not + wishing to seem so. + </p> + <p> + “My stepfather, Mr. Deede Dawson,” she answered. “I think you knew that. + If you want him, he went to London early today, but I think it's quite + likely he may come back tonight.” + </p> + <p> + “What should I want him for?” growled Dunn, more and more disconcerted, + as he saw that he was not playing his part too well. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” she answered. “I suppose you do.” + </p> + <p> + “You suppose a lot,” he retorted roughly. “Now you listen to me. I don't + want to hurt you, but I don't mean to be interfered with. I'm going over + the house to see what I can find that's worth taking. Understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, perfectly,” she said. + </p> + <p> + She was watching him closely, and she noticed that he still made no + attempt to take possession of her jewellery, though it lay at his hand, + and that puzzled her very much, indeed, for she supposed the very first + thing a burglar did was always to seize such treasures as these of hers. + But this man paid them no attention whatever, and did not even notice + them. + </p> + <p> + He was feeling in his pockets now and he took out the revolver and the + coil of thin rope he had secured from the burglar. + </p> + <p> + “Now, do you know what I'm going to do?” he asked, with an air of + roughness and brutality that was a little overdone. He put the revolver + and the rope down on the bed, the revolver quite close to her. + </p> + <p> + “I'm going,” he continued, “to tie you up to one of those chairs. I can't + risk your playing any tricks or giving an alarm, perhaps, while I'm + searching the house. I shall take what's worth having, and then I shall + clear off, and if your stepfather's coming home tonight you won't have to + wait long till he releases you, and if he don't come I can't help it.” + </p> + <p> + He turned his back to her as he spoke and took hold of one of the chairs + in the room, and then of another and looked at them as though carefully + considering which would be the best to use for the carrying out of his + threat. + </p> + <p> + He appeared to find it difficult to decide, for he kept his back turned to + her for two or three minutes, during all of which time the revolver lay on + the bed quite close to her hand. + </p> + <p> + He listened intently for he fully expected her to snatch it up, and he + wished to be ready to turn before she could actually fire. But, indeed, + nothing was further from her thoughts, for she did not know in the least + how to use the weapon or even how to fire it off, and the very thought of + employing it to kill any one would have terrified her far more even than + had done her experiences of this night. + </p> + <p> + So the pistol lay untouched by her side, while, very pale and trembling a + little, she waited what he would do, and on his side he felt as much + puzzled by her failure to use the opportunity he had put in her way as she + was puzzled by his neglect to seize her jewellery lying ready to his hand. + </p> + <p> + He was still hesitating, still appearing unable to decide which chair to + employ in carrying out his proclaimed purpose of fastening her up when she + asked a question that made him swing round upon her very quickly and with + a very startled look. + </p> + <p> + “Are you a real burglar?” she said. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. A DISCOVERY + </h2> + <p> + “What do you mean?” Dunn asked quickly. The matted growth of hair on his + face served well to hide any change of expression, but his eyes betrayed + him with their look of surprise and discomfiture, and in her own clear and + steady glance appeared now a kind of puzzled mockery as if she understood + well that all he did was done for some purpose, though what that purpose + was still perplexed her. + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” she said slowly, “well—what do I mean? I am only asking a + question. Are you a burglar—or have you come here for some other + reason?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you're getting at,” he grumbled. “Think I'm here for + fun? Not me. Come and sit on this chair and put your hands behind you and + don't make a noise, or scream, or anything, not if you value your life.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I do very much,” she answered with a manner of extreme + bitterness, but more as if speaking to herself than to him. + </p> + <p> + She did as he ordered, and he proceeded to tie her wrists together and to + fasten them to the back of the chair on which she had seated herself. He + was careful not to draw the cords too tight, but at the same time he made + the fastening secure. + </p> + <p> + “You won't disturb mother, will you?” she asked quietly when he had + finished. “Her room's the one at the end of the passage.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want to disturb any one,” he answered. “I only want to get off + quietly. I won't gag you, but don't you try to make any noise, if you do + I'll come back. Understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, perfectly,” she answered. “May I ask one question? Do you feel very + proud of yourself just now?” + </p> + <p> + He did not answer, but went out of the room quickly, and he had an + impression that she smiled as she watched him go, and that her smile was + bitter and a little contemptuous. + </p> + <p> + “What a girl,” he muttered. “She scored every time. I didn't find out a + thing, she didn't do anything I expected or wanted her to. She seemed as + if she spotted me right off—I wonder if she did? I wonder if she + could be trusted?” + </p> + <p> + But then he thought of that photograph on the mantelpiece and his look + grew stern and hard again. He was careful to avoid the room the girl had + indicated as occupied by her mother, but of all the others on that floor + he made a hasty search without discovering anything to interest him or + anything of the least importance or at all unusual. + </p> + <p> + From the wide landing in the centre of the house a narrow stairway, hidden + away behind an angle of the wall so that one did not notice it at first, + led above to three large attics with steeply-sloping roofs and evidently + designed more for storage purposes than for habitation. + </p> + <p> + The doors of two of these were open and within was merely a collection of + such lumber as soon accumulates in any house. + </p> + <p> + The door of the third attic was locked, but by aid of the jemmy he still + carried, he forced it open without difficulty. + </p> + <p> + Within was nothing but a square packing-case, standing in the middle of + the floor. Otherwise the light of the electric torch he flashed around + showed only the bare boarding of the floor and the bare plastered walls. + </p> + <p> + Near the packing-case a hammer and some nails lay on the floor and the lid + was in position but was not fastened, as though some interruption had + occurred before the task of nailing it down could be completed. + </p> + <p> + Dunn noted that one nail had been driven home, and he was on the point of + leaving the attic, for he knew he had not much time and hoped that + downstairs he would be able to make some discoveries of importance, when + it occurred to him that it might be wise to see what was in this case, the + nailing down the lid of which had not been completed. + </p> + <p> + He crossed the room to it, and without drawing the one nail, pushed back + the lid which pivoted on it quite easily. + </p> + <p> + Within appeared a covering of coarse sacking. He pulled this away with a + careless hand, and beneath the beam of his electric torch showed the pale + and dreadful features of a dead man—of a man, the center of whose + forehead showed the small round hole where a bullet had entered in; of a + man whose still-recognizable features were those of the photograph on the + mantel-piece of the room downstairs, the photograph that was signed: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright.” + </pre> + <p> + For a long time Robert Dunn stood, looking down in silence at that dead + face which was hardly more still, more rigid than his own. + </p> + <p> + He shivered, for he felt very cold. It was as though the coldness of the + death in whose presence he stood had laid its chilly hand on him also. + </p> + <p> + At last he stirred and looked about him with a bewildered air, then + carefully and with a reverent hand, he put back the sackcloth covering. + </p> + <p> + “So I've found you, Charley,” he whispered. “Found you at last.” + </p> + <p> + He replaced the lid, leaving everything as it had been when he entered the + attic, and stood for a time, trying to collect his thoughts which the + shock of this dreadful discovery had so disordered, and to decide what to + do next. + </p> + <p> + “But, then, that's simple,” he thought. “I must go straight to the police + and bring them here. They said they wanted proof; they said I had nothing + to go on but bare suspicion. But that's evidence enough to hang Deede + Dawson—the girl, too, perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + Then he wondered whether it could be that she knew nothing and was + innocent of all part or share in this dreadful deed. But how could that be + possible? How could it be that such a crime committed in the house in + which she lived could remain unknown to her? + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, when he thought of her clear, candid eyes; when he + remembered her gentle beauty, it did not seem conceivable that behind them + could lie hidden the tigerish soul of a murderess. + </p> + <p> + “That's only sentiment, though,” he muttered. “Nothing more. Beautiful + women have been rotten bad through and through before today. There's + nothing for me to do but to go and inform the police, and get them here as + soon as possible. If she's innocent, I suppose she'll be able to prove + it.” + </p> + <p> + He hesitated a moment, as he thought of how he had left her, bound and a + prisoner. + </p> + <p> + It seemed brutal to leave her like that while he was away, for he would + probably be some time absent. But with a hard look, he told himself that + whatever pain she suffered she must endure it. + </p> + <p> + His first and sole thought must be to bring to justice the murderers of + his unfortunate friend; and to secure, too, thereby, the success almost + certainly of his own mission. + </p> + <p> + To release her and leave her at liberty might endanger the attainment of + both those ends, and so she must remain a prisoner. + </p> + <p> + “Only,” he muttered, “if she knew the attic almost over her head held such + a secret, why, didn't she take the chance I gave her of getting hold of my + revolver? That she didn't, looks as if she knew nothing.” + </p> + <p> + But then he thought again of the photograph in her room and remembered + that agony of grief to which she had been surrendering herself when he + first saw her. Now those passionate tears of hers seemed to him like + remorse. + </p> + <p> + “I'll leave her where she is,” he decided again. “I can't help it; I + mustn't run any risks. My first duty is to get the police here and have + Deede Dawson arrested.” + </p> + <p> + He went down the stairs still deep in thought, and when he reached the + landing below he would not even go to make sure that his captive was still + secure. + </p> + <p> + An obscure feeling that he did not wish to see her, and still more that he + did not wish her to see him, prevented him. + </p> + <p> + He descended the second flight of steps to the hall, taking fewer + precautions to avoid making a noise and still very deep in thought. + </p> + <p> + For some time he had had but little hope that young Charley Wright still + lived. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the dreadful discovery he had made in the attic above had + affected him profoundly, and left his mind in a chaos of emotions so that + he was for the time much less acutely watchful than usual. + </p> + <p> + They had spent their boyhood together, and he remembered a thousand + incidents of their childhood. They had been at school and college + together. And how brilliantly Charley had always done at work and play, + surmounting every difficulty with a laugh, as if it were merely some new + and specially amusing jest! + </p> + <p> + Every one had thought well of him, every one had believed that his future + career would be brilliant. Now it had ended in this obscure and dreadful + fashion, as ends the life of a trapped rat. + </p> + <p> + Dunn found himself hardly able to realize that it was really so, and + through all the confused medley of his thoughts there danced and flickered + his memory of a young and lovely face, now tear-stained, now smiling, now + pale with terror, now calmly disdainful. + </p> + <p> + “Can she have known?” he muttered. “She must have known—she can't + have known—it's not possible either way.” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered and as he put his foot on the lowest stair he raised his + hands to cover his face as though to shut out the visions that passed + before him. + </p> + <p> + Another step forward he took in the darkness, and all at once there + flashed upon him the light of a strong electric torch, suddenly switched + on. + </p> + <p> + “Put up your hands,” said a voice sharply. “Or you're a dead man.” + </p> + <p> + He looked bewilderedly, taken altogether by surprise, and saw he was faced + by a fat little man with a smooth, chubby, smiling face and eyes that were + cold and grey and deadly, and who held in one hand a revolver levelled at + his heart. + </p> + <p> + “Put up your hands,” this newcomer said again, his voice level and calm, + his eyes intent and deadly. “Put up your hands or I fire.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. QUESTION AND ANSWER + </h2> + <p> + Dunn obeyed promptly. + </p> + <p> + There was that about this little fat, smiling man and his unsmiling eyes + which proclaimed very plainly that he was quite ready to put his threat + into execution. + </p> + <p> + For a moment or two they stood thus, each regarding the other very + intently. Dunn, his hands in the air, the steady barrel of the other's + pistol levelled at his heart, knew that never in all his adventurous life + had he been in such deadly peril as now, and the grotesque thought came + into his mind to wonder if there were room for two in that packing-case in + the attic. + </p> + <p> + Or perhaps no attempt would be made to hide his death since, after all, it + is always permissible to shoot an armed burglar. + </p> + <p> + The clock on the stairs began to strike the hour, and he wondered if he + would still be alive when the last stroke sounded. + </p> + <p> + He did not much think so for he thought he could read a very deadly + purpose in the other's cold grey eyes, nor did he suppose that a man with + such a secret as that of the attic upstairs to hide was likely to stand on + any scruple. + </p> + <p> + And he thought that if he still lived when the clock finished striking he + would take it for an omen of good hope. + </p> + <p> + The last stroke sounded and died away into the silence of the night. + </p> + <p> + The revolver was still levelled at his heart, the grim purpose in the + other's eyes had not changed, and yet Dunn drew a breath of deep relief as + though the worst of the danger was past. + </p> + <p> + Through his mind, that had been a little dulled by the sudden + consciousness of so extreme a peril, thought began again to race with more + than normal rapidity and clearness. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to him, with a sense of the irony of the position, that when + he entered this house it had been with the deliberate intention of getting + himself discovered by the inmates, believing that to show himself to them + in the character of a burglar might gain him their confidence. + </p> + <p> + It had seemed to him that so he might come to be accepted as one of them + and perhaps learn in time the secret of their plans. + </p> + <p> + The danger that they might adopt the other course of handing him over to + the police had not seemed to him very great, for he had his reasons for + believing that there would be no great desire to draw the attention of the + authorities to Bittermeads for any reason whatever. + </p> + <p> + But the discovery he had made in the attic changed all that. It changed + his plans, for now he could go to the police immediately. And it changed + also his conception of how these people were likely to act. + </p> + <p> + Before, it had not entered his mind to suppose that he ran any special + risk of being shot at sight, but now he understood that the only thing + standing between him and instant death was the faint doubt in his captor's + mind as to how much he knew. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to him his only hope was to carry out his original plan and try + to pass himself off as the sort of person who might be likely to be useful + to the master of Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + “Don't shoot, sir,” he said, in a kind of high whine. “I ain't done no + harm, and it's a fair cop—and me not a month out of Dartmoor Gaol. I + shall get a hot 'un for this, I know.” + </p> + <p> + The little fat man did not answer; his eyes were as deadly, the muzzle of + his pistol as steady as before. + </p> + <p> + Dunn wondered if it were from that pistol had issued the bullet that had + drilled so neat and round a hole in his friend's forehead. He supposed so. + </p> + <p> + He said again + </p> + <p> + “Don't shoot, Mr. Deede Dawson, sir; I ain't done no harm.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you know my name, do you, you scoundrel?” Deede Dawson said, a little + surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir,” Dunn answered. “We always find out as much as we can about a + crib before we get to work.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Mr. Dawson. “Very praiseworthy. Attention to business and + all that. Pray, what did you find out about me?” + </p> + <p> + “Only as you was to be away tonight, sir,” answered Dunn. “And that there + didn't seem to be any other man in the house, and, of course, how the + house lay and the garden, and so. But I didn't know as you was coming home + so soon.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't suppose you did,” said Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't done no harm,” Dunn urged, making his voice as whining and + pleading as he could. “I've only just been looking round the two top + floors—I ain't touched a thing. Give a cove a chance, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “You've been looking round, have you?” said Deede Dawson slowly. “Did you + find anything to interest you?” + </p> + <p> + “I've only been in the bedrooms and the attics,” answered Dunn, changing + not a muscle of his countenance and thinking boldness his safest course, + for he knew well the slightest sign or hint of knowledge that he gave + would mean his death. “I'd only just come downstairs when you copped me, + sir; I ain't touched a thing in one of these rooms down here.” + </p> + <p> + “Haven't you?” said Deede Dawson slowly, and his face was paler, his eyes + more deadly, the muzzle of his pistol yet more inflexibly steady than + before. + </p> + <p> + More clearly still did Dunn realize that the faintest breath of suspicion + stirring in the other's mind that he knew of what was hidden in the attic + would mean certain death and just such another neat little hole bored + through heart or brain as that he had seen showing in the forehead of his + dead friend. + </p> + <p> + “Haven't you, though?” Deede Dawson repeated. “The bedrooms—the + attics—that's all?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, that's all, take my oath that's all,” Dunn repeated earnestly, + as if he wished very much to impress on his captor that he had searched + bedrooms and attics thoroughly, but not these downstairs rooms. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson was plainly puzzled, and for the first time a little doubt + seemed to show in his hard grey eyes. + </p> + <p> + Dunn perceived that a need was on him to know for certain whether his + dreadful secret had been discovered or not. + </p> + <p> + Until he had assured himself on that point Dunn felt comparatively safe, + but he still knew also that to allow the faintest suspicion to dawn in + Deede Dawson's mind would mean for him instant death. + </p> + <p> + He saw, too, watching very warily and ready to take advantage of any + momentary slip or forgetfulness, how steady was Deede Dawson's hand, how + firm and watchful his eyes. + </p> + <p> + With many men, with most men indeed, Dunn would have seized or made some + opportunity to dash in and attack, taking the chance of being shot down + first, since there are few indeed really skilled in the use of a revolver, + the most tricky if the most deadly of weapons. + </p> + <p> + But he realized he had small hope of taking unawares this fat little + smiling man with the unsmiling eyes and steady hand, and he was well + convinced that the first doubtful movement he made would bring a bullet + crashing through his brain. + </p> + <p> + His only hope was in delay and in diverting suspicion, and Deede Dawson's + voice was very soft and deadly as he said: + </p> + <p> + “So you've been looking in the bedrooms, have you? What did you find + there?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, sir, not a thing,” protested Dunn. “I didn't touch a thing, I + only wanted to look round before coming down here to see about the + silver.” + </p> + <p> + “And the attics?” asked Deede Dawson. “What did you find there?” + </p> + <p> + “There wasn't no one in them,” Dunn answered. “I only wanted to make sure + the young lady was telling the truth about there being no servants in the + house to sleep.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you look in all the attics, then?” asked Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered Dunn. “'There was one as was locked, but I tooked the + liberty of forcing it just to make sure. I ain't done no harm to speak + of.” + </p> + <p> + “You found one locked, eh?” said Deede Dawson, and his smile grew still + more pleasant and more friendly. “That must have surprised you a good + deal, didn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought as perhaps there was some one waiting already to give the + alarm,” answered Dunn. “I didn't mind the old lady, but I couldn't risk + there being some one hiding there, so I had to look, but I ain't done no + damage to speak of, I could put it right for you myself in half-an-hour, + sir, if you'll let me.” + </p> + <p> + “Could you, indeed?” said Deede Dawson. “Well, and did you find any one + sleeping there?” + </p> + <p> + But for that hairy disguise upon his cheeks and chin, Dunn would almost + certainly have betrayed himself, so dreadful did the question seem to him, + so poignant the double meaning that it bore, so clear his memory of his + friend he had found there, sleeping indeed. + </p> + <p> + But there was nothing to show his inner agitation, as he said, shaking his + head. + </p> + <p> + “There wasn't no one there, any more than in the other attics, nothing but + an old packing-case.” + </p> + <p> + “And what?” said Deede Dawson, his voice so soft it was like a caress, his + smile so sweet it was a veritable benediction. “What was in that + packing-case?” + </p> + <p> + “Didn't look,” answered Dunn, and then, with a sudden change of manner, as + though all at once understanding what previously had puzzled him. + “Lum-me,” he cried, “is that where you keep the silver? Lor', and to think + I never even troubled to look.” + </p> + <p> + “You never looked?” repeated Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + Dunn shook his head with an air of baffled regret. “Never thought of it,” + he said. “I thought it was just lumber like in the other attics, and I + might have got clear away with it if I had known, as easy as not.” + </p> + <p> + His chagrin was so apparent, his whole manner so innocent, that Deede + Dawson began to believe he really did know nothing. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you wonder why the door was locked?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Lor',” answered Dunn, “if you stopped to wonder about everything you find + rummy in a crib you're cracking, when would you ever get your business + done?” + </p> + <p> + “So you didn't look—in that packing-case?” Deede Dawson repeated. + </p> + <p> + “If I had,” answered Dunn ruefully, “I shouldn't be here, copped like + this. I should have shoved with the stuff and not waited for nothing more. + But I never had no luck.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not so sure of that,” said Deede Dawson grimly, and as he spoke a + soft voice called down from upstairs. + </p> + <p> + “Is there any one there?” it said. “Oh, please, is any one there?” + </p> + <p> + “Is that you, Ella?” Deede Dawson called back. “Come down here.” + </p> + <p> + “I can't,” she answered. “I'm fastened to a chair.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't hurt the young lady,” Dunn interposed quickly. “I only tied her + up as gentle as I could to a chair so as to stop her from interfering.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's it, is it?” said Deede Dawson, and seemed a little amused, as + though the thought of his stepdaughter's plight pleased him rather than + not. “Well, if she can't come down here, we'll go up there. Turn round, my + man, and go up the stairs and keep your hands over your head all the time. + I shan't hesitate to shoot if you don't, and I never miss.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn was not inclined to value his life at a very high price as he turned + and went awkwardly up the stairs, still holding his hands above his head. + </p> + <p> + But he meant to save it if he could, for many things depended on it, among + them due punishment to be exacted for the crime he had discovered this + night; and also, perhaps, for the humiliation he was now enduring. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE + </h2> + <p> + Up the stairs, across the landing, and down the passage opposite Dunn went + in silence, shepherded by the little man behind whose pistol was still + levelled and still steady. + </p> + <p> + His hands held high in the air, he pushed open with his knee the door of + the girl's room and entered, and she looked up as he did so with an + expression of pure astonishment at his attitude of upheld hands that + changed to one of comprehension and of faint amusement as Deede Dawson + followed, revolver in hand. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” she murmured. “Captivity captive, it seems.” + </p> + <p> + At the fireplace Dunn turned and found her looking at him very intently, + while from the doorway Deede Dawson surveyed them both, for once his eyes + appearing to share in the smile that played about his lips as though he + found much satisfaction in what he saw. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Ella,” he said. “You've been having adventures, it seems, but you + don't look too comfortable like that.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor do I feel it,” she retorted. “So please set me free.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, so I will,” he answered, but he still hesitated, and Dunn had the + idea that he was pleased to see the girl like this, and would leave her so + if he could, and that he was wondering now if he could turn her + predicament to his own advantage in any way. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will,” he said again. “Your mother—?” + </p> + <p> + “She hasn't wakened,” Ella answered. “I don't think she has heard + anything. I don't suppose she will, for she took two of those pills last + night that Dr. Rawson gave her for when she couldn't sleep.” + </p> + <p> + “It's just as well she did,” said Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but please undo my hands,” she asked him. “The cords are cutting my + wrists dreadfully.” + </p> + <p> + As she spoke she glanced at Dunn, standing by the fireplace and listening + gravely to what they said, and Deede Dawson exclaimed with an air of great + indignation:— + </p> + <p> + “The fellow deserves to be well thrashed for treating you like that. I've + a good mind to do it, too, before handing him over to the police.” + </p> + <p> + “But you haven't released me yet,” she remarked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, yes,” he said, starting as if this were quite a new idea. “I'll + release you at once—but I must watch this scoundrel. He must have + frightened you dreadfully.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed he did not,” she answered quickly, again looking at Dunn. “No, he + didn't,” she said again with a touch of defiance in her manner and a + certain slightly lifting her small, round chin. “At least not much after + just at first,” she added. + </p> + <p> + “I'll loose you,” Deede Dawson said once more, and coming up to her, he + began to fumble in a feeble, ineffectual way at the cords that secured her + wrists. + </p> + <p> + “Jove, he's tied you up pretty tight, Ella!” he said. + </p> + <p> + “He believes in doing his work thoroughly, I suppose,” she remarked, + lifting her eyes to Dunn's with a look in them that was partly questioning + and partly puzzled and wholly elusive. “I daresay he always likes to do + everything thoroughly.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems so,” said Deede Dawson, giving up his fumbling and ineffectual + efforts to release her. + </p> + <p> + He stepped back and stood behind her chair, looking from her to Dunn and + back again, and once more Dunn was conscious of an impression that he + wished to make use for his own purposes of the girl's position, but that + he did not know how to do so. + </p> + <p> + “You are a nice scoundrel,” said Deede Dawson suddenly, with an + indignation that seemed to Dunn largely assumed. “Treating a girl like + this. Ella, what would you like done to him? He deserves shooting. Shall I + put a bullet through him for you?” + </p> + <p> + “He might have treated me worse, I suppose,” said Ella quietly. “And if + you would be less indignant with him, you might be more help to me. There + are scissors on the table somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll get them,” Deede Dawson said. “I'll get them,” he repeated, as + though now at last finally making up his mind. + </p> + <p> + He took the scissors from the toilet-table where they lay before the + looking-glass and cut the cords by which Ella was secured. + </p> + <p> + With a sigh of relief she straightened herself from the confined position + in which she had been held and began to rub her wrists, which were + slightly inflamed where the cords had bruised her soft skin. + </p> + <p> + “Like to tie him up that way now?” asked Deede Dawson. “You shall if you + like.” + </p> + <p> + She turned and looked full at Dunn and he looked back at her with eyes as + steady and as calm as her own. + </p> + <p> + Again she showed that faint doubt and wonder which had flickered through + her level gaze before as though she felt that there was more in all this + than was apparent, and did not wish to condemn him utterly without a + hearing. + </p> + <p> + But it was plain also that she did not wish to say too much before her + stepfather and she answered carelessly: + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I could tie him tight enough, besides, he looks ridiculous + enough like that with his hands up in the air.” + </p> + <p> + It was her revenge for what he had made her suffer. He felt himself flush + and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft had struck home. + </p> + <p> + “Well, go and look through his pockets,” Deede Dawson said. “And see if + he's got a revolver. Don't be frightened; if he lowers his hands he'll be + a dead man before he knows it.” + </p> + <p> + “He has a pistol,” she said. “He showed it me, it's in his coat pocket.” + </p> + <p> + “Better get it then,” Deede Dawson told her. She obeyed and brought him + the weapon, and he nodded with satisfaction as he put it in his own + pocket. + </p> + <p> + “I think we might let you put your hands down now,” he remarked, and Dunn + gladly availed himself of the permission, for every muscle in his arms was + aching badly. + </p> + <p> + He remained standing by the wall while Deede Dawson, seating himself on + the chair to which Ella had been bound, rested his chin on his left hand + and, with the pistol still ready in his right, regarded Dunn with a steady + questioning gaze. + </p> + <p> + Ella was standing near the bed. She had poured a few drops of + eau-de-Cologne on her wrists and was rubbing them softly, and for ever + after the poignant pleasant odour of the scent has remained associated in + Robert Dunn's mind with the strange events of that night so that always + even the merest whiff of it conjures up before his mind a picture of that + room with himself silent by the fireplace and Ella silent by the bed and + Deede Dawson, pistol in hand, seated between them, as silent also as they, + and very watchful. + </p> + <p> + Ella appeared fully taken up with her occupation and might almost have + forgotten the presence of the two men. She did not look at either of them, + but continued to rub and chafe her wrists softly. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson had forgotten for once to smile, his brow was slightly + wrinkled, his cold grey eyes intent and watchful, and Dunn felt very sure + that he was thinking out some plan or scheme. + </p> + <p> + The hope came to him that Deede Dawson was thinking he might prove of use, + and that was the thought which, above all others, he wished the other to + have. It was, indeed, that thought which all his recent actions had been + aimed to implant in Deede Dawson's mind till his dreadful discovery in the + attic had seemed to make at last direct action possible. How, in his + present plight that thought, if Deede Dawson should come to entertain it, + might yet prove his salvation. Now and again Deede Dawson gave him quick, + searching glances, but when at last he spoke it was Ella he addressed. + </p> + <p> + “Wrists hurt you much?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not so much now,” she answered. “They were beginning to hurt a great + deal, though.” + </p> + <p> + “Were they, though?” said Deede Dawson. “And to think you might have been + like that for hours if I hadn't chanced to come home. Too bad, what a + brute this fellow is.” + </p> + <p> + “Men mostly are, I think,” she observed indifferently. + </p> + <p> + “And women mostly like to get their own back again,” he remarked with a + chuckle, and then turned sharply to Dunn. “Well, my man,” he asked, “what + have you got to say for yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” Dunn answered. “It was a fair cop.” + </p> + <p> + “You've had a taste of penal servitude before, I suppose?” Deede Dawson + asked. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe,” Dunn answered, as if not wishing to betray himself. “Maybe not.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I think I remember you said something about not being long out of + Dartmoor,” remarked Deede Dawson. “How do you relish the prospect of going + back there?” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” interposed Ella thoughtfully. “I wonder what it is in you that + makes you so love to be cruel, father?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh what?” he exclaimed, quite surprised. “Who's being cruel?” + </p> + <p> + “You,” she answered. “You enjoy keeping him wondering what you are going + to do with him, just as you enjoyed seeing me tied to that chair and would + have liked to leave me there.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear Ella!” he protested. “My dear child!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know,” she said wearily. “Why don't you hand the man over to the + police if you're going to, or let him go at once if you mean to do that?” + </p> + <p> + “Let him go, indeed!” exclaimed Deede Dawson. “What an idea! What should I + do that for?” + </p> + <p> + “If you'll give me another chance,” said Dunn quickly, “I'll do anything—I + should get it pretty stiff for this lot, and that wouldn't be any use to + you, sir, would it? I can do almost anything—garden, drive a motor, + do what I'm told, It's only because I've never had a chance I've had to + take to this line.” + </p> + <p> + “If you could do what you're told you certainly might be useful,” said + Deede Dawson slowly. “And I don't know that it would do me any good to + send you off to prison—you deserve it, of course. Still—you + talk sometimes like an educated man?” + </p> + <p> + “I had a bit of education,” Dunn answered. + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Deede Dawson. “Well, I won't ask you any more questions, + you'd probably only lie. What's your name?” + </p> + <p> + With that sudden recklessness which was a part of his impulsive and + passionate nature, Dunn answered: + </p> + <p> + “Charley Wright.” + </p> + <p> + The effect was instantaneous and apparent on both his auditors. + </p> + <p> + Ella gave a little cry and started so violently that she dropped the + bottle of eau-de-Cologne she had in her hands. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson jumped to his feet with a fearful oath. His face went livid, + his fat cheeks seemed suddenly to sag, of his perpetual smile every trace + vanished. + </p> + <p> + He swung his revolver up, and Dunn saw the crooked forefinger quiver as + though in the very act of pressing the trigger. + </p> + <p> + The pressure of a hair decided, indeed, whether the weapon was to fire or + not, as in a high-pitched, stammering voice, Deede Dawson gasped: + </p> + <p> + “What—what do you mean? What do you mean by that?” + </p> + <p> + “I only told you my name,” Dunn answered. “What's wrong with it?” + </p> + <p> + Doubtful and afraid, Deede Dawson stood hesitant. His forehead had become + very damp, and he wiped it with a nervous gesture. + </p> + <p> + “Is that your name—your real name?” he muttered. + </p> + <p> + “Never had another that I know of,” Dunn answered. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson sat down again on the chair. He was still plainly very + disturbed and shaken, and Ella seemed scarcely less agitated, though Dunn, + watching them both very keenly, noticed that she was now looking at Deede + Dawson with a somewhat strange expression and with an air as though his + extreme excitement puzzled her and made her—afraid. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing wrong with the name, is there?” Dunn muttered again. + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” Deede Dawson answered. “No. It's merely a coincidence, that's + all. A coincidence, I suppose, Ella?” + </p> + <p> + Ella did not answer. Her expression was very troubled and full of doubt as + she stood looking from her stepfather to Dunn and back again. + </p> + <p> + “It's only that your name happens to be the same as that of a friend of + ours—a great friend of my daughter's,” Deede Dawson said as though + he felt obliged to offer some explanation. “That's all—a + coincidence. It startled me for the moment.” He laughed. “That's all. + Well, my man, it happens there is something I can make you useful in. If + you do prove useful and do what I tell you, perhaps you may get let off. I + might even keep you on in a job. I won't say I will, but I might. You look + a likely sort of fellow for work, and I daresay you aren't any more + dishonest than most people. Funny how things happen—quite a + coincidence, your name. Well, come on; it's that packing-case you saw in + the attic upstairs. I want you to help me downstairs with that—Charley + Wright.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + </h2> + <p> + Robert Dunn was by no means sure that he was not going to his death as he + went out of Ella's room on his way to the attics above, for he had + perceived a certain doubt and suspicion in Deede Dawson's manner, and he + thought it very likely that a fatal intention lay behind. + </p> + <p> + But he obeyed with a brisk promptitude of manner, like one who saw a + prospect of escape opening before him, and as he went he saw that Ella had + relapsed into her former indifference and was once more giving all her + attention to bathing her wrists with eau-de-Cologne; and he saw, too, that + Deede Dawson, following close behind, kept always his revolver ready. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he only wants to get me out of her way before he shoots,” he + reflected. “Perhaps there is room in that packing-case for two. It will be + strange to die. Shall I try to rush him? But he would shoot at once, and I + shouldn't have a chance. One thing, if anything happens to me, no one will + ever know what's become of poor Charley.” + </p> + <p> + And this seemed to him a great pity, so that he began to form confused and + foolish plans for securing that his friend's fate should become known. + </p> + <p> + With a sudden start, for he had not known he was there, he found himself + standing on the threshold of that attic of death. It was quite dark up + here, and from behind Deede Dawson's voice told him impatiently to enter. + </p> + <p> + He obeyed, wondering if ever again he would cross that threshold alive, + and Deede Dawson followed him into the dark attic so that Dunn was + appalled by the man's rashness, for how could he tell that his victim + would not take this opportunity to rise up from the place where he had + been thrust and take his revenge? + </p> + <p> + “What an idea,” he thought to himself. “I must be going dotty, it's the + strain of expecting a bullet in my back all the time, I suppose. I was + never like this before.” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson struck a match and put it to a gas-jet that lighted up the + whole room. Between him and Dunn lay the packing-case, and Dunn was + surprised to see that it was still there and that nothing had changed or + moved; and then again he said to himself that this was a foolish thought + only worthy of some excitable, hysterical girl. + </p> + <p> + “It's being too much for me,” he thought resignedly. “I've heard of people + being driven mad by horror. I suppose that's what's happening to me.” + </p> + <p> + “You look—queer,” Deede Dawson's voice interrupted the confused + medley of his thoughts. “Why do you look like that—Charley Wright?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn looked moodily across the case in which the body of the murdered man + was hidden to where the murderer stood. + </p> + <p> + After a pause, and speaking with an effort, he said: + </p> + <p> + “You'd look queer if some one with a pistol was watching you all the time + the way you watch me.” + </p> + <p> + “You do what I tell you and you'll be all right,” Deede Dawson answered. + “You see that packing-case?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn nodded. + </p> + <p> + “It's big enough,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Would you like to know?” asked Deede Dawson slowly with his slow, + perpetual smile. “Would you like to know what's in it—Charley + Wright?” + </p> + <p> + And again Dunn was certain that a faint suspicion hung about those last + two words, and that his life and death hung very evenly in the balance. + </p> + <p> + “Silver, you said,” he muttered. “Didn't you?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, yes—yes—to be sure,” answered Deede Dawson. “Yes, so I + did. Silver. I want the lid nailed down. There's a hammer and nails there. + Get to work and look sharp.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn stepped forward and began to set about a task that was so terrible + and strange, and that yet he had, at peril of his life—at peril of + more than that, indeed—to treat as of small importance. + </p> + <p> + Standing a little distance from the lighted gas-jet, Deede Dawson watched + him narrowly, and as Dunn worked he was very sure that to betray the least + sign of his knowledge would be to bring instantly a bullet crashing + through his brain. + </p> + <p> + It seemed curious to him that he had so carefully replaced everything + after making his discovery, and that without any forethought or special + intention he had put back everything so exactly as he had found it when + the slightest neglect or failure in that respect would most certainly have + cost him his life. + </p> + <p> + And he felt that as yet he could not afford to die. + </p> + <p> + One by one he drove in the nails, and as he worked at his gruesome task he + heard the faintest rustle on the landing without—the faintest sound + of a soft breath cautiously drawn in, of a light foot very carefully set + down. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson plainly heard nothing; indeed, no ear less acute and less + well-trained than Dunn's could have caught sounds that were so slight and + low, but he, listening between each stroke of his hammer, was sure that it + was Ella who had followed them, and that she crouched upon the landing + without, watching and listening. + </p> + <p> + Did that mean, he wondered, that she, too, knew? Or was it merely natural + curiosity; hostile in part, perhaps, since evidently the relations between + her and her stepfather were not too friendly—a desire to know what + task there could be in the attics so late at night for which Deede Dawson + had such need of his captive's help? + </p> + <p> + Or was it by any chance because she wished to know how things went with + him, and what was to be his fate? + </p> + <p> + In any case, Dunn was sure that Ella had followed then, and was on the + landing without. + </p> + <p> + He drove home the last nail and stood up. “That's done,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “And well done,” said Deede Dawson. “Well done—Charley Wright.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke the name softly and lingeringly, and then all at once he began to + laugh, a low and somewhat dreadful laughter that had in it no mirth at + all, and that sounded horrible and strange in the chill emptiness of the + attic. + </p> + <p> + Leaning one hand on the packing-case that served as the coffin of his dead + friend, Dunn swore a silent oath to exact full retribution, and henceforth + to put that purpose on a level with the mission on which originally he had + come. + </p> + <p> + Aloud, and in a grumbling tone he said: + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter with my name? It's a name like any other. What's wrong + with it?” + </p> + <p> + “What should there be?” flashed Deede Dawson in reply. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” Dunn answered. “You keep repeating it so, that's all.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a very good name,” Deede Dawson said. “An excellent name. But it's + not suitable. Not here.” He began to laugh again and then stopped + abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know, I think you had better choose another?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “It's all one to me,” declared Dunn. “If Charley Wright don't suit, how + will Robert Dunn do? I knew a man of that name once.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a better name than Charley Wright,” said Deede Dawson. “We'll call + you Robert Dunn—Charley Wright. Do you know why I can't have you + call yourself Charley Wight?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “Because I don't like it,” said Deede Dawson. “Why, that's a name that + would drive me mad,” he muttered, half to himself. + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not speak, but he thought this was a strange thing for the other + to say and showed that even he, cold and remorseless and without any + natural feeling, as he had seemed to be, yet had about him still some + touch of humanity. + </p> + <p> + And as he mused on this, which seemed to him so strange, though really it + was not strange at all, his attentive ears caught the sound of a soft step + without, beginning to descend the stairs. + </p> + <p> + Had that name, then, been more than she also could bear? + </p> + <p> + If so, she must know. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see why, I don't see what's wrong with it,” he said aloud. “But + Robert Dunn will suit me just as well.” + </p> + <p> + “All a matter of taste,” said Deede Dawson, his manner more composed and + natural again. + </p> + <p> + “It's a funny thing now—suppose my name was Charley Wright, then + there would be two Charley Wrights in this attic, eh? A coincidence, that + would be?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so,” answered Dunn. “I knew another man named Charley Wright + once.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you? Where's he?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he's dead,” answered Dunn. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson could not repress the start he gave and for a moment Dunn + thought that his suspicions were really roused. He came a little nearer, + his pistol still ready in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Dead, is he?” he said. “That's a pity. He's not here, then; but it would + be funny wouldn't it, if there were two Charley Wrights in one room?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you mean,” Dunn answered. “I think there are lots of + funnier things than that would be.” + </p> + <p> + “That's where you're wrong,” retorted Deede Dawson, and he laughed again, + shrilly and dreadfully, a laughter that had in it anything but mirth. + </p> + <p> + “Can you carry that packing-case downstairs if I help you get it on your + shoulder?” he asked abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “It's heavy, but I might,” Dunn answered. + </p> + <p> + He supposed that now it was about to be hidden somewhere and he felt that + he must know where, since that knowledge would mean everything and enable + him to set the authorities to work at once immediately he could + communicate with them. + </p> + <p> + The weight of the thing taxed even his great strength to the utmost, but + he managed it somehow, and bending beneath his burden, he descended the + stairs to the hall and then, following the orders Deede Dawson gave him + from behind, out into the open air. + </p> + <p> + He was nearly exhausted when at last his task-master told him he could put + it down as he stood still for a minute or two to recover his breath and + strength. + </p> + <p> + The night was not very dark, for a young moon was shining in a clear sky, + and it appeared to Dunn, as he felt his strength returning, that now at + last he might find an opportunity of making an attack upon his captor with + some chance of success. + </p> + <p> + Hitherto, in the house, in the bright glare of the gas lights, he had + known that the first suspicious movement he made would have ensured his + being instantly and remorselessly shot down, his mission unfulfilled. + </p> + <p> + But here in the open air, in the night that the moon illumined but + faintly, it was different, and as he watched for his opportunity he felt + that sooner or later it was sure to come. + </p> + <p> + But Deede Dawson was alert and wary, his pistol never left his hand, he + kept so well on his guard he gave Dunn no opening to take him unawares, + and Dunn did not wish to run too desperate a chance, since he was sure + that sooner or later one giving fair chance of success would present + itself. + </p> + <p> + “Do you want it carried any further?” he asked. “It's very heavy.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you mean you're wondering what's in it?” said Deede Dawson + sharply. + </p> + <p> + “It's nothing to me what's in it—silver or anything else,” retorted + Dunn. “Do you want me to carry it further, that's all I asked?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Deede Dawson. “No, I don't. Do you know, if you knew what + was really in it, you'd be surprised?” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” answered Dunn. “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you would be surprised,” Deede Dawson repeated, and suddenly shouted + into the darkness: “Are you ready? Are you ready there?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn was very startled, for somehow, he had supposed all along that Deede + Dawson was quite alone. + </p> + <p> + There was no answer to his call, but after a minute or two there was the + sound of a motor-car engine starting and then a big car came gliding + forward and stopped in front of them, driven by a form so muffled in coats + and coverings as to be indistinguishable in that faint light. + </p> + <p> + “Put the case inside,” Deede Dawson said. “I'll help you.” + </p> + <p> + With some trouble they succeeded in getting the case in and Deede Dawson + covered it carefully with a big rug. + </p> + <p> + When he had done so he stepped back. + </p> + <p> + “Ready, Ella?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered the girl's soft and low voice that already Dunn could have + sworn to amidst a thousand others. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. THE NEW GARDENER + </h2> + <p> + “Go ahead, then,” said Deede Dawson, and the great car with its terrible + burden shot away into the night. + </p> + <p> + For a moment or two Deede Dawson stood looking after it, and then he + turned and walked slowly towards the house, and mechanically Dunn + followed, the sole thought in his mind, the one idea of which he was + conscious, that of Ella driving away into the darkness with the dead body + of his murdered friend in the car behind her. + </p> + <p> + Did she—know? he asked himself. Or was she ignorant of what it was + she had with her? + </p> + <p> + It seemed to him that that question, hammering itself so awfully upon his + mind and clamouring for an answer, must soon send him mad. + </p> + <p> + And still before him floated perpetually a picture of long, dark, lonely + roads, of a rushing motor-car driven by a lovely girl, of the awful thing + hidden in the car behind her. + </p> + <p> + Dully he recognized that the opportunity for which he had watched and + waited so patiently had come and gone a dozen times, for Deede Dawson had + now quite relaxed his former wary care. + </p> + <p> + It was as though he supposed all danger over, as though in the reaction + after an enormous strain he could think of nothing but the immediate + relief. He hardly gave a single glance at Dunn, whose faintest movement + before had never escaped him. He had even put his pistol back in his + pocket, and at almost any moment Dunn, with his unusual strength and + agility, could have seized and mastered him. + </p> + <p> + But for such an enterprise Dunn had no longer any spirit, for all his mind + was taken up by that one picture so clear in his thoughts of Ella in her + great car driving the dead man through the night. “She must know,” he said + to himself. “She must, or she would never have gone off like that at that + time—she can't know, it's impossible, or she would never have + dared.” + </p> + <p> + And again it seemed to him that this doubt was driving him mad. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson entered the house and got a bottle of whisky and a syphon of + soda-water and mixed himself a drink. For the first time since Ella's + departure he seemed to remember Dunn's presence. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there you are,” he said. + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not answer. He stood moodily on the threshold, wondering why he + did not rush upon the other, and with his knee upon his chest, his hands + about his throat, force him to answer the question that was still + whispering, shouting, screaming itself into his ears: + </p> + <p> + “Does she know what it is she drives with her on that big car through the + black and lonely night?” + </p> + <p> + “Like a drink?” asked Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + Dunn shook his head, and it came to him that he did not attack Deede + Dawson and force the truth from him because he dared not, because he was + afraid, because he feared what the answer might be. + </p> + <p> + “There's a tool-shed at the bottom of the garden,” Deede Dawson said to + him. “You can sleep there, tonight. You'll find some sacks you can make a + bed of.” + </p> + <p> + Without a word in reply Dunn turned and stumbled away. He felt very tired—physically + exhausted—and the idea of a bed, even of sacks in an outhouse, + became all at once extraordinarily attractive. + </p> + <p> + He found the place without difficulty, and, making a pile of the sacks, + flung himself down on them and was asleep almost at once. But almost as + promptly he awoke again, for he had dreamed of Ella driving her car + through the night towards some strange peril from which in his dream he + was trying frantically and ineffectively to save her when he awoke. + </p> + <p> + So it was all through the night. + </p> + <p> + His utter and complete exhaustion compelled him to sleep, and every time + some fresh, fantastic dream in which Ella and the huge motor-car and the + dreadful burden she had with her always figured, awoke him with a fresh + start. + </p> + <p> + But towards morning he fell into a heavy sleep from which presently he + awoke to find it broad daylight and Deede Dawson standing on the threshold + of the shed with his perpetually smiling lips and his cold, unsmiling + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Well, my man; had a good sleep?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “I was tired,” Dunn answered. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we had a busy night,” agreed Deede Dawson. “I slept well, too. I've + been wondering what to do with you. Of course, I ought to hand you over to + the police, and it's rather a risk taking on a man of your character, but + I've decided to give you a chance. Probably you'll misuse it. But I'll + give you an opportunity as gardener and chauffeur here. You can drive a + car, you say?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn nodded. + </p> + <p> + “That's all right,” said Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “You shall have your board and lodging, and I'll get you some decent + clothes instead of those rags; and if you prove satisfactory and make + yourself useful you'll find I can pay well. There will be plenty of + chances for you to make a little money—if you know how to take + them.” + </p> + <p> + “When it's money,” growled Dunn, “you give me the chance, and see.” + </p> + <p> + “I think,” added Deede Dawson, “I think it might improve your looks if you + shaved.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn passed his hand over the tangle of hair that hid his features so + effectually. + </p> + <p> + “What for?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well: please yourself,” answered Deede Dawson; “I don't know that it + matters, and perhaps you have reasons of your own for preferring a beard. + Come on up to the house now and I'll tell Mrs. Dawson to give you some + breakfast. And you might as well have a wash, too, perhaps—unless + you object to that as well as to shaving.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn rose without answering, made his toilet by shaking off some of the + dust that clung to him, and followed his new employer out of the + tool-house into the open air. + </p> + <p> + It was a fresh and lovely morning, and coming towards them down one of the + garden paths was Ella, looking as fresh and lovely as the morning in a + dainty cotton frock with lace at her throat and wrists. + </p> + <p> + That she could possibly have spent the night tearing across country in a + powerful car conveying a dead man to an unknown destination, appeared to + Dunn a clean impossibility, and for a moment he almost supposed he had + been mistaken in thinking he recognized her voice. + </p> + <p> + But he knew he had not, that he had made no mistake, that it had indeed + been Ella he had seen dash away into the darkness on her strange and + terrible errand. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, my daughter,” said Deede Dawson carelessly, noticing Dunn's surprise. + “Oh, yes, she's back—you didn't expect to see her this morning. + Well, Ella, Dunn's surprised to see you back so soon, aren't you, Dunn?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not answer, for a kind of vertigo of horror had come upon him, + and for a moment all things revolved about him in a whirling circle + wherein the one fixed point was Ella's gentle lovely face that sometimes, + he thought, had a small round hole with blue edges in the very centre of + the forehead, above the nose. + </p> + <p> + It was her voice, clear and a little loud, that called him back to + himself. + </p> + <p> + “He's not well,” she was saying. “He's going to faint.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm all right,” he muttered. “It was nothing, nothing, it's only that + I've had nothing to eat for so long.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, poor man!” exclaimed Ella. + </p> + <p> + “Come up to the house,” Deede Dawson said. + </p> + <p> + “Breakfast's ready,” Ella said. “Mother told me to find you.” + </p> + <p> + “Has the woman come yet?” Deede Dawson asked. “If she has, you might tell + her to give Dunn some breakfast. I've just been telling him I'm willing to + give him another chance and to take him on as gardener and chauffeur, so + you can keep an eye on him and see if he works well.” + </p> + <p> + Ella was silent for a moment, but her expression was grave and a little + puzzled as though she did not quite understand this and wondered what it + meant, and when she looked up at her stepfather, Dunn was certain there + was both distrust and suspicion in her manner. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” she said then, “last night seemed to you a good + recommendation?” As she spoke she glanced at her wrists where the bruises + still showed, and Deede Dawson's smile broadened. + </p> + <p> + “One should always be ready to give another chance to a poor fellow who's + down,” he said. “He may run straight now he's got an opportunity. I told + him he had better shave, but he seems to think a beard suits him best. + What do you say?” + </p> + <p> + “Breakfast's waiting,” Ella answered, turning away without taking any + notice of the question. + </p> + <p> + “I'll go in then,” said Deede Dawson. “You might show Dunn the way to the + kitchen—his name's Robert Dunn, by the way—and tell Mrs. + Barker to give him something to eat.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think he could find his way there himself,” Ella remarked. + </p> + <p> + But though she made this protest, she obeyed at once, for though she used + a considerable liberty of speech to her stepfather, it was none the less + evident that she was very much afraid of him and would not be very likely + to disobey him or oppose him directly. + </p> + <p> + “This way,” she said to Dunn, and walked on along a path that led to the + back of the house. Once she stopped and looked back. She smiled slightly + and disdainfully as she did so, and Dunn saw that she was looking at a + clump of small bushes near where they had been standing. + </p> + <p> + He guessed at once that she believed Deede Dawson to be behind those + bushes watching them, and when she glanced at him he understood that she + wished him to know it also. + </p> + <p> + He said nothing, though a faint movement visible in the bushes convinced + him that her suspicions, if, indeed, she had them, were well-founded, and + they walked on in silence, Ella a little ahead, and Dunn a step or two + behind. + </p> + <p> + The garden was a large one, and had at one time been well cultivated, but + now it was neglected and overgrown. It struck Dunn that if he was to be + the gardener here he would certainly not find himself short of work, and + Ella, without looking round, said to him over her shoulder: + </p> + <p> + “Do you know anything about gardening?” + </p> + <p> + “A little, miss,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + “You needn't call me 'miss,'” she observed. “When a man has tied a girl to + a chair I think he may regard himself as on terms of some familiarity with + her.” + </p> + <p> + “What must I call you?” he asked, and his words bore to himself a double + meaning, for, indeed, what name was it by which he ought to call her? + </p> + <p> + But she seemed to notice nothing as she answered “My name is Cayley + —Ella Cayley. You can call me Miss Cayley. Do you know anything of + motoring?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he answered. “Though I never cared much for motoring at night.” + </p> + <p> + She gave him a quick glance, but said no more, and they came almost + immediately to the back door. + </p> + <p> + Ella opened it and entered, nodding to him to follow, and crossing a + narrow, stone-floored passage, she entered the kitchen where a tall gaunt + elderly woman in a black bonnet and a course apron was at work. + </p> + <p> + “This is Dunn, Mrs. Barker,” she called, raising her voice. “He is the new + gardener. Will you give him some breakfast, please?” She added to Dunn: + </p> + <p> + “When you've finished, you can go to the garage and wash the car, and when + you speak to Mrs. Barker you must shout. She is quite deaf, that is why my + stepfather engaged her, because he was sorry for her and wanted to give + her a chance, you know...” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. THE PROBLEM + </h2> + <p> + When he had finished his breakfast, and after he had had the wash of which + he certainly stood in considerable need, Dunn made his way to the garage + and there occupied himself cleaning the car. He noticed that the mud with + which it was liberally covered was of a light sandy sort, and he + discovered on one of the tyres a small shell. + </p> + <p> + Apparently, therefore, last night's wild journey had been to the coast, + and it was a natural inference that the sea had provided a secure + hiding-place for the packing-case and its dreadful contents. + </p> + <p> + But then that meant that there was no evidence left on which he could take + action. + </p> + <p> + As he busied himself with his task, he tried to think out as clearly as he + could the position in which he found himself and to decide what he ought + to do next. + </p> + <p> + To his quick and hasty nature the swiftest action was always the most + congenial, and had he followed his instinct, he would have lost no time in + denouncing Deede Dawson. But his cooler thoughts told him that he dared + not do that, since it would be to involve risks, not for himself, but for + others, that he simply dared not contemplate. + </p> + <p> + He felt that the police, even if they credited his story, which he also + felt that very likely they would not do, could not act on his sole + evidence. + </p> + <p> + And even if they did act and did arrest Deede Dawson, it was certain no + jury would convict on so strange a story, so entirely uncorroborated. + </p> + <p> + The only result would be to strengthen Deede Dawson's position by the + warning, to show him his danger, and to give him the opportunity, if he + chose to use it, of disappearing and beginning again his plots and plans + after some fresh and perhaps more deadly fashion. + </p> + <p> + “Whereas at present,” he mused, “at any rate, I'm here and he doesn't seem + to suspect me, and I can watch and wait for a time, till I see my way more + clearly.” + </p> + <p> + And this decision he came to was a great relief to him, for he desired + very greatly to know more before he acted and in especial to find out for + certain what was Ella's position in all this. + </p> + <p> + It was Deede Dawson's voice that broke in upon his meditations. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you're busy,” he said. “That's right, I like to see a man working + hard. I've got some new things for you I think may fit fairly well, and + Mrs. Dawson is going to get one of the attics ready for you to sleep in.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good, sir,” said Dunn. + </p> + <p> + He wondered which attic was to be assigned to him and if it would be that + one in which he had found his friend's body. He suspected, too, that he + was to be lodged in the house so that Deede Dawson might watch him, and + this pleased him, since it meant that he, in his turn, would be able to + watch Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + Not that there appeared much to watch, for the days passed on and it + seemed a very harmless and quiet life that Deede Dawson lived with his + wife and stepdaughter. + </p> + <p> + But for the memory, burned into Dunn's mind, of what he had seen that + night of his arrival, he would have been inclined to say that no more + harmless, gentle soul existed than Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + But as it was, the man's very gentleness and smiling urbanity filled him + with a loathing that it was at times all he could do to control. + </p> + <p> + The attic assigned to him to sleep in was that where he had made his + dreadful discovery, and he believed this had been done as a further test + of his ignorance, for he was sure Deede Dawson watched him closely to see + if the idea of being there was in any way repugnant to him. + </p> + <p> + Indeed at another time he might have shrunk from the idea of sleeping each + night in the very room where his friend had been foully done to death, but + now he derived a certain grim satisfaction and a strengthening of his + nerves for the task that lay before him. + </p> + <p> + Only a very few visitors came to Bittermeads, especially now that Mr. John + Clive, who had come often, was laid up. But one or two of the people from + the village came occasionally, and the vicar appeared two or three times + every week, ostensibly to play chess with Deede Dawson, but in reality, + Dunn thought, drawn there by Ella, who, however, seemed quite unaware of + the attraction she exercised over the good man. + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not find that he was expected to do very much work, and in fact, + he was left a good deal to himself. + </p> + <p> + Once or twice the car was taken out, and occasionally Deede Dawson would + come into the garden and chat with him idly for a few minutes on + indifferent subjects. When it was fine he would often bring out a little + travelling set of chessmen and board and proceed to amuse himself, working + out or composing problems. + </p> + <p> + One day he called Dunn up to admire a problem he had just composed. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty clever, eh?” he said, admiring his own work with much complacence. + “Quite an original idea of mine and I think the key move will take some + finding. What do you say? I suppose you do play chess?” + </p> + <p> + “Only a very little,” answered Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Try a game with me,” said Deede Dawson, and won it easily, for in fact, + Dunn was by no means a strong player. + </p> + <p> + His swift victory appeared to delight Deede Dawson immensely. + </p> + <p> + “A very pretty mate I brought off there against you,” he declared. “I've + not often seen a prettier. Now you try to solve that problem of mine, it's + easy enough once you hit on the key move.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn thought to himself that there were other and more important problems + which would soon be solved if only the key move could be discovered. + </p> + <p> + He said aloud that he would try what he could do, and Deede Dawson + promised him half a sovereign if he solved it within a week. + </p> + <p> + “I mayn't manage it within a week,” said Dunn. “I don't say I will. But + sooner or later I shall find it out.” + </p> + <p> + During all this time he had seen little of Ella, who appeared to come very + little into the garden and who, when she did so, avoided him in a somewhat + marked manner. + </p> + <p> + Her mother, Mrs. Dawson, was a little faded woman, with timid eyes and a + frightened manner. Her health did not seem to be good, and Ella looked + after her very assiduously. That she went in deadly fear of her husband + was fairly evident, though he seemed to treat her always with great + consideration and kindness and even with a show of affection, to which at + times she responded and from which at other times she appeared to shrink + with inexplicable terror. + </p> + <p> + “She doesn't know,” Dunn said to himself. “But she suspects —something.” + </p> + <p> + Ella, he still watched with the same care and secrecy, and sometimes he + seemed to see her walking amidst the flowers as an angel of sweetness and + laughing innocence; and sometimes he saw her, as it were, with the shadow + of death around her beauty, and behind her gentle eyes and winning ways a + great and horrible abyss. + </p> + <p> + Of one thing he was certain—her mind was troubled and she was not at + ease; and it was plain, also, that she feared her smiling soft-spoken + stepfather. + </p> + <p> + As the days passed, too, Dunn grew convinced that she was watching him all + the time, even when she seemed most indifferent, as closely and as + intently as he watched her. + </p> + <p> + “All watching together,” Dunn thought grimly. “It would be simple enough, + I suppose, if one could hit on the key move, but that I suppose no one + knows but Deede Dawson himself. One thing, he can't very well be up to any + fresh mischief while he's lounging about here like this. I suppose he is + simply waiting his time.” + </p> + <p> + As for the chess problem, that baffled him entirely. He said as much to + Deede Dawson, who was very pleased, but would not tell him what the + solution was. + </p> + <p> + “No, no, find it out for yourself,” he said, chuckling with a merriment in + which, for once his cold eyes seemed to take full share. + </p> + <p> + “I'll go on trying,” said Dunn, and it grew to be quite a custom between + them for Deede Dawson to ask him how he was getting on with the problem; + and for Dunn to reply that he was still searching for the key move. + </p> + <p> + Several times little errands took Dunn into the village, where, discreetly + listening to the current gossip, he learned that Mr. John Clive of Ramsdon + Place had been injured in an attack made upon him by a gang of ferocious + poachers—at least a dozen in number—but was making good + progress towards recovery. + </p> + <p> + Also, he found that Mr. John Clive's visits to Bittermeads had not gone + unremarked, or wholly uncriticized, since there was a vague feeling that a + Mr. Clive of Ramsdon Place ought to make a better match. + </p> + <p> + “But a pretty face is all a young man thinks of,” said the more + experienced; and on the whole, it seemed to be felt that the open + attention Clive paid to Ella was at least easily to be understood. + </p> + <p> + Almost the first visit Clive paid, when he was allowed to venture out, was + to Bittermeads; and Dunn, returning one afternoon from an errand, found + him established on the lawn in the company of Ella, and looking little the + worse for his adventure. + </p> + <p> + He and Ella seemed to be talking very animatedly, and Dunn took the + opportunity to busy himself with some gardening work not far away, so that + he could watch their behaviour. + </p> + <p> + He told himself it was necessary he should know in what relation they + stood to each other, and as he heard them chatting and laughing together + with great apparent friendliness and enjoyment, he remembered with + considerable satisfaction how he had already broken one rib of Clive's, + and he wished very much for an opportunity to break another. + </p> + <p> + For, without knowing why, he was beginning to conceive an intense dislike + for Clive; and, also, it did not seem to him quite good taste for Ella to + sit and chat and laugh with him so readily. + </p> + <p> + “But we were told,” he caught a stray remark of Ella's, “that it was a + gang of at least a dozen that attacked you.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Clive reluctantly. “No, I think there was only one. But he + had a grip like a bear.” + </p> + <p> + “He must have been very strong,” remarked Ella thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “I would give fifty pounds to meet him again, and have it out in the + light, when one could see what one was doing,” declared Clive with great + vigour. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you would, would you?” muttered Dunn to himself. “Well, one of these + days I may claim that fifty.” + </p> + <p> + He looked round at Clive as he thought this, and Clive noticed him, and + said: + </p> + <p> + “Is that a new man you've got there Miss Cayley? Doesn't he rather want a + shave? Where on earth did Mr. Dawson pick him up?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he came here with the very best testimonials, and father engaged him + on the spot,” answered Ella, touching her wrists thoughtfully. “He + certainly is not very handsome, but then that doesn't matter, does it?” + </p> + <p> + She spoke more loudly than usual, and Dunn was certain she did so in order + that he might hear what she said. So he had no scruple in lingering on + pretence of being busy with a rose bush, and heard Clive say: + </p> + <p> + “Well, if he were one of my chaps, I should tell him to put the lawn-mower + over his own face.” + </p> + <p> + Ella laughed amusedly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what an idea, Mr. Clive,” she cried, and Dunn thought to himself: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, one day I shall very certainly claim that fifty pounds.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. AN AVOWAL + </h2> + <p> + When Clive had gone that afternoon, Ella, who had accompanied him as far + as the gate, and had from thence waved him a farewell, came back to the + spot where Dunn was working. + </p> + <p> + She stood still, watching him, and he looked up at her and then went on + with his work without speaking, for now, as always, the appalling thought + was perpetually in his mind: “Must she not have known what it was she had + with her in the car when she went driving that night?” + </p> + <p> + After a little, she turned away, as if disappointed that he took no notice + of her presence. + </p> + <p> + At once he raised himself from the task he had been bending over, and + stood moodily watching the slim, graceful figure, about which hung such + clouds of doubt and dread, and she, turning around suddenly, as if she + actually felt the impact of his gaze, saw him, and saw the strange + expression in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you look at me like that?” she asked quickly, her soft and gentle + tones a little shrill, as though swift fear had come upon her. + </p> + <p> + “Like what?” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you know,” she cried passionately. “Am I to be the next?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + He started, and looked at her wonderingly, asking himself if these words + of hers bore the grim meaning that his mind instantly gave them. + </p> + <p> + Was it possible that if she did know something of what was going on in + this quiet country house, during these peaceful autumn days, she knew it + not as willing accomplice, but as a helpless, destined victim who saw no + way of escape. + </p> + <p> + As if she feared she had said too much, she turned and began to walk away. + </p> + <p> + At once he followed. + </p> + <p> + “Stop one moment,” he exclaimed. “Miss Cayley.” + </p> + <p> + She obeyed, turning quickly to face him. They were both very pale, and + both were under the influence of strong excitement. But between them there + hung a thick cloud of doubt and dread that neither could penetrate. + </p> + <p> + All at once Dunn, unable to control himself longer, burst out with that + question which for so long had hovered on his lips. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know,” he said, “do you know what you took away with you in the + car that night I came here?” + </p> + <p> + “The packing-case, you meant,” she asked. “Of course I do; I helped to get + it ready—what's the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” he muttered, though indeed he had staggered as beneath some + sudden and violent blow. “Oh—did you?” he said, with an effort. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” she answered. “Now I've answered your question, will you + answer me one? Why did you tell us your name was Charley Wright?” + </p> + <p> + “I knew a man of that name once,” he answered. “He's dead now.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought perhaps,” she said slowly and quite calmly, “that it was + because you had seen the name written on a photograph in my room.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it wasn't that,” he answered gravely, and his doubts that for a + moment had seemed so terribly confirmed, now came back again, for though + she had said that she knew of the contents of the packing-case, yet, if + that were really so, how was it conceivable that she should speak of such + a thing so calmly? + </p> + <p> + And yet again, if she could do it, perhaps also she could talk of it + without emotion. Once more there was fear in his eyes as he watched her, + and her own were troubled and doubtful. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you have all that hair on your face?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Well, why shouldn't I?” he retorted. “It saves trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “Does it?” she said. “Do you know what it looks like—like a + disguise?” + </p> + <p> + “A disguise?” he repeated. “Why should I want a disguise?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think I'm quite a fool because I'm a woman?” she asked + impatiently. “Do you suppose I couldn't see very well when you came that + night that you were not an ordinary burglar? You had some reason of your + own for breaking into this house. What was it?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you,” he answered, “if you'll tell me truly what was in that + packing-case?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, now I understand,” she cried excitedly. “It was to find that out you + came—and then Mr. Dawson made you help us get it away. That was + splendid.” + </p> + <p> + He did not speak, for once more a kind of horror held him dumb, as it + seemed to him that she really—knew. + </p> + <p> + She saw the mingled horror and bewilderment in his eyes, and she laughed + lightly as though that amused her. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know,” she said, “I believe I guessed as much from the first, but + I'm afraid Mr. Dawson was too clever for you—as he is for most + people. Only then,” she added, wrinkling her brows as though a new point + puzzled her, “why are you staying here like this?” + </p> + <p> + “Can't you guess that too?” he asked hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said, shaking her head with a frankly puzzled air. “No, I can't. + That's puzzled me all the time. Do you know—I think you ought to + shave?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “A beard makes a good disguise,” she answered, “so good it's hardly fair + for you to have it when I can't.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you need it less,” he answered bitterly, “or perhaps no disguise + could be so effective as the one you have already.” + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Bright eyes, a pretty face, a clear complexion,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + He spoke with an extreme energy and bitterness that she did not in the + least understand, and that quite took away from the words any suspicion of + intentional rudeness. + </p> + <p> + “If I have all that, I suppose it's natural and not a disguise,” she + remarked. + </p> + <p> + “My beard is natural too,” he retorted. + </p> + <p> + “All the same, I wish you would cut it off,” she answered. “I should like + to see what you look like.” + </p> + <p> + She turned and walked away, and the more Dunn thought over this + conversation, the less he felt he understood it. + </p> + <p> + What had she meant by that strange start and look she had given him when + she had asked if she were to be the next? And when she asserted so + confidently that she knew what was in the packing-case, was that true, or + was she speaking under some mistaken impression, or had she wished to + deceive him? + </p> + <p> + The more he thought, the more disturbed he felt, and every hour that + passed he seemed to feel more and more strongly the influence of her + gracious beauty, the horror of his suspicions of her. + </p> + <p> + The next day Clive came again, and again Ella seemed very pleased to see + him, and again Dunn, hanging about in their vicinity, watched gloomily + their friendly intercourse. + </p> + <p> + That Clive was in love with Ella seemed fairly certain; at any rate, he + showed himself strongly attracted by her, and very eager for her company. + </p> + <p> + How she felt was more doubtful, though she made no concealment of the fact + that she liked to see him, and found pleasure in having him there. Dunn, + moving about near at hand, was aware of an odd impression that she knew he + was watching them, and that she wished him to do so for several times he + saw her glance in his direction. + </p> + <p> + He could always move with a most extraordinary lightness of foot, so that, + big and clumsy as he seemed in build, he could easily go unheard and even + unseen, and John Clive seemed to have little idea that he remained so + persistently near at hand. + </p> + <p> + This gift or power of Dunn's he had acquired in far-off lands, where life + may easily depend on the snapping of a twig or the right interpretation of + a trampled grass-blade, and he was using it now, almost unconsciously, so + as to make his presence near Ella and Clive as unobtrusive as possible, + when his keen eye caught sight of a bush, of which leaves and branches + were moving against the wind. + </p> + <p> + For that he knew there could be but one explanation, and when he walked + round, so as to get behind this bush, he was not surprised to see Deede + Dawson crouching there, his eyes very intent and eager, his unsmiling lips + drawn back to show his white teeth in a threatening grin or snarl. + </p> + <p> + Near by him was his little chess-board and men, and as Dunn came up behind + he looked round quickly and saw him. + </p> + <p> + For a moment his eyes were deadly and his hand dropped to his hip-pocket, + where Dunn had reason to believe he carried a formidable little automatic + pistol. + </p> + <p> + But almost at once his expression changed, and with a gesture he invited + Dunn to crouch down at his side. For a little they remained like this, and + then Deede Dawson moved cautiously away, signing to Dunn to follow him. + </p> + <p> + When they were at a safe distance he turned to Dunn and said + </p> + <p> + “Is he serious, do you think, or is he playing with her? I'll make him pay + for it if he is.” + </p> + <p> + “How should I know?” answered Dunn, quite certain it was no such anxiety + as this that had set Deede Dawson watching them so carefully. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson seemed to feel that the explanation he had offered was a + little crude, and he made no attempt to enlarge on it. + </p> + <p> + With a complete change of manner, with his old smile on his lips and his + eyes as dark and unsmiling as ever, he said, + </p> + <p> + “Pretty girl, Ella—isn't she?” + </p> + <p> + “She is more than pretty, she is beautiful,” Dunn answered with an + emphasis that made Deede Dawson look at him sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Think so?” he said, and gave his peculiar laugh that had so little mirth + in it. “Well, you're right, she is. He'll be a lucky man that gets her—and + she's to be had, you know. But I'll tell you one thing, it won't be John + Clive.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought it rather looked,” observed Dunn, “as if Miss Cayley might mean—” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson interrupted with a quick jerk of his head. + </p> + <p> + “Never mind what she means, it'll be what I mean,” he declared. “I am + boss; and what's more, she knows it. I believe in a man being master in + his own family. Don't you?” + </p> + <p> + “If he can be,” retorted Dunn. “But still, a girl naturally—” + </p> + <p> + “Naturally nothing,” Deede Dawson interrupted again. “I tell you what I + want for her, a man I can trust—trust—that's the great thing. + Some one I can trust.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded at Dunn as he said this and then walked off, and Dunn felt very + puzzled as he, too, turned away. + </p> + <p> + “Was he offering her to me?” he asked himself. “It almost sounded like it. + If so, it must mean there's something he wants from me pretty bad. She's + beautiful enough to turn any man's head—but did she know about poor + Charlie's murder?—help in it, perhaps?—as she said she did + with the packing-case.” + </p> + <p> + He paused, and all his body was shaken by strong and fierce emotion. + </p> + <p> + “God help me,” he groaned. “I believe I would marry her tomorrow if I + could, innocent or guilty.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. INVISIBLE WRITING + </h2> + <p> + It was the next day that there arrived by the morning post a letter for + Dunn. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw it; and he did not + hand it on until he had made himself master of its contents, though that + did not prove to be very enlightening or interesting. The note, in fact, + merely expressed gratification at the news that Dunn had secured steady + work, a somewhat weak hope that he would keep it, and a still fainter hope + that now perhaps he would be able to return the ten shillings borrowed, + apparently from the writer, at some time in the past. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Deede Dawson, in spite of the jejune nature of the communication, read + it very carefully and indeed even went so far as to examine the letter + through a powerful magnifying-glass. + </p> + <p> + But he made no discovery by the aid of that instrument, and he neglected, + for no man thinks of everything, to expose the letter to a gentle heat, + which was what Dunn did when, presently, he received it, apparently + unopened and with not the least sign to show that it had been tampered + with in any way whatever. + </p> + <p> + Gradually, however, as Dunn held it to the fire, there appeared between + the lines fresh writing, which he read very eagerly, and which ran: + </p> + <p> + “Jane Dunsmore, born 1830, married, against family wishes, John Clive and + had one son, John, killed early this year in a motor-car accident, leaving + one son, John, now of Ramsdon Place and third in line of succession to the + Wreste Abbey property.” + </p> + <p> + When he had read the message thus strangely and with such precaution + conveyed to him, Dunn burnt the letter and went that day about his work in + a very grave and thoughtful mood. + </p> + <p> + “I knew it couldn't be a mere coincidence,” he mused. “It wasn't possible. + I must manage to warn him, somehow; but, ten to one, he won't believe a + word, and I don't know that I blame him—I shouldn't in his place. + And he might go straight to Deede Dawson and ruin everything. I don't know + that it wouldn't be wiser and safer to say nothing for the present, till + I'm more sure of my ground—and then it may be too late.” + </p> + <p> + “Just possibly,” he thought, “the job Deede Dawson clearly thinks he can + make me useful in may have something to do with Clive. If so, I may be + able to see my way more clearly.” + </p> + <p> + As it happened, Clive was away for a few days on some business he had to + attend to, so that for the present Dunn thought he could afford to wait. + </p> + <p> + But during the week-end Clive returned, and on the Monday he came again to + Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + It was never very agreeable to Dunn to have to stand aloof while Clive was + laughing and chatting and drinking his tea with Ella and her mother, and + of those feelings of annoyance and vexation he made this time a somewhat + ostentatious show. + </p> + <p> + That his manner of sulky anger and resentment did not go unnoticed by + Deede Dawson he was very sure, but nothing was said at the time. + </p> + <p> + Next morning Deede Dawson called him while he was busy in the garage and + insisted on his trying to solve another chess problem. + </p> + <p> + “I haven't managed the other yet,” Dunn protested. “It's not too easy to + hit on these key-moves.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind try this one,” Deede Dawson said; and Ella, going out for a + morning stroll with her mother, saw them thus, poring together over the + travelling chess-board. + </p> + <p> + “They seem busy, don't they?” she remarked. “Father is making quite a + friend of that man.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't like him,” declared Mrs. Dawson, quite vigorously for her. “I'm + sure a man with such a lot of hair on his face can't be really nice, and I + thought he was inclined to be rude yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” agreed Ella. “Yes, he was. I think Mr. Clive was a little vexed, + though he took no notice, I suppose he couldn't very well.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't like the man at all,” Mrs. Dawson repeated. “All that hair, too. + Do you like him?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” Ella answered, and after she and her mother had returned + from their walk she took occasion to find Dunn in the garden and ask him + some trifling question or another. + </p> + <p> + “You are interested in chess?” she remarked, when he had answered her. + </p> + <p> + “All problems are interesting till one finds the answer to them,” he + replied. + </p> + <p> + “There's one I know of,” she retorted. “I wish you would solve for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me what it is,” he said quickly. “Will you?” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head slightly, but she was watching him very intently from + her clear, candid eyes, and now, as always, her nearness to him, the + infinite appeal he found in her every look and movement, the very + fragrance of her hair, bore him away beyond all purpose and intention. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me what it is,” he said again. “Won't you? Miss Cayley, if you and I + were to trust each other—it's not difficult to see there's something + troubling you.” + </p> + <p> + “Most people have some trouble or another,” she answered evasively. + </p> + <p> + He came a little nearer to her, and instead of the gruff, harsh tones he + habitually used, his voice was singularly pleasant and low as he said: + </p> + <p> + “People who are in trouble need help, Miss Cayley. Will you let me help + you?” + </p> + <p> + “You can't,” she answered, shaking her head. “No one could.” + </p> + <p> + “How can you tell that?” he asked eagerly. “Perhaps I know more already + than you think.” + </p> + <p> + “I daresay you do,” she said slowly. “I have thought that a long time. + Will you tell me one thing?—Are you his friend or not?” + </p> + <p> + There was no need for Dunn to ask to whom the pronoun she used referred. + </p> + <p> + “I am so much not his friend,” he answered as quietly and deliberately as + she had spoken. “That it's either his life or mine.” + </p> + <p> + At that she drew back in a startled way as though his words had gone + beyond her expectations. + </p> + <p> + “How do I know I can trust you?” she said presently, half to herself, half + to him. + </p> + <p> + “You can,” he said, and it was as though he flung the whole of his + enigmatic and vivid personality into those two words. + </p> + <p> + “You can,” he said again. “Absolutely.” + </p> + <p> + “I must think,” she muttered, pressing her hands to her head. “So much + depends—how can I trust you? Why should I—why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I'll trust you first,” he answered with a touch of exultation in + his manner. “Listen to me and I'll tell you everything. And that means I + put my life in your hands. Well, that's nothing; I would do that any time; + but other people's lives will be in your power, too—yes, and + everything I'm here for, everything. Now listen.” + </p> + <p> + “Not now,” she interrupted sharply. “He may be watching, listening—he + generally is.” Again there was no need between them to specify to whom the + pronoun referred. “Will you meet me tonight near the sweet-pea border—about + nine?” + </p> + <p> + She glided away as she spoke without waiting for him to answer, and as + soon as he was free from the magic of her presence, reaction came and he + was torn by a thousand doubts and fears and worse. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I'm mad, mad,” he groaned. “I've no right to tell what I said I + would, no right at all.” + </p> + <p> + And again there returned to him his vivid, dreadful memory of how she had + started on that midnight drive with her car so awfully laden. + </p> + <p> + And again there returned to him his old appalling doubt: + </p> + <p> + “Did she not know?” + </p> + <p> + And though he would willingly have left his life in her hands, he knew he + had no right to put that of others there, and yet it seemed to him he must + keep the appointment and the promise he had made. + </p> + <p> + About nine that evening, then, he made his way to the sweet-pea border, + though, as he went, he resolved that he would not tell her what he had + said he would. + </p> + <p> + Because he trusted his own strength so little when he was with her, he + confirmed this resolution by an oath he swore to himself: and even that he + was not certain would be a sure protection against the witchery she + wielded. + </p> + <p> + So it was with a mind doubtful and troubled more than it had ever been + since the beginning of these things that he came to the border where the + sweet-peas grew, and saw a dark shadow already close by them. + </p> + <p> + But when he came a little nearer he saw that it was not Ella who was there + but Deede Dawson and his first thought was that she had betrayed him. + </p> + <p> + “That you, Dunn?” Deede Dawson hailed him in his usual pleasant, friendly + manner. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Dunn answered warily, keeping himself ready for any eventuality. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it and offered one + to Dunn, who refused it abruptly. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson laughed at that in his peculiar, mirthless way. + </p> + <p> + “Am I being the third that's proverbially no company?” he asked. “Were you + expecting to find some one else here? I thought I saw a white frock vanish + just as I came up.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn made no answer, and Deede Dawson continued after a pause + </p> + <p> + “That's why I waited. You are being just a little bit rapid in this + affair, aren't you?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know why. You said something, didn't you?” muttered Dunn, + beginning to think that, after all, Deede Dawson's presence here was due + to accident—or rather to his unceasing and unfailing watchfulness, + and not to any treachery of Ella's. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I did, didn't I?” he agreed pleasantly. “But you are a working + gardener taken on out of charity to give you a chance and keep you out of + gaol, and you are looking a little high when you think of your master's + ward and daughter, aren't you?” + </p> + <p> + “There was a time when I shouldn't have thought so,” answered Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “We're talking of the present, my good man,” Deede Dawson said + impatiently. “If you want the girl you must win her. It can be done, but + it won't be easy.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me how,” said Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's going too fast and too far,” answered the other with his + mirthless laugh. “Now, there's Mr. John Clive—what about him?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll answer for him,” replied Dunn slowly and thickly. “I've put better + men than John Clive out of my way before today.” + </p> + <p> + “That's the way to talk,” cried Deede Dawson. “Dunn, dare you play a big + game for big stakes?” + </p> + <p> + “Try me,” said Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “If I showed you,” Deede Dawson's voice sank to a whisper, “if I showed + you a pretty girl for a wife—a fortune to win—what would you + say?” + </p> + <p> + “Try me,” said Dunn again, and then, making his voice as low and hoarse as + was Dunn's, he asked: + </p> + <p> + “Is it Clive?” + </p> + <p> + “Later—perhaps,” answered Deede Dawson. “There's some one else—first. + Are you ready?” + </p> + <p> + “Try me,” said Dunn for the third time, and as he spoke his quick ear + caught the faint sound of a retreating footstep, and he told himself that + Ella must have lingered near and had perhaps heard all they said. + </p> + <p> + “Try me,” he said once more, speaking more loudly and clearly this time. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + </h2> + <p> + Dunn went to his room that night with the feeling that a crisis was + approaching. And he wished very greatly that he knew how much Ella had + overheard of his talk with her stepfather, and what interpretation she had + put upon it. + </p> + <p> + He determined that in the morning he would take the very first opportunity + he could find of speaking to her. + </p> + <p> + But in the morning it appeared that Mrs. Dawson had had a bad night, and + was very unwell, and Ella hardly stirred from her side all day. + </p> + <p> + Even when Clive called in the afternoon she would not come down, but sent + instead a message begging to be excused because of her mother's + indisposition, and Dunn, from a secure spot in the garden, watched the + young man retire, looking very disconsolate. + </p> + <p> + This day, too, Dunn saw nothing of Deede Dawson, for that gentleman + immediately after breakfast disappeared without saying anything to + anybody, and by night had still not returned. + </p> + <p> + Dunn therefore was left entirely to himself, and to him the day seemed one + of the longest he had ever spent. + </p> + <p> + That Ella remained so persistently with her mother troubled him a good + deal, for he did not think such close seclusion on her part could be + really necessary. + </p> + <p> + He was inclined to fear that Ella had overheard enough of what had passed + between him and Deede Dawson to rouse her mistrust, and that she was + therefore deliberately keeping out of his way. + </p> + <p> + Then too, he was troubled in another fashion by Deede Dawson's absence, + for he was afraid it might mean that plans were being prepared, or + possibly action being taken, that might mature disastrously before he + himself was ready to act. + </p> + <p> + All day this feeling of unrest and apprehension continued, and at night + when he went upstairs to bed it was stronger than ever. He felt convinced + now that Ella was deliberately avoiding him. But then, if she distrusted + him, that must be because she feared he was on her stepfather's side, and + if it seemed to her that who was on his side was of necessity an object of + suspicion to herself, then there could be no such bond of dread and guilt + between them as any guilty knowledge on her part of Wright's death would + involve. + </p> + <p> + The substantial proof this exercise in logic appeared to afford of Ella's + innocence brought him much comfort, but did not lighten his sense of + apprehension and unrest, for he thought that in this situation in which he + found himself his doubts of Ella had merely been turned into doubts on + Ella's part of himself, and that the one was just as likely as the other + to end disastrously. + </p> + <p> + “Though I don't know what I can do,” he muttered as he stood in his attic, + “if I gain Deede Dawson's confidence I lose Ella's, and if I win Ella's, + Deede Dawson will at once suspect me.” + </p> + <p> + He went over to the window and looked out, supporting himself on his + elbows, and gazing moodily into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + As he stood there a faint sound came softly to his ear through the + stillness of the quiet night in which nothing stirred. + </p> + <p> + He listened, and heard it again. Beyond doubt some one was stirring in the + garden below, moving about there very cautiously and carefully, and at + once Dunn glided from the room and down the stairs with all that + extraordinary lightness of tread and agility of movement of which his + heavy body and clumsy-looking build gave so small promise. + </p> + <p> + He had not been living so many days in the house without having taken + certain precautions, of which one had been to secure for himself a swift + and silent egress whenever necessity might arise. + </p> + <p> + Keys to both the front and back doors were in his possession, and the + passage window on the ground floor he could at need lift bodily from its + frame, leaving ample room for passage either in or out. This was the + method of departure he chose now since he did not know but that the doors + might be watched. + </p> + <p> + Lifting the window down, he swung himself outside, replacing behind him + the window so that it appeared to be as firmly in position as ever, but + could be removed again almost instantly should need arise. + </p> + <p> + Once outside he listened again, and though at first everything was quiet, + presently he heard again a cautious step going to and fro at a little + distance. + </p> + <p> + Crouching in the shadow of the house, he listened intently, and soon was + able to assure himself that there was but one footstep and that he would + have only one individual to deal with. + </p> + <p> + “It won't be Deede Dawson's,” he thought to himself, “but it may very + likely be some one waiting for him to return. I must find out who—and + why.” + </p> + <p> + Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he seemed + to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of them, he moved + quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps he had listened to. + </p> + <p> + They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint + multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in the woods + and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men. + </p> + <p> + A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept forward + a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would not be safe to + venture further till he was more sure of his direction, and till some + fresh sound to guide him reached his ears. + </p> + <p> + He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he heard + something that surprised and perplexed him equally—a deep, + long-drawn sigh. + </p> + <p> + Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this could be who + came into another person's garden late at night to stand and sigh, and + what such a proceeding could mean. + </p> + <p> + Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after it a + low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but then caught + the name of Ella being whispered over and over again. + </p> + <p> + He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out + something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow had + hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form so tall + and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to. + </p> + <p> + “John Clive—what on earth—!” Dunn muttered, his bewilderment + increasing, and the next moment he understood and had some difficulty in + preventing himself from bursting out laughing as there reached him the + unmistakable sound of a kiss lightly blown through the air. + </p> + <p> + Clive was sending a kiss through the night towards Ella's room and his + nocturnal visit was nothing more than the whim of a love-sick youth. + </p> + <p> + With Dunn, his first amusement gave way almost at once to an extreme + annoyance. + </p> + <p> + For, in the first place, these proceedings seemed to him exceedingly + impertinent, for what possible right did Clive imagine he had to come + playing the fool like this, sighing in the dark and blowing kisses like a + baby to its mammy? + </p> + <p> + And secondly, unless he were greatly mistaken, John Clive might just as + sensibly and safely have dropped overboard from a ship in mid-Atlantic for + a swim as come to indulge his sentimentalities in the Bittermeads garden + at night. + </p> + <p> + “You silly ass!” he said in a voice that was very low, but very distinct + and very full of an extreme disgust and anger. + </p> + <p> + Clive fairly leaped in the air with his surprise, and turned and made a + sudden dash at the spot whence Dunn's voice had come, but where Dunn no + longer was. + </p> + <p> + “What the blazes—?” he began, spluttering in ineffectual rage. “You—you—!” + </p> + <p> + “You silly ass!” Dunn repeated, no less emphatically than before. + </p> + <p> + Clive made another rush that a somewhat prickly bush very effectually + stopped. + </p> + <p> + “You—who are you—where—what—how dare you?” he + gasped as he picked himself up and tried to disentangle himself from the + prickles. + </p> + <p> + “Don't make such a row,” said Dunn from a new direction. “Do you want to + raise the whole neighbourhood? Haven't you played the fool enough? If you + want to commit suicide, why can't you cut your throat quietly and decently + at home, instead of coming alone to the garden at Bittermeads at night?” + </p> + <p> + There was a note of sombre and intense conviction in his voice that + penetrated even the excited mind of the raging Clive. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” he asked, and then: + </p> +<p> + “Who are you?” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind who I am,” answered Dunn. “And I mean just what I say. You + might as well commit suicide out of hand as come fooling about here alone + at night.” + </p> + <p> + “You're crazy, you're talking rubbish!” Clive exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “I'm neither crazy nor talking rubbish,” answered Dunn. “But if you + persist in making such a row I shall take myself off and leave you to see + the thing through by yourself and get yourself knocked on the head any way + you like best.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm beginning to understand,” said Clive. “I suppose you're one of my + poaching friends—are you? Look here, if you know who it was who + attacked me the other night you can earn fifty pounds any time you like.” + </p> + <p> + “Your poaching friends, as you call them,” answered Dunn, “are most likely + only anxious to keep out of your way. This has nothing to do with them.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, come nearer and let me see you,” Clive said. “You needn't be + afraid. You can't expect me to take any notice of some one I can't see, + talking rubbish in the dark.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't much care whether you take any notice or not,” answered Dunn. + “You can go your own silly way if you like, it's nothing to me. I've + warned you, and if you care to listen I'll make my warning a little + clearer. And one thing I will tell you—one man already has left this + house hidden in a packing-case with a bullet through his brain, and I will + ask you a question: 'How did your father die?'” + </p> + <p> + “He was killed in a motor-car accident,” answered Clive hesitatingly, as + though not certain whether to continue this strange and puzzling + conversation or break it off. + </p> + <p> + “There are many accidents,” said Dunn. “And that may have been one, for + all I know, or it may not. Well, I've warned you. I had to do that. You'll + probably go on acting like a fool and believing that nowadays murders + don't happen, but if you're wise, you'll go home to bed and run no more + silly risks.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I'm not going to pay the least attention,” began Clive, when + Dunn interrupted him sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! hush!” he said sharply. “Crouch down: don't make a sound, don't + stir or move. Hush!” + </p> + <p> + For Dunn's sharp ear had caught the sound of approaching footsteps that + were drawing quickly nearer, and almost instantly he guessed who it would + be, for there were few pedestrians who came along that lonely road so late + at night. + </p> + <p> + There were two of them apparently, and at the gate of Bittermeads they + halted. + </p> + <p> + “Well, good night,” said then a voice both Dunn and Clive knew at once for + Deede Dawson's. “That was a pretty check by the knight I showed you, + wasn't it?” + </p> + <p> + A thin, high, somewhat peculiar voice cursed Deede Dawson, chess, and the + pretty mate by the knight very comprehensively. + </p> + <p> + “It's young Clive that worries me,” said the voice when it had finished + these expressions of disapproval. + </p> + <p> + “No need,” answered Deede Dawson's voice with that strange mirthless laugh + of his. “No need at all; before the week's out he'll trouble no one any + more.” + </p> + <p> + When he heard this, Clive would have betrayed himself by some startled + movement or angry exclamation had not Dunn's heavy hand upon his shoulder + held him down with a grave and steady pressure there was no disregarding. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson and his unknown companion went on towards the house, and + admitted themselves, and as the door closed behind them Clive swung round + sharply in the darkness towards Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “What's it mean?” he muttered in the bewildered and slightly-pathetic + voice of a child at once frightened and puzzled. “What for? Why should any + one—?” + </p> + <p> + “It's a long story,” began Dunn, and paused. + </p> + <p> + He saw that the unexpected confirmation of his warning Clive had thus + received from Deede Dawson's own lips had rendered his task of convincing + Clive immensely more easy. + </p> + <p> + What he had wished to say had now at least a certainty of being listened + to, a probability of being believed, and there was at any rate, he + supposed, no longer the danger he had before dreaded of Clive's going + straight with the whole story to Deede Dawson in arrogant disbelief of a + word of it. + </p> + <p> + But he still distrusted Clive's discretion, and feared some rash and hasty + action that might ruin all his plans, and allow Deede Dawson time to + escape. + </p> + <p> + Besides he felt that the immediate task before him was to find out who + Deede Dawson's new companion was, and, if possible, overhear anything they + might have to say to each other. + </p> + <p> + That, and the discovery of the new-comer's identity, might prove to be of + the utmost importance. + </p> + <p> + “I can't explain now,” he said hurriedly. “I'll see you tomorrow sometime. + Don't do anything till you hear from me. Your life may depend on it—and + other people's lives that matter more.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me who you are first,” Clive said quickly, incautiously raising his + voice. “I can manage to take care of myself all right, I think, but I want + to know who you are.” + </p> + <p> + “H-ssh!” muttered Dunn. “Not so loud.” + </p> + <p> + “There was a fellow made an attack on me one night a little while ago,” + Clive went on unheedingly. “You remind me of him somehow. I don't think I + trust you, my man. I think you had better come along to the police with + me.” + </p> + <p> + But Dunn's sharp ears had caught the sound of the house door opening + cautiously, and he guessed that Deede Dawson had taken the alarm and was + creeping out to see who invaded so late at night the privacy of his + garden. + </p> + <p> + “Clear out quick! Quiet! If you want to go on living. I'll stop them from + following if I can. If you make the least noise you're done for.” + </p> + <p> + Most likely the man they had seen in his company would be with him, and + both of them would be armed. Neither Clive nor Dunn had a weapon, and Dunn + saw the danger of the position and took the only course available. + </p> + <p> + “Go,” he whispered fiercely into Clive's ear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. THE SOUND OF A SHOT + </h2> + <p> + He melted away into the darkness as he spoke, and through the night he + slipped, one shadow more amongst many, from tree to bush, from bush to + tree. Across a patch of open grass he crawled on his hands and knees; and + once lay flat on his face when against the skyline he saw a figure he was + sure was Deede Dawson's creep by a yard or two on his right hand. + </p> + <p> + On his left another shadow showed, distinguishable in the night only + because it moved. + </p> + <p> + In a moment both shadows were gone, secret and deadly in the dark, and + Dunn was very sure that Clive's life and his own both hung upon a slender + chance, for if either of them was discovered the leaping bullet would do + the rest. + </p> + <p> + It would be safe and easy—suspected burglars in a garden at midnight—nothing + could be said. He lay very still with his face to the dewy sod, and all + the night seemed full to him of searching footsteps and of a swift and + murderous going to and fro. + </p> + <p> + He heard distinctly from the road a sudden, muffled sound as Clive in the + darkness blunderingly missed his footing and fell upon one knee. + </p> + <p> + “That's finished him,” Dunn thought grimly, his ears straining for the + sharp pistol report that would tell Clive's tale was done, and then he was + aware of a cat, a favourite of Ella's and often petted by himself, that + was crouching near by under a tree, most likely much puzzled and alarmed + by this sudden irruption of hurrying men into its domain. Instantly Dunn + saw his chance, and seizing the animal, lifted it and threw it in the + direction where he guessed Deede Dawson to be. + </p> + <p> + His guess was good and fortune served him well, for the tabby flying + caterwauling through the air alighted almost exactly in front of Deede + Dawson on top of a small bush. For a moment it hung there, quite unhurt, + but very frightened, and emitted a yell, then fled. + </p> + <p> + In the quietness the tumult of its scrambling flight sounded astonishingly + loud, so that it sounded as through a miniature avalanche had been let + loose in the garden. + </p> + <p> + “Only cats,” Deede Dawson exclaimed disgustedly, and from behind, nearer + the house, Dunn called: + </p> + <p> + “Who's there? What is it? What's the matter? Is it Mr. Dawson? Is anything + wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “I think there is,” said Deede Dawson softly. “I think, perhaps, there is. + What are you doing out here at this time of night, Charley Wright?” + </p> + <p> + “I heard a noise and came down to see what it was,” answered Dunn. “There + was a light in the breakfast-room, but I didn't see any one, and the front + door was open so I came out here. Is anything wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I want to know,” said Deede Dawson. “Come back to the house + with me. If any one is about, he can just take himself off.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke the last sentence loudly, and Dunn took it as a veiled + instruction to his companion to depart. + </p> + <p> + He realized that if he had saved Clive he had done so at the cost of + missing the best opportunity that had yet come his way of obtaining very + important, and, perhaps, decisive information. + </p> + <p> + To have discovered the identity of this stranger who had come visiting + Deede Dawson might have meant much, and he told himself angrily that + Clive's safety had certainly not been worth purchasing at the cost of such + a lost chance, though he supposed that was a point on which Clive himself + might possibly entertain a different opinion. + </p> + <p> + But now there was nothing for it but to go quietly back to the house, for + clearly Deede Dawson's suspicions were aroused and he had his revolver + ready in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose it was only cats all the time,” he observed, with apparent + unconcern. “But at first I made sure there were no burglars in the house.” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose,” suggested Deede Dawson. “You think one burglar's enough + in a household.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't mean to have any one else mucking around,” growled Dunn in + answer. + </p> + <p> + “Very admirable sentiments,” said Deede Dawson and asked several more + questions that showed he still entertained some suspicion of Dunn, and was + not altogether satisfied that his appearance in the garden was quite + innocent, or that the noise heard there was due solely to cats. + </p> + <p> + Dunn answered as best he could, and Deede Dawson listened and smiled, and + smiled again, and watched him from eyes that did not smile at all. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well,” Deede Dawson said at last, with a yawn. “Anyhow, it's all + right now. You had better get along back to bed, and I'll lock up.” He + accompanied Dunn into the hall and watched him ascend the stairs, and as + Dunn went slowly up them he felt by no means sure that soon a bullet would + not come questing after him, searching for heart or brain. + </p> + <p> + For he was sure that Deede Dawson still suspected him, and he knew Deede + Dawson to be very sudden and swift in action. But nothing happened, he + reached the broad, first landing in safety, and he was about to go on up + to his attic when he beard a door at the end of the passage open and saw + Ella appear in her dressing-gown. + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” she asked, in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “It's all right,” he answered. “There was a noise in the garden, and I + came down to see what it was, but it's only cats.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, is that all?” she said distrustfully. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he answered, in a lower voice still, he said: + </p> + <p> + “Will you tell me something? Do you know any one who talks in a very + peculiar shrill high voice?” + </p> + <p> + She did not answer, and, after a moment's hesitation, went back into her + room and closed the door behind her. + </p> + <p> + He went on up to his attic with the feeling that she could have answered + if she had wished to, and lay down in a troubled and dispirited mood. + </p> + <p> + For he was sure now that Ella mistrusted him and would give him no + assistance, and that weighed upon him greatly, as did also his conviction + that what it behoved him above all else to know—the identity of the + man who, in this affair, stood behind Deede Dawson and made use of his + fierce and fatal energies—he had had it in his power to discover and + had failed to make use of the opportunity. + </p> + <p> + “I would rather know that,” he said to himself, “than save a dozen Clives + ten times over.” Though again it occurred to him that on this point Clive + might hold another opinion. “If he hadn't made such a blundering row I + might have got to know who Deede Dawson's visitor was. I must try to get a + word with Clive tomorrow by hook or crook, though I daresay Deede Dawson + will be very much on the lookout.” + </p> + <p> + However, next morning Deede Dawson not only made no reference to the + events of the night, but had out the car and went off immediately after + breakfast without saying when he would be back. + </p> + <p> + As soon after his departure as possible, Dunn also set out and took his + way through the woods towards Ramsdon Place on the look-out for an + opportunity to speak to Clive unobserved. + </p> + <p> + He thought it most likely that Clive would be drawn towards the vicinity + of Bittermeads by the double fascination of curiosity and fear, and he + supposed that if he waited and watched in the woods he would be sure + presently to see him. + </p> + <p> + But though he remained for long hidden at a spot whence he could command + the road to Bittermeads from Ramsdon Place, he saw nothing at all of + Clive, and the sunny lazy morning was well advanced when he was startled + by the sound of a gun shot some distance away. + </p> + <p> + “A keeper shooting rabbits, I suppose,” he thought, looking round just in + time to see Ella running through the wood from the direction whence the + sound of the shot had seemed to come, and then vanish again with a quick + look behind her into the heart of a close-growing spinney. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. IN THE WOOD + </h2> + <p> + There had been an air of haste, almost of furtiveness, about this swift + appearance and more swift vanishing of Ella, that made Dunn ask himself + uneasily what errand she could have been on. + </p> + <p> + He hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see her return again, or that + there would be some other development, but he heard and saw nothing. + </p> + <p> + He caught no further glimpse of Ella, whom the green depths of the spinney + hid well; and he heard no more shots. + </p> + <p> + After a little, he left the spot where he had been waiting and went across + to where he had seen her. + </p> + <p> + The exact spot where she had entered the spinney was marked, for she had + broken the branch of a young tree in brushing quickly by it, and a bramble + she had trodden on had not yet lifted itself from the earth to which she + had pressed it. + </p> + <p> + By other signs like these, plain enough and easy to read—for she had + hurried on in great haste and without care, almost, indeed, as one who + fled from some great danger or from some dreadful sight, and who had no + thought to spare save for flight alone—he followed the way she had + gone till it took him to a beaten public path that almost at once led over + a stile to the high road which passed in front of Bittermeads. Along this + beaten path, trodden by many, Ella's light foot had left no perceptible + mark, and Dunn made no attempt to track her further, since it seemed + certain that she had been simply hurrying back home. + </p> + <p> + “She was badly frightened over something or another,” he said to himself. + “She never stopped once, she went as straight and quick as she could. I + wonder what upset her like that?” + </p> + <p> + He went back the way he had come, and at the spot where he had seen her + enter the spinney he set to work to pick up her trail in the direction + whence she had appeared, for he thought that if he followed it he might + find out what had been the cause of her evident alarm. + </p> + <p> + The ground was much more open here, and the trail correspondingly more + difficult to follow, for often there was little but a trodden blade of + grass to show where she had passed; and sometimes, where the ground was + bare and hard, there was no visible sign left at all. + </p> + <p> + Once or twice at such places he was totally at fault, but by casting round + in a wide circle like a dog scenting his prey he was able to pick up her + tracks again. + </p> + <p> + They seemed to lead right into the depths of the wood, through lonely + spots that only the keepers knew, and where others seldom came. + </p> + <p> + But that he was on the right trail he presently had proof, for on the bank + of a lovely and hidden dell he picked up a tiny embroidered handkerchief + with the initials “E. C.” worked in one corner. + </p> + <p> + It had evidently been lying there only a very short time, for it was + perfectly clean and fresh, and he picked it up and held it for a moment in + his hands, smiling to himself with pleasure at its daintiness and + smallness, and yet still uneasily wondering why she had come here, and why + she had fled away again so quickly. + </p> + <p> + The morning was very fine and calm, though in the west heavy clouds were + gathering and seemed to promise rain soon. But overhead the sun shone + brightly, the air was calm and warm, and the little dell on whose verge he + stood a very pretty and pleasant place. + </p> + <p> + A small stream wandered through it, the grass that carpeted it was green + and soft, near by a great oak stood alone and spread its majestic branches + far out on every side to give cool shelter from the summer heat. + </p> + <p> + The thought occurred to Dunn that this was just such a pretty and secluded + spot as two lovers might choose to exchange their vows in, and the thought + stung him intolerably as he wondered whether it was for such a reason that + Ella had come here. + </p> + <p> + But if so, why had she fled away again in such strange haste? + </p> + <p> + He walked on slowly for a yard or two, not now attempting to follow Ella's + trail, for he had the impression that this was her destination, and that + she had gone no further than here. + </p> + <p> + All at once he caught sight of the form of a man lying hidden in the long + grass that nearly covered him from view just where the far-spreading + branches of the great oak ceased to give their shade. + </p> + <p> + At first Dunn thought he was sleeping, and he was just about to call out + to him when something in the rigidity of the man's position and his utter + stillness struck him unpleasantly. + </p> + <p> + He went quickly to the man's side, and the face of dead John Clive, supine + and still, stared up at him from unseeing eyes. + </p> + <p> + He had been killed by a charge of small shot fired at such close quarters + that his breast was shot nearly in two and his clothing and flesh charred + by the burning powder. + </p> + <p> + But Dunn, standing staring down at the dead man, saw not him, but Ella. + Ella fleeing away silently and furtively through the trees as from some + sight or scene of guilt and terror. + </p> + <p> + He stooped closer over the dead man. Death had been instantaneous. Of + course there could be no doubt. From one hand a piece of folded paper had + fallen. + </p> + <p> + Dunn picked it up, and saw that there was writing on it, and he read it + over slowly. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Dear Mr. Clive,—Can you meet me as before by the oak + tomorrow at eleven? There is something I very much want to + say to you.—Yours sincerely, + “ELLA CAYLEY.” + </pre> + <p> + Was that, then, the lure which had brought John Clive to meet his death? + Was this the bait that had made him disregard the warnings he had + received, and come alone to so quiet and solitary a spot? + </p> + <p> + Dunn had a moment of quick envy of him; he lay so quiet and still in the + warm sunshine, with nothing to trouble or distress him any more for ever. + </p> + <p> + Then, stumblingly and heavily, Dunn turned an went away, and his eyes were + very hard, his bearded face set like iron. + </p> + <p> + Like a man in a dream, or one obsessed by some purpose before which all + other things faded into nothingness, he went his way, the way Ella had + taken in her flight—through the wood, through the spinney to the + public foot-path, and then out on the road that led to Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + When he entered the garden there, he saw Ella sitting quietly on a + deck-chair close to her mother, quietly busy with some fancy work. + </p> + <p> + He could not believe it; he stood watching in bewilderment, appalled and + wondering, watching her white hands flashing busily to and fro, hearing + the soft murmur of her voice as now and then she addressed some remark to + her mother, who nodded drowsily in the sunshine over a book open on her + knees. + </p> + <p> + Ella was dressed all in white; she had flung aside her hat, and the quiet + breeze played in her fair hair, and stirred gently a stray curl that had + escaped across her broad low brow. + </p> + <p> + The picture was one of gentleness and peace and an innocence that thought + no wrong, and yet with his own eyes he had seen her not an hour ago + fleeing with hurried steps and fearful looks from the spot where lay a + murdered man. + </p> + <p> + Somewhat unsteadily, for he felt so little master of himself, it was as + though he had no longer even control of his own limbs, Dunn stumbled + forward, and Ella looked up and saw him, and saw also that he was looking + at her very strangely. + </p> + <p> + She rose and came towards him, her needlework still in her hands. + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” she said in a voice of some concern. “Are you ill?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” he answered. “No. I've been looking for Mr. Clive.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you?” she said, a little surprised apparently, but in no way + flustered or disturbed. “Did you find him?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not answer, for indeed he could not, and she said again: + </p> + <p> + “Did you find him?” + </p> + <p> + Still he made no answer, for it seemed to him those four words were the + most awful that any one had ever uttered since the beginning of the world. + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” she said again. “Is anything the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, no,” he said, and he gave himself a little shake like a man + wakening from deep sleep and trying to remember where he was. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “I found Mr. Clive,” he said hardly and abruptly. And he repeated again: + “Yes, I found him.” + </p> + <p> + They remained standing close together and facing each other, and he saw + her as through a veil of red, and it was as though a red mist enveloped + her, and where her shadow lay the earth was red, he thought, and where she + put her foot it seemed to him red tracks remained, and never before had he + understood how utterly he loved her and must love her, now and for + evermore. + </p> + <p> + But he uttered no sound and made no movement, only stood very still, + thinking to himself how dreadful it was that he loved her so greatly. + </p> + <p> + She was not paying him, any attention now. A rose bush was near by, and + she picked one of the flowers, and arranged it carefully at her waist. + </p> + <p> + She said, still looking at him: + </p> + <p> + “Do you know—I wish you would shave yourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + “I should like to see you,” she answered. “I think I have a curiosity to + see you.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think you could do that well enough,” he said in the same low, + mumbled tones. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she answered. “I can only see some very untidy hair and a pair of + eyes—not very nice eyes, rather frightening eyes. I should like to + see the rest of your face some day so as to know what it's like.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you shall—some day,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Is that a threat?” she asked. “It sounded like one.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + She laughed lightly and turned away. + </p> + <p> + “You make me very curious,” she said. “But then, you've always done that.” + </p> + <p> + She went back to her seat by her mother, and he walked on moodily to the + house. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dawson said to Ella: + </p> + <p> + “How can you talk to that man, my dear? I think he looks perfectly + dreadful—hardly like a human being.” + </p> + <p> + “I was just telling him he ought to shave himself,” said Ella. “I told him + I should like to know what he was really like.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall ask father,” said Mrs. Dawson sternly, “to make it a condition of + his employment here.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. A DECLARATION + </h2> + <p> + Dunn knew very well that he ought to give immediate information to the + authorities of what had happened. + </p> + <p> + But he did not. He told himself that nothing could help poor John Clive, + and that any precipitate action on his part might still fatally compromise + his plans, which were now so near completion. + </p> + <p> + But his real reason was that he knew that if he came forward he would be + very closely questioned, and sooner or later forced to tell the things he + knew so terribly involving Ella. + </p> + <p> + And he knew that to surrender her to the police and proclaim her to the + world as guilty of such things were tasks beyond his strength; though, to + himself, with a touch of wildness in his thoughts, he said that no proved + and certain guilt should go unpunished even though his own hand—It + was a train of ideas he did not pursue. + </p> + <p> + “Charley Wright first and now John Clive,” he said to himself. “But the + end is not yet.” + </p> + <p> + Again he would not let his thoughts go on but checked them abruptly. + </p> + <p> + In this dark and troubled mood he went out to busy himself with the + garden, and all the time he worked he watched with a sort of vertigo of + horror where Ella sat in the sunshine by her mother's side, her white + hands moving nimbly to and fro upon her needlework. + </p> + <p> + It was not long, however, before the tragedy of the wood was discovered, + for Clive had been seen to go in that direction, and when he did not + return a search was made that was soon successful. + </p> + <p> + The news was brought to Bittermeads towards evening by a tradesman's boy, + who came up from the village to bring something that had been ordered from + there. + </p> + <p> + “Have you heard?” he said to Dunn excitedly. “Mr. Clive's been shot dead + by poachers.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh—by poachers?” repeated Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, poachers,” the boy answered, and went on excitedly to tell his tale + with many, and generally very inaccurate, details. + </p> + <p> + But that the crime had been discovered and instantly set down to poachers + was at least certain, and Dunn realized at once that the adoption of this + simple and apparently plausible theory would put an end to all really + careful investigation of the circumstances and make the discovery of the + truth highly improbable. + </p> + <p> + For the idea that the murder was the work of poachers would, when once + adopted, fill the minds of the police and of every one else, and no + suspicion would be directed elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + By the tremendous relief he felt, Dunn understood how heavy had been the + burden of fear and apprehension that till now had oppressed him. + </p> + <p> + If he had not found that handkerchief—if he had not secured that + letter—why, by now the police would be at Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he thought. “No one who is guilty shall escape through + me.” + </p> + <p> + But what this phrase meant, and what he intended to do, he would not + permit himself to think out clearly or try to understand. + </p> + <p> + The boy, having told his story, hurried off to spread the news elsewhere + to more appreciative ears, for, he thought disgustedly, it might have been + just nothing at all for all the interest the gardener at Bittermeads had + shown. + </p> + <p> + As soon as he was gone, Dunn went across to the house, and going up to the + window of the drawing-room where Ella and her mother were having tea, he + tapped on the pane. + </p> + <p> + Ella looked up and saw him, and came at once to open the window, while + from behind Mrs. Dawson frowned in severe disapproval of what she + considered a great liberty. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Clive has been shot,” Dunn said abruptly. “They say poachers did it. + He was killed instantly.” + </p> + <p> + Ella did not seem at first to understand. She looked puzzled and + bewildered, and did not seem to grasp the full import of his words. + </p> + <p> + “What—what do you say?” she asked. “Mr. Clive—Who's killed?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn thought to himself that her acting was the most wonderful thing he + had ever seen. + </p> + <p> + It was extraordinary that she should be able to make that grey pallor come + over her cheeks as though the meaning of what he said were only now + entering her mind; wonderful that she should be able so well to give the + idea of a great horror and a great doubt coming slowly into her startled + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Clive?” she said again. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, he's been killed,” Dunn said. “By poachers, apparently.” + </p> + <p> + “What is that? What is that man saying?” shrilled Mrs. Dawson from behind. + “Mr. Clive—John—why, he was here yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn turned his back and walked away. He heard Ella call after him, but he + would not look back because he feared what he might do if he obeyed her + call. + </p> + <p> + With an odd buzzing in his ears, with the blood throbbing through his + brain as though something must soon break there, he walked blindly on, and + as he came to the gate of Bittermeads he saw a motor-car coming up the + road. + </p> + <p> + It was Deede Dawson's car, and he was driving it, and by his side sat a + sulkily-smiling stranger, his air that of one not sure of his welcome, but + determined to enforce it, in whom, with a quick start, Dunn recognized his + burglar, the man whose attempt to break into Bittermeads he had + frustrated, and whose place he had taken. + </p> + <p> + He put up his hand instinctively for them to stop, and Deede Dawson at + once obeyed the gesture. + </p> + <p> + Dunn noticed that the smile upon his lips was more gentle and winning than + ever, the look in his eyes more dark and menacing. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Dunn, what is it?” he said as pleasantly as he always spoke. “Mr. + Allen,” he added to his companion, “this is my man, Dunn, I told you + about, my gardener and chauffeur, and a very industrious steady fellow—and + quite trustworthy.” + </p> + <p> + He seemed to lay a certain emphasis on the last two words, and Allen put + his head on one side and looked at Dunn with an odd, mixture of + familiarity, suspicion, hesitation, and an uncertain assumption of + superiority, but with no hint of recognition showing. + </p> + <p> + “Glad to hear it,” he said. “You always want to know whom you can trust.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Clive has been murdered,” Dunn said abruptly. “Poachers, it is said. + Did you know?” + </p> + <p> + “We heard about it as we came through the village,” answered Deede Dawson. + “Very sad, very dreadful. It will be a great shock to poor Ella, I fear. + Take the car on to the garage, will you?” he added. + </p> + <p> + He drove on up the drive, and at the front door they alighted and entered + the house together. Dunn followed, and getting into the car, drove it to + the garage, where he busied himself cleaning it. As he worked he wondered + very much what was the meaning of this sudden appearance on terms of + friendship with Deede Dawson of this man Allen, whom he had last seen + trying to break into the house at night. + </p> + <p> + Was Allen an accomplice of Deede Dawson, or a dupe, or, more probably, a + new recruit? + </p> + <p> + At any rate, to Dunn it seemed that the crisis he had expected and + prepared for was now fast approaching, and he told himself that if he had + failed in Clive's case, those others he was working for he must not fail + to save. + </p> + <p> + “Looks as if Dawson's plans were nearly ready,” he said to himself. “Well, + so are mine.” + </p> + <p> + He finished his work and shutting the garage door, he was turning away + when he saw Ella coming towards him. + </p> + <p> + She was extremely pale, and her eyes seemed larger than ever, and very + bright against the deathly whiteness of her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + She was wearing a blouse that was cut a little low, and he notice with a + kind of terror how soft and round was her throat, like a column of pale + and perfect ivory. + </p> + <p> + He hoped she would not speak to him, for he thought perhaps he could not + bear it if she did, but she halted near by, and said: + </p> + <p> + “This is very dreadful about poor Mr. Clive.” + </p> + <p> + “Very,” he answered moodily. + </p> + <p> + “Why should poachers kill him?” she asked. “Why should they want to?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” he answered, watching not her but her soft throat, where + he could see a pulse fluttering. “Perhaps it wasn't poachers,” he added. + </p> + <p> + She started violently, and gave a quick look that seemed to make yet more + certain the certainty he already entertained. + </p> + <p> + “Who else could it be?” she asked in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + He did not answer. + </p> + <p> + After what seemed a long time she said: + </p> + <p> + “You asked me a question once—do you remember?” + </p> + <p> + He shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you speak? Why can't you speak?” she cried angrily. “Why can't + you say something instead of just shaking your head?” + </p> + <p> + “You see, I've asked you so many questions,” he said slowly. “Perhaps I + shall ask you some more some day—which question do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean when you asked me if I had ever met any one who spoke in a very + shrill, high whistling sort of voice? Do you remember?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said. “You wouldn't tell me.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I will now,” she said. “I did meet a man once with a voice like + that. Do you remember the night you, came here that I drove away in the + car with a packing-case you carried downstairs?” + </p> + <p> + “Do I—remember?” he gasped, for that memory, and the thought of how + she had driven away into the night with, that grisly thing behind her on + the car had never since left his mind by night or by day. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she exclaimed impatiently. “Why do you keep staring so? Are you as + stupid as you choose to look? Do you remember?” + </p> + <p> + “I remember,” he answered heavily. “I remember very well.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, the man I took that packing-case to had a voice just like + that—high and shrill, whistling almost.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought as much,” said Dunn. “May I ask you another question?” + </p> + <p> + She nodded. + </p> + <p> + “May I smoke?” + </p> + <p> + She nodded again with a touch of impatience. + </p> + <p> + He took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth and lighted a + match, but the match, when he had lighted it, he used to put light to a + scrap of folded paper with writing on it, like a note. + </p> + <p> + This piece of paper he used to light his cigarette with and when he had + done so he watched the paper burn to an ash, not dropping it to the ground + till the little flame stung his fingers. + </p> + <p> + The ash that had fallen he ground into the path where they stood with the + heel of his boot. + </p> + <p> + “What have you burned there?” she asked, as if she suspected it was + something of importance he had destroyed. + </p> + <p> + In fact it was the note that had fallen from dead John Clive's hand + wherein Ella had asked him to meet her at the oak where he had met his + death. + </p> + <p> + That bit of paper would have been enough, Dunn thought, to place a harsh + hempen noose about the soft white throat he watched where the little pulse + still fluttered up and down. But now it was burnt and utterly destroyed, + and no one would ever see it. + </p> + <p> + At the thought he laughed and she drew back, very startled. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what is the matter?” she exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” he answered. “Nothing in all the world except that I love you.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + </h2> + <p> + When he had said this he went a step or two aside and sat down on the + stump of a tree. He was very agitated and disturbed for he had not in the + very least meant to say such a thing, he had not even known that he really + felt like that. + </p> + <p> + It was, indeed, a rush and power of quite unexpected passion that had + swept him away and made him for the moment lose all control of himself. + Ella showed much more composure. She had become extraordinarily pale, but + otherwise she did not appear in any way agitated. + </p> + <p> + She remained silent, her eyes bent on the ground, her only movement a + gesture by which she rubbed softly and in turn each of her wrists as + though they hurt her. + </p> + <p> + “Well, can't you say something?” he asked roughly, annoyed by her + persistent silence. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see that there's anything for me to say,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well now then,” he muttered; quite disconcerted. + </p> + <p> + She raised her eyes from the ground, and for the first time looked full at + him, in her expression both curiosity and resentment. + </p> + <p> + “It is perfectly intolerable,” she said with a heaving breast. “Will you + tell me who you are?” + </p> + <p> + “I've told you one thing,” he answered sullenly, his eyes on fire. “I + should have thought that was enough. I'll tell you nothing more.” + </p> + <p> + “I think you are the most horrid man I ever met,” she cried. “And the + very, very ugliest—all that hair on your face so that no one can see + anything else. What are you like when you cut it off?” + </p> + <p> + “Does that matter?” he asked, in the same gruff and surly manner. + </p> + <p> + “I should think it matters a good deal when I ask you,” she exclaimed. “Do + you expect any one to care for a man she has never seen—nothing but + hair. You hurt my wrists awfully that night,” she added resentfully. “And + you've never even hinted you're sorry.” + </p> + <p> + His reply was unexpected and it disconcerted her greatly and for the first + time, for he caught both her wrists in his hands and kissed them + passionately where the cords had been. + </p> + <p> + “You mustn't do that, please don't do that,” she said quickly, trying to + release herself. + </p> + <p> + Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm around her + and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and powerful she could + not have resisted it though she had wished to. + </p> + <p> + But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she had + lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of his + bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong arms + holding her so firmly. + </p> + <p> + He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort he did + not oppose, and she fled away down the path. + </p> + <p> + She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that would + make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly to secure it. + She never looked back to where he stood, breathing heavily and looking + after her and thinking not of her, but of two dead men whom he had seen of + late. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I make the third?” he wondered. “I do not care if I do, not I.” + </p> + <p> + The path Ella had fled by led into another along which when she reached it + she saw Deede Dawson coming. + </p> + <p> + She stopped at once and began to busy herself with a flower-bed overrun + with weeds, but she could not entirely conceal her agitation from her + stepfather's cold grey eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there you are, Ella,” he said, with all that false geniality of his + that filled the girl with such loathing and distrust. “Have you seen Dunn? + Oh, there he is, isn't he? I wanted to ask you, Ella, what do you think of + Dunn?” + </p> + <p> + She glanced over her shoulder towards where Dunn stood, and she managed to + answer with a passable air of indifference. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose,” she said, “that he is quite the ugliest man I ever saw. + Of course, if he cut all of that hair off—” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson laughed though his eyes remained as hard and cold as ever. + </p> + <p> + “I shall have to give him orders to shave,” he said. “Your mother was + telling me I ought to the other day, she said it didn't look respectable + to have a man about with all that hair on his face. Though I don't see + myself why hair isn't respectable, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “It looks odd,” answered Ella carelessly. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson laughed again, and walked on to where Dunn was standing + waiting for him. With his perpetual smile that his cold and evil eyes so + strangely contradicted, he said to him: + </p> + <p> + “Well, what have you and Ella been talking about?” + </p> + <p> + “Why do you ask?” growled Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Because she looks upset,” answered Deede Dawson. “Oh, don't be shy about + it. Shall I give you a little good advice?” + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “Never shave.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Because that thick growth of hair hiding your face gives you an air of + mystery and romance no woman could possibly resist. You're a perpetual + puzzle, and to pique a woman's curiosity is the surest way to interest + her. Why, there are plenty of women who would marry you simply to find out + what is under all that hair. So never you shave.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't mean to.” + </p> + <p> + “Unless, of course, you have to—for purposes of disguise, for + example.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were hinting that the beard itself was a disguise,” + retorted Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Removing it might become a better one,” answered Deede Dawson. “You told + me once you knew this part fairly well. Do you know Wreste Abbey?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn gave his questioner a scowling look that seemed full of anger and + suspicion. + </p> + <p> + “What about it if I do?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “I am asking if you do know it,” said Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I do. Well?” + </p> + <p> + “It belongs to Lord Chobham, doesn't it?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Old man, isn't he?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not a book of reference about Lord Chobham,” answered Dunn. “If you + want to know his age, you can easily find out, I suppose. What's the sense + of asking me a lot of questions like that?” + </p> + <p> + “He has no family, and his heir is his younger brother, General Dunsmore, + who has one son, Rupert, I believe. Do you know if that's so?” + </p> + <p> + “Look here,” said Dunn, speaking with a great appearance of anger. “Don't + you go too far, or maybe something you won't like will happen. If you've + anything to say, say it straight out. Or there'll be trouble.” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson seemed a little surprised at the vehemence of the other's + tone. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter?” he asked. “Don't you like the family, or what's + upsetting you?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn seemed almost choking with fury. He half-lifted one hand and let it + fall again. + </p> + <p> + “If ever I get hold of that young Rupert Dunsmore,” he said with a little + gasp for breath. “If ever I come face to face with him—man to man—” + </p> + <p> + “Dear me!” smiled Deede Dawson, lifting his eyebrows. “I'm treading on + sore toes, it seems. What's the trouble between you?” + </p> + <p> + “Never you mind,” replied Dunn roughly. “That's my business. But no man + ever had a worse enemy than he's been to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Has he, though?” said Deede Dawson, who seemed very interested and even a + little excited. “What did he do?” + </p> + <p> + “Never you mind,” Dunn repeated. “That's my affair, but I swore I'd get + even with him some day and I will, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” said Deede Dawson. “Suppose I showed you a way?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not answer at first, and for some moments the two men stood + watching each other and staring into each other's eyes as though each was + trying to read the depths of the other's soul. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” said Deede Dawson very softly. “Suppose you were to meet Rupert + Dunsmore—alone—quite alone?” + </p> + <p> + Still Dunn did not answer, but somehow it appeared that his silence was + full of a very deadly significance. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose you did—what would you do?” murmured Deede Dawson again, + and his voice sank lower with each word he uttered till the last was a + scarce-audible whisper. + </p> + <p> + Dunn stopped and picked up a hoe that was lying near by. He placed the + tough ash handle across his knee, and with a movement of his powerful + hands, he broke the hoe across. + </p> + <p> + The two smashed pieces he dropped on the ground, and looking at Deede + Dawson, he said: + </p> + <p> + “Like that—if ever Rupert Dunsmore and I meet alone, only one of us + will go away alive.” And he confirmed it with an oath. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed. + </p> + <p> + “Good!” he cried. “Why, you're the man I've been looking for for a long + time. The fact is, Rupert Dunsmore played me a nasty trick once, and I + want to clear accounts with him. Now, suppose I show him to you—?” + </p> + <p> + “You do that,” said Dunn, and he repeated the oath he had sworn before. + “You show him to me, and I'll take care he never troubles any one again.” + </p> + <p> + “That's the way I like to hear a man talk,” cried Deede Dawson. “Dunsmore + has been away for a time on business I can make a guess at, but he is + coming back soon. Should you know him if you saw him?” + </p> + <p> + “Should I know him?” repeated Dunn contemptuously. “Should I know myself?” + </p> + <p> + “That's good,” said Deede Dawson again. “By the way, perhaps you can tell + me, hasn't Lord Chobham a rather distant cousin, Walter Dunsmore, living + with him as secretary or something of the sort—quite a distant + relative, I believe, though in the direct line of succession?” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” said Dunn indifferently. “I think so, but I don't care + anything about the rest of them. It's only Rupert Dunsmore I have anything + against.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + </h2> + <p> + It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject of Wreste + Abbey. + </p> + <p> + “Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery and so + on, hasn't he?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there,” Dunn answered. “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly profitable,” Deede Dawson + said carelessly, for the first time definitely throwing off his mask of + law-abiding citizen under which he lived at Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + “It would be a risky job,” answered Dunn, showing no surprise at the + suggestion. “The stuff's well guarded, and then, that's not what I'm + thinking about—it's meeting Rupert Dunsmore, man to man, and no one + to come between us. If that ever happens—” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson nodded reassuringly. + </p> + <p> + “That'll be all right,” he said. “So you shall, I promise you that. But we + might as well kill two birds with one stone and clear a bit of profit, + too. I've got to live, like any one else, and I haven't five thousand a + year of my own, so I get my living out of those who have, and I don't see + who has any right to blame me. Mind, if there was any money in chess, I + should be a millionaire, but there isn't, and if a man can make a fortune + on the Stock Exchange, which takes no more thought or skill than + auction-bridge, why shouldn't I make a bit when I can? There's the 'D. D.' + gambit I've invented, people will be studying and playing for centuries, + but it'll never bring me a penny for all the brain-work I put into it, and + so I've got to protect myself, haven't I?” + </p> + <p> + “It's what I do with less talk about it,” answered Dunn contemptuously. + “Why, I've guessed all that from the first when you weren't so all-fired + keen on seeing me in gaol, as most of your honest, hard-working lot, who + only do their swindling in business-hours, would have been. And I've kept + my eyes open, of course. It wasn't hard to twig you did a bit on the cross + yourself. Well, that's your affair, but one thing I do want to know—how + much does Miss Cayley know?” + </p> + <p> + For all his efforts he could not keep his anxiety entirely out of his + voice as he said this, and recognizing that thereby he had perhaps risked + rousing some suspicion in the other's mind, he added: + </p> + <p> + “And her mother—the young lady and her mother, how much do they + know?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” answered Deede Dawson, with his false laugh and cold-watchful eyes. + “My wife knows nothing at all, but Ella's the best helper I've ever had. + She looks so innocent, she can take in any one, and she never gives the + show away, she acts all the time. A wonderful girl and useful—you'd + hardly believe how useful.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not answer. It was only by a supreme effort that he kept his + hands from Deede Dawson's throat. He did not believe a word of what the + other said, for he knew well the utter falseness of the man. None the + less, the accusation troubled him and chilled him to the heart, as though + with the touch of the finger of death. + </p> + <p> + “You remember that packing-case,” Deede Dawson added. “The one you helped + me to get away from here the night you came. Well, she knew what was in + it, though you would never have thought so, to look at her, would you?” + </p> + <p> + His cold eyes were very intent and keen as he said this, and Dunn thought + to himself that it had been said more to test any possible knowledge or + suspicion of his own than for any other reason. With a manner of only + slight interest, he answered carelessly: + </p> + <p> + “Did she? Why? Wasn't it your stuff? Had it been pinched? But she was safe + enough, the police would never stop a smart young lady in a motor-car, + except on very strong evidence.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps not,” agreed Deede Dawson. “That's one reason why Ella's so + useful. But I've been thinking things out, and trying to make them work in + together, and I think the first thing to do is for you to drive Allen and + Ella over to Wreste Abbey this afternoon, so that they may have a good + look around.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Miss Cayley and Allen,” Dunn muttered. + </p> + <p> + The new-comer, Allen, had been making himself very much at home at + Bittermeads since his arrival, though he had not so far troubled to any + great extent either Ella in the house or Dunn outside. His idea of comfort + seemed to be to stay in bed very late, and spend his time when he did get + up in the breakfast-room in the company of a box of cigars and a bottle of + whisky. + </p> + <p> + The suggestion that he and Ella should pay a visit together to Wreste + Abbey was one that greatly surprised Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” he said. “This afternoon? I'll get the car ready.” + </p> + <p> + “This is the afternoon the Abbey is thrown open to visitors, isn't it?” + asked Deede Dawson. “Allen and Ella can get in as tourists, and have a + good look round, and you can look round outside and get to know the lie of + the land. There won't be long to wait, for Rupert Dunsmore will be back + from his little excursion before long, I expect.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed in his mirthless way, and walked off, and Dunn, as he got the + car ready, seemed a good deal preoccupied and a little worried. + </p> + <p> + “How can he know that Rupert Dunsmore is coming back?” he said to himself. + “Can he have any way of finding out things I don't know about? And if he + did, how could he know—that? Most likely it's only a guess to soothe + me down, and he doesn't really know anything at all about it.” + </p> + <p> + After lunch, Allen and Ella appeared together, ready for their expedition. + Ella looked her best in a big motoring coat and a close-fitting hat, with + a long blue veil. Allen was, for almost the first time since his arrival, + shaved, washed and tidy. + </p> + <p> + He looked indeed as respectable as his sinister and forbidding countenance + would permit, and though Deede Dawson had made him as smart as possible, + he had permitted him to gratify his own florid taste in adornment, so that + his air of prosperity and wealth had the appearance of being that of some + recently-enriched vulgarian whose association with a motor-car and a + well-dressed girl of Ella's type was probably due to the fact that he had + recently purchased them both out of newly-acquired wealth. + </p> + <p> + Dunn wore a neat chauffeur's costume, with which, however, his bearded + face did not go too well. He felt indeed that their whole turn-out was far + too conspicuous considering the real nature of their errand, and far too + likely to attract attention, and he wondered if Deede Dawson's subtle and + calculating mind had not for some private reason desired that to be so. + </p> + <p> + “He is keeping well in the background himself,” Dunn mused. “He may reckon + that if things go wrong—in case of any pursuit—it's a good + move perhaps in a way, but he may find an unexpected check to his king + opened on him.” + </p> + <p> + The drive was a long one, and Ella noticed that though Dunn consulted his + map frequently, he never appeared in any doubt concerning the way. + </p> + <p> + A little before three they drove into the village that lay round the park + gates of Wreste Abbey. + </p> + <p> + Motors were not allowed in the park, so Dunn put theirs in the garage of + the little hotel, that was already almost full, for visiting day at Wreste + Abbey generally drew a goodly number of tourists, while Ella and Allen, in + odd companionship, walked up to the Abbey by the famous approach through + the chestnut avenue. + </p> + <p> + Allen was quiet and surly, and much on his guard, and very uncomfortable + in Ella's company, and Ella herself, though for different reasons was + equally silent. + </p> + <p> + But the beauty of the walk through the chestnut avenue, and of the vista + with the great house at the end, drew from her a quick exclamation of + delight. + </p> + <p> + “How beautiful a place this is,” she said aloud. “And how peaceful and how + quiet.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't like these quiet places myself,” grumbled Allen. “Don't like 'em, + don't trust 'em. Give me lots of traffic; when everything's so awful quiet + you've only got to kick your foot against a stone or drop a tool, and + likely as not you'll wake the whole blessed place.” + </p> + <p> + “Wake,” repeated Ella, noticing the word, and she repeated it with + emphasis. “Why do you say 'wake'?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX. ELLA'S WARNING + </h2> + <p> + Ella did not say anything more, and in their character of tourists + visiting the place, they were admitted to the Abbey and passed on through + its magnificent rooms, where was stored a collection rich and rare even + for one of the stateliest homes of England. + </p> + <p> + “What a wonderful place!” Ella sighed wistfully. Yet she could not enjoy + the spectacle of all these treasures as she would have done at another + time, for she was always watching Allen, who hung about a good deal, and + seemed to look more at the locks of the cases that held some of the more + valuable of the objects shown than at the things themselves, and generally + spent fully half the time in each room at the window, admiring the view, + he said; but for quite another reason, Ella suspected. + </p> + <p> + “I shall speak when I get back,” she said to herself, pale and resolute. + “I don't care what happens; I don't care if I have to tell mother—perhaps + she knows already. Anyhow, I shall speak.” + </p> + <p> + Having come to this determination, she grew cheerful and more interested + apparently in what they were seeing, as well as less watchful of her + companion. When, presently, they left the house to go into the gardens, it + happened that they noticed an old gentleman walking at a little distance + behind a gate marked “Private,” and leaning on the arm of a tall, thin, + clean-shaven man of middle-age. + </p> + <p> + “Lord Chobham, the old gentleman,” whispered a tourist, who was standing + near. “I saw him once in the House of Lords. That's his secretary with + him, Mr. Dunsmore, one of the family; he manages everything now the old + gentleman is getting so feeble.” + </p> + <p> + Ella walked on frowning and a little worried, for she thought she had seen + the secretary before and yet could not remember where. Soon she noticed + Dunn, who had apparently been obeying Deede Dawson's orders to look round + outside and get to know the lie of the land. + </p> + <p> + He seemed at present to be a good deal interested in Lord Chobham and his + companion, for he went and leaned on the gate and stared at them so rudely + that one or two of the other tourists noticed it and frowned at him. But + he took no notice, and presently, as if not seeing that the gate was + marked “Private,” he pushed it open and walked through. + </p> + <p> + Noticing the impertinent intrusion almost at once, Mr. Dunsmore turned + round and called “This is private.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not seem to hear, and Mr. Dunsmore walked across to him with a + very impatient air, while the little group of tourists watched, with much + interest and indignation and a very comforting sense of superiority. + </p> + <p> + “He ought to be sent right out of the grounds,” they told each other. + “That's the sort of rude behaviour other people have to suffer for.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, my man,” said Mr. Dunsmore sharply, “this is private, you've no + business here.” + </p> + <p> + “Sorry, sir; beg pardon, I'm sure,” said Dunn, touching his hat, and as he + did so he said in a sharp, penetrating whisper: “Look out—trouble's + brewing—don't know what, but look out, all the time.” + </p> + <p> + He had spoken so quickly and quietly, in the very act of turning away, + that none of the onlookers could have told that a word had passed, but for + the very violent start that Walter Dunsmore made and his quick movement + forward as if to follow the other. Immediately Dunn turned back towards + him with a swift warning gesture of his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Careful, you fool, they're looking,” he said in a quick whisper, and in a + loud voice: “Very sorry, sir; beg pardon—I'm sure I didn't mean + anything.” + </p> + <p> + Walter Dunsmore swung round upon his heel and went quickly back to where + Lord Chobham waited; and his face was like that of one who has gazed into + the very eyes of death. + </p> + <p> + “Lord in Heaven,” he muttered, “it's all over, I'm done.” And his hand + felt for a little metal box he carried in his waistcoat pocket and that + held half a dozen small round tablets, each of them a strong man's death. + </p> + <p> + But he took his hand away again as he rejoined his cousin, patron, and + employer, old Lord Chobham. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter, Walter?” Lord Chobham asked. “You look pale.” + </p> + <p> + “The fellow was a bit impudent; he made me angry,” said Walter carelessly. + He fingered the little box in his waistcoat pocket and thought how one + tablet on his tongue would always end it all. “By the way, oughtn't Rupert + to be back soon?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, he ought,” said Lord Chobham severely. “It's time he married and + settled down—I shall speak to his father about it. The boy is always + rushing off somewhere or another when he ought to be getting to know the + estate and the tenants.” + </p> + <p> + Walter Dunsmore laughed. + </p> + <p> + “I think he knows them both fairly well already,” he said. “Not a tenant + on the place but swears by Rupert. He's a fine fellow, uncle.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you always stick up for him; you and he were always friends,” + answered Lord Chobham in a grumbling tone, but really very pleased. “I + know I'm never allowed to say a word about Rupert.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he's a fine fellow and a good friend,” said Walter, and the two + disappeared into the house by a small side-door as Dunn pushed his way + through the group of tourists who looked at him with marked and severe + disapproval. + </p> + <p> + “Disgraceful,” one of them said quite loudly, and another added: “I + believe he said something impudent to that gentleman. I saw him go quite + white, and look as if he were in two minds about ordering the fellow right + out of the grounds.” And a third expressed the general opinion that the + culprit looked a real ruffian with all that hair on his face. “Might be a + gorilla,” said the third tourist. “And look what a clumsy sort of walk he + has; perhaps he's been drinking.” + </p> + <p> + But Dunn was quite indifferent to, and indeed unaware of this popular + condemnation as he made his way back to the hotel garage where he had left + their car. He seemed rather well pleased than otherwise as he walked on. + </p> + <p> + “Quite a stroke of luck for once,” he mused, and he smiled to himself, and + stroked the thick growth of his untidy beard. “It's been worth while, for + he didn't recognize me in the least, and had quite a shock, but, all the + same, I shan't be sorry to shave and see my own face again.” + </p> + <p> + He had the car out and ready when Ella and Allen came back. Allen at once + made an excuse to leave them, and went into the hotel bar to get a drink + of whisky, and when they were alone, Ella, who was looking very troubled + and thoughtful, said to Dunn, + </p> + <p> + “We saw Lord Chobham in the garden with a gentleman some one told us was a + relative of his, a Mr. Walter Dunsmore. Did you see them?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered Dunn, a little surprised, and giving her a quick and + searching look from his bright, keen eyes. “I saw them. Why—” + </p> + <p> + “I think I've seen the one they said was Mr. Walter Dunsmore before, and I + can't think where,” she answered, puckering her brows. “I can't think—do + you know anything about him?” + </p> + <p> + “I know he is Mr. Walter Dunsmore,” answered Dunn slowly, “and I know he + is one of the family, and a great friend of Rupert Dunsmore's. Rupert + Dunsmore is Lord Chobham's nephew, you know, and heir, after his father, + to the title and estates. His father, General Dunsmore, brought him and + Walter up together like brothers, but recently Walter has lived at the + Abbey as Lord Chobham's secretary and companion. The general likes to live + abroad a good deal, and his son Rupert is always away on some sporting or + exploring expedition or another.” + </p> + <p> + “It's very strange,” Ella said again. “I'm sure I've seen Walter Dunsmore + before but I can't think where.” + </p> + <p> + Allen came from the bar, having quenched his thirst for the time being, + and they started off, arriving back at Bittermeads fairly early in the + evening, for Dunn had brought them along at a good rate, and apparently + remembered the road so well from the afternoon that he never once had + occasion to refer to the map. + </p> + <p> + He took the car round to the garage, and Allen and Ella went into the + house, where Allen made his way at once to the breakfast-room, searching + for more whisky and cigars, while Ella, after a quick word with her mother + to assure her of their safe return, went to find Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, dear child, you are back then,” he greeted her. “Well, how have you + enjoyed yourself? Had a pleasant time?” + </p> + <p> + “It was not for pleasure we went there, I think,” she said listlessly. + </p> + <p> + He looked up quickly, and though his perpetual smile still played as usual + about his lips, his eyes were hard and daunting as they fixed themselves + on hers. Before that sinister stare her own eyes sank, and sought the + little travelling set of chessmen and board that were before him. + </p> + <p> + “See,” he said, “I've just brought off a mate. Neat isn't it? Checkmate.” + </p> + <p> + She looked up at him, and her eyes were steadier now. + </p> + <p> + “I've only one thing to say to you,” she said. “I came here to say it. If + anything happens at Wreste Abbey I shall go straight to the police.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed,” he said, “indeed.” He fingered the chessmen as though all his + attention were engaged by them. “May I ask why?” he murmured. “For what + purpose?” + </p> + <p> + “To tell them,” she answered quietly, “what I—know.” + </p> + <p> + “And what do you know?” he asked indifferently. “What do you know that is + likely to interest the police?” + </p> + <p> + “I ought to have said, perhaps,” she answered after a pause, “what I + suspect.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's so different, isn't it?” he murmured gently. “So very + different. You see we all of us suspect so many things.” + </p> + <p> + She did not answer, for she had said all she had to say and she was afraid + that her strength would not carry her further. She began to walk away, but + he called her back. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how do you think your mother is today?” he asked. “Do you know, her + condition seems to me quite serious at times. I wonder if you are + overanxious?” + </p> + <p> + “She is better—much better!” Ella answered, and added with a sudden + burst of fiercest, white-hot passion: “But I think it would be better if + we had both died before we met you.” + </p> + <p> + She hurried away, for she was afraid of breaking down, and Deede Dawson + smiled the more as he again turned his attention to his chessmen, taking + them up and putting them down in turn. + </p> + <p> + “She's turning nasty,” he mused. “I don't think she'll dare—but she + might. She's only a pawn, but a pawn can cause a lot of trouble at times—a + pawn may become a queen and give the mate. When a pawn threatens trouble + it's best to—remove it.” + </p> + <p> + He went out and came back a little late and busied himself with a + four-move chess problem which absorbed all his attention, and which he did + not solve to his satisfaction till past midnight. Then he went upstairs to + bed, but at the door of his room he paused and went on very softly up the + narrow stairs that led to the attics above. + </p> + <p> + Outside the one in which Dunn slept, he waited a little till the unbroken + sound of regular breathing from within assured him that the occupant + slept. + </p> + <p> + Cautiously and carefully he crept on, and entered the one adjoining, where + he turned the light of the electric flashlight he carried on a large, + empty packing-case that stood in one corner. + </p> + <p> + With a two-foot rule he took from his pocket he measured it carefully and + nodded with great satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “A little smaller than the other,” he said to himself. “But, then, it + hasn't got to hold so much.” He laughed in his silent, mirthless way, as + at something that amused him. “A good deal less,” he thought. “And Dunn + shall drive.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed again, and for a moment or two stood there in the darkness, + laughing silently to himself, and then, speaking aloud, he called out: + </p> + <p> + “You can come in, Dunn.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn, whom a creaking board had betrayed, came forward unconcernedly in + his sleeping attire. + </p> + <p> + “I saw it was you,” he remarked. “At first I thought something was wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, nothing,” answered Deede Dawson. “I was only looking at this + packing-case. I may have to send one away again soon, and I wanted to be + sure this was big enough. If I do, I shall want you to drive.” + </p> + <p> + “Not Miss Cayley?” asked Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” answered Deede Dawson. “She might be with you perhaps, but she + wouldn't drive. Night driving is always dangerous, I think, don't you?” + </p> + <p> + “There's things more dangerous,” Dunn remarked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, quite true,” answered Deede Dawson. “Well, did you enjoy your visit + to Wreste Abbey?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Dunn roughly. “I didn't see Rupert Dunsmore, and it + wouldn't have been any good if I had with all those people about.” + </p> + <p> + “You're too impatient,” Deede Dawson smiled. “I'm getting everything + ready; you can't properly expect to win a game in a dozen moves. You must + develop your pieces properly and have all ready before you start your + attack. As soon as I'm ready—why, I'll act—and you'll have to + do the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Dunn thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI. DOUBTS AND FEARS + </h2> + <p> + In point of fact Dunn had not been asleep when Deede Dawson came listening + at his door. Of late he had slept little and that little had been much + disturbed by evil, haunting dreams in which perpetually he saw his dead + friend, Charley Wright, and dead John Clive always together, while behind + them floated the pale and lovely face of Ella, at whom the two dead men + looked and whispered to each other. + </p> + <p> + In the day such thoughts troubled him less, for when he was under the + influence of Ella's gentle presence, and when he could watch her clear and + candid eyes, he found all doubt and suspicion melting away like snow + beneath warm sunshine. + </p> + <p> + But in the silence of the night they returned, returned very dreadfully, + so dreadfully that often as he lay awake in the darkness beads of sweat + stood upon his forehead and he would drive his great hands one against the + other in his passionate effort to still the thoughts that tormented him. + Then, in the morning again, the sound of Ella's voice, the merest glimpse + of her grave and gracious personality, would bring back once more his + instinctive belief in her. + </p> + <p> + The morning after Deede Dawson had paid his visit to the attic there was + news, however, that disturbed him greatly, for Mrs. Barker, the charwoman + who came each morning to Bittermeads, told them that two men in the + village—notorious poachers—had been arrested by the police on + a charge of being concerned in Mr. Clive's death. + </p> + <p> + The news was a great shock to Dunn, for, knowing as he thought he did, + that the police were working on an entirely wrong idea, he had not + supposed they would ever find themselves able to make any arrest. As a + matter of fact, these arrests they had made were the result of desperation + on the part of the police, who unable to discover anything and entirely + absorbed by their preconceived idea that the crime was the work of + poachers, had arrested men they knew were poachers in the vague hope of + somehow discovering something or of somehow getting hold of some useful + clue. + </p> + <p> + But that Dunn did not know, and feared unlucky chance or undesigned + coincidence must have appeared to suggest the guilt of the men and that + they were really in actual danger of trial and conviction. He had, too, + received that morning, through the secret means of communication he kept + open with an agent in London, conclusive proof that at the moment of + Clive's death Deede Dawson was in town on business that seemed obscure + enough, but none the less in town, and therefore undoubtedly innocent of + the actual perpetration of the murder. + </p> + <p> + Who, then, was left who could have fired the fatal shot? + </p> + <p> + It was a question Dunn dared not even ask himself but he saw very plainly + that if the proceedings against the two arrested men were to be pressed, + he would be forced to come forward before his preparations were ready and + tell all he knew, no matter at what cost. + </p> + <p> + All the morning he waited and watched for his opportunity to speak to + Ella, who was in a brighter and gayer mood than he had ever seen her in + before. + </p> + <p> + At breakfast Deede Dawson had assured her that he could not conceive what + were the suspicions she had referred to the night previously, and while he + would certainly have no objection to her mentioning them at any time, in + any quarter she thought fit if anything happened at Wreste Abbey—and + would indeed be the first to urge her to do so—he, for his part, + considered it most unlikely that anything of the sort she seemed to dread + would in fact occur. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all likely,” he said with his happy, beaming smile that never + reached those cold eyes of his. “I should say myself that nothing ever did + happen at Wreste Abbey, not since the Flood, anyhow. It strikes me as the + most peaceful, secluded spot in all England.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very glad you think so,” said Ella, tremendously relieved and glad to + hear him say so, and supposing, though his smooth words and smiles and + protestations deceived her very little, that, at any rate, what she had + said had forced him to abandon whatever plans he had been forming in that + direction. + </p> + <p> + Her victory, as it seemed to her, won so easily and containing good + promise of further success in the future, cheered her immensely, and it + was in almost a happy mood that she went unto the garden after lunch and + met Dunn in a quiet, well-hidden corner, where he had been waiting and + watching for long. + </p> + <p> + His appearance startled her—his eyes were so wild, his whole manner + so strained and restless, and she gave a little dismayed exclamation as + she saw him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what's the matter?” she asked. “Aren't you well? You look—” + </p> + <p> + She paused for she did not know exactly how it was he did look; and he + said in his harshest, most abrupt manner, + </p> + <p> + “Do you remember Charley Wright?” + </p> + <p> + “Why do you ask?” she said, puzzled. “Is anything wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you remember John Clive?” he asked, disregarding this. “Have you heard + two men have been arrested for his murder?” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Barker told me so,” she answered gravely. He came a little nearer, + almost threateningly nearer. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of that?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + She lifted one hand and put it gently on his arm. The touch of it thrilled + him through and through, and he felt a little dazed as he watched it + resting on his coat sleeve. She had become very pale also and her voice + was low and strained as she said, + </p> + <p> + “Have you had suspicions too?” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her as if fascinated for a moment, and then nodded twice and + very slowly. + </p> + <p> + “So have I,” she sighed in tones so low he could scarcely hear them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you, you also,” he muttered, almost suffocating. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said. “Yes—perhaps the same as yours. My stepfather,” she + breathed, “Mr. Deede Dawson.” + </p> + <p> + He watched her closely and moodily, but he did not speak. + </p> + <p> + “I was afraid—at first,” she whispered. “But I was wrong—quite + wrong. It is as certain as it can be that he was in London at the time.” + </p> + <p> + From his pocket Dunn took out the handkerchief of hers that he had found + near the body of the dead man. + </p> + <p> + “Is this yours?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she answered. “Yes, where did you get it?” + </p> + <p> + He did not answer, but he lifted his hands one after the other, and put + them on her shoulder, with the fingers outspread to encircle her throat. + It seemed to him that when she acknowledged the ownership of the + handkerchief she acknowledged also the perpetration of the deed, and he + became a little mad, and he had it in his mind that the slightest, the + very slightest, pressure of his fingers on that soft, round throat would + put it for ever out of her power to do such things again. Then for himself + death would be easy and welcome, and there would be an end to all these + doubts and fears that racked him with anguish beyond bearing. + </p> + <p> + “What are you going to do?” she asked, making no attempt to resist or + escape. + </p> + <p> + Ever so slightly the pressure of his hands upon her throat strengthened + and increased. A very little more and the lovely thing of life he watched + would be broken and cold for ever. Her eyes were steady, she showed no + sign of fear, she stood perfectly still, her hands loosely clasped + together before her. He groaned, and his arms fell to his side, helpless. + Without the slightest change of expression, she said: + </p> + <p> + “What were you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” he answered. “Do you ever go mad? I do, I think. Perhaps + you do too, and that explains it. Do you know where Charley Wright is?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she answered directly. “Why? Did you know him, then?” + </p> + <p> + “You know where he is now?” Dunn repeated. + </p> + <p> + She nodded quietly. + </p> + <p> + “I heard from him only last week,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “I am certainly mad or you are,” he muttered, staring at her with eyes in + which such wonder and horror showed that it seemed there really was a + touch of madness there. + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “You heard from him last week,” he said again, and again she answered: + </p> + <p> + “Yes—last week. Why not?” + </p> + <p> + He leaned forward, and before she knew what he intended to do he kissed + her pale, cool cheek. + </p> + <p> + Once more she stood still and immobile, her hands loosely clasped before + her. It might have been that he had kissed a statue, and her perfect + stillness made him afraid. + </p> + <p> + “Ella,” he said. “Ella.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did you do that?” she said, a little wildly now in her turn. “It was + not that you were going to do to me before.” + </p> + <p> + “I love you,” he muttered excusingly. + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “You know too little of me; you have too many doubt and fears,” she said. + “You do not love me, you do not even trust me.” + </p> + <p> + “I love you all the same,” he asserted positively and roughly. “I loved + you—it was when I tied your hands to the chair that night and you + looked at me with such contempt, and asked me if I felt proud. That stung, + that stung. I loved you then.” + </p> + <p> + “You see,” she said sadly, “you do not even pretend to trust me. I don't + know why you should. Why are you here? Why are you disguised with all that + growth of hair? There is something you are preparing, planning. I know it. + I feel it. What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “I told you once before,” he answered, “that the end of this will be Deede + Dawson's death or mine. That's what I'm preparing.” + </p> + <p> + “He is very cunning, very clever,” she said. “Do you think he suspects + you?” + </p> + <p> + “He suspects every one always,” answered Dunn. “I've been trying to get + proof to act on. I haven't succeeded. Not yet. Nothing definite. If I + can't, I shall act without. That's all.” + </p> + <p> + “If I told him even half of what you just said,” she said, looking at him. + “What would happen?” + </p> + <p> + “You see, I trust you,” he answered bitterly. + </p> + <p> + She shook her head, but her eyes were soft and tender as she said: + </p> + <p> + “It wasn't trust in me made you say all that, it was because you didn't + care what happened after.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said. “But when I see you, I forget everything. Do you love me?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I've never even seen you yet,” she exclaimed with something like a + smile. “I only know you as two eyes over a tangle of hair that I don't + believe you ever either brush or comb. Do you know, sometimes I am + curious.” + </p> +<p> +He took her hand and drew her to sit beside him on the bench under a +tree near by. All his doubts and fears and suspicions he set far from +him, and remembered nothing save that she was the woman for whom yearned +all the depths of his soul as by pre-ordained decree. And she, too, for + man, to her strange, aloof, mysterious, but dominating all her life as +though by primal necessity. +</p> + <p> + When they parted, it was with an agreement to meet again that evening, and + in the twilight they spent a halcyon hour together, saying little, feeling + much. + </p> + <p> + It was only when at last she had left him that he remembered all that had + passed, that had happened, that he knew, suspected, dreaded, all that he + planned and intended and would be soon called upon to put into action. + </p> + <p> + “She's made me mad,” he said to himself, and for a long time he sat there + in the darkness, in the stillness of the evening, motionless as the tree + in whose shade he sat, plunged in the most profound and strange reverie, + from which presently his quick ear, alert and keen even when his mind was + deep in thought, caught the light and careful sound of an approaching + footstep. + </p> + <p> + In a moment he was up and gliding through the darkness to meet who was + coming, and almost at once a voice hailed him cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “There you are, Dunn,” Deede Dawson said. “I've been looking for you + everywhere. Tomorrow or next day we shall be able to strike; everything is + ready at last, and I'll tell you now exactly what we are going to do.” + </p> + <p> + “That's good news,” said Dunn softly. + </p> + <p> + “Come this way,” Deede Dawson said, and led Dunn through the darkness to + the gate that admitted to the Bittermeads grounds from the high road. + </p> + <p> + Here he paused, and stood for a long time in silence, leaning on the gate + and looking out across the road to the common beyond. Close beside him + stood Dunn, controlling his impatience as best he could, and wondering if + at last the secret springs of all these happenings was to be laid bare to + him. + </p> + <p> + But Deede Dawson seemed in no hurry to begin. For a long time he remained + in the same attitude, silent and sombre in the darkness, and when at last + he spoke it was to utter a remark that quite took Dunn by surprise. + </p> + <p> + “What a lovely night,” he said in low and pensive tones, very unlike those + he generally used. “I remember when I was a boy—that's a long time + ago.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn was too surprised by this sudden and very unexpected lapse into + sentiment to answer. Deede Dawson went on as if thinking to himself: + </p> + <p> + “A long time—I've done a lot—seen a lot since then—too + much, perhaps—I remember mother told me once—poor soul, I + believe she used to be rather proud of me—” + </p> + <p> + “Your mother?” Dunn said wondering greatly to think this man should still + have such memories. + </p> + <p> + But Deede Dawson seemed either to resent his tone or else to be angry with + himself for giving way to such weakness. In a voice more like his usual + one, he said harshly and sneeringly: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I had a mother once, just like everybody else. Why not? Most + people have their mothers, though it's not an arrangement I should care to + defend. Now then, Ella was with you tonight; you and she were alone + together a long time.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” growled Dunn, “what of it?” + </p> + <p> + “Fine girl, isn't she?” asked Deede Dawson, and laughed. + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not speak. It filled him with such loathing to hear this man so + much as utter Ella's name, it was all he could do to keep his hands + motionless by his side and not make use of them about the other's throat. + </p> + <p> + “She's been useful, very useful,” Deede Dawson went on meditatively. “Her + mother had some money when I married her. I don't mind telling you it's + all spent now, but Ella's a little fortune in herself.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know we came to talk about her,” said Dunn slowly. “I thought + you had something else to say to me.” + </p> + <p> + “So I have,” Deede Dawson answered. “That's why I brought you here. We are + safe from eavesdroppers here, in a house you can never tell who is behind + a curtain or a door. But then, Ella is a part of my plans, a very + important part. Do you remember I told you I might want you to take a + second packing-case away from here in the car one night?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I remember,” said Dunn slowly. “I remember. What would be in it? The + same sort of thing that was in—that other?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered Deede Dawson. “Much the same.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall want to see for myself,” said Dunn. “I'm a trustful sort of + person, but I don't go driving about the country with packing-cases late + at night unless I've seen for myself what's inside.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII. PLOTS AND PLAYS + </h2> + <p> + “Very wise of you,” yawned Deede Dawson. “That's just what Ella said—what's + that?” + </p> + <p> + For instinctively Dunn had raised his hand, but he lowered it again at + once. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, cut the cackle,” he said impatiently. “Tell me what you want me to + do, and make it plain, very plain, for I can tell you there's a good deal + about all this I don't understand, and I'm not inclined to trust you far. + For one thing, what are you after yourself? Where do you come in? What are + you going to get? And there's another thing I want to say. If you are + thinking of playing any tricks on me don't do it, unless you are ready to + take big risks. There's only one man alive who ever made a fool of me, and + his name is Rupert Dunsmore, and I don't think he's today what insurance + companies call a good risk. Not by any manner of means.” He paused to + laugh harshly. “Let's get to business,” he said. “Look here, how do I know + you mean all you say about Rupert Dunsmore? What's he to you?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” answered Deede Dawson promptly. “Nothing. But there's some one + I'm acting for to whom he is a good deal.” + </p> + <p> + “Who is that?” Dunn asked sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think I'm going to tell you?” retorted the other, and laughed in + his cold, mirthless manner. “Perhaps you aren't the only one who owes him + a grudge.” + </p> + <p> + “That's likely enough, but I want to know where I'm standing,” said Dunn. + “Is this unknown person you say you are acting for anxious to bring about + Rupert Dunsmore's death?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not answering any questions, so you needn't ask them,” replied Deede + Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “But I will tell you that there's something big going on. Or I shouldn't + be in it, I don't use my brains on small things, you know. If it comes off + all right, I—” He paused, and for once a thrill of genuine emotion + sounded in his voice. “Thousands,” he said abruptly. “Yes, and more—more. + But there's an obstacle—Rupert Dunsmore. It's your place to remove + him. That'll suit you, and it'll mean good pay, as much as you like to ask + for in reason. And Ella, if you want her. The girl won't be any use to me + when this is over, and you can have her if you like. I don't think she'll + object from what I can see—not that it would matter if she did. So + there you are. Put Rupert Dunsmore out of the way and it'll be the best + day's work you've ever done, and you shall have Ella into the bargain—if + you claim her. Makeweight.” + </p> + <p> + He began to laugh again and Dunn laughed, too, for while he was not sure + what it was that amused Deede Dawson, there were certain aspects of all + this that bore for him a very curious and ironic humour. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” he said. “You bring me face to face with Rupert Dunsmore and + you won't have to grumble about the result, for I swear only one of us + will go away alive. But how are you going to do it?” + </p> + <p> + “I've my plan, and it's simple enough,” answered Deede Dawson. “Though I + can tell you it took some working out. But the simplest problem is always + the best, whether in life or in chess.” Again he indulged in a low and + guarded outburst of his thin, mirthless laughter before he continued: “I + suppose you know Rupert Dunsmore is one of those restless people who are + never content except when wandering about in some out of the way place or + another, as often as not no one having the least idea of his whereabouts. + Then he turns up unexpectedly, only to disappear again when the whim takes + him. Lately he has been away on one of these trips, but I happen to know + he is coming back almost at once—what's the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “I was only wondering how you knew that,” answered Dunn, who had given a + sudden start. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know, never mind how,” Deede Dawson said. “I know that tomorrow + afternoon at four o'clock he will be waiting by the side of Brook Bourne + Spring in Ottom's Wood, near General Dunsmore's place. Which is as out of + the way and quiet and lonely a spot as you could wish for.” + </p> + <p> + “And you have information that he will be there?” Dunn said incredulously. + “How can you possibly be sure of that?” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind how,” answered Deede Dawson. “I am sure. That's enough. My + information is certain.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it is, is it?” Dunn muttered. “You are a wonderful man, Mr. Dawson. + You know everything—or nearly everything. You are sure of everything—or + nearly everything—but suppose he changes his mind at the last moment + and doesn't come after all?” + </p> + <p> + “He won't,” answered Deede Dawson. “You be there and you'll find him there + all right.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps,” said Dunn slowly. “But what I want to know is why you are + so sure? There's a good deal hangs on your being right, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “I only wish I was as certain of everything else,” Deede Dawson said. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, all right,” exclaimed Dunn. “I suppose you know and you may be + right.” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” Deede Dawson assured him. “Listen carefully now, there mustn't be + any blunders. You are to make an early start tomorrow. I don't want you to + take the car for fear of its being seen and identified. You must take the + train to London and then another train back immediately to Delsby. From + Delsby you'll have an eighteen-mile walk through lonely country where you + aren't likely to meet any one, and must try not to. The less you are seen + the better. You know that for yourself, and for your own sake you'll be + careful. You'll have no time to spare, but you will be able to get to the + place I told you of by four all right—no earlier, no later. You must + arrange to be there at four exactly. You may spoil all if you are too + early. Almost as soon as you get there, Rupert Dunsmore will arrive. You + must do the rest for yourself, and then you must strike straight across + country for here. You can look up your routes on the map. There will be + less risk of attracting attention if you come and go by different ways. + You ought to be here again some time in the small hours. I'll let you in, + and you'll have cleared your own score with Rupert Dunsmore and earned + more money than you ever have had in all your life before. Now, can I + depend on you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes—yes,” answered Dunn, over whom there had come a new and strange + sense of unreality as he stood and listened to cold-blooded murder being + thus calmly, coolly planned, as though it were some afternoon's pleasure + trip that was being arranged, so that he hardly knew whether he did, in + fact, hear this smooth, low, unceasing voice that from the darkness at his + side laid down such a bloody road for his feet to travel. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, you can depend on me,” he said. “But can I depend on you, when + you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that place?” + </p> + <p> + It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his voice + was very low and soft and confident as he said: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you can—absolutely. You see, I know his plans.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do you?” Dunn said as though satisfied. “Oh, well then, it's no + wonder you're so sure.” + </p> + <p> + “No wonder at all,” agreed Deede Dawson. “There's just one other thing I + can tell you. Some one else will be there, too, at Brook Bourne Spring in + Ottam's Wood.” + </p> + <p> + “Who's that?” asked Dunn sharply. + </p> + <p> + “The man,” said Deede Dawson, “who is behind all this—the man you + and I are working for—the man who's going to pay us, even better + than he thinks.” + </p> + <p> + “He—he will be there?” repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did,” Deede + Dawson told him. “Most likely he'll be disguised—a mask, perhaps; I + don't know. Anyhow, he'll be there. Watching. I'm not suggesting you would + do such a thing as never go near the place, loaf around a bit, then come + back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of the way for good, draw your pay and + vanish, and leave us to find out he was as lively and troublesome as ever. + I don't think you would do that, because you sounded as if you meant what + you said when you told me he was your worst enemy. But it's just as well + to be sure, and so we mean to have a witness; and as it's what you might + call a delicate matter, that witness will most likely be our employer + himself. So you had better do the job thoroughly if you want your pay.” + </p> + <p> + “I see you take your precautions,” remarked Dunn. “Well, that's all right, + I don't mind.” + </p> + <p> + “You understand exactly what you've got to do?” Deede Dawson asked. + </p> + <p> + Dunn nodded. + </p> + <p> + “What about Allen?” he asked. “Does he take any part in this show?” + </p> + <p> + “He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early the + same night, during the dinner-hour most likely,” answered Deede Dawson + carelessly. “We can get in at one of the long gallery windows quite + easily, Allen says. He kept his eyes open that day you all went there. It + may be helpful to give the police two problems to work on at once; and + besides, big as this thing is, there's a shortage of ready money at + present. But our little affair at Wreste Abbey will have nothing to do + with you. You mind what you've got to do, and don't trouble about anything + else. See?” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” answered Dunn slowly. “And if you can arrange for Rupert Dunsmore + to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “You needn't be uneasy about that,” Deede Dawson said, and laughed. “You + see, I know his plans,” he repeated, and laughed again; and still laughing + that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and walked back towards the + house. + </p> + <p> + Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he muttered: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but I wonder if you do.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII. COUNTER-PLANS + </h2> + <p> + The hour was late by now, but Dunn felt no inclination for sleep, and + there was no need for him to return indoors as yet, since Deede Dawson, + who always locked up the house himself, never did so till past midnight. + Till the small hours, very often he was accustomed to sit up absorbed in + those chess problems, the composing and solving of which were his great + passion, so that, indeed, it is probable that under other circumstances he + might have passed a perfectly harmless and peaceful existence, known to + wide circles as an extraordinarily clever problemist and utterly unknown + elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + But the Fate that is, after all, but man's own character writ large, had + decreed otherwise. And the little, fat, smiling man bending over his + travelling chess board on which he moved delicately to and fro the tiny + red and white men of carved ivory, now and again removing a piece and + laying it aside, had done as much with as little concern to his fellow + creatures from the very beginning of his terrible career. + </p> + <p> + Outside, leaning on the gate where Deede Dawson had left him, Dunn was + deep in thought that was not always very comforting, for there was very + much in all this laid out for him to accomplish that he did not understand + and that disturbed him a good deal. + </p> + <p> + A careful, cautious “Hist!” broke in upon his thoughts, and in an instant + he stiffened to close attention, every nerve on the alert. + </p> + <p> + The sound was repeated, a faint and wary footstep sounded, and in the + darkness a form appeared and stole slowly nearer. + </p> + <p> + Dunn poised for a moment, ready for attack or retreat, and then all at + once his tense attitude relaxed. + </p> + <p> + “You, Walter,” he exclaimed. “That's good! But how did you get here? And + how did you know where I was?” + </p> + <p> + The new-comer drew a little nearer and showed the tall, thin form of + Walter Dunsmore to whom Dunn had spoken at Wreste Abbey. + </p> + <p> + “I had to come,” he murmured. “I couldn't rest without seeing you. You + upset me the other day, saying what you did. Isn't it very dangerous your + being here? Suppose Deede Dawson—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, if he suspected, there would soon be an end of me,” answered Dunn + grimly. “But I think I'm going to win—at least, I did till tonight.” + </p> + <p> + “What's happened?” the other asked sharply and anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “He has been telling me his plans,” answered Dunn. “He has told me + everything—he has put himself entirely in my power—he has done + what I have been waiting and hoping for ever since I came here. He has + given me his full confidence at last, and I never felt more uneasy or less + certain of success than I do at this moment.” + </p> + <p> + “He has told you—everything?” Walter Dunsmore asked. “Everything, + except who is behind it all,” answered Dunn. “I asked him who he was + acting for, and he refused to say. But we shall know that tomorrow, for he + told me something almost as good—he told me where this employer + would be at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. So then we shall have him, + unless Deede Dawson was lying.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, it all depends on finding that out,” remarked Walter + thoughtfully. “Finding out his identity.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's the key move to the problem,” Dunn said. “And tomorrow we + shall know it, if Deede Dawson was speaking the truth just now.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think he was,” said Walter slowly. “I should think it is certain + he was. You may depend on that, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “I think so, too,” agreed Dunn. “But how did you find out where I was?” + </p> + <p> + “You know that day you came to Wreste Abbey? There was some fellow you had + with you who told the landlord of the Chobham Arms, so I easily found out + from him,” answered Walter. + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow, I'm glad you're here,” Dunn said. “I was wondering how to get in + touch with you. Well, this is Deede Dawson's plan in brief. Tomorrow, at + four in the afternoon, Rupert Dunsmore is to be killed—and I've + undertaken to do the deed.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” exclaimed Walter, starting. + </p> + <p> + “I've promised that if Deede Dawson will bring me face to face with Rupert + Dunsmore, I'll murder him,” answered Dunn, laughing softly. + </p> + <p> + “A fairly safe offer on your part, isn't it?” observed Walter. “At least, + unless there's any saving clause about mirrors.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, none,” answered Dunn. “I told Deede Dawson Rupert Dunsmore was my + worst enemy, and that's true enough, for I think every man's worst enemy + is himself.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish I had none worse,” muttered Walter. + </p> + <p> + “I think you haven't, old chap,” Dunn said smilingly. “But come across the + road. It'll be safer on the common. Deede Dawson is so cunning one is + never safe from him. One can never be sure he isn't creeping up behind.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I daresay it's wise to take every precaution,” observed Walter. + “But I can't imagine either him or any one else getting near you without + your knowledge.” + </p> + <p> + Robert Dunn,—or rather, Rupert Dunsmore, as was his name by right of + birth—laughed again to himself, very softly in the darkness. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps not,” he said. “But I take no chances I can avoid with Deede + Dawson. Come along.” + </p> + <p> + They crossed the road together and sat down on the common at an open spot, + where none could well approach them unheard or unseen. Dunn laid his hand + affectionately on Walter's shoulder as they settled themselves. + </p> + <p> + “Old chap,” he said. “It was good of you to come here. You've run some + risk. It's none too safe near Bittermeads. But I'm glad to see you, + Walter. It's a tremendous relief after all this strain of doubt and + watching and suspicion to be with some one I know—some one I can + trust—some one like you, Walter.” + </p> + <p> + In the darkness, Walter put out his hand and took Dunn's and held it for a + moment. + </p> + <p> + “I have been anxious about you,” he said. Dunn returned the pressure + warmly. + </p> + <p> + “I know,” he said. “Jove, old chap, it's good to see you again. You don't + know what it's like after all this long time, feeling that every step was + a step in the dark, to be at last with a real friend again.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I can guess,” Walter said softly. + </p> + <p> + Dunn shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “No one could,” he said. “I tell you I've doubted, distrusted, suspected + till I wasn't sure of my own shadow. Well, that's all over now. Tomorrow + we can act.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me what I'm to do,” Walter Dunsmore said. + </p> + <p> + “There's a whole lot I don't understand yet,” Dunn continued slowly. “I + suppose it was that that was making me feel so jolly down before you came. + I don't feel sure somehow—not sure. Deede Dawson is such a cunning + brute. He seems to have laid his whole hand bare, and yet there may be + cards up his sleeve still. Besides, his plan he told me about seems so + bald. And I don't understand why he should think he is so sure of what I—I + mean, of what Rupert—it's a bit confusing to have a double identity—is + going to do. He says he is sure Rupert Dunsmore is to be at the Brook + Bourne Spring tomorrow at four. He says his information is certain, and + that he has full knowledge of what Rupert Dunsmore is going to do, which + is more than I have. But what can it be that's making him so sure?” + </p> + <p> + “That's probably simple enough,” said Walter. “You said you suspected + there was a leakage from Burns & Swift's office, and you told Burns to + make misleading statements about your movements occasionally when he was + dictating his letters. Well, I expect this is one.” + </p> + <p> + “That may be; only Deede Dawson seems so very sure,” answered Dunn. “But + what's specially important is his saying that his employer, whoever it is, + who is behind all this, will be there too.” + </p> + <p> + “A meeting? Is that it?” exclaimed Walter. + </p> + <p> + “No, that's not the idea,” answered Dunn. “You see, the idea is that + Rupert Dunsmore will be there at four, and that I'm to be there in ambush + to murder myself. Whoever is behind all this will be there too—to + see I carry out my work properly. And that gives us our chance.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's good,” exclaimed Walter. “We shall have him for certain.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I want you to see to,” said Dunn. “I want you to have men you + can trust well hidden all round, ready to collar him. And I want you to + have all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood well watched and every one + going along them noted. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + “That's quite easy,” declared Walter. “I can promise not a soul will get + into Ottam's Wood without being seen, and I'll make very sure indeed of + getting hold of any one hiding anywhere near Brook Bourne Spring. And once + we've done that—once we know who it is—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” agreed Dunn. “We shall be all right then. That is the one thing + necessary to know—the key move to the problem—the identity of + who it is pulling the strings. He must be a clever beggar; anyhow, I mean + to see him hang for it yet.” + </p> + <p> + “I daresay he's clever,” agreed Walter. “He is playing for big stakes. + Anyhow, we'll have him tomorrow all right; that seems certain—at + last.” + </p> + <p> + “At last,” agreed Dunn, with a long-drawn sigh. “Ugh! it's all been such a + nightmare. It's been pretty awful, knowing there was some one—not + able to guess who. Ever since you discovered that first attempt, ever + since we became certain there was a plot going on to clear out every one + in succession to the Chobham estates—and that was jolly plain, + though the fools of police did babble about no evidence, as if pistol + bullets come from nowhere and poisoned cups of tea—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, I was to blame there, that was my fault,” said Walter. “You see, we + had no proof about the shooting, and when I had spilt that tea, no proof + of poison either. I shall always regret that.” + </p> + <p> + “A bit of bad luck,” Dunn agreed. “But accidents will happen. Anyhow, it + was clear enough some one was trying to make a jolly clear sweep. It may + be a madman; it may be some one with a grudge against us; it may be, as + poor Charley thought, some one in the line of succession, who is just + clearing the way to inherit the title and estates himself. I wish I knew + what made Charley suspicious of Deede Dawson in the first place.” + </p> + <p> + “You don't know that?” Walter asked. + </p> + <p> + “No, he never told me,” answered Dunn. “Poor Charley, it cost him his + life. That's another thing we must find out—where they've hidden his + body.” + </p> + <p> + “He was sure from the first,” remarked Walter, “that it was a conspiracy + on the part of some one in the line of succession?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” agreed Dunn. “It's likely enough, too. You see, ever since that big + family row and dispersion eighty years ago, a whole branch of the family + has been entirely lost sight of. There may be half a dozen possible heirs + we know nothing about. Like poor John Clive. I daresay if we had known of + his existence we should have begun by suspecting him.” + </p> + <p> + “There's one thing pretty sure,” remarked Walter. “If these pleasant + little arrangements did succeed, it would be a fairly safe guess that the + inheritor of the title and estates was the guilty person. It might be + brought home to him, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” agreed Dunn dryly. “But just a trifle too late to interest me + for one. And I don't mean to let the dad or uncle be sacrificed if I can + help it. I failed with Clive, poor fellow, but I don't mean to again, and + I don't see how we can. Deede Dawson has exposed his hand. Now we can play + ours.” + </p> + <p> + “But what are you going to do?” Walter asked. “Are you going to follow out + his instructions?” + </p> + <p> + “To the letter,” Dunn answered. “We are dealing with very wary, suspicious + people, and the least thing might make them take alarm. The important + point, of course, is the promise that Deede Dawson's employer will be at + Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow afternoon. That's our trump card. Everything + hangs on that. And to make sure there's no hitch, I shall do exactly what + I've been told to do. I expect I shall be watched. I shall be there at + four o'clock, and ten minutes after I hope we shall have laid hands on—whoever + it is.” + </p> + <p> + Walter nodded. + </p> + <p> + “I don't see how we can fail,” he said. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIV. AN APHORISM + </h2> + <p> + “No,” Dunn agreed after a long pause. “No, I don't see myself how failure + is possible; I don't see what there is to go wrong. All the same, I shan't + be sorry when it's all over; I suppose I'm nervous, that's the truth of + it. But Deede Dawson's hardly the sort of man I should have expected to + lay all his cards on the table so openly.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I think that's natural enough,” answered Walter. “Quite natural—he + thinks you are in with him and he tells you what he wants you to do. But I + don't quite see the object of your visit to the Abbey the other day. You + gave me the shock of my life, I think. I hadn't the least idea who you + were—that beard makes a wonderful difference.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn laughed quietly. + </p> + <p> + “It's a good disguise,” he admitted. “I didn't quite know myself first + time I looked in a mirror. We went to the Abbey to prepare for a burglary + there.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, is that on the cards, too?” exclaimed Walter. “I didn't expect that.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answered Dunn. “My own idea is that Deede Dawson sees an + opportunity for making a bit on his own. After all of us are disposed of + and his friend has got the title and estates, he won't dare to prosecute + of course, and so Deede Dawson thinks it a good opportunity to visit the + Abbey and pick up any pictures or heirlooms or so-so he can that it would + be almost impossible to dispose of in the ordinary way, but that he + expects he will be able to sell back at a good price to the new owner of + the property. I think he calculates that that gentleman will be ready to + pay as much as he is asked. I don't know, but I think that's his idea from + something he said the other day about the uselessness of even good stuff + from a big house unless you knew of a sure market, or could sell it back + again to the owner.” + </p> + <p> + “Jolly clever idea if it works all right,” said Walter slowly. “I can see + Mr. Deede Dawson is a man who needs watching. And I suppose we had better + be on the look-out at the Abbey tomorrow night?” + </p> + <p> + “Evening,” corrected Dunn. “It's planned for the dinner-hour.” + </p> + <p> + “Right,” said Walter. “We shall see some crowded hours tomorrow, I expect. + Well, it's like this, as I understand it—we had better be sure + everything is quite clear. Their idea is that you will meet and murder + Rupert Dunsmore, who they have no notion is really your own self, at Brook + Bourne Spring at four tomorrow afternoon, and the unknown somebody who is + behind all this business will be in hiding there to make sure you do your + work properly. Our idea is to watch all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood + and to have men in ambush near the spring to seize any one hiding there at + that time. Then we shall know who is at the bottom of all these plots and + shall be able to smash the whole conspiracy. In addition, Deede Dawson and + this other man you speak of, Allen, are going to break into the Abbey + tomorrow evening and we are to be ready for them and catch them in the + act?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Dunn, “that's the idea; you can manage all right?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” answered Walter. “It's all simple enough—you've planned + it out so jolly well there's nothing much left for me to do. And I don't + see what you're nervous about; there's nothing that can go wrong very well—your + plans are perfect, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “It's easy enough to make plans when you know just what the other side are + going to do,” observed Dunn. “There's one point more. Miss Cayley—I + mentioned her in one of the notes I sent you through Burns.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I remember—Deede Dawson's step-daughter,” said Walter. “I + suppose she is in it?” + </p> + <p> + “She is not; she knows nothing,” declared Dunn vehemently. + </p> + <p> + “But it was she who took away poor Charley's body, wasn't it?” asked + Walter. “But for that you would have had evidence enough to act on at + once, wouldn't you?” + </p> + <p> + “She did not know what she was doing,” Dunn replied. “And now she is in + danger herself. I am convinced Deede Dawson is growing afraid of her, he + dropped hints; I'm sure he is planning something, perhaps he means to + murder her as well. So besides these other arrangements I want to see that + there's a trustworthy man watching here. I don't anticipate that there's + any immediate danger—it's almost certain that if he means anything + he will wait till he sees how this other business is turning out. But I + want some one trustworthy to be at hand in case of need. You will see to + that?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I can spare Simmonds; I'll send him,” answered Walter. “Though, + I must say, my dear chap, I don't think I should trouble much about that + young lady. But it can be easily managed, in fact everything you want me + to do is easy enough; I only wish some of it was a bit difficult or + dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + “You're a good chap, Walter,” said Dunn, putting his hand on the other's + shoulder again. “Well, I think it's all settled now. I tell you I'm + looking forward a good deal to four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I feel as + if I would give all I possess to know who it is.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't make that offer,” Walter said with a smile, “or the fates may + accept it.” + </p> + <p> + “I feel as though there's only one thing in the world I want one half so + much,” Dunn said. “As to know who this—devil is.” + </p> + <p> + “Devil?” repeated Walter. “Well, yes, devil's a word like any other.” + </p> + <p> + “I think it's justified in this case,” said Dunn sternly. “Poor Charley + Wright dead! One thing I can't understand about that is how they got him + back here when you saw him in London when you did. But they're a cunning + lot. They must have worked it somehow. Then Clive. I feel to blame for + Clive's death—as if I ought to have managed better and saved him. + Now there's this other devilry they are planning. I tell you, Walter, I + feel the whole world will be a sweeter place after four o'clock tomorrow + afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “At any rate,” said Walter, “I think we may be sure of one thing—after + four o'clock tomorrow afternoon you will know all—all.” He paused + and repeated, slightly varying the phrase: “Yes, after four o'clock + tomorrow afternoon you will know everything—everything.” He added in + a brisker tone: “There's nothing else to arrange?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Dunn, “I don't think so, and I had better go now or Deede + Dawson will be suspecting something. He'll want to know what I've been + stopping out so late for. Good-bye, old chap, and good luck.” + </p> + <p> + They shook hands. + </p> + <p> + “Good-bye and good luck, Rupert, old man,” Walter said. “You may depend on + me—you know that.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I do know that,” Dunn answered. + </p> + <p> + They shook hands again, and Dunn said: “You've hurt your hand. It's tied + up. Is it anything much?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” answered Walter with a little laugh. “A mere scratch. I + scratched it on a bit of wood, a lid that didn't fit properly.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, good-bye and good luck,” Dunn said again, and they parted, Walter + disappearing into the darkness and Dunn returning to the house. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson heard him enter, and he came to the door of the room in which + he had been sitting. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there you are,” he said. “Been enjoying the night air or what? You've + been a long time.” + </p> + <p> + “I've been thinking,” Dunn muttered in the heavy, sulky manner he always + assumed at Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + “Not weakening, eh?” asked Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Dunn. “I'm not.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” Deede Dawson exclaimed. “There's a lot to win, and no fear of + failure. I don't see that failure's possible. Do you?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered Dunn. “I suppose not.” + </p> + <p> + “The mate's sure this time,” Deede Dawson declared. “It's our turn to + move, and whatever reply the other side makes, we're sure of our mate next + move. By the way, did you ever solve that problem I showed you the other + day?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think so,” answered Dunn. “It was a long time before I could hit + on the right move, but I managed it at last, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “Come and show me, then,” said Deede Dawson, bustling back into his room + and beginning to set up the pieces on his travelling chess-board. “This + was the position, wasn't it? Now, what's your move?” + </p> + <p> + Dunn showed him, and Deede Dawson burst into a laugh that had in it for + once a touch of honest enjoyment. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that would do it, but for one thing you haven't noticed,” he said. + “Black can push the pawn at KB7 and make it, not a queen, but a knight, + giving check to your king and no mate for you next move.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's so,” agreed Dunn. “I hadn't thought of that.” + </p> + <p> + “Unexpected, eh? Making the pawn a knight?” smiled Deede Dawson. “But in + chess, and in life, it's the unexpected you have to look out for.” + </p> + <p> + “That's quite an aphorism,” said Dunn. “It's true, too.” + </p> + <p> + He went up to bed, but did not sleep well, and when at last he fell into a + troubled slumber, it seemed to him that Charley Wright and John Clive were + there, one on each side of him, and that they had come, not because they + sought for vengeance, but because they wished to warn him of a doom like + their own that they could see approaching but he could not. + </p> + <p> + Toward's morning he got an hour's sound rest, and he was down stairs in + good time. He did not see Ella, but he heard her moving about, so knew + that she was safe as yet; and Deede Dawson gave him some elaborate parting + instructions, a little money, and a loaded revolver. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I want that,” said Dunn. “My hands will be all I need + once I'm face to face with Rupert Dunsmore.” + </p> + <p> + “That's the right spirit,” said Deede Dawson approvingly. “But the pistol + may be useful too. You needn't use it if you can manage without, but you + may as well have it. Good-bye, and the best of luck. Take care of + yourself, and don't lose your head or do anything foolish.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you can trust me,” said Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “I think I can,” smiled Deede Dawson. “I think I can. Good-bye. Be + careful, avoid noise and fuss, don't be seen any more than you can help, + and if you shoot, aim low.” + </p> + <p> + “There's a vade mecum for the intending assassin,” Dunn thought grimly to + himself, but he said nothing, gave the other a sullen nod, and started off + on his strange and weird mission of murdering himself. He found himself + wondering if any one else had ever been in such a situation. He did not + suppose so. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXV. THE UNEXPECTED + </h2> + <p> + To the very letter Dunn followed the careful and precise instructions + given him by Deede Dawson, for he did not wish to rouse in any way the + slightest suspicion or run the least risk of frightening off that unknown + instigator of these plots who was, it had been promised him, to be present + near Brook Bourne Spring at four that afternoon. + </p> + <p> + Even the thought of Ella was perhaps less clear and vivid to his mind just + now than was his intense and passionate desire to discover the identity of + the strange and sinister personality against whom he had matched himself. + </p> + <p> + “Very likely it's some madman,” he thought to himself. “How in the name of + common sense can he expect to inherit the title and estates quietly after + such a series of crimes as he seems to contemplate? Does he think no one + will have any suspicion of him when he comes forward? Even if he is + successful in getting rid of all of us in this way, how does he expect to + be able to reap his reward? Of course he may think that there will be no + direct evidence if he manages cleverly enough, and that mere suspicion he + will be able to disregard and live down in time, but surely it will be + plain enough that 'who benefits is guilty'? The whole thing is mad, + fantastic. Why, the mere fact of any one making a claim to the title and + estates would be almost enough to justify a jury in returning a verdict of + guilty.” + </p> + <p> + But though his thoughts ran in this wise all the time he was journeying to + London, and though he repeated them to himself over and over again, none + the less there remained an uneasy consciousness in his mind that perhaps + these people had plans more subtle than he knew, and that even this + difficulty of making their claim without bringing instant suspicion on + themselves they had provided for. + </p> + <p> + It was late in the year now, but the day was warm and very calm and fine. + At the London terminus where he alighted he had a strong feeling that he + was watched, and when he took the train back to Delsby he still had the + idea that he was being kept under observation. + </p> + <p> + He felt he had been wise in deciding to carry out Deede Dawson's + instructions so closely, for he was sure that if he had failed to do so in + any respect alarm would have been taken at once, and warning telegrams + gone flying on the instant to all concerned. Then that self-baited trap at + Brook Bourne Spring, wherein he hoped to see his enemy taken, would remain + unapproached, and all his work and risk would have gone for nothing. + </p> + <p> + When he alighted at his destination he was a little before time, and so he + got himself something to eat at a small public-house near the station + before starting on his fifteen-mile walk across country. Though he was not + sure, he did not think any one was observing him now. Most likely his + movements up to the present had appeared satisfactory, and it had not been + thought necessary to watch him longer. + </p> + <p> + But he was careful to do nothing to rouse suspicion if he were still being + spied upon, and after he had eaten and had a smoke he started off on his + long tramp. + </p> + <p> + Even yet he was careful, and so long as he was near the village he made a + show of avoiding observation as much as possible. Later on, when he had + made certain he was not being followed, he did not trouble so much, though + he still kept it in mind that any one he met or passed might well be in + fact one of Deede Dawson's agents. + </p> + <p> + He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in other + circumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough. It was a little + curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief preoccupation seemed to + shift from his immediate errand and intense eagerness to discover the + identity of his unknown foe, with whom he hoped to stand face to face so + soon, to a troubled and pressing anxiety about Ella. + </p> + <p> + Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least real + danger. He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put on watch at + Bittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy. None the less, + his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile he traversed, till + presently her situation seemed to him the one weak link in his careful + plans. + </p> + <p> + That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be taken + in, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt certain enough. + Walter would see to that. Sure was it, too, that the enterprise Deede + Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at the Abbey must result in their + discomfiture and capture. Walter would see to that also. But concerning + Ella's position doubt would insist on intruding, till at last he decided + that the very moment the Brook Bourne Spring business was satisfactorily + finished with he would hurry at his best speed to Bittermeads and make + sure of her safety. + </p> + <p> + Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened speed, and + looking at his watch he saw that it was two o'clock, and that he was + still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles from his destination. + </p> + <p> + He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by Deede + Dawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot where the path he + had to take branched off from the road he had been following. At this spot + a heavy country lad was sitting on a gate by the wayside, and as Dunn + approached he clambered heavily down and slouched forward to meet him. + </p> + <p> + “Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this sudden + recognition in so lonely a spot. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am,” he said, after a moment's hesitation. “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “If you are, there's this as I'm to give you,” the lad answered, drawing a + note from his pocket. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, who gave you that?” Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note contained + some final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering if this lad were + one of his agents in disguise, or merely some inhabitant of the district + hired for the one purpose of delivering the letter. + </p> + <p> + But the lad's drawled reply disconcerted him greatly. + </p> + <p> + “A lady,” he said. “A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait here and + give you this. All alone she was, and drove just like a man.” + </p> + <p> + He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it was addressed + to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella's writing. He blinked at it in + very great surprise, for there was nothing he expected less, and he did + not understand how she knew so well where he would be or how she had + managed to get away from Bittermeads uninterfered with by Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + His first impulse was to suspect some new trap, some new and cunning trap + that, perhaps, the unconscious Ella was being used to bait. Taking the + letter from the boy, he said: + </p> + <p> + “How did you know it was for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Lady told me,” answered the boy grinning. “She said as I was to look out + for a chap answering to the name of Robert Dunn, with his face so covered + with hair you couldn't see nothing of it no more'n you can see a sheep's + back for wool. 'As soon as I set eye on 'ee,' says I, 'That's him,' I + says, and so 'twas.” + </p> + <p> + He grinned again and slouched away and Dunn stood still, holding the + letter in his hand and not opening it at first. It was almost as though he + feared to do so, and when at last he tore the envelope open it was with a + hand that trembled a little in spite of all that he could do. For there + was something about this strange communication and the means adopted to + deliver it to him that struck him as ominous in the extreme. Some sudden + crisis must have arisen, he thought, and it appeared to him that Ella's + knowledge of where to find him implied a knowledge of Deede Dawson's plans + that meant she was either his willing and active agent and accomplice, or + else she had somehow acquired a knowledge of her stepfather's proceedings + that must make her position a thousand times more critical and dangerous + than before. + </p> + <p> + He flung the envelope aside and began to read the contents. It opened + abruptly, without any form of address, and it was written in a hand that + showed plain signs of great distress and agitation: “You are in great + danger. I don't know what. I heard them talking. They spoke as though + something threatened you, something you could not escape. Be careful, very + careful. You asked me once if I had ever heard a man with a high, squeaky + voice, and I did not answer. It was to a man with a voice like that I gave + the packing-case I took away from here the night you came. Do you + remember? He was here all last night, I think. I saw him go very early. He + is Mr. Walter Dunsmore. I saw him that day at Wreste Abbey, and I knew I + had seen him before. This morning I recognized him. I am sure because he + hurt his hand on the packing-case lid, and I saw the mark there still. He + and my stepfather were talking all night, I think I couldn't hear + everything. There is a General Dunsmore. Something is to happen to him at + three o'clock and then to you later, and they both laughed a great deal + because they think you will be blamed for whatever happens to General + Dunsmore. He is to be enticed somewhere to meet you, but you are not to be + there till four, too late. I am afraid, more afraid than ever I have been. + What shall I do? I think they are making plans to do something awful. I + don't know what to do. I think my stepfather suspects I know something, he + keeps looking, looking, smiling all the time. Please come back and take + mother and me away, for I think he means to kill us both.” + </p> + <p> + There was no signature, but written like an afterthought across one corner + of the note were the scribbled words: + </p> + <p> + “You told me something once, I don't know if you meant it.” And then, + underneath, was the addition—“He never stops smiling.” + </p> + <p> + Twice over Dunn read this strange, disturbing message, and then a third + time, and he made a little gesture of annoyance for it did not seem to him + that the words he read made sense, or else it was that his brain no longer + worked normally, and could not interpret them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but that's absurd,” he said aloud. + </p> + <p> + He looked all around him, surprised to see that the face of the + country-side had not changed in any way, but was all just as it had been + before this letter had been put into his hands. + </p> + <p> + He began to read a third, but stopped half-way through the first sentence. + </p> + <p> + “Then it's Walter all the time,” he muttered. “Walter—Walter!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVI. A RACE AGAINST TIME + </h2> + <p> + Even when he had said this aloud it was still as though he could not grasp + its full meaning. + </p> + <p> + “Walter,” he repeated vaguely. “Walter.” + </p> + <p> + His thoughts, that had seemed as frozen by the sudden shock of the + tremendous revelation so unconsciously made to him by Ella, began to stir + and move again, and almost at once, with an extraordinary and abnormal + rapidity. + </p> + <p> + As a drowning man is said to see flash before his eyes the whole history + and record of his life, so now Dunn saw the whole story of his life-long + friendship with Walter pictured before him. + </p> + <p> + For when he was very small, Walter had been to him like an elder brother, + and when he was older, it was Walter who had taught him to ride and to + shoot, to hunt and to fish, and when he was at school it was Walter to + whom he looked up as the dashing young man of the world, who knew all + life's secrets, and when he was at college it was Walter who had helped + him out of the inevitable foolish scrapes into which it is the custom of + the undergraduate to fall. + </p> + <p> + Then, when he had come to man's estate, Walter had still been his + confidential friend and adviser. In Walter's hand he had been accustomed + to leave everything during his absences on his hunting and exploring + trips; and at what time during this long and kindly association of + good-fellowship had such black hate and poison of envy bred in Walter's + heart? + </p> + <p> + “Walter!” he said aloud once more, and he uttered the name as though it + were a cry of anguish. + </p> + <p> + Yet, too, even in his utter bewilderment and surprise, it seemed strange + to him that he had never once suspected, never dreamed, never once had the + shadow of a suspicion. + </p> + <p> + Little things, trifling things, a word, an accent, a phrase that had + passed at the time for a jest, a thousand such memories came back to him + now with a new and terrible significance. + </p> + <p> + For, after all, Walter was in the direct line. Only just a few lives stood + between him and a great inheritance, a great position. Perhaps long + brooding on what might so easily be had made him mad. + </p> + <p> + Dunn remembered now, too, that it was Walter who had discovered that first + murderous attempt which had first put them on their guard, but perhaps he + had discovered it only because he knew of it, and when it failed, saw his + safest plan was to be foremost in tracking it out. + </p> + <p> + And it was Walter who had last seen poor Charley Wright alone, and far + from Bittermeads. But perhaps that was a lie to confuse the search for the + missing man, and a reason why that search had failed so utterly up to the + moment of Dunn's own grim discovery in the attic. + </p> + <p> + With yet a fresh shock so that he reeled as he stood with the impact of + the thought, Dunn realized that all this implied that every one of his + precautions had been rendered futile that of all his elaborate plans not + one would take effect since all had been entrusted to the care of the very + man against whom they were aimed. + </p> + <p> + It was Walter for whom the net had been laid in Ottam's Wood; and Walter + to whom had been entrusted the task of drawing that net tight at the right + moment. + </p> + <p> + It was Walter's friends and agents who were to break into Wreste Abbey, + and Walter to whom had been entrusted the task of defeating and capturing + them. It was Walter from whom Ella stood in most danger if her action that + morning had been observed, and it was Walter to whom he had given the task + of protecting her. + </p> + <p> + At this thought, he turned and began to run as fast as he could in the + direction of Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + At all costs she must be saved, she who had exposed the whole awful plot. + For a hundred yards or so he fled, swift as the wind, till on a sudden he + stopped dead with the realization of the fact that every yard he took that + way took him further and further from Ottam's Wood. + </p> + <p> + For there was danger there, too—grim and imminent—and + sentences in Ella's hasty letter that bore now to his new knowledge a deep + significance she had not dreamed of. + </p> + <p> + As when a flash of lightning lights all the landscape up and shows the + traveller dreadful dangers that beset his path, so a wave of intuition + told Dunn clearly the whole conspiracy; so that he saw it all, and saw how + every detail was to be fitted in together. His father, General Dunsmore, + was to be murdered first at the Brook Bourne Spring, to which he was being + lured; and afterwards, when Dunn arrived, he was to be murdered, too. And + on him, dead and unable to defend himself, the blame of his father's death + would be laid. It would not be difficult to manage. Walter would arrange + it all as neatly as he had been accustomed to arrange the Dunsmore + business affairs placed in his hands for settlement. + </p> + <p> + A forged letter or two, Dunn's own revolver used to shoot the old man with + and then placed in Dunn's dead hand when his own turn had come, convincing + detail like that would be easy to arrange. Why, the very fact of his + disguise, the tangled beard that he had grown to hide his features with, + would appear conclusive. Any coroner's jury would return a verdict of + wilful murder against his memory on that one fact alone. + </p> + <p> + Walter would see to that all right. A little false evidence apparently + reluctantly given would be added, and all would be kneaded together into + the one substance till the whole guilt of all that happened would appear + to lie solely on his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + As for motive, it would simply be put forward that he had been in a hurry + to succeed his uncle. And very likely some tale of a quarrel with his + father or something of that sort would be invented, and would go + uncontradicted since there would be no one to contradict it. + </p> + <p> + And most probably what was contemplated at Wreste Abbey was no ordinary + burglary, but the assassination of old Lord Chobham, of which the guilt + would also be set down to him. + </p> + <p> + Very clearly now he realized that this tremendous plot was aimed, not only + at life, but at honour—that not only was his life required, but also + that he should be thought a murderer. + </p> + <p> + With the realization of the danger that threatened at Wreste Abbey he + turned and began to run back in the direction where it lay, that he might + take timely warning there, but he did not run a dozen strides when he + remembered Ella again, and paused. + </p> + <p> + Surely he must think of her first, alone and unprotected. For she was the + woman he loved; and besides, she had summoned him to her help, and then + she was a woman, and at least, the others were men. + </p> + <p> + All this flood of thoughts, this intuitive grasping of a situation + terrible beyond conception, almost unparalleled in bloody and dreadful + horror, passed through his mind with extreme rapidity. + </p> + <p> + Once more he turned and began to run—to run as he had never run + before, for now he saw that all depended on the speed with which he could + cover the eight miles that lay between him and Ottam's Wood, whether he + could still save his father or not. + </p> + <p> + The district was lonely in the extreme, there was no human habitation + near, no place where he could obtain any help or any swift means of + conveyance. His one hope must be in his speed, his feet must be swift to + save, not only his own life and his father's, but his honour, too, and + Ella and his old uncle as well; and all—all hung upon the speed with + which he could cover the eight long miles that lay between him and Brook + Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood. Even as he ran, as he thought of Ella, he + came abruptly to a pause, wrung with sudden anguish. For each fleet stride + he was making towards Brook Bourne Spring was taking him further and + further away from Bittermeads just as before each step to Bittermeads had + been taking him further from Ottam's Wood. + </p> + <p> + He began to run again, even faster than before, and it was towards Ottam's + Wood that he ran, each step taking him further from Bittermeads and + further from the woman he loved in her bitter need and peril, who looked + to him for the help he could not give. With pain and anguish he ran on, + ran as men have seldom run—as seldom so much was hung upon their + running. + </p> + <p> + On and on he sped, fleet as the wind, fleet as the light breeze that blew + lightly by. A solitary villager trudging on some errand in this lonely + place, tells to this day the tale of the bearded, wild-eyed man who raced + so madly by him, raced on and down the long, straight road till his figure + dwindled and vanished in the distance. + </p> + <p> + A shepherd boy went home with a tale of a strange thing he had seen of a + man running so fast it seemed he was scarcely in sight before he was gone + again. + </p> + <p> + And except for those two and one other none saw him at all and he ran his + race alone beneath the skies, across the bare country side. + </p> + <p> + It was at a spot where the path ran between two high hedges that he came + upon a little herd of cows a lad was driving home. + </p> + <p> + It seemed impossible to pass through that tangle of horns and tails and + plunging hoofs, and so indeed it was, but Dunn took another way, and with + one leap, cleared the first beast clean and alighted on the back of the + second. + </p> + <p> + Before the startled beast could plunge away he leaped again from the + vantage of its back and landed on the open ground beyond and so on, + darting full speed past the staring driver, whose tale that he told when + he got home caused him to go branded for years as a liar. + </p> + <p> + On and on Dunn fled, without stay or pause, at the utmost of his speed + every second of time, every yard of distance. For he knew he had need of + every ounce of power he possessed or could call to his aid, since he knew + well that all, all, might hang upon a second less or more, and now four + miles lay behind him and four in front. + </p> + <p> + Still on he raced with labouring lungs and heart near to bursting —onward + still, swift, swift and sure, and now there were six miles behind and only + two in front, and he was beginning to come to a part of the country that + he knew. + </p> + <p> + Whether he was soon or late he had no idea or how long it was that he had + raced like this along the lonely country road at the full extremity and + limit of his strength. + </p> + <p> + He dared not take time to glance at his watch, for he knew the fraction of + a second he would thus lose might mean the difference between in time and + too late. On he ran still and presently he left the path and took the + fields. + </p> + <p> + But he had forgotten that though the distance might be shorter the going + would be harder, and on the rough grass he stumbled, and across the bare + ground damp earth clung to his boots and hindered him as though each foot + had become laden with lead. + </p> + <p> + His speed was slower, his effort greater if possible, and when he came to + a hedge he made no effort to leap, but crashed through it as best he could + and broke or clambered or tumbled a path for himself. + </p> + <p> + Now Ottam's Wood was very near, and reeling and staggering like a man + wounded to the death but driven by inexorable fate, he plunged on still, + and there was a little froth gathering at the corners of his mouth and + from one of his nostrils came a thin trickle of blood. + </p> + <p> + Yet still he held on, though in truth he hardly knew any longer why he ran + or what his need for haste, and as he came to the wood round a spur where + a cluster of young beeches grew, he saw a tall, upright, elderly man + walking there, well-dressed and of a neat, soldier-like appearance. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo—there you are—father—” he gasped and fell down, + prone unconscious. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVII. FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + </h2> + <p> + When he came to himself he was lying on his back, and bending over him was + his father's familiar face, wearing an expression of great surprise and + wonder, and still greater annoyance. + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” General Dunsmore asked as soon as he saw that his + son's senses were returning to him. “Have you all gone mad together? You + send me a mysterious note to meet you here at three, you turn up racing + and running like an escaped lunatic, and with a disgusting growth of hair + all over your face, so that I didn't know you till you spoke, and then + there's Walter dodging about in the wood here like a poacher hiding from + the keepers. Are you both quite mad, Rupert?” + </p> + <p> + “Walter,” Rupert repeated, lifting himself on one hand, “Walter—have + you seen him?” + </p> + <p> + “Over there,” said the general, nodding towards the right. “He was dodging + and creeping about for all the world like some poaching rascal. I waved, + but he didn't see me, and when I tried to overtake him I lost sight of him + somehow in the trees, and found I had come right out of my way for Brook + Bourne Spring.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God for that,” said Rupert fervently as a picture presented itself + to him of his unsuspecting father trying in that lonely wood to find and + overtake the man whose murderous purpose was aimed at his life. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” snapped the general. “And why have you made such a + spectacle of yourself with all that beard? Why, I didn't know you till you + spoke—there's Walter there. What makes him look like that?” + </p> + <p> + For Walter had just come out of the wood about fifty yards to their right, + and when he saw them talking together he understood at once that in some + way or another all his plans had failed. + </p> + <p> + He was looking at them through a gap in some undergrowth that hid most of + his body, but showed his head and shoulders plainly, and as he stood there + watching them his face was like a fiend's. + </p> + <p> + “Walter,” the general shouted, and to his son Rupert he said: “The boy's + ill.” + </p> + <p> + Walter moved forward from among the trees. He had a gun in his hand, and + he flung it forward as though preparing to fire, and at the same moment + Rupert Dunsmore drew from his pocket the pistol Deede Dawson had given him + and fired himself. + </p> + <p> + But at the very moment that he pulled the trigger the general struck up + his arm so that the bullet flew high and harmless through the tops of the + trees. + </p> + <p> + Walter stepped back again into the wood, and Rupert said: + </p> + <p> + “You don't know what you have done, father.” + </p> + <p> + “You are mad, mad,” the general gasped. + </p> + <p> + His face was very pale, and he trembled a little, for though he had heard + many bullets whistle by his ears, that had happened in action against an + enemy, and was altogether different from this. He put out his hand in an + attempt to take the pistol that Rupert easily evaded. + </p> + <p> + “Give it to me,” he said. “I saved his life; you might have killed him.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you saved him, father,” Rupert muttered, thinking to himself that + the saving of Walter's life might well mean the loss of Ella's, since very + likely the failure of their plots would be at once attributed by the + conspirators to her. “Father, I never wrote that letter you say you had. + Walter forged it to get you here, where he meant to kill us both. That's + why he looked like that, that's why he had his gun.” + </p> + <p> + General Dunsmore only stared blankly at him for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Kill me? Kill you? What for?” he gasped. + </p> + <p> + “So that he might become Lord Chobham of Wreste Abbey instead of Lord + Chobham's poor relation,” answered Rupert. “The poison attempt on uncle + which Walter discovered was first of all his own doing; it was through him + Charley Wright lost his life. He has committed at least one other murder. + Today he meant to kill both of us. Then he would have been heir to the + title and estates, and when uncle died he would have been Lord Chobham.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense, absurd, impossible. You're mad, quite mad,” the general + stammered. “Why, he would have been hanged at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Not if he could have fixed the blame elsewhere,” Rupert answered. “That + was to have been my part; it was carefully arranged to make it seem I was + responsible for it all. I haven't time to explain now. I don't think he is + coming back. I expect he is only loaded with small shot, and he doesn't + dare try a long range shot or come near now he knows I'm ready for him.” + </p> + <p> + “But it's—it's impossible—Walter,” stammered the general. + “Impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “The impossible so often happens,” answered Rupert, and handed his pistol + to him. “You must trust me, father, and do what I tell you. Take this + pistol in case you are attacked on the way home. You may be, but I don't + think it's likely. Get the motor out and go straight to Wreste Abbey. An + attempt on uncle's life will be made tonight, if they still carry out + their plans, about dinner-time tonight. See that every possible precaution + is taken. See to that first. Then send help as soon as you can to + Bittermeads, a house on the outskirts of Ramsdon; any one there will tell + you where it is.” + </p> + <p> + “But what are you going to do?” General Dunsmore asked. + </p> + <p> + “I'm going to find Walter, if he's still hiding in the wood here, as he + may be,” Rupert answered. “I should like a little chat with him.” For a + moment he nearly lost his self-control, and for a single moment there + showed those fiery and tempestuous passions he was keeping now in such + stern repression. “Yes a little talk with him, just us two,” he said. “And + if he's cleared out, or I can't find him I'm going straight on to + Bittermeads. There's some one there who may be in danger, so the sooner I + am there the better.” + </p> + <p> + “But wait a moment,” the general cried. “Are you armed?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with my hands, I shall want no more when Walter and I meet again,” + Rupert answered, and, without another word, plunged into the wood at the + spot where Walter had vanished. + </p> + <p> + At first the track of Walter's flying footsteps was plain enough for he + had fled full speed, panic having overtaken him when he saw Rupert and his + father together and understood that in some way his deep conspiracy had + failed and his treachery become known. + </p> + <p> + For a little distance, therefore, he had crashed through bracken and + undergrowth, heedless of all but the one need that was upon him to flee + away and escape while there was yet time. But, after a while, his first + panic subsiding, he had gone more carefully, and, as the weather had been + very dry of late, when he came to open ground his footmarks were scarcely + visible. + </p> + <p> + In such spots Rupert could make but slow progress, and he was handicapped, + too, by the fact, that all the time he had to be on his guard lest from + some unsuspected quarter his enemy should come upon him unawares. + </p> + <p> + For, indeed, this enterprise he had undertaken in the flood tide of his + passion and fierce anger was dangerous enough since he, quite weaponless, + was following up a very desperate armed man who would know that for him + there could be henceforth no question of mercy. + </p> + <p> + But there was that burning in Rupert's heart that made him heedless of all + danger, and indeed, he who for mere love of sport and adventure, had + followed a wounded tiger into the jungle and tracked a buffalo through + thick reeds, was not likely to draw back now. + </p> + <p> + Once he thought he had succeeded, for he saw a bush move and he rushed at + once upon it. But when he reached it there was nothing there, and the + ground about was hard and bare, showing no marks to prove any one had + lately been near. And once he saw a movement in the midst of some bracken + and caught a glimpse of what seemed like Walter's coat, so that he was + sure he had him at last, and he shouted and ran forward. + </p> + <p> + But again no one was there, though the bracken was all trampled and beaten + down. The tracks Walter had made in going were plain, too, but Rupert lost + them almost at once and could not find them again, and when he came a + little later to the further edge of the wood, he decided to waste no more + time, but to make his way direct to Bittermeads so as at least to make + sure of Ella's safety. + </p> + <p> + He told himself that he had failed badly in woodcraft and, indeed, he had + been too fierce and hot in his pursuit to show his wonted skill. + </p> + <p> + The plan that had been in his mind from the moment when he left his father + was to take advantage of the fact that on this edge of the wood was + situated a farm belonging to Lord Chobham, where horses were bred and + where he was well known. + </p> + <p> + Some of these horses were sure to be out in the fields, and it would be + easy for him, wasting no time in explanation, to catch one of them, mount + bare-backed and ride through the New Plantation—the New Plantation + was a hundred years old, but still kept that name—over the brow of + the hill beyond, swim the canal in the valley, and so straight + across-country to Ramsdon. + </p> + <p> + Riding thus direct he would save time and distance, and arrive more + quickly than by going the necessary distance to secure a motor-car which + would have also to take a much more circuitous route. + </p> + <p> + He jumped the hedge, therefore, that lay at the wood's edge and slid down + the steep bank into the sunken road beyond where he found himself standing + in front of Walter, who held in his hands a gun levelled straight at + Rupert's heart. + </p> + <p> + “I could have shot you time after time in there you know,” he said + quietly. “From behind that bush and from out of the bracken, too. I don't + know why I didn't. I suppose it wasn't worth while, now I shall never be + Lord Chobham.” + </p> + <p> + He flung down his gun as he spoke and sprang on a bicycle that he had held + leaning against his legs. + </p> + <p> + Quickly he sped away, leaving Rupert standing staring after him, realizing + that his life had hung upon the bending of Walter's finger, and that + Walter, with at least two cold-blooded murders to his account, or little + more to hope for in this world or the next, had now inexplicably spared + him for whose destruction, of life and honour alike, he had a little + before been laying such elaborate, hellish plans. + </p> + <p> + With a gesture of his hands that proved he failed to understand, Rupert + ran on and crossed a field to where he saw some horses grazing. + </p> + <p> + One he knew immediately for one of his father's mares, and he knew her + also for an animal of speed and endurance. + </p> + <p> + The mare knew him, too, and suffered him to mount her without difficulty, + and without a soul on the farm being aware of what was happening and + without having to waste any precious time on explanations or declaring his + identity, Rupert rode away, sitting the mare bare-backed, through the New + Plantation towards Bittermeads, where he hoped, arriving unexpectedly, to + be able to save Ella before the danger he was sure threatened her came to + a head. + </p> + <p> + Of one thing he was certain. Deede Dawson would never do what his + companion in villainy had just done, he would spare no one; fierce, + malignant and evil to the last, his one thought if he knew they had and + vengeance approached would be to do what harm he could before the end. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII. BACK AT BITTERMEADS + </h2> + <p> + When, riding fast, Rupert Dunsmore came in sight of Bittermeads he + experienced a feeling of extreme relief. Though what he had feared he did + not quite know, for he did not see that any alarm could have reached here + yet or any hint come to Deede Dawson of the failure of all his plotting. + </p> + <p> + Even if Walter had had the idea of returning to give his accomplice + warning, he could not have come by the road on his bicycle as quickly as + Rupert had ridden across country. And that Walter would spend either time + or thought on Deede Dawson did not appear in any way probable. + </p> + <p> + To Rupert, therefore, it seemed certain that Deede Dawson could know + nothing as yet. But all the same it was an immense relief to see the house + again and to know that in a few moments he would be there. + </p> + <p> + He tied up the mare to a convenient tree, and with eyes that were quick + and alert and every nerve and muscle ready for all emergencies, he drew + near the house. + </p> + <p> + All was still and quiet, no smoke came from the chimneys, there was no + sign of life or movement anywhere. For a moment he hesitated and then made + his way round to the back, hoping to find Mrs. Barker there and perhaps + obtain from her information as to the whereabouts of Deede Dawson and of + Ella and her mother. + </p> + <p> + For it seemed to him it would be his best plan to get the two women + quietly out of the way if he could possibly do so before making any + attempt to deal with Deede Dawson or letting him know of his return. + </p> + <p> + For the mere fact that he was back again so soon would show at once that + something had gone seriously wrong, and once Deede Dawson knew that, he + would be, Rupert well realized, in a very desperate and reckless mood and + ripe for committing any mischief that he could. + </p> + <p> + Cautiously Rupert opened the back door and found himself in the + stone-paved passage that ran between the kitchen and the scullery and + pantry. Everything seemed very quiet and still, and there was no sign of + Mrs. Barker nor any appearance that she had been that morning busy about + her usual tasks. The kitchen fire was not lighted, a pile of unwashed + crockery stood on the table, there had apparently been no attempt to + prepare any meals. + </p> + <p> + Frowning uneasily, for all this did not seem to him of good omen, Rupert + went quickly on to the living rooms. + </p> + <p> + They were unoccupied and did not seem to have been much used that day; and + in the small breakfast-room Deede Dawson had been accustomed to consider + his special apartment, his favourite little travelling chessboard stood on + the table with pieces in position on it. + </p> + <p> + There was a letter, too, he had begun but not finished, to the editor of a + chess-column in some paper, apparently to the effect that a certain + problem “cooked,” and that by such and such a move “the mate for the first + player that appeared certain was unexpectedly and instantly transferred in + this dramatic manner into a mate for his opponent.” + </p> + <p> + The words seemed somehow oddly appropriate to Rupert, and he smiled grimly + as he read them and then all at once his expression changed and his whole + attitude became one of intense watchfulness and readiness. + </p> + <p> + For his quick eye had noted that the ink on the nib of the pen that this + letter had been written with, was not yet dry. + </p> + <p> + Then Deede Dawson must have been here a moment or two ago and must have + gone in a hurry. That could only mean he was aware of Rupert's return and + was warned and suspicious. It is perhaps characteristic of Rupert's + passionate and eager temperament that only now did it occur to him that he + was quite unarmed and that without a weapon of any kind he was matching + himself against as reckless and as formidable a criminal as had ever + lived. + </p> + <p> + For want of anything better he picked up the heavy glass inkpot standing + on the table, emptied the contents in a puddle on the floor, and held the + inkpot itself ready in his hand. + </p> + <p> + He listened intently, but heard no sound—no sound at all in the + whole house, and this increased his apprehensions, for he knew well that + Deede Dawson was a man always the most dangerous when most silent. + </p> + <p> + It was possible of course that he had fled, but not likely. He would not + go, Rupert thought, till he had made his preparations and not without a + last effort to take revenge on those who had defeated him and in this + dramatic way turned the mate he had expected to secure into a win for his + opponent. + </p> + <p> + Still Rupert listened intently, straining his ears to catch the least + sound to hint to him where his enemy was, for he knew that if he failed to + discover him his first intimation of his proximity might well come in the + shape of the white-hot sting of a bullet, rending flesh and bone. + </p> + <p> + Then, too, where was Ella, and where was her mother? + </p> + <p> + There was something inexpressibly sinister in the utter quietness of the + house, a quietness not at all of peace and rest but of a brooding, angry + threat. + </p> + <p> + Still he could hear nothing, and he left the room, very quickly and + noiselessly, and he made sure there was no one anywhere in any of these + rooms on the ground floor. + </p> + <p> + He locked the front door and the back to make sure no one should enter or + leave too easily, and returned on tiptoe, moving to and fro like a shadow + cast by a changing light, so swift and noiseless were his movements. + </p> + <p> + For a little he remained crouching against the side of the stairway, + listening for any sound that might float down to him from above. + </p> + <p> + But none came—and on a sudden, in one movement, as it were, he ran + up the stairs and crouched down on the topmost one so that any bullet + aimed at him as he appeared might perhaps fly overhead. + </p> + <p> + But none was fired; there was still no sound at all, no sign that the + house held any living creature beside himself. He began to think that + Deede Dawson must have sent the two women away and now have gone himself. + </p> + <p> + But there was the pen downstairs with ink still wet upon the nib to prove + that he had been here recently, and again very suddenly Rupert leaped to + his feet and ran noiselessly down the corridor and entered quickly into + Ella's room. + </p> + <p> + He had not been in it since the night of his arrival at Bittermeads, but + it appeared to him extraordinarily familiar and every little object in it + of ornament or use seemed to speak to him softly of Ella's gracious + presence. + </p> + <p> + Of Ella herself there was no sign, but he noticed that the tassel at the + end of the window blind cord was moving as if recently disturbed. + </p> + <p> + The movement was very slight, almost imperceptible, indeed, but it + existed; and it proved that some one must very shortly before have been + standing at the window. He moved to it and looked out. + </p> + <p> + The view commanded the road by which he had approached Bittermeads, and he + wondered if Ella had been standing there and had seen his approach, and + then had concealed herself for some reason. + </p> + <p> + But, if so, why and where was she hiding? And where was Deede Dawson? And + why was everything so silent and so still? + </p> + <p> + He turned from the window, and as he did so he caught a faint sound in the + passage without. + </p> + <p> + Instantly he crouched behind the bed, the heavy glass inkpot that was his + one weapon poised in his hand. + </p> + <p> + The sound did not come again, but as he waited, he saw the door begin to + open very slowly, very quietly. + </p> + <p> + Lower still he crouched, the inkpot ready to throw, every nerve taut and + tense for the leap at his foe's throat with which he meant to follow it + up. The door opened a little more, very slowly, very carefully. It was + wide enough now to admit of entry, and through the opening there sidled, + pale and red-eyed, Ella's mother, looking so frail and feeble and so + ruffled and disturbed she reminded Rupert irresistibly of a frightened + hen. + </p> + <p> + She edged her way in as though she dared not open the door too widely, and + Rupert hesitated in great perplexity and vexation, for he saw that he must + show himself, and he feared that she would announce his presence by flight + or screams. + </p> + <p> + But he could not possibly get away without her knowledge; and besides, she + might be able to give him useful information. + </p> + <p> + He stood up quickly, with his finger to his lips. “Hush!” he said. “Not a + sound—not a sound.” The warning seemed unnecessary, for Mrs. Dawson + appeared too paralysed with fear to utter even the faintest cry as she + dropped tremblingly on the nearest chair. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! Hush!” he said. “Where is Ella?” + </p> + <p> + “I—I don't know,” quavered Mrs. Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “When did you see her last?” + </p> + <p> + “A little while ago,” Mrs. Dawson faltered. “She went upstairs. She didn't + come down, so I thought I would try to find her.” + </p> + <p> + “Where's Deede Dawson?” Rupert asked. + </p> + <p> + “I—I don't know,” she quavered again. + </p> + <p> + “When did you see him last?” + </p> + <p> + “I—I—a little while ago,” she faltered. “He went upstairs—he + didn't come down again. I thought I would try to find her—him—I + was so frightened when they didn't either of them come down again.” + </p> + <p> + It was evident she was far too confused and upset to give any useful + information of any nature, even if she knew anything. + </p> + <p> + “Deede's been so strange,” she said. “And Ella too. I think it's very hard + on me—dreams, too. He said he wanted her to help him get a + packing-case ready he had to send away somewhere. I don't know where. I + don't think Ella wanted to—” + </p> + <p> + “A packing-case?” Rupert muttered. “What for?” + </p> + <p> + “It's what they came upstairs to do,” Mrs. Dawson said. “And—and—” + She began to cry feebly. “It's my nerves,” she said. “He's looked so + strange at us all day—and neither of them has come down again.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIX. THE ATTIC + </h2> + <p> + It was evident that more had occurred to make Mrs. Dawson afraid that she + would, or perhaps could, say. + </p> + <p> + “Wait here,” Rupert said to her. “Don't stir.” The command seemed + superfluous, for she had not at that moment the appearance of still + possessing the power to move. Without speaking again, Rupert left the room + and went quickly to the foot of the narrow stairs that led to the attics + above. + </p> + <p> + He listened, crouching there, and heard nothing, and a cold fear came to + him that perhaps Deede Dawson had done up above what he wished to do and + then effected his escape while he himself had been lingering in Ella's + room. + </p> + <p> + Adopting his plan of a rapid rush to disconcert the aim of any one who + might be about to fire at him, he made a swift dash up the stairs and on + the topmost one crouched down again and waited. + </p> + <p> + But still nothing happened, all was very quiet, and the door of one attic, + the one which had been assigned to him as a bed-chamber, was wide open so + that he could see into it and see that it was unoccupied. + </p> + <p> + But the doors of both the others were closed, and as he looked he made out + in the gloom, for this landing by the attic was very badly-lighted by a + small and awkwardly-placed skylight, a scattered dozen or so of hairpins, + and a tortoiseshell comb such as he had seen sometimes in Ella's hair, + lying on the floor near the door of the larger of the two attics, the one + in which he remembered well he had found Deede Dawson on a certain night + busy measuring and examining an empty packing-case. + </p> + <p> + With one quick rush he crossed the landing and flung himself at the door. + </p> + <p> + It opened at once, for it was not locked, and within he saw Deede Dawson, + screw-driver in his hand, standing behind a large packing-case, the lid of + which he had apparently that minute finished fastening down. + </p> + <p> + He looked up as Rupert entered thus precipitately, and he showed no sign + of surprise or alarm. + </p> + <p> + “You're back early,” he said. “Something gone wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing? What's in there?” Rupert asked, looking at the + packing-case, his mouth and lips so suddenly dry he found it difficult to + speak at all. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson began to laugh, a low and dreadful laughter that had in it no + trace of merriment at all, but only of mockery and malice. + </p> + <p> + It was such laughter as a devil from the nethermost pit might give vent to + when he saw at last a good man yield to long temptation. + </p> + <p> + “What's in there?” Rupert said again, pointing to the packing-case, and it + was as though his soul swooned within him for fear of what the answer + might be. + </p> + <p> + “What do the children say?” Deede Dawson returned with his terrible smile. + “I'll give you three guesses, isn't it? See if you can guess in three + tries.” + </p> + <p> + “What's in there?” Rupert asked the third time, and Deede Dawson laid down + the screw-driver with which he had just driven home the last screw. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, see for yourself, if you want to,” he said. “But you ought to know. + You know what was in the other case I sent away from here, the one I got + Ella to take in the car for me? I want you to take this one away now, the + sooner it's away the better.” + </p> + <p> + “That's it, is it?” Rupert muttered. + </p> + <p> + He no longer doubted, and for a moment all things swam together before him + and he felt dizzy and a little sick, and so weak he staggered and nearly + fell, but recovered himself in time. + </p> + <p> + The sensation passed and he saw Deede Dawson as it were a long way off, + and between them the packing-case, huge, monstrous, and evil, like a thing + of dread from some other world. Violent shudderings swept though him one + after the other, and he was aware that Deede Dawson was speaking again. + </p> + <p> + “What did you say?” he asked vacantly, when the other paused. + </p> + <p> + “You look ill,” Deede Dawson answered. “Anything wrong? Why have you come + back so soon? Have you failed?” + </p> + <p> + Rupert passed his hand before his eyes to clear away the mist that hung + there and that hampered his sight. + </p> + <p> + He perceived that Deede Dawson held his right hand in the pocket of his + coat, grasping something that bulged out curiously. + </p> + <p> + He divined that it was a pistol, and that Deede Dawson was ready to shoot + at any moment, but that he wished very greatly to know first of all what + had happened and why Rupert had returned so soon and whether there was + immediate necessity for flight or not. + </p> + <p> + That he was uneasy was certain, for his cold eyes showed a hesitation and + a doubt such as Rupert had never seen in them before. + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you what's happened,” Rupert heard himself saying hoarsely. “If + you'll tell me what's in there.” + </p> + <p> + “A bargain, eh?” Deede Dawson said. “It's easy enough. You can look for + yourself if you unscrew the lid, but then, after all, why should we take + all that trouble?” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke his pistol showed in his hand, and at once the heavy glass + inkpot Rupert had held all this time flew straight and true, and with + tremendous force, at Deede Dawson's head. + </p> + <p> + He avoided it only by the extreme rapidity with which he dropped behind + the packing-case, and it flew over his head and crashed against the centre + panel of a big wardrobe that stood in one corner of the room, splitting + the panel it struck from top to bottom. + </p> + <p> + Following it, Rupert hurled himself forward with one great spring, but + agile as a cat that leaps away from the mastiff's teeth, Deede Dawson + slipped from his grasp to the other side of the room. In doing so he + knocked his arm against the corner of the packing-case, so that his + revolver fell to the ground. + </p> + <p> + With a shout Rupert stooped and seized it, and straightened himself to see + that Deede Dawson had already another revolver in his hand—a second + one that he had drawn from an inner pocket. + </p> + <p> + They remained very still, watching each other intently, neither eager to + fire, since both wished first to make the other speak. For Rupert desired + very greatly that Deede Dawson should tell him where Ella was, and Deede + Dawson needed that Rupert should explain what had gone wrong, and how + imminent and great was the danger that therefore most likely threatened + him. + </p> + <p> + Each knew, too, that the slightest movement he made would set the other + shooting, and each realized that in that close and narrow space any + exchange of shots must almost of necessity mean the death of both, since + both were cool and deadly marksmen, well accustomed to the use of the + revolver. + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson was the first to speak. + </p> + <p> + “Well, what next?” he said. “If that inkpot of yours had hit me it would + pretty well have knocked my brains out, and if I hadn't hit my elbow + against the corner of the packing-case I would have had you shot through + with holes like a sieve by now. So far the score's even. Let's chat a bit, + and see if we can't come to some arrangement. Look, I'll show I trust + you.” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke he laid down, much to Rupert's surprise, and to his equal + suspicion, his revolver on the top of a moth-eaten roll of old carpet that + leaned against the wall near where he was standing. + </p> + <p> + “You see, I trust you,” he said once more. + </p> + <p> + “Take your pistol up again,” answered Rupert grimly. “I do not trust you.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, that's a pity.” Deede Dawson smiled, making no effort to do as the + other said. “You see, we are both good shots, and if we start blazing away + at each other up here we shall both be leaking pretty badly before long. + That's a prospect that has no attraction for me; I don't know if it has + for you. But there are things I can tell you that might be interesting, + and things you can tell me I want to know. Why not exchange a little + information, and then separate calmly, rather than indulge in pistol + practice that can only mean the death of us both? For if your first bullet + goes through my brain I swear my first will be in your heart.” + </p> + <p> + “Likely enough,” agreed Rupert, “but worth while perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's fanaticism,” Deede Dawson answered. “Flattering perhaps to me, + but not quite reasonable, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “There's only one thing I want to know from you,” Rupert said slowly. + </p> + <p> + “Then why not ask it, why not agree to the little arrangement I suggest, + eh? Eh, Rupert Dunsmore?” + </p> + <p> + “You know me, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, long enough.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is Ella?” + </p> + <p> + Deede Dawson laughed again. + </p> + <p> + “That's a thing I know and you don't,” he said. “Well, she's safe away in + London by this time.” + </p> + <p> + “That's a lie, for her mother's here still,” answered Rupert, even though + his heart leapt merely to hear the words. + </p> + <p> + “Unbelieving Thomas,” smiled the other. “Well, then, she is where she is, + and that you can find out for yourself. But I'll make another suggestion. + We are both good shots, and if we start to fire we shall kill each other. + I am certain of killing you, but I shan't escape myself. Well, then, why + not toss for it? Equal chances for both, and certain safety for one. Will + you toss me, the one who loses to give up his pistol to the other?” + </p> + <p> + “It seems to me a good idea,” Deede Dawson argued. “Here we are watching + each other like cats, and knowing that the least movement of either will + start the other off, and both of us pulling trigger as hard as we can. My + idea would mean a chance for one. Well, let's try another way; the best + shot to win. You don't trust me, but I will you.” + </p> + <p> + Leaving his pistol lying where he had put it down, he crossed the attic, + and with a pencil he took from his pocket drew a circle on the panel of + the wardrobe door that Rupert had split with the inkpot he had thrown. + </p> + <p> + In the centre of the circle he marked a dot, and turned smilingly to the + frowning and suspicious Rupert. + </p> + <p> + “There you are,” he said, and made another circle near the first one. “Now + you put a bullet into the middle of this circle and I'll put one + afterwards through the second circle, and the one who is nearest to the + dots I've marked, wins. What have you to say to that? Seems to me better + than our killing each other. Isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “I think you're playing the fool for some reason of your own,” answered + Rupert. “There's only one thing I want to know from you. Where is Ella?” + </p> + <p> + “Let me know how you can shoot,” answered Deede Dawson, “and I'll tell + you, by all that's holy, I will.” + </p> + <p> + Rupert hesitated. He did not understand all this, he could not imagine + what motive was in Deede Dawson's mind, though it was certainly true + enough that once they began shooting at each other neither man was at all + likely to survive, for Rupert knew he would not miss and he did not think + Deede Dawson would either. + </p> + <p> + Above all, there was the one thing he wished to know, the one + consideration that weighed with him above all others—what had become + of Ella? And this time there had been in Deede Dawson's voice an accent of + twisted and malign sincerity that seemed to say he really would be willing + to tell the truth about her if Rupert would gratify his whim about this + sort of shooting-match that he was suggesting. + </p> + <p> + The purpose of it Rupert could not understand, but it did not seem to him + there would be any risk of harm in agreeing, for Deede Dawson was standing + so far away from his own weapon he could not well be contemplating any + immediate mischief or treachery. + </p> + <p> + It did occur to him that the pistol he held might be loaded in one chamber + only and that Deede Dawson might be scheming to induce him to throw away + his solitary cartridge. + </p> + <p> + But a glance reassured him on that point. + </p> + <p> + “Let me see how you can shoot,” Deede Dawson repeated, leaning carelessly + with folded arms against the wall a little distance away. “And I promise + you I'll tell you where Ella is.” + </p> + <p> + Rupert lifted his pistol and was indeed on the very point of firing when + he caught a glimpse of such evil triumph and delight in Deede Dawson's + cold eyes that he hesitated and lowered the weapon, and at the same time, + looking more closely, searching more intently for some indication of Deede + Dawson's hidden purpose, he noticed, caught in the crack of the wardrobe + door, a tiny shred of some blue material only just visible. + </p> + <p> + He remembered that sometimes of an afternoon Ella had been accustomed to + wear a frock made of a material exactly like that of which so tiny a + fragment showed now in the crack of the wardrobe door. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXX. SOME EXPLANATIONS + </h2> + <p> + He turned quickly towards Deede Dawson. Their eyes met, and in that mutual + glance Rupert Dunsmore read that his suspicions were correct and Deede + Dawson that his dreadful trap was discovered. + </p> + <p> + Neither spoke. For a brief moment they remained impassive, immobile, their + eyes meeting like blows, and then Deede Dawson made one spring to seize + again the revolver he had laid down in the hope of enticing Rupert into + the awful snare prepared for him. + </p> + <p> + But quick as he was, Rupert was quicker still, and as Deede Dawson leaped + he lifted his pistol and fired, though his aim was not at the man, but at + the revolver lying on the top of the roll of carpet where Deede Dawson had + placed it. + </p> + <p> + The bullet, for Rupert was a man who seldom missed, struck the weapon fair + and whirled it, shattered and useless, to the floor. Deede Dawson, whose + hand had been already outstretched to seize it, drew back with a snarl + that was more like the cry of a trapped wolf than any sound produced from + human lips. + </p> + <p> + Still, Rupert did not speak. With the smoking pistol in his hand he + watched silently and steadily his helpless enemy who, for his part, was + silent, too, and very still, for he felt that doom was close upon him. + </p> + <p> + Yet he showed not the least sign of fear, but only a fierce and sullen + defiance. + </p> + <p> + “Shoot away, why don't you shoot?” he sneered. “Mind you don't miss. I + trusted you when I put my revolver down and I was a fool, but I thought + you would play fair.” + </p> + <p> + Without a word Rupert tossed his pistol through the attic window. + </p> + <p> + They heard the tinkling fall of the glass, they heard more faintly the + sound of the revolver striking the outhouse roof twenty feet below and + rebounding thence to the paved kitchen yard beneath, and then all was + quiet again. + </p> + <p> + “I only need my hands for you,” said Rupert softly, as softly as a mother + coos to her drowsy babe. “My hands for you.” + </p> + <p> + For the first time Deede Dawson seemed to fear, for, indeed, there was + that in Rupert Dunsmore's eyes to rouse fear in any man. With a sudden + swift spring, Rupert leaped forward and Deede Dawson, not daring to abide + that onslaught, turned and ran, screaming shrilly. + </p> + <p> + During the space of one brief moment, a dreadful and appalling moment, + there was a wild strange hunting up and down the narrow space of that + upper attic, cumbered with lumber and old, disused furniture. + </p> + <p> + Round and round Deede Dawson fled, screaming still in a high shrill way, + like some wild thing in pain, and hard upon him followed Rupert, nor had + they gone a second time about that room before Rupert had Deede Dawson in + a fast embrace, his arms about the other's middle. + </p> + <p> + One last great cry Deede Dawson gave when Rupert seized him, and then was + silent as Rupert lifted him and swung him high at arm's length. + </p> + <p> + As a child in play sports with its doll, so Rupert swung Deede Dawson + twice about his head, round and round and then loosed him so that he went + hurling through the air with awful force, like a stone shot from a + catapult, clean through the window through which Rupert had the moment + before tossed his pistol with but little more apparent effort. + </p> + <p> + Right through the window, bearing panes and sash with him, Deede Dawson + flew with the impetus of that great throw and out beyond and down, turning + over and over the while, down through the empty air to fall and be + shattered like a piece of worthless crockery on the stone threshold of the + outhouse door. + </p> + <p> + Surprised to find himself alone, Rupert put his hand to his forehead and + looked vacantly around. + </p> + <p> + “My God, what have I done?” he thought. + </p> + <p> + He was trembling violently, and the fury of the passion that had possessed + him and had given his mighty muscles a force more than human, was still + upon him. + </p> + <p> + Going to the window, he looked out, for he did not quite know what had + happened and from it he looked back at the wardrobe door. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” he said. “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + He ran to it and tore open the door and from within very tenderly and + gently he lifted down the half-swooning Ella who, securely gagged and + tightly bound, had been thrust into its interior to conceal her from him. + </p> + <p> + Hurriedly he freed her from her bonds and from the handkerchief that was + tied over her mouth and holding her in his arms like a child, pressing her + close to his heart, he carried her lightly out of that dreadful room. + </p> + <p> + Only once did she stir, only once did she speak, when lifting her pale, + strained face to him she murmured very faintly something in which he just + caught the words: + </p> + <p> + “Deede Dawson.” + </p> + <p> + “He'll trouble us no more nor any one else, I think,” answered Rupert, and + she said no more but snuggled down in his arms as though with a feeling of + perfect security and safety. + </p> + <p> + He took her to her own room and left her with her mother, and then went + down to the hall and took a chair and sat at the front door. + </p> + <p> + All at once he felt very tired and one of his shoulders hurt him, for he + had strained a muscle there rather badly. + </p> + <p> + His one desire was to rest, and he did not even trouble to go round to the + back of the house to see what had happened to Deede Dawson, though indeed + that was not a point on which he entertained much doubt. + </p> + <p> + For a long time he sat there quietly, till at last his father arrived in a + motor-car from Wreste Abbey, together with a police-inspector from the + county town whom he had picked up on the way. + </p> + <p> + Rupert took them into the room where Deede Dawson's chessmen and the board + were still standing and told them as briefly as he could what had happened + since the first day when he had left his home to try to trace out and + defeat the plot hatched by Walter Dunsmore and Deede Dawson. + </p> + <p> + “You people wouldn't act,” he said to the inspector. “You said there was + no evidence, no proof, and I daresay you were right enough from the legal + point of view. But it was plain enough to me that there was some sort of + conspiracy against my uncle's life, I thought against my father's as well, + but I was not sure of that at first. It was through poor Charley Wright I + became so certain. He found out things and told me about them; but for him + the first attempt to poison my uncle would have succeeded. Even then we + had still no evidence to prove the reality of our suspicions, for Walter + destroyed it, by accident, I thought at the time, purposely, as I know + now. It was something Walter said that gave Charley the idea of coming + here. Then he vanished. He must have roused their suspicions somehow, and + they killed him. But again Walter put us all off the scent by his story of + having seen Charley in London, so that it was there the search for him was + made, and no one ever thought of Bittermeads. I never suspected Walter, + such an idea never entered my head; but luckily I didn't tell him of my + idea of coming to Bittermeads myself to try to find out what was really + going on here. He knew nothing of where I was till I told him that day at + Wreste Abbey, then of course he came over here at once. I thought it was + anxiety for my safety, but I expect really it was to warn his friends. + When I saw him here that night I told him every single thing, I trusted + the carrying-out of everything I had arranged to him. If it hadn't been + for a note Miss Cayley wrote me to warn me, I should have walked right + into the trap and so would my father too.” + </p> + <p> + The police-inspector asked a few questions and then made a search of the + room which resulted in the discovery of quite sufficient proof of the + guilt of Deede Dawson and of Walter Dunsmore. + </p> + <p> + Among these proofs was also a hastily-scribbled note from Walter that + solved the mystery of John Clive's death. It was not signed, but both + General Dunsmore and Rupert knew his writing and were prepared to swear to + it. Beginning abruptly and scribbled on a torn scrap of paper, it ran: + </p> + <p> + “I found Clive where you said, lucky you got hold of the note and read it + before she sent it, for no doubt she meant to warn him. Take care she gets + no chance of the sort again. I did Clive's business all right. She saw me + and I think recognized me from that time she saw me over the packing-case + business, before I took it out to sink it at sea. At any rate, she ran off + in a great hurry. If you aren't careful, she'll make trouble yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Apparently,” remarked the inspector when he had read this aloud, “the + young lady was very luckily not watched closely enough and did make + trouble for them. Could I see her, do you think?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know, I'll go and ask,” Rupert said. + </p> + <p> + Ella was still very shaken, but she consented to see the inspector, and + they all went together to her room where she was lying on her bed with her + mother fussing nervously about her. + </p> + <p> + She told them in as few words as possible the story of how she had always + disliked and mistrusted the man whom so unfortunately her mother had + married, and how gradually her suspicions strengthened till she became + certain that he was involved in many unlawful deeds. + </p> + <p> + But always her inner certainty had fallen short of absolute proof, so + careful had he been in all he did. + </p> + <p> + “I knew I knew,” she said. “But there was nothing I really knew. And he + made me do all sorts of things for him. I wouldn't have cared for myself, + but if I tried to refuse he made mother suffer. She was very, very + frightened of him, but she would never leave him. She didn't dare. There + was one night he made me go very late with a packing-case full of silver + things he had, and he wouldn't tell me where he had got them. I believe he + stole them all, but I helped him pack them, and I took them away the night + Mr. Dunsmore came and gave them to a man wearing a mask. My stepfather + said it was just a secret family matter he was helping some friends in, + and later on I saw the same man in the woods near here one day—the + day Mr. Clive was killed by the poachers—and when he came another + time to the house I thought I must try to find out what he wanted. I + listened while they talked and they said such strange things I made up my + mind to try to warn Mr. Dunsmore, for I was sure there was something they + were plotting.” + </p> + <p> + “There was indeed,” said Rupert grimly. “And but for that warning you sent + me they would have succeeded.” + </p> + <p> + “Somehow they found out what I had done,” Ella continued. “As soon as I + got back he kept looking at me so strangely. I was afraid—I had been + afraid a long time, for that matter—but I tried not to show it. In + the afternoon he told me to go up to the attic. He said he wanted me to + help him pack some silver. It was the same silver I had packed before; for + some reason he had got it back again. This time I had to pack it in the + little boxes, and after I had finished I waited up there till suddenly he + ran in very quickly and looking very excited. He said I had betrayed them, + and should suffer for it, and he took some rope and he tied me as tightly + as he could, and tied a great handkerchief over my mouth, and pushed me + inside the wardrobe and locked it. I think he would have killed me then + only he was afraid of Mr. Dunsmore, and very anxious to know what had + happened, and why Mr. Dunsmore had come home, and if there was any danger. + And I was a long time there, and I heard a great noise, and then Mr. + Dunsmore opened the door and took me out.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXXI. CONCLUSION + </h2> + <p> + Three months had passed, and in a quiet little cottage on the outskirts of + a small country town, situated in one of the most beautiful and peaceful + vales of the south-west country, Ella was slowly recovering from the shock + of the dreadful experiences through which she had passed. + </p> + <p> + She had been ill for some weeks, but her mother, fussily incompetent at + most times, was always at her best when sickness came, and she had nursed + her daughter devotedly and successfully. + </p> + <p> + As soon as possible they had come to this quiet little place where people, + busy with their own affairs and the important progress of the town, had + scarcely heard of what the newspapers of the day called “The Great Chobham + Sensation.” + </p> + <p> + But, in fact, very much to Rupert's relief, comparatively little had been + made known publicly, and the whole affair had attracted wonderfully little + attention. + </p> + <p> + The one public proceeding had been the inquest of Deede Dawson, and that + the coroner, at the request of the police eagerly searching for Walter + Dunsmore, had made as brief and formal as possible. Under his direction + the jury had returned a verdict of “justifiable homicide,” and Ella's + illness had had at least one good result of making it impossible for her + to attend to give her evidence in person. + </p> + <p> + At a trial, of course, everything would have had to be told in full, but + both Allen, Deede Dawson's accomplice, and Walter Dunsmore, his instigator + and employer, had vanished utterly. + </p> + <p> + For Walter the search was very hot, but so far entirely without result. + Now could Allen be found. He was identified with a fair degree of + certainty as an old criminal well known to the authorities, and it was + thought almost certain that he had had previous dealings with Deede + Dawson, and knew enough about him to be able to force himself into + Bittermeads. + </p> + <p> + Of the actual plot in operation there he most likely knew little or + nothing, but probably Deede Dawson thought he might be useful, and the + store of silver found in the attic that Ella had been employed in packing + ready for removal was identified as part of the plunder from a recent + burglary in a northern town. + </p> + <p> + It was thought, therefore, that both Allen and Deede Dawson might have + been concerned in that affair, that Deede Dawson had managed to secure the + greater share of the booty, and that Allen, on the night when Rupert found + him breaking into Bittermeads, was endeavouring to get hold of the silver + for himself. + </p> + <p> + But the actual facts are not likely now ever to be known, for from that + day to this nothing has been heard of Allen. His old haunts know him no + more, and to his record, carefully preserved at Scotland Yard, there have + been no recent additions. + </p> + <p> + One theory is that Deede Dawson, finding him troublesome, took effectual + steps to dispose of him. Another is that Deede Dawson got him away by + either bribes or threats, and that, not knowing of Deede Dawson's death, + he does not venture to return. + </p> + <p> + In any case, he was a commonplace criminal, and his fate is of little + interest to any one but himself. + </p> + <p> + It was Walter for whom the police hunted with diligence and effort, but + with a total lack of success, so that they began to think at the end of + three months that he must somehow have succeeded in making his way out of + the country. + </p> + <p> + During the first portion of this time Rupert had been very busy with a + great many things that needed his attention. And then Lord Chobham, his + health affected by the crimes and treachery of a kinsman whom he had known + and trusted as he had known and trusted Walter, was attacked by acute + bronchitis which affected his heart and carried him off within the week. + The title and estates passed, therefore, to General Dunsmore, and Rupert + became the Honourable Rupert Dunsmore and the direct heir. All this meant + for him a great deal more to see to and arrange, for the health of the new + Lord Chobham had also been affected and he left practically everything in + his son's hands, so that, except for the letters which came regularly but + had been often written in great haste, Ella knew and heard little of + Rupert. + </p> + <p> + But today he was to come, for everything was finally in order, and, though + this she did not know till later, Walter Dunsmore had at last been + discovered, dead from poison self-administered, in a wretched lodging in + an East End slum. Rupert had been called to identify the body and he had + been able to arrange it so that very little was said at the inquest, where + the customary verdict of “Suicide during temporary insanity” was duly + returned by a quite uninterested jury. + </p> + <p> + That the last had been heard of the tragedy that had so nearly overwhelmed + his life, Rupert was able now to feel fairly well assured, and it was + therefore in a mood more cheerful than he had known of late that he + started on his journey to Ella's new residence. + </p> + <p> + He had sent a wire to confirm his letter, and it was in a mood that was + more than a little nervous that she busied herself with her preparations. + </p> + <p> + She chose her very simplest gown, and when there was absolutely nothing + more to do she went into their little sitting-room to wait alone by the + fire she had built up there, for it was winter now and today was cold and + inclined to be stormy. + </p> + <p> + Rupert had not said exactly when she was to expect him, and she sat for a + long time by the fire, starting at every sound and imagining at every + moment that she heard the front-door bell ring. + </p> + <p> + “I shall not let him feel himself bound,” she said to herself with great + decision. “I shall tell him I hope we shall always be friends but that's + all; and if he wants anything more, I shall say No. But most likely he + won't say a word about all that nonsense, it would be silly to take + seriously what he said—there.” + </p> + <p> + To Ella, now, Bittermeads was always “there,” and though she told herself + several times that probably Rupert had not the least idea of repeating + what he had said to her—there—and that most likely he was + coming today merely to make a friendly call, and that it would never do + for either of them to think again of what they had said when they were + both so excited and overwrought, yet in her heart she knew a great deal + better than all that. + </p> + <p> + But she said to herself very often: + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow, I shall certainly refuse him.” + </p> + <p> + And on this point her mind was irrevocably made up since, after all, + whether Rupert would accept refusal or not would still remain entirely for + him to decide. + </p> + <p> + At half-past three she heard the garden-gate creak, and when she ran to + the window to peep, she saw with a kind of chill surprise that there was a + stranger coming through. + </p> + <p> + “Some one he's sent,” she said to herself. “He doesn't want to come + himself and so he has sent some one else instead. I am glad.” + </p> + <p> + Having said this and repeated again the last three words, and having + gulped down a sob—presumably of joy—that unexpectedly + fluttered into her throat, she went quickly to open the door. + </p> + <p> + The newly-arrived stranger smiled at her as she showed herself but did not + speak. He was a man of middle height, quite young, and wrapped in a big, + loose overcoat that very completely hid his figure. His face, + clean-shaven, showed clear, strongly-marked well-shaped features with a + firm mouth round which at this moment played a very gentle and winning + smile, a square-cut chin, and extremely bright, clear kindly eyes that + were just now smiling too. + </p> + <p> + When he took off his hat she saw that his hair was cut rather closely, and + very neatly brushed and combed, and she found his smile so compelling and + so winning that in spite of her disappointment she found herself returning + it. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to her that she had some time or another seen some one like + this stranger, but when or where she could not imagine. + </p> + <p> + Still he did not speak, but his eyes were very tender and kind as they + rested on her so that she wondered a little. + </p> + <p> + “Yes?” she said inquiringly. “Yes?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you know me, Ella?” he said then, very softly, and in a voice that + she recognized instantly. + </p> + <p> + “Is it you—you?” she breathed. + </p> + <p> + Instinctively she lifted her hands to greet him, and at once she found + herself caught up and held, pressed passionately to his strongly-beating + heart. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + An hour later, by the fire in the sitting-room, Ella suddenly remembered + tea. + </p> + <p> + “Good gracious! You must be starving,” she cried, smitten with remorse. + “And there's poor mother waiting upstairs all this time. Oh, Rupert, are + you very hungry?” + </p> + <p> + “Starving,” he asserted, but held her to him as closely as ever. + </p> + <p> + “I must get the tea,” she protested. She put one cheek against his and + sighed contentedly. + </p> + <p> + “It's nice to see the real you,” she murmured. “But oh, Rupert, I do miss + your dear bristly beard.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. 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Punshon + +Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1888] +Release Date: September, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer + + + + + + + + + +THE BITTERMEADS MYSTERY + +By E. R. Punshon + + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE LONE PASSENGER + + II THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS + + III A COINCIDENCE + + IV A WOMAN WEEPS + + V A WOMAN AND A MAN + + VI A DISCOVERY + + VII QUESTION AND ANSWER + + VIII CAPTIVITY CAPTURE + + IX THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + + X THE NEW GARDENER + + XI THE PROBLEM + + XII AN AVOWAL + + XIII INVISIBLE WRITING + + XIV LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + + XV THE SOUND OF A SHOT + + XVI IN THE WOOD + + XVII A DECLARATION + + XVIII ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + + XIX THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + + XX ELLA'S WARNING + + XXI DOUBTS AND FEARS + + XXII PLOTS AND PLANS + + XXIII COUNTER PLANS + + XXIV AN APHORISM + + XXV THE UNEXPECTED + + XXVI A RACE AGAINST TIME + + XXVII FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + XXVIII BACK AT BITTERMEADS + + XXIX THE ATTIC + + XXX SOME EXPLANATIONS + + XXXI CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE LONE PASSENGER + + +That evening the down train from London deposited at the little country +station of Ramsdon but a single passenger, a man of middle height, +shabbily dressed, with broad shoulders and long arms and a most unusual +breadth and depth of chest. + +Of his face one could see little, for it was covered by a thick growth +of dark curly hair, beard, moustache and whiskers, all overgrown and +ill-tended, and as he came with a somewhat slow and ungainly walk along +the platform, the lad stationed at the gate to collect tickets grinned +amusedly and called to one of the porters near: + +"Look at this, Bill; here's the monkey-man escaped and come back along +of us." + +It was a reference to a travelling circus that had lately visited the +place and exhibited a young chimpanzee advertised as "the monkey-man," +and Bill guffawed appreciatively. + +The stranger was quite close and heard plainly, for indeed the youth at +the gate had made no special attempt to speak softly. + +The boy was still laughing as he held out his hand for the ticket, and +the stranger gave it to him with one hand and at the same time shot out +a long arm, caught the boy--a well-grown lad of sixteen--by the middle +and, with as little apparent effort as though lifting a baby, swung him +into the air to the top of the gate-post, where he left him clinging +with arms and legs six feet from the ground. + +"Hi, what are you a-doing of?" shouted the porter, running up, as the +amazed and frightened youth, clinging to his gate-post, emitted a dismal +howl. + +"Teaching a cheeky boy manners," retorted the stranger with an angry +look and in a very gruff and harsh voice. "Do you want to go on top of +the other post to make a pair?" + +The porter drew back hurriedly. + +"You be off," he ordered as he retreated. "We don't want none of your +sort about here." + +"I certainly have no intention of staying," retorted the other as +gruffly as before. "But I think you'll remember Bobbie Dunn next time I +come this way." + +"Let me down; please let me down," wailed the boy, clinging desperately +to the gate-post on whose top he had been so unceremoniously deposited, +and Dunn laughed and walked away, leaving the porter to rescue his +youthful colleague and to cuff his ears soundly as soon as he had done +so, by way of a relief to his feelings. + +"That will learn you to be a bit civil to folk, I hope," said the porter +severely. "But that there chap must have an amazing strong arm," he +added thoughtfully. "Lifting you up there all the same as you was a +bunch of radishes." + +For some distance after leaving the station, Dunn walked on slowly. + +He seemed to know the way well or else to be careless of the direction +he took, for he walked along deep in thought with his eyes fixed on the +ground and not looking in the least where he was going. + +Abruptly, a small child appeared out of the darkness and spoke to him, +and he started violently and in a very nervous manner. + +"What was that? What did you say, kiddy?" he asked, recovering himself +instantly and speaking this time not in the gruff and harsh tones he had +used before but in a singularly winning and pleasant voice, cultivated +and gentle, that was in odd contrast with his rough and battered +appearance. "The time, was that what you wanted to know?" + +"Yes, sir; please, sir," answered the child, who had shrunk back in +alarm at the violent start Dunn had given, but now seemed reassured by +his gentle and pleasant voice. "The right time," the little one added +almost instantly and with much emphasis on the "right." + +Dunn gravely gave the required information with the assurance that to +the best of his belief it was "right," and the child thanked him and +scampered off. + +Resuming his way, Dunn shook his head with an air of grave +dissatisfaction. + +"Nerves all to pieces," he muttered. "That won't do. Hang it all, the +job's no worse than following a wounded tiger into the jungle, and I've +done that before now. Only then, of course, one knew what to expect, +whereas now--And I was a silly ass to lose my temper with that boy at +the station. You aren't making a very brilliant start, Bobby, my boy." + +By this time he had left the little town behind him and he was walking +along a very lonely and dark road. + +On one side was a plantation of young trees, on the other there was the +open ground, covered with furze bush, of the village common. + +Where the plantation ended stood a low, two-storied house of medium +size, with a veranda stretching its full length in front. It stood back +from the road some distance and appeared to be surrounded by a large +garden. + +At the gate Dunn halted and struck a match as if to light a pipe, and +by the flickering flame of this match the name "Bittermeads," painted on +the gate became visible. + +"Here it is, then," he muttered. "I wonder--" + +Without completing the sentence he slipped through the gate, which was +not quite closed, and entered the garden, where he crouched down in the +shadow of some bushes that grew by the side of the gravel path leading +to the house, and seemed to compose himself for a long vigil. + +An hour passed, and another. Nothing had happened--he had seen nothing, +heard nothing, save for the passing of an occasional vehicle or +pedestrian on the road, and he himself had never stirred or moved, so +that he seemed one with the night and one with the shadows where +he crouched, and a pair of field-mice that had come from the common +opposite went to and fro about their busy occupations at his feet +without paying him the least attention. + +Another hour passed, and at last there began to be signs of life about +the house. + +A light shone in one window and in another, and vanished, and soon the +door opened and there appeared two people on the threshold, clearly +visible in the light of a strong incandescent gas-burner just within the +hall. + +The watcher in the garden moved a little to get a clearer view. + +In the paroxysm of terror at this sudden coming to life of what they had +believed to be a part of the bushes, the two little field-mice scampered +away, and Dunn bit his lip with annoyance, for he knew well that some of +those he had had traffic with in the past would have been very sure, +on hearing that scurrying-off of the frightened mice, that some one was +lurking near at hand. + +But the two in the lighted doorway opening on the veranda heard and +suspected nothing. + +One was a man, one a woman, both were young, both were extraordinarily +good-looking, and as they stood in the blaze of the gas they made a +strikingly handsome and attractive picture on which, however, Dunn +seemed to look from his hiding-place with hostility and watchful +suspicion. + +"How dark it is, there's not a star showing," the girl was saying. +"Shall you be able to find your way, even with the lantern? You'll keep +to the road, won't you?" + +Her voice was low and pleasant and so clear Dunn heard every word +distinctly. She seemed quite young, not more than twenty or twenty-one, +and she was slim and graceful in build and tall for a woman. Her face, +on which the light shone directly, was oval in shape with a broad, low +forehead on which clustered the small, unruly curls of her dark brown +hair, and she had clear and very bright brown eyes. The mouth and chin +were perhaps a little large to be in absolute harmony with the rest of +her features, and she was of a dark complexion, with a soft and +delicate bloom that would by itself have given her a right to claim her +possession of a full share of good looks. She was dressed quite simply +in a white frock with a touch of colour at the waist and she had a very +flimsy lace shawl thrown over her shoulders, presumably intended as a +protection against the night air. + +Her companion was a very tall and big man, well over six feet in height, +with handsome, strongly-marked features that often bore an expression a +little too haughty, but that showed now a very tender and gentle look, +so that it was not difficult to guess the state of his feelings towards +the girl at his side. His shoulders were broad, his chest deep, and his +whole build powerful in the extreme, and Dunn, looking him up and down +with the quick glance of one accustomed to judge men, thought that he +had seldom seen one more capable of holding his own. + +Answering his companion's remark, he said lightly: + +"Oh, no, I shall cut across the wood, it's ever so much shorter, you +know." + +"But it's so dark and lonely," the girl protested. "And then, after last +week--" + +He interrupted her with a laugh, and he lifted his head with a certain +not unpleasing swagger. + +"I don't think they'll trouble me for all their threats," he said. "For +that matter, I rather hope they will try something of the sort on. They +need a lesson." + +"Oh, I do hope you'll be careful," the girl exclaimed. + +He laughed again and made another lightly-confident, almost-boastful +remark, to the effect that he did not think any one was likely to +interfere with him. + +For a minute or two longer they lingered, chatting together as they +stood in the gas-light on the veranda and from his hiding-place Dunn +watched them intently. It seemed that it was the girl in whom he was +chiefly interested, for his eyes hardly moved from her and in them there +showed a very grim and hard expression. + +"Pretty enough," he mused. "More than pretty. No wonder poor Charles +raved about her, if it's the same girl--if it is, she ought to know +what's become of him. But then, where does this big chap come in?" + +The "big chap" seemed really going now, though reluctantly, and it was +not difficult to see that he would have been very willing to stay longer +had she given him the least encouragement. + +But that he did not get, and indeed it seemed as if she were a little +bored and a little anxious for him to say good night and go. + +At last he did so, and she retired within the house, while he came +swinging down the garden path, passing close to where Dunn lay hidden, +but without any suspicion of his presence, and out into the high road. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE FIGHT IN THE WOOD + + +From his hiding-place in the bushes Dunn slipped out, as the big man +vanished into the darkness down the road, and for the fraction of a +second he seemed to hesitate. + +The lights in the house were coming and going after a fashion that +suggested that the inmates were preparing for bed, and almost at once +Dunn turned his back to the building and hurried very quickly and softly +down the road in the direction the big man had just taken. + +"After all," he thought, "the house can't run away, that will be still +there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big chap is and +where he comes from." + +In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness of +his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he moved, +a shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man did as he +melted through the darkness and a swift runner would have difficulty in +keeping pace with him. + +An old labourer going home late bade the big man a friendly good night +and passed on without seeing or hearing Dunn following close behind, +and a solitary woman, watching at her cottage door, saw plainly the big +man's tall form and heard his firm and heavy steps and would have been +ready to swear no other passed that way at that time, though Dunn was +not five yards behind, slipping silently and swiftly by in the shelter +of the trees lining the road. + +A little further beyond this cottage a path, reached by climbing a +stile, led from the high road first across an open field and then +through the heart of a wood that seemed to be of considerable extent. + +The man Dunn was following crossed this stile and when he had gone a +yard or two along the path he halted abruptly, as though all at once +grown uneasy, and looked behind. + +From where he stood any one following him across the stile must have +shown plainly visible against the sky line, but though he lingered for +a moment or two, and even, when he walked on, still looked back very +frequently, he saw nothing. + +Yet Dunn, when his quarry paused and looked back like this, was only a +little distance behind, and when the other moved on Dunn was still very +near. + +But he had not crossed the stile, for when he came to it he realised +that in climbing it his form would be plainly visible in outline for +some distance, and so instead, he had found and crawled through a gap in +the hedge not far away. + +They came, Dunn so close and so noiseless behind his quarry he might +well have seemed the other's shadow, to the outskirts of the wood, and +as they entered it Dunn made his first fault, his first failure in an +exhibition of woodcraft that a North American Indian or an Australian +"black-fellow" might have equalled, but could not have surpassed. + +For he trod heavily on a dry twig that snapped with a very loud, sharp +retort, clearly audible for some distance in the quiet night, and, as +dry twigs only snap like that under the pressure of considerable weight, +the presence of some living creature in the wood other than the small +things that run to and fro beneath the trees, stood revealed to all ears +that could hear. + +Dunn stood instantly perfectly still, rigid as a statue, listening +intently, and he noted with satisfaction and keen relief that the +regular heavy tread of the man in front did not alter or change. + +"Good," he thought to himself. "What luck, he hasn't heard it." + +He moved on again, as silently as before, perhaps a little inclined to +be contemptuous of any one who could fail to notice so plain a warning, +and he supposed that the man he was following must be some townsman who +knew nothing at all of the life of the country and was, like so many of +the dwellers in cities, blind and deaf outside the range of the noises +of the streets and the clamour of passing traffic. + +This thought was still in his mind when all at once the steady sound of +footsteps he had been following ceased suddenly and abruptly, cut off on +the instant as you turn off water from a tap. + +Dunn paused, too, supposing that for some reason the other had stopped +for a moment and would soon walk on again. + +But a minute passed and then another and there was still no sound of +the footsteps beginning again. A little puzzled, Dunn moved cautiously +forward. + +He saw nothing, he found nothing, there was no sign at all of the man he +had been following. + +It was as though he had vanished bodily from the face of the earth, and +yet how this had happened, or why, or what had become of him, Dunn could +not imagine, for this spot was, it seemed, in the very heart of the +wood, there was no shelter of any sort or kind anywhere near, and though +there were trees all round just the ground was fairly open. + +"Well, that's jolly queer," he muttered, for indeed it had a strange and +daunting effect, this sudden disappearance in the midst of the wood of +the man he had followed so far, and the silence around seemed all the +more intense now that those regular and heavy footsteps had ceased. + +"Jolly queer, as queer a thing as ever I came across," he muttered +again. + +He listened and heard a faint sound from his right. He listened again +and thought he heard a rustling on his left, but was not sure and all +at once a great figure loomed up gigantic before him and the light of +lantern gleamed in his face. + +"Now, my man," a voice said, "you've been following me ever since I left +Bittermeads, and I'm going to give you a lesson you won't forget in a +hurry." + +Dunn stood quite still. At the moment his chief feeling was one of +intense discomfiture at the way in which he had been outwitted, and he +experienced, too, a very keen and genuine admiration for the woodcraft +the other had shown. + +Evidently, all the time he had known, or at any rate, suspected, that +he was being followed, and choosing this as a favourable spot he had +quietly doubled on his tracks, come up behind his pursuer, and taken him +unawares. + +Dunn had not supposed there was a man in England who could have played +such a trick on him, but his admiration was roughly disturbed before he +could express it, for the grasp upon his collar tightened and upon his +shoulders there alighted a tremendous, stinging blow, as with all his +very considerable strength, the big man brought down his walking-stick +with a resounding thwack. + +The sheer surprise of it, the sudden sharp pain, jerked a quick cry from +Dunn, who had not been in the least prepared for such an attack, and in +the darkness had not seen the stick rise, and the other laughed grimly. + +"Yes, you scoundrel," he said. "I know very well who you are and what +you want, and I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life." + +Again the stick rose in the air, but did not fall, for round about his +body Dunn laid such a grip as he had never felt before and as would for +certain have crushed in the ribs of a weaker man. The lantern crashed to +the ground, they were in darkness. + +"Ha! Would you?" the man exclaimed, taken by surprise in his turn, and, +giant as he was, he felt himself plucked up from the ground as you pluck +a weed from a lawn and held for a moment in mid-air and then dashed down +again. + +Perhaps not another man alive could have kept his footing under such +treatment, but, somehow, he managed to, though it needed all his great +strength to resist the shock. + +He flung away his walking-stick, for he realized very clearly now that +this was not going to be, as he had anticipated, a mere case of the +administration of a deserved punishment, but rather the starkest, +fiercest fight that ever he had known. + +He grappled with his enemy, trying to make the most of his superior +height and weight, but the long arms twined about him, seemed to press +the very breath from his body and for all the huge efforts he put forth +with every ounce of his tremendous strength behind them, he could not +break loose from the no less tremendous grip wherein he was taken. + +Breast to breast they fought, straining, swaying a little this way or +that, but neither yielding an inch. Their muscles stood out like bars of +steel, their breath came heavily, neither man was conscious any more of +anything save his need to conquer and win and overthrow his enemy. + +The quick passion of hot rage that had come upon Dunn when he felt the +other's unexpected blow still burned and flamed intensely, so that he +no longer remembered even the strange and high purpose which had brought +him here. + +His adversary, too, had lost all consciousness of all other things in +the lust of this fierce physical battle, and when he gave presently a +loud, half-strangled shout, it was not fear that he uttered or a cry +for aid, but solely for joy in such wild struggle and efforts as he had +never known before. + +And Dunn spake no word and uttered no sound, but strove all the more +with all the strength of every nerve and muscle he possessed once again +to pluck the other up that he might dash him down a second time. + +In quick and heavy gasps came their breaths as they still swayed and +struggled together, and though each exerted to the utmost a strength few +could have withstood, each found that in the other he seemed to have met +his match. + +In vain Dunn tried again to lift his adversary up so that he might hurl +him to the ground. It was an effort, a grip that seemed as though it +might have torn up an oak by the roots, but the other neither budged nor +flinched beneath it. + +And in vain, in his turn, did he try to bend Dunn backwards to crush him +to the earth, it was an effort before which one might have thought that +iron and stone must have given away, but Dunn still sustained it. + +Thus dreadfully they fought, there in the darkness, there in the silence +of the night. + +Dreadfully they wrestled, implacable, fierce, determined, every primeval +passion awake and strong again, and slowly, very slowly, that awful grip +laid upon the big man's body began to tell. + +His breathing grew more difficult, his efforts seemed aimed more to +release himself than to overcome his adversary, he gave way an inch or +two, no more, but still an inch or two of ground. + +There was a sharp sound, like a thin, dry twig snapping beneath a +careless foot. + +It was one of his ribs breaking beneath the dreadful and intolerable +pressure of Dunn's enormous grip. But neither of the combatants heard +or knew, and with one last effort the big man put forth all his vast +strength in a final attempt to bear his enemy down. + +Dunn resisted still, resisted, though the veins stood out like cords on +his brow, though a little trickle of blood crept from the corner of his +mouth and though his heart swelled almost to bursting. + +There was a sound of many waters in his ears, the darkness all around +grew shot with little flames, he could hear some one breathing very +noisily and he was not sure whether this were himself or his adversary +till he realized that it was both of them. With one sudden, almost +superhuman effort, he heaved his great adversary up, but had not +strength enough left to do more than let him slip from his grasp to fall +on the ground, and with the effort he himself dropped forward on his +hands and knees, just as a lantern shone at a distance and a voice +cried: + +"This way, Tom. Master John, Master John, where are you?" + + + +CHAPTER III. A COINCIDENCE + + +Another voice answered from near by and Dunn scrambled hurriedly to his +feet. + +He had but a moment in which to decide what to do, for these new +arrivals were coming at a run and would be upon him almost instantly if +he stayed where he was. + +That they were friends of the man he had just overthrown and whose huge +bulk lay motionless in the darkness at his feet, seemed plain, and it +also seemed plain to him that the moment was not an opportune one for +offering explanations. + +Swiftly he decided to slip away into the darkness. What had happened +might be cleared up later when he knew more and was more sure of his +ground; at present he must think first, he told himself, of the success +of his mission. + +Physically, he was greatly exhausted and his gait was not so steady nor +his progress so silent and skillful as it had been before, as now he +hurried away from the scene of the combat. + +But the two new-comers made no attempt to pursue him and indeed did not +seem to give his possible presence in the vicinity even a thought, as +with many muttered exclamations of dismay and anger, they stooped over +the body of his prostrate enemy. + +It was evident they recognized him at once, and that he was the "Mr. +John" whose name they had called, for so they spoke of him to each other +as they busied themselves about him. + +"I expect I've been a fool again," Dunn thought to himself ruefully, as +from a little distance, well-sheltered in the darkness, he crouched upon +the ground and listened and watched. "I may have ruined everything. Any +one but a fool would have asked him what he meant when he hit out like +that instead of flying into a rage and hitting back the way I did. Most +likely it was some mistake when he said he knew who I was and what I +wanted--at least if it wasn't--I hope I haven't killed him, anyhow." + +Secure in the protection the dark night afforded him, he remained +sufficiently near at hand to be able to assure himself soon that his +overthrown adversary was certainly not killed, for now he began to +express himself somewhat emphatically concerning the manner in which the +two new-comers were ministering to him. + +Presently he got to his feet and, with one of them supporting him on +each side, began to limp away, and Dunn followed them, though cautiously +and at a distance, for he was still greatly exhausted and in neither the +mood nor the condition for running unnecessary risks. + +The big man, Mr. John, as the others called him, seemed little inclined +for speech, but the others talked a good deal, subsiding sometimes when +he told them gruffly to be quiet but invariably soon beginning again +their expressions of sympathy and vows of vengeance against his unknown +assailant. + +"How many of them do you think there were, Mr. John, sir?" one asked +presently. "I'll lay you marked a fair sight of the villains." + +"There was only one man," Mr. John answered briefly. + +"Only one?" the other repeated in great surprise. "For the Lord's sake, +Mr. John--only one? Why, there ain't any one man between here and Lunnon +town could stand up to you, sir, in a fair tussle." + +"Well, he did," Mr. John answered. "He had the advantage, he took me by +surprise, but I never felt such a grip in my life." + +"Lor', now, think of that," said the other in tones in which surprise +seemed mingled with a certain incredulity. "It don't seem possible, but +for sure, then, he don't come from these here parts, that I'll stand +to." + +"I knew that much before," retorted Mr. John. "I said all the time +they were outsiders, a London gang very likely. You'll have to get Dr. +Rawson, Bates. I don't know what's up, but I've a beast of a pain in my +side. I can hardly breathe." + +Bates murmured respectful sympathy as they came out of the shelter +of the trees, and crossing some open ground, reached a road along the +further side of which ran a high brick wall. + +In this, nearly opposite the spot where they emerged on the road, was a +small door which one of the men opened and through which they passed and +locked it behind them, leaving Dunn without. + +He hesitated for a moment, half-minded to scale the wall and continue on +the other side of it to follow them. + +Calculating the direction in which the village of Ramsdon must lie, he +turned that way and had gone only a short distance when he was overtaken +by a pedestrian with whom he began conversation by asking for a light +for his pipe. + +The man seemed inclined to be conversational, and after a few casual +remarks, Dunn made an observation on the length of the wall they were +passing and to the end of which they had just come. + +"Must be a goodish-sized place in there," he said. "Whose is it?" + +"Oh, that there's Ramsdon Place," the other answered. "Mr. John Clive +lives there now his father's dead." + +Dunn stood still in the middle of the road. + +"Who? What?" he stammered. "Who--who did you say?" + +"Mr. John Clive," the other repeated. "Why--what's wrong about that?" + +"Nothing, nothing," Dunn answered, but his voice shook a little with +what seemed almost fear, and behind the darkness of the friendly night +his face had become very pale. "Clive--John Clive, you say? Oh, that's +impossible." + +"Needn't believe it if you don't want to," grumbled the other. "Only +what do you want asking questions for if you thinks folks tells lies +when they answers them?" + +"I didn't mean that, of course not," exclaimed Dunn hurriedly, by no +means anxious to offend the other. "I'm very sorry, I only meant it was +impossible it should be the same Mr. John Clive I knew once, though I +think he came from about here somewhere. A little, middle-aged man, I +mean, quite bald and wears glasses?" + +"Oh, that ain't this 'un," answered the other, his good humour quite +restored. "This is a young man and tremendous big. I ain't so small +myself, but he tops me by a head and shoulders and so he does most +hereabouts. Strong, too, with it, there ain't so many would care to +stand up against him, I can tell you. Why, they do say he caught two +poachers in the wood there last month and brought 'em out one under each +arm like a pair of squealing babes." + +"Did he, though?" said Dunn. "Take some doing, that, and I daresay the +rest of the gang will try to get even with him for it." + +"Well, they do say as there's been threats," the other agreed. "But what +I says is as Mr. John can look after hisself all right. There was a tale +as a man had been dodging after him at night, but all he said when they +told him, was as if he caught any one after him he would thrash them +within an inch of their lives." + +"Serve them right, too," exclaimed Dunn warmly. + +Evidently this explained, in part at least, what had recently happened. +Mr. Clive, finding himself being followed, had supposed it was one of +his poaching enemies and had at once attempted to carry out his threat +he had made. + +Dunn told himself, at any rate, the error would have the result of +turning all suspicion away from him, and yet he still seemed very +disturbed and ill at ease. + +"Has Mr. Clive been here long?" he asked. + +"It must be four or five years since his father bought the place," +answered his new acquaintance. "Then, when the old man was killed a year +ago, Mr. John inherited everything." + +"Old Mr. Clive was killed, was he?" asked Dunn, and his voice sounded +very strange in the darkness. "How was that?" + +"Accident to his motor-car," the other replied. "I don't hold with them +things myself--give me a good horse, I say. People didn't like the old +man much, and some say Mr. John's too fond of taking the high hand. But +don't cross him and he won't cross you, that's his motto and there's +worse." + +Dunn agreed and asked one or two more questions about the details of the +accident to old Mr. Clive, in which he seemed very interested. + +But he did not get much more information about that concerning which his +new friend evidently knew very little. However, he gave Dunn a few more +facts concerning Mr. John Clive, as that he was unmarried, was said to +be very wealthy, and had the reputation of being something of a ladies' +man. + +A little further on they parted, and Dunn took a side road which he +calculated should lead him back to Bittermeads. + +"It may be pure coincidence," he mused as he walked slowly in a very +troubled and doubtful mood. "But if so, it's a very queer one, and if +it isn't, it seems to me Mr. John Clive might as well put his head in +a lion's jaws as pay visits at Bittermeads. But of course he can't have +the least suspicion of the truth--if it is the truth. If I hadn't lost +my temper like a fool when he whacked out at me like that I might have +been able to warn him, or find out something useful perhaps. And his +father killed recently in an accident--is that a coincidence, too, I +wonder?" + +He passed his hand across his forehead on which a light sweat stood, +though he was not a man easily affected, for he had seen and endured +many things. + +His mind was very full of strange and troubled thoughts as at last he +came back to Bittermeads, where, leaning with his elbows on the garden +gate, he stood for a long time, watching the dark and silent house and +thinking of that scene of which he had been a spectator when John Clive +and the girl had stood together on the veranda in the light of the gas +from the hall and had bidden each other good night. + +"It seems," he mused, "as though the last that was seen of poor Charley +must have been just like that. It was just such a dark night as this +when Simpson saw him. He was standing on that veranda when Simpson +recognized him by the light of the gas behind, and a girl was bidding +him good night--a very pretty girl, too, Simpson said." + +Silent and immobile he stood there a long time, not so much now as one +who watched, but rather as if deep in thought, for his head was bent and +supported on his hands and his eyes were fixed on the ground. + +"As for this John Clive," he muttered presently, rousing himself. "I +suppose that must be a coincidence, but it's queer, and queer the father +should have died--like that." + +He broke off, shuddering slightly, as though at thoughts too awful to be +endured, and pushing open the gate, he walked slowly up the gravel path +towards the house, round which he began to walk, going very slowly +and cautiously and often pausing as if he wished to make as close +examination of the place as the darkness would permit. + +More by habit than because he thought there was any need of it, he moved +always with that extreme and wonderful dexterity of quietness he could +assume at will, and as he turned the corner of the building and came +behind it, his quick ear, trained by many an emergency to pick out the +least unusual sound, caught a faint, continued scratching noise, so +faint and low it might well have passed unnoticed. + +All at once he understood and realized that some one quite close at +hand was stealthily cutting out the glass from one of the panes of a +ground-floor window. + + + +CHAPTER IV. A WOMAN WEEPS + + +Cautiously he glided nearer, moving as noiselessly as any shadow, +seeming indeed but one shadow the more in the heavy surrounding +darkness. + +The persistent scratching noise continued, and Dunn was now so close he +could have put out his hand and touched the shoulder of the man who was +causing it and who still, intent and busy, had not the least idea of the +other's proximity. + +A faint smile touched Dunn's lips. The situation seemed not to be +without a grim humour, for if one-half of what he suspected were true, +one might as sensibly and safely attempt to break into the condemned +cell at Pentonville Gaol as into this quiet house. + +But then, was it perhaps possible that this fellow, working away so +unconcernedly, within arm's-length of him, was in reality one of them, +seeking to obtain admittance in this way for some reason of his own, +some private treachery, it might be, or some dispute? To Dunn that +did not seem likely. More probably the fellow was merely an +ordinary burglar--some local practitioner of the housebreaking art, +perhaps--whose ill-fortune it was to have hit upon this house to rob +without his having the least idea of the nature of the place he was +trying to enter. + +"He might prove a useful recruit for them, though," Dunn thought, and a +sudden idea flashed into his mind, vivid and startling. + +For one moment he thought intently, weighing in his mind this idea that +had come to him so suddenly. He was not blind to the risks it involved, +but his eager temperament always inclined him to the most direct and +often to the most dangerous course. His mind was made up, his plan of +action decided. + +The scratching of the burglar's tool upon the glass ceased. Already he +had smeared treacle over the square of glass he intended to remove and +had covered it with paper so as to be able to take it out easily and in +one piece without the risk of falling fragments betraying him. + +Through the gap thus made he thrust his arm and made sure there were no +alarms fitted and no obstacles in the way of his easy entrance. + +Cautiously he unfastened the window and cautiously and silently lifted +the sash, and when he had done so he paused and listened for a space to +make sure no one was stirring and that no alarm had been caused within +the house. + +Still very cautiously and with the utmost precaution to avoid making +even the least noise, he put one knee upon the window-sill, preparatory +to climbing in, and as he did so Dunn touched him lightly on the +shoulder. + +"Well, my man, what are you up to?" he said softly. And without a +word, without giving the least warning, the burglar, a man evidently +of determination and resource, swung round and aimed at Dunn's head a +tremendous blow with the heavy iron jemmy he held in his right hand. + +But Dunn was not unprepared for an attack and those bright, keen eyes of +his seemed able to see as well in the dark as in the light. He threw up +his left hand and caught the other's wrist before that deadly blow he +aimed could descend and at the same instant he dashed his own clenched +fist full into the burglar's face. + +As it happened, more by good luck than intended aim, the blow took him +on the point of the chin. He dropped instantly, collapsing in on himself +as falls a pole-axed bullock, and lay, unconscious, in a crumpled heap +on the ground. + +For a little Dunn waited, crouching above him and listening for the +least sound to show that their brief scuffle had been heard. + +But it had all passed nearly as silently as quickly. Within the house +everything remained silent, there was no sound audible, no gleam of +light to show that any of the inmates had been disturbed. + +Taking from his pocket a small electric flash-lamp Dunn turned its light +on his victim. + +He seemed a man of middle age with a brutal, heavy-jawed face and a low, +receding forehead. His lips, a little apart, showed yellow, irregular +teeth, of which two at the front of the lower jaw had been broken, and +the scar of an old wound, running from the corner of his left eye down +to the centre of his cheek, added to the sinister and forbidding aspect +he bore. + +His build was heavy and powerful and near by, where he had dropped it +when he fell, lay the jemmy with which he had struck at Dunn. It was +a heavy, ugly-looking thing, about two feet in length and with one end +nearly as sharp as that of a chisel. + +Dunn picked it up and felt it thoughtfully. + +"Just as well I got my blow in first," he mused. "If he had landed that +fairly on my skull I don't think anything else in this world would ever +have interested me any more." + +Stooping over the unconscious man, he felt in his pockets and found an +ugly-looking revolver, fully loaded, a handful of cartridges, a coil +of thin rope, an electric torch, a tiny dark lantern no bigger than a +match-box, and so arranged that the single drop of light it permitted +to escape fell on one spot only, a bunch of curiously-shaped wires Dunn +rightly guessed to be skeleton keys used for opening locks quietly, +together with some tobacco, a pipe, a little money, and a few other +personal belongings of no special interest or significance. + +These Dunn replaced where he had found them, but the revolver, the rope, +the torch, the dark lantern, and the bunch of wires he took possession +of. + +He noticed also that the man was wearing rubber-soled boots and rubber +gloves, and these last he also kept. Stooping, he lifted the unconscious +man on to his shoulder and carried him with perfect ease and at a quick +pace out of the garden and across the road to the common opposite, +where, in a convenient spot, behind some furze bushes, he laid him down. + +"When he comes round," Dunn muttered. "He won't know where he is or +what's happened, and probably his one idea will be to clear off as +quickly as possible. I don't suppose he'll interfere with me at all." + +Then a new idea seemed to strike him, and he hurriedly removed his own +coat and trousers and boots and exchanged them for those the burglar was +wearing. + +They were not a good fit, but he could get them on and the idea in his +mind was that if the police of the district began searching, as very +likely they would, for Mr. John Clive's assailant, and if they had +discovered any clues in the shape of footprints or torn bits of clothing +or buttons--and Dunn knew his attire had suffered considerably during +the struggle--then it would be as well that such clues should lead not +to him, but to this other man, who, if he were innocent on that score, +had at any rate been guilty of attempting to carry out a much worse +offence. + +"I'm afraid your luck's out, old chap," Dunn muttered, apostrophizing +the unconscious man. "But you did your best to brain me, and that gives +me a sort of right to make you useful. Besides, if the police do run you +in, it won't mean anything worse than a few questions it'll be your own +fault if you can't answer. Anyhow, I can't afford to run the risk of +some blundering fool of a policeman trying to arrest me for assaulting +the local magnate." + +Much relieved in mind, for he had been greatly worried by a fear that +this encounter with John Clive might lead to highly inconvenient legal +proceedings, he left the unlucky burglar lying in the shelter of the +furze bushes and returned to the house. + +All was as he had left it, the open window gaped widely, almost inviting +entrance, and he climbed silently within. The apartment in which he +found himself was apparently the drawing-room and he felt his way +cautiously and slowly across it, moving with infinite care so as to +avoid making even the least noise. + +Reaching the door, he opened it and went out into the hall. All was dark +and silent. He permitted himself here to flash on his electric torch for +a moment, and he saw that the hall was spacious and used as a lounge, +for there were several chairs clustered in its centre, opposite the +fireplace. There were two or three doors opening from it, and almost +opposite where he stood were the stairs, a broad flight leading to a +wide landing above. + +Still with the same extreme silence and care, he began to ascend these +stairs and when he was about half-way up he became aware of a faint and +strange sound that came trembling through the silence and stillness of +the night. + +What it was he could not imagine. He listened for a time and then +resumed his silent progress with even more care than previously, and +only when he reached the landing did he understand that this faint and +low sound he heard was caused by a woman weeping very softly in one of +the rooms near by. + +Silently he crossed the landing in the direction whence the sound seemed +to come. Now, too, he saw a thread of light showing beneath a door at a +little distance, and when he crept up to it and listened he could hear +for certain that it was from within this room that there came the sound +of muffled, passionate weeping. + +The door was closed, but he turned the handle so carefully that he made +not the least sound and very cautiously he began to push the door back, +the tiniest fraction of an inch at a time, so that even one watching +closely could never have said that it moved. + +When, after a long time, during which the muffled weeping never ceased, +he had it open an inch or two, he leaned forward and peeped within. + +It was a bed-chamber, and, crouching on the floor near the fireplace, in +front of a low arm-chair, her head hidden on her arms and resting on +the seat of the chair, was the figure of a girl. She had made no +preparations for retiring, and by the frock she wore Dunn recognized her +as the girl he had seen on the veranda bidding good-bye to John Clive. + +The sound of her weeping was very pitiful, her attitude was full of an +utter and poignant despair, there was something touching in the extreme +in the utter abandonment to grief shown by this young and lovely +creature who seemed framed only for joy and laughter. + +The stern features and hard eyes of the unseen watcher softened, then +all at once they grew like tempered steel again. + +For on the mantlepiece, just above where the weeping girl crouched, +stood a photograph--the photograph of a young and good-looking, +gaily-smiling man. Across it, in a boyish and somewhat unformed hand, +was written, + + "Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright." + +It was this photograph that had caught Dunn's eyes. Both it and the +writing and the signature he recognized, and his look was very stern, +his eyes as cold as death itself, as slowly, slowly he pushed back the +door of the room another inch or so. + + + +CHAPTER V. A WOMAN AND A MAN + + +The girl stirred. It was as though some knowledge of the slow opening of +the door had penetrated to her consciousness before as yet she actually +saw or heard anything. + +She rose to her feet, drying her eyes with her handkerchief, and as she +was moving to a drawer near to get a clean one her glance fell on the +partially-open door. + +"I thought I shut it," she said aloud in a puzzled manner. + +She crossed the floor to the door and closed it with a push from her +hand and in the passage outside Dunn stood still, not certain what to do +next. + +But for that photograph he might have gone quietly away, giving up the +reckless plan that had formed itself so suddenly in his mind while he +watched the burglar at work. + +That photograph, however, with its suggestion that he stood indeed on +the brink of the solution of the mystery, seemed a summons to him to go +on. It was as though a voice from the dead called him to continue on his +task to punish and to save, and slowly, very slowly, with an infinite +caution, he turned again the handle of the door and still very slowly, +still with the same infinite caution, he pushed back the door the merest +fraction of an inch at a time so that not even one watching could have +said that it moved. + +When he had it once more so far open that he could see within, he bent +forward to look. The girl was beginning her preparations for the night +now. She had assumed a long, comfortable-looking dressing-gown and, +standing in front of the mirror, she had just finished brushing her hair +and was beginning to fasten it up in a long plait. He could see her face +in the mirror; her deep, sad eyes, swollen with crying, her cheeks still +tear-stained, her mouth yet quivering with barely-repressed emotion. + +He was still watching her when, as if growing uneasy, she turned her +head and glanced over her shoulder, and though he moved back so quickly +that she did not catch sight of him, she saw that the door was open once +more. + +"What can be the matter with the door?" she exclaimed aloud, and +she crossed the room towards it with a quick and somewhat impatient +movement. + +But this time, instead of closing it, she pulled it open and found +herself face to face with Dunn. + +He did not speak or move, and she stood staring at him blankly. Slowly +her mouth opened as though to utter a cry that, however, could not rise +above her fluttering throat. Her face had taken on the pallor of death, +her great eyes showed the awful fear she felt. + +Still without speaking, Dunn stepped forward into the room and, closing +the door, stood with his back to it. + +She shrank away and put her hand upon a chair, but for the support of +which she must certainly have fallen, for her limbs were trembling so +violently they gave her little support. + +"Don't hurt me," she panted. + +In truth he presented a strange and terrifying appearance. The unkempt +hair that covered his face and through which his keen eyes glowed like +fire, gave him an unusual and formidable aspect. In one hand he held the +ugly-looking jemmy he had taken from the burglar, and the new clothes +he had donned, ill-fitting and soiled, served to accentuate the +ungainliness of his form. + +The frightened girl was not even sure that he was human, and she shrank +yet further away from him till she sank down upon the bed, dizzy with +fear and almost swooning. + +As yet he had not spoken, for his eyes had gone to the mantlepiece on +which he saw that the photograph signed with the name "Charley Wright," +did not now stand upright, but had fallen forward on its face so that +one could no longer see what it represented. + +It must have fallen just as he entered the room and this seemed to him +an omen, though whether of good or ill, he did not know. + +"Who are you?" the girl stammered. "What do you want?" + +He looked at her moodily and still without answering, though in his +bright and keen eyes a strange light burned. + +She was lovely, he thought, of that there could be no question. But her +beauty made to him small appeal, for he was wondering what kind of soul +lay behind those perfect features, that smooth and delicate skin, those +luminous eyes. Yet his eyes were still hard and it was in his roughest, +gruffest tones that he said: + +"You needn't be afraid, I won't hurt you." + +"I'll give you everything I have," she panted, "if only you'll go away." + +"Not so fast as all that," he answered, coolly, for indeed he had not +taken so mad a risk in order to go away again if he could help it. "Who +is there in the house besides you?" + +"Only mother," she answered, looking up at him very pleadingly as if in +hopes that he must relent when he saw her in distress. "Please, won't +you take what you want and go away? Please don't disturb mother, it +would nearly kill her." + +"I'm not going to hurt either you or your mother if you'll be sensible," +he said irritably, for, unreasonably enough, the extreme fear she showed +and her pleading tones annoyed him. He had a feeling that he would +like to shake her, it was so absurd of her to look at him as though she +expected him to gobble her up in a mouthful. + +She seemed a little reassured. + +"Mother will be so dreadfully frightened," she repeated, "I'll give you +everything there is in the house if only you'll go at once." + +"I can take everything I want without your giving it me," he retorted. +"How do I know you're telling the truth when you say there's no one else +in the house? How many servants have you?" + +"None," she answered. "There's a woman comes every day, but she doesn't +sleep here." + +"Do you live all alone here with your mother?" he asked, watching her +keenly. + +"There's my stepfather," she answered. "But he's not here tonight." + +"Oh, is he away?" Dunn asked, his expression almost one of +disappointment. + +The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching him +as keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of disappointment, and +could not help wondering what sort of burglar it was who was not pleased +to hear that the man of the house was away, and that he had only two +women to deal with. + +And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but rather +at a loss what to do next. + +As in truth he was, for that the stepfather should be away, and this +girl and her mother all alone, was, perhaps, the one possibility that he +had never considered. + +She noticed, too, that he did not pay any attention to her jewellery, +which was lying close to his hand on the toilet-table, and though in +point of actual fact this jewellery was not of any great value, it was +exceedingly precious in her eyes, and she did not understand a burglar +who showed no eagerness to seize on it. + +"Did you want to see Mr. Dawson?" she asked, her voice more confident +now and even with a questioning note in it. + +"Mr. Dawson! Who's he?" Dunn asked, disconcerted by the question, but +not wishing to seem so. + +"My stepfather, Mr. Deede Dawson," she answered. "I think you knew that. +If you want him, he went to London early today, but I think it's quite +likely he may come back tonight." + +"What should I want him for?" growled Dunn, more and more disconcerted, +as he saw that he was not playing his part too well. + +"I don't know," she answered. "I suppose you do." + +"You suppose a lot," he retorted roughly. "Now you listen to me. I don't +want to hurt you, but I don't mean to be interfered with. I'm going over +the house to see what I can find that's worth taking. Understand?" + +"Oh, perfectly," she said. + +She was watching him closely, and she noticed that he still made no +attempt to take possession of her jewellery, though it lay at his hand, +and that puzzled her very much, indeed, for she supposed the very first +thing a burglar did was always to seize such treasures as these of hers. +But this man paid them no attention whatever, and did not even notice +them. + +He was feeling in his pockets now and he took out the revolver and the +coil of thin rope he had secured from the burglar. + +"Now, do you know what I'm going to do?" he asked, with an air of +roughness and brutality that was a little overdone. He put the revolver +and the rope down on the bed, the revolver quite close to her. + +"I'm going," he continued, "to tie you up to one of those chairs. I +can't risk your playing any tricks or giving an alarm, perhaps, while +I'm searching the house. I shall take what's worth having, and then I +shall clear off, and if your stepfather's coming home tonight you won't +have to wait long till he releases you, and if he don't come I can't +help it." + +He turned his back to her as he spoke and took hold of one of the chairs +in the room, and then of another and looked at them as though carefully +considering which would be the best to use for the carrying out of his +threat. + +He appeared to find it difficult to decide, for he kept his back turned +to her for two or three minutes, during all of which time the revolver +lay on the bed quite close to her hand. + +He listened intently for he fully expected her to snatch it up, and he +wished to be ready to turn before she could actually fire. But, indeed, +nothing was further from her thoughts, for she did not know in the least +how to use the weapon or even how to fire it off, and the very thought +of employing it to kill any one would have terrified her far more even +than had done her experiences of this night. + +So the pistol lay untouched by her side, while, very pale and trembling +a little, she waited what he would do, and on his side he felt as much +puzzled by her failure to use the opportunity he had put in her way as +she was puzzled by his neglect to seize her jewellery lying ready to his +hand. + +He was still hesitating, still appearing unable to decide which chair to +employ in carrying out his proclaimed purpose of fastening her up when +she asked a question that made him swing round upon her very quickly and +with a very startled look. + +"Are you a real burglar?" she said. + + + +CHAPTER VI. A DISCOVERY + + +"What do you mean?" Dunn asked quickly. The matted growth of hair on his +face served well to hide any change of expression, but his eyes betrayed +him with their look of surprise and discomfiture, and in her own clear +and steady glance appeared now a kind of puzzled mockery as if she +understood well that all he did was done for some purpose, though what +that purpose was still perplexed her. + +"I mean," she said slowly, "well--what do I mean? I am only asking +a question. Are you a burglar--or have you come here for some other +reason?" + +"I don't know what you're getting at," he grumbled. "Think I'm here for +fun? Not me. Come and sit on this chair and put your hands behind you +and don't make a noise, or scream, or anything, not if you value your +life." + +"I don't know that I do very much," she answered with a manner of +extreme bitterness, but more as if speaking to herself than to him. + +She did as he ordered, and he proceeded to tie her wrists together and +to fasten them to the back of the chair on which she had seated herself. +He was careful not to draw the cords too tight, but at the same time he +made the fastening secure. + +"You won't disturb mother, will you?" she asked quietly when he had +finished. "Her room's the one at the end of the passage." + +"I don't want to disturb any one," he answered. "I only want to get off +quietly. I won't gag you, but don't you try to make any noise, if you do +I'll come back. Understand?" + +"Oh, perfectly," she answered. "May I ask one question? Do you feel very +proud of yourself just now?" + +He did not answer, but went out of the room quickly, and he had an +impression that she smiled as she watched him go, and that her smile was +bitter and a little contemptuous. + +"What a girl," he muttered. "She scored every time. I didn't find out a +thing, she didn't do anything I expected or wanted her to. She seemed as +if she spotted me right off--I wonder if she did? I wonder if she could +be trusted?" + +But then he thought of that photograph on the mantelpiece and his look +grew stern and hard again. He was careful to avoid the room the girl had +indicated as occupied by her mother, but of all the others on that floor +he made a hasty search without discovering anything to interest him or +anything of the least importance or at all unusual. + +From the wide landing in the centre of the house a narrow stairway, +hidden away behind an angle of the wall so that one did not notice it +at first, led above to three large attics with steeply-sloping roofs and +evidently designed more for storage purposes than for habitation. + +The doors of two of these were open and within was merely a collection +of such lumber as soon accumulates in any house. + +The door of the third attic was locked, but by aid of the jemmy he still +carried, he forced it open without difficulty. + +Within was nothing but a square packing-case, standing in the middle of +the floor. Otherwise the light of the electric torch he flashed around +showed only the bare boarding of the floor and the bare plastered walls. + +Near the packing-case a hammer and some nails lay on the floor and the +lid was in position but was not fastened, as though some interruption +had occurred before the task of nailing it down could be completed. + +Dunn noted that one nail had been driven home, and he was on the point +of leaving the attic, for he knew he had not much time and hoped that +downstairs he would be able to make some discoveries of importance, when +it occurred to him that it might be wise to see what was in this case, +the nailing down the lid of which had not been completed. + +He crossed the room to it, and without drawing the one nail, pushed back +the lid which pivoted on it quite easily. + +Within appeared a covering of coarse sacking. He pulled this away with +a careless hand, and beneath the beam of his electric torch showed the +pale and dreadful features of a dead man--of a man, the center of whose +forehead showed the small round hole where a bullet had entered in; of +a man whose still-recognizable features were those of the photograph on +the mantel-piece of the room downstairs, the photograph that was signed: + + "Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright." + +For a long time Robert Dunn stood, looking down in silence at that dead +face which was hardly more still, more rigid than his own. + +He shivered, for he felt very cold. It was as though the coldness of the +death in whose presence he stood had laid its chilly hand on him also. + +At last he stirred and looked about him with a bewildered air, then +carefully and with a reverent hand, he put back the sackcloth covering. + +"So I've found you, Charley," he whispered. "Found you at last." + +He replaced the lid, leaving everything as it had been when he entered +the attic, and stood for a time, trying to collect his thoughts which +the shock of this dreadful discovery had so disordered, and to decide +what to do next. + +"But, then, that's simple," he thought. "I must go straight to the +police and bring them here. They said they wanted proof; they said I had +nothing to go on but bare suspicion. But that's evidence enough to hang +Deede Dawson--the girl, too, perhaps." + +Then he wondered whether it could be that she knew nothing and was +innocent of all part or share in this dreadful deed. But how could that +be possible? How could it be that such a crime committed in the house in +which she lived could remain unknown to her? + +On the other hand, when he thought of her clear, candid eyes; when he +remembered her gentle beauty, it did not seem conceivable that behind +them could lie hidden the tigerish soul of a murderess. + +"That's only sentiment, though," he muttered. "Nothing more. Beautiful +women have been rotten bad through and through before today. There's +nothing for me to do but to go and inform the police, and get them here +as soon as possible. If she's innocent, I suppose she'll be able to +prove it." + +He hesitated a moment, as he thought of how he had left her, bound and a +prisoner. + +It seemed brutal to leave her like that while he was away, for he would +probably be some time absent. But with a hard look, he told himself that +whatever pain she suffered she must endure it. + +His first and sole thought must be to bring to justice the murderers of +his unfortunate friend; and to secure, too, thereby, the success almost +certainly of his own mission. + +To release her and leave her at liberty might endanger the attainment of +both those ends, and so she must remain a prisoner. + +"Only," he muttered, "if she knew the attic almost over her head held +such a secret, why, didn't she take the chance I gave her of getting +hold of my revolver? That she didn't, looks as if she knew nothing." + +But then he thought again of the photograph in her room and remembered +that agony of grief to which she had been surrendering herself when he +first saw her. Now those passionate tears of hers seemed to him like +remorse. + +"I'll leave her where she is," he decided again. "I can't help it; I +mustn't run any risks. My first duty is to get the police here and have +Deede Dawson arrested." + +He went down the stairs still deep in thought, and when he reached the +landing below he would not even go to make sure that his captive was +still secure. + +An obscure feeling that he did not wish to see her, and still more that +he did not wish her to see him, prevented him. + +He descended the second flight of steps to the hall, taking fewer +precautions to avoid making a noise and still very deep in thought. + +For some time he had had but little hope that young Charley Wright still +lived. + +Nevertheless, the dreadful discovery he had made in the attic above had +affected him profoundly, and left his mind in a chaos of emotions so +that he was for the time much less acutely watchful than usual. + +They had spent their boyhood together, and he remembered a thousand +incidents of their childhood. They had been at school and college +together. And how brilliantly Charley had always done at work and play, +surmounting every difficulty with a laugh, as if it were merely some new +and specially amusing jest! + +Every one had thought well of him, every one had believed that his +future career would be brilliant. Now it had ended in this obscure and +dreadful fashion, as ends the life of a trapped rat. + +Dunn found himself hardly able to realize that it was really so, +and through all the confused medley of his thoughts there danced and +flickered his memory of a young and lovely face, now tear-stained, now +smiling, now pale with terror, now calmly disdainful. + +"Can she have known?" he muttered. "She must have known--she can't have +known--it's not possible either way." + +He shuddered and as he put his foot on the lowest stair he raised his +hands to cover his face as though to shut out the visions that passed +before him. + +Another step forward he took in the darkness, and all at once there +flashed upon him the light of a strong electric torch, suddenly switched +on. + +"Put up your hands," said a voice sharply. "Or you're a dead man." + +He looked bewilderedly, taken altogether by surprise, and saw he was +faced by a fat little man with a smooth, chubby, smiling face and eyes +that were cold and grey and deadly, and who held in one hand a revolver +levelled at his heart. + +"Put up your hands," this newcomer said again, his voice level and calm, +his eyes intent and deadly. "Put up your hands or I fire." + + + +CHAPTER VII. QUESTION AND ANSWER + + +Dunn obeyed promptly. + +There was that about this little fat, smiling man and his unsmiling eyes +which proclaimed very plainly that he was quite ready to put his threat +into execution. + +For a moment or two they stood thus, each regarding the other very +intently. Dunn, his hands in the air, the steady barrel of the other's +pistol levelled at his heart, knew that never in all his adventurous +life had he been in such deadly peril as now, and the grotesque +thought came into his mind to wonder if there were room for two in that +packing-case in the attic. + +Or perhaps no attempt would be made to hide his death since, after all, +it is always permissible to shoot an armed burglar. + +The clock on the stairs began to strike the hour, and he wondered if he +would still be alive when the last stroke sounded. + +He did not much think so for he thought he could read a very deadly +purpose in the other's cold grey eyes, nor did he suppose that a man +with such a secret as that of the attic upstairs to hide was likely to +stand on any scruple. + +And he thought that if he still lived when the clock finished striking +he would take it for an omen of good hope. + +The last stroke sounded and died away into the silence of the night. + +The revolver was still levelled at his heart, the grim purpose in the +other's eyes had not changed, and yet Dunn drew a breath of deep relief +as though the worst of the danger was past. + +Through his mind, that had been a little dulled by the sudden +consciousness of so extreme a peril, thought began again to race with +more than normal rapidity and clearness. + +It occurred to him, with a sense of the irony of the position, that +when he entered this house it had been with the deliberate intention +of getting himself discovered by the inmates, believing that to show +himself to them in the character of a burglar might gain him their +confidence. + +It had seemed to him that so he might come to be accepted as one of them +and perhaps learn in time the secret of their plans. + +The danger that they might adopt the other course of handing him over to +the police had not seemed to him very great, for he had his reasons for +believing that there would be no great desire to draw the attention of +the authorities to Bittermeads for any reason whatever. + +But the discovery he had made in the attic changed all that. It changed +his plans, for now he could go to the police immediately. And it changed +also his conception of how these people were likely to act. + +Before, it had not entered his mind to suppose that he ran any special +risk of being shot at sight, but now he understood that the only thing +standing between him and instant death was the faint doubt in his +captor's mind as to how much he knew. + +It seemed to him his only hope was to carry out his original plan and +try to pass himself off as the sort of person who might be likely to be +useful to the master of Bittermeads. + +"Don't shoot, sir," he said, in a kind of high whine. "I ain't done no +harm, and it's a fair cop--and me not a month out of Dartmoor Gaol. I +shall get a hot 'un for this, I know." + +The little fat man did not answer; his eyes were as deadly, the muzzle +of his pistol as steady as before. + +Dunn wondered if it were from that pistol had issued the bullet that had +drilled so neat and round a hole in his friend's forehead. He supposed +so. + +He said again + +"Don't shoot, Mr. Deede Dawson, sir; I ain't done no harm." + +"Oh, you know my name, do you, you scoundrel?" Deede Dawson said, a +little surprised. + +"Yes, sir," Dunn answered. "We always find out as much as we can about a +crib before we get to work." + +"I see," said Mr. Dawson. "Very praiseworthy. Attention to business and +all that. Pray, what did you find out about me?" + +"Only as you was to be away tonight, sir," answered Dunn. "And that +there didn't seem to be any other man in the house, and, of course, +how the house lay and the garden, and so. But I didn't know as you was +coming home so soon." + +"No, I don't suppose you did," said Deede Dawson. + +"I ain't done no harm," Dunn urged, making his voice as whining and +pleading as he could. "I've only just been looking round the two top +floors--I ain't touched a thing. Give a cove a chance, sir." + +"You've been looking round, have you?" said Deede Dawson slowly. "Did +you find anything to interest you?" + +"I've only been in the bedrooms and the attics," answered Dunn, changing +not a muscle of his countenance and thinking boldness his safest course, +for he knew well the slightest sign or hint of knowledge that he gave +would mean his death. "I'd only just come downstairs when you copped me, +sir; I ain't touched a thing in one of these rooms down here." + +"Haven't you?" said Deede Dawson slowly, and his face was paler, his +eyes more deadly, the muzzle of his pistol yet more inflexibly steady +than before. + +More clearly still did Dunn realize that the faintest breath of +suspicion stirring in the other's mind that he knew of what was hidden +in the attic would mean certain death and just such another neat little +hole bored through heart or brain as that he had seen showing in the +forehead of his dead friend. + +"Haven't you, though?" Deede Dawson repeated. "The bedrooms--the +attics--that's all?" + +"Yes, sir, that's all, take my oath that's all," Dunn repeated +earnestly, as if he wished very much to impress on his captor that he +had searched bedrooms and attics thoroughly, but not these downstairs +rooms. + +Deede Dawson was plainly puzzled, and for the first time a little doubt +seemed to show in his hard grey eyes. + +Dunn perceived that a need was on him to know for certain whether his +dreadful secret had been discovered or not. + +Until he had assured himself on that point Dunn felt comparatively safe, +but he still knew also that to allow the faintest suspicion to dawn in +Deede Dawson's mind would mean for him instant death. + +He saw, too, watching very warily and ready to take advantage of any +momentary slip or forgetfulness, how steady was Deede Dawson's hand, how +firm and watchful his eyes. + +With many men, with most men indeed, Dunn would have seized or made some +opportunity to dash in and attack, taking the chance of being shot +down first, since there are few indeed really skilled in the use of a +revolver, the most tricky if the most deadly of weapons. + +But he realized he had small hope of taking unawares this fat little +smiling man with the unsmiling eyes and steady hand, and he was well +convinced that the first doubtful movement he made would bring a bullet +crashing through his brain. + +His only hope was in delay and in diverting suspicion, and Deede +Dawson's voice was very soft and deadly as he said: + +"So you've been looking in the bedrooms, have you? What did you find +there?" + +"Nothing, sir, not a thing," protested Dunn. "I didn't touch a thing, +I only wanted to look round before coming down here to see about the +silver." + +"And the attics?" asked Deede Dawson. "What did you find there?" + +"There wasn't no one in them," Dunn answered. "I only wanted to make +sure the young lady was telling the truth about there being no servants +in the house to sleep." + +"Did you look in all the attics, then?" asked Deede Dawson. + +"Yes," answered Dunn. "'There was one as was locked, but I tooked the +liberty of forcing it just to make sure. I ain't done no harm to speak +of." + +"You found one locked, eh?" said Deede Dawson, and his smile grew still +more pleasant and more friendly. "That must have surprised you a good +deal, didn't it?" + +"I thought as perhaps there was some one waiting already to give the +alarm," answered Dunn. "I didn't mind the old lady, but I couldn't risk +there being some one hiding there, so I had to look, but I ain't done no +damage to speak of, I could put it right for you myself in half-an-hour, +sir, if you'll let me." + +"Could you, indeed?" said Deede Dawson. "Well, and did you find any one +sleeping there?" + +But for that hairy disguise upon his cheeks and chin, Dunn would almost +certainly have betrayed himself, so dreadful did the question seem to +him, so poignant the double meaning that it bore, so clear his memory of +his friend he had found there, sleeping indeed. + +But there was nothing to show his inner agitation, as he said, shaking +his head. + +"There wasn't no one there, any more than in the other attics, nothing +but an old packing-case." + +"And what?" said Deede Dawson, his voice so soft it was like a caress, +his smile so sweet it was a veritable benediction. "What was in that +packing-case?" + +"Didn't look," answered Dunn, and then, with a sudden change of manner, +as though all at once understanding what previously had puzzled him. +"Lum-me," he cried, "is that where you keep the silver? Lor', and to +think I never even troubled to look." + +"You never looked?" repeated Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head with an air of baffled regret. "Never thought of +it," he said. "I thought it was just lumber like in the other attics, +and I might have got clear away with it if I had known, as easy as not." + +His chagrin was so apparent, his whole manner so innocent, that Deede +Dawson began to believe he really did know nothing. + +"Didn't you wonder why the door was locked?" he asked. + +"Lor'," answered Dunn, "if you stopped to wonder about everything you +find rummy in a crib you're cracking, when would you ever get your +business done?" + +"So you didn't look--in that packing-case?" Deede Dawson repeated. + +"If I had," answered Dunn ruefully, "I shouldn't be here, copped like +this. I should have shoved with the stuff and not waited for nothing +more. But I never had no luck." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Deede Dawson grimly, and as he spoke a +soft voice called down from upstairs. + +"Is there any one there?" it said. "Oh, please, is any one there?" + +"Is that you, Ella?" Deede Dawson called back. "Come down here." + +"I can't," she answered. "I'm fastened to a chair." + +"I didn't hurt the young lady," Dunn interposed quickly. "I only +tied her up as gentle as I could to a chair so as to stop her from +interfering." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Deede Dawson, and seemed a little amused, +as though the thought of his stepdaughter's plight pleased him rather +than not. "Well, if she can't come down here, we'll go up there. Turn +round, my man, and go up the stairs and keep your hands over your head +all the time. I shan't hesitate to shoot if you don't, and I never +miss." + +Dunn was not inclined to value his life at a very high price as he +turned and went awkwardly up the stairs, still holding his hands above +his head. + +But he meant to save it if he could, for many things depended on it, +among them due punishment to be exacted for the crime he had discovered +this night; and also, perhaps, for the humiliation he was now enduring. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE + +Up the stairs, across the landing, and down the passage opposite Dunn +went in silence, shepherded by the little man behind whose pistol was +still levelled and still steady. + +His hands held high in the air, he pushed open with his knee the door +of the girl's room and entered, and she looked up as he did so with an +expression of pure astonishment at his attitude of upheld hands that +changed to one of comprehension and of faint amusement as Deede Dawson +followed, revolver in hand. + +"Oh," she murmured. "Captivity captive, it seems." + +At the fireplace Dunn turned and found her looking at him very intently, +while from the doorway Deede Dawson surveyed them both, for once his +eyes appearing to share in the smile that played about his lips as +though he found much satisfaction in what he saw. + +"Well, Ella," he said. "You've been having adventures, it seems, but you +don't look too comfortable like that." + +"Nor do I feel it," she retorted. "So please set me free." + +"Yes, so I will," he answered, but he still hesitated, and Dunn had the +idea that he was pleased to see the girl like this, and would leave +her so if he could, and that he was wondering now if he could turn her +predicament to his own advantage in any way. + +"Yes, I will," he said again. "Your mother--?" + +"She hasn't wakened," Ella answered. "I don't think she has heard +anything. I don't suppose she will, for she took two of those pills last +night that Dr. Rawson gave her for when she couldn't sleep." + +"It's just as well she did," said Deede Dawson. + +"Yes, but please undo my hands," she asked him. "The cords are cutting +my wrists dreadfully." + +As she spoke she glanced at Dunn, standing by the fireplace and +listening gravely to what they said, and Deede Dawson exclaimed with an +air of great indignation:-- + +"The fellow deserves to be well thrashed for treating you like that. +I've a good mind to do it, too, before handing him over to the police." + +"But you haven't released me yet," she remarked. + +"Oh, yes, yes," he said, starting as if this were quite a new idea. +"I'll release you at once--but I must watch this scoundrel. He must have +frightened you dreadfully." + +"Indeed he did not," she answered quickly, again looking at Dunn. "No, +he didn't," she said again with a touch of defiance in her manner and a +certain slightly lifting her small, round chin. "At least not much after +just at first," she added. + +"I'll loose you," Deede Dawson said once more, and coming up to her, he +began to fumble in a feeble, ineffectual way at the cords that secured +her wrists. + +"Jove, he's tied you up pretty tight, Ella!" he said. + +"He believes in doing his work thoroughly, I suppose," she remarked, +lifting her eyes to Dunn's with a look in them that was partly +questioning and partly puzzled and wholly elusive. "I daresay he always +likes to do everything thoroughly." + +"Seems so," said Deede Dawson, giving up his fumbling and ineffectual +efforts to release her. + +He stepped back and stood behind her chair, looking from her to Dunn and +back again, and once more Dunn was conscious of an impression that he +wished to make use for his own purposes of the girl's position, but that +he did not know how to do so. + +"You are a nice scoundrel," said Deede Dawson suddenly, with an +indignation that seemed to Dunn largely assumed. "Treating a girl like +this. Ella, what would you like done to him? He deserves shooting. Shall +I put a bullet through him for you?" + +"He might have treated me worse, I suppose," said Ella quietly. "And +if you would be less indignant with him, you might be more help to me. +There are scissors on the table somewhere." + +"I'll get them," Deede Dawson said. "I'll get them," he repeated, as +though now at last finally making up his mind. + +He took the scissors from the toilet-table where they lay before the +looking-glass and cut the cords by which Ella was secured. + +With a sigh of relief she straightened herself from the confined +position in which she had been held and began to rub her wrists, which +were slightly inflamed where the cords had bruised her soft skin. + +"Like to tie him up that way now?" asked Deede Dawson. "You shall if you +like." + +She turned and looked full at Dunn and he looked back at her with eyes +as steady and as calm as her own. + +Again she showed that faint doubt and wonder which had flickered through +her level gaze before as though she felt that there was more in all this +than was apparent, and did not wish to condemn him utterly without a +hearing. + +But it was plain also that she did not wish to say too much before her +stepfather and she answered carelessly: + +"I don't think I could tie him tight enough, besides, he looks +ridiculous enough like that with his hands up in the air." + +It was her revenge for what he had made her suffer. He felt himself +flush and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft had struck +home. + +"Well, go and look through his pockets," Deede Dawson said. "And see if +he's got a revolver. Don't be frightened; if he lowers his hands he'll +be a dead man before he knows it." + +"He has a pistol," she said. "He showed it me, it's in his coat pocket." + +"Better get it then," Deede Dawson told her. She obeyed and brought +him the weapon, and he nodded with satisfaction as he put it in his own +pocket. + +"I think we might let you put your hands down now," he remarked, and +Dunn gladly availed himself of the permission, for every muscle in his +arms was aching badly. + +He remained standing by the wall while Deede Dawson, seating himself on +the chair to which Ella had been bound, rested his chin on his left +hand and, with the pistol still ready in his right, regarded Dunn with a +steady questioning gaze. + +Ella was standing near the bed. She had poured a few drops of +eau-de-Cologne on her wrists and was rubbing them softly, and for ever +after the poignant pleasant odour of the scent has remained associated +in Robert Dunn's mind with the strange events of that night so that +always even the merest whiff of it conjures up before his mind a picture +of that room with himself silent by the fireplace and Ella silent by +the bed and Deede Dawson, pistol in hand, seated between them, as silent +also as they, and very watchful. + +Ella appeared fully taken up with her occupation and might almost have +forgotten the presence of the two men. She did not look at either of +them, but continued to rub and chafe her wrists softly. + +Deede Dawson had forgotten for once to smile, his brow was slightly +wrinkled, his cold grey eyes intent and watchful, and Dunn felt very +sure that he was thinking out some plan or scheme. + +The hope came to him that Deede Dawson was thinking he might prove of +use, and that was the thought which, above all others, he wished the +other to have. It was, indeed, that thought which all his recent actions +had been aimed to implant in Deede Dawson's mind till his dreadful +discovery in the attic had seemed to make at last direct action +possible. How, in his present plight that thought, if Deede Dawson +should come to entertain it, might yet prove his salvation. Now and +again Deede Dawson gave him quick, searching glances, but when at last +he spoke it was Ella he addressed. + +"Wrists hurt you much?" he asked. + +"Not so much now," she answered. "They were beginning to hurt a great +deal, though." + +"Were they, though?" said Deede Dawson. "And to think you might have +been like that for hours if I hadn't chanced to come home. Too bad, what +a brute this fellow is." + +"Men mostly are, I think," she observed indifferently. + +"And women mostly like to get their own back again," he remarked with +a chuckle, and then turned sharply to Dunn. "Well, my man," he asked, +"what have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Nothing," Dunn answered. "It was a fair cop." + +"You've had a taste of penal servitude before, I suppose?" Deede Dawson +asked. + +"Maybe," Dunn answered, as if not wishing to betray himself. "Maybe +not." + +"Well, I think I remember you said something about not being long out +of Dartmoor," remarked Deede Dawson. "How do you relish the prospect of +going back there?" + +"I wonder," interposed Ella thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is in you +that makes you so love to be cruel, father?" + +"Eh what?" he exclaimed, quite surprised. "Who's being cruel?" + +"You," she answered. "You enjoy keeping him wondering what you are going +to do with him, just as you enjoyed seeing me tied to that chair and +would have liked to leave me there." + +"My dear Ella!" he protested. "My dear child!" + +"Oh, I know," she said wearily. "Why don't you hand the man over to +the police if you're going to, or let him go at once if you mean to do +that?" + +"Let him go, indeed!" exclaimed Deede Dawson. "What an idea! What should +I do that for?" + +"If you'll give me another chance," said Dunn quickly, "I'll do +anything--I should get it pretty stiff for this lot, and that wouldn't +be any use to you, sir, would it? I can do almost anything--garden, +drive a motor, do what I'm told, It's only because I've never had a +chance I've had to take to this line." + +"If you could do what you're told you certainly might be useful," said +Deede Dawson slowly. "And I don't know that it would do me any good +to send you off to prison--you deserve it, of course. Still--you talk +sometimes like an educated man?" + +"I had a bit of education," Dunn answered. + +"I see," said Deede Dawson. "Well, I won't ask you any more questions, +you'd probably only lie. What's your name?" + +With that sudden recklessness which was a part of his impulsive and +passionate nature, Dunn answered: + +"Charley Wright." + +The effect was instantaneous and apparent on both his auditors. + +Ella gave a little cry and started so violently that she dropped the +bottle of eau-de-Cologne she had in her hands. + +Deede Dawson jumped to his feet with a fearful oath. His face went +livid, his fat cheeks seemed suddenly to sag, of his perpetual smile +every trace vanished. + +He swung his revolver up, and Dunn saw the crooked forefinger quiver as +though in the very act of pressing the trigger. + +The pressure of a hair decided, indeed, whether the weapon was to fire +or not, as in a high-pitched, stammering voice, Deede Dawson gasped: + +"What--what do you mean? What do you mean by that?" + +"I only told you my name," Dunn answered. "What's wrong with it?" + +Doubtful and afraid, Deede Dawson stood hesitant. His forehead had +become very damp, and he wiped it with a nervous gesture. + +"Is that your name--your real name?" he muttered. + +"Never had another that I know of," Dunn answered. + +Deede Dawson sat down again on the chair. He was still plainly very +disturbed and shaken, and Ella seemed scarcely less agitated, though +Dunn, watching them both very keenly, noticed that she was now looking +at Deede Dawson with a somewhat strange expression and with an air as +though his extreme excitement puzzled her and made her--afraid. + +"Nothing wrong with the name, is there?" Dunn muttered again. + +"No, no," Deede Dawson answered. "No. It's merely a coincidence, that's +all. A coincidence, I suppose, Ella?" + +Ella did not answer. Her expression was very troubled and full of doubt +as she stood looking from her stepfather to Dunn and back again. + +"It's only that your name happens to be the same as that of a friend of +ours--a great friend of my daughter's," Deede Dawson said as though he +felt obliged to offer some explanation. "That's all--a coincidence. It +startled me for the moment." He laughed. "That's all. Well, my man, it +happens there is something I can make you useful in. If you do prove +useful and do what I tell you, perhaps you may get let off. I might even +keep you on in a job. I won't say I will, but I might. You look a likely +sort of fellow for work, and I daresay you aren't any more dishonest +than most people. Funny how things happen--quite a coincidence, your +name. Well, come on; it's that packing-case you saw in the attic +upstairs. I want you to help me downstairs with that--Charley Wright." + + +CHAPTER IX. THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + + +Robert Dunn was by no means sure that he was not going to his death as +he went out of Ella's room on his way to the attics above, for he had +perceived a certain doubt and suspicion in Deede Dawson's manner, and he +thought it very likely that a fatal intention lay behind. + +But he obeyed with a brisk promptitude of manner, like one who saw a +prospect of escape opening before him, and as he went he saw that Ella +had relapsed into her former indifference and was once more giving all +her attention to bathing her wrists with eau-de-Cologne; and he saw, +too, that Deede Dawson, following close behind, kept always his revolver +ready. + +"Perhaps he only wants to get me out of her way before he shoots," he +reflected. "Perhaps there is room in that packing-case for two. It will +be strange to die. Shall I try to rush him? But he would shoot at once, +and I shouldn't have a chance. One thing, if anything happens to me, no +one will ever know what's become of poor Charley." + +And this seemed to him a great pity, so that he began to form confused +and foolish plans for securing that his friend's fate should become +known. + +With a sudden start, for he had not known he was there, he found himself +standing on the threshold of that attic of death. It was quite dark +up here, and from behind Deede Dawson's voice told him impatiently to +enter. + +He obeyed, wondering if ever again he would cross that threshold alive, +and Deede Dawson followed him into the dark attic so that Dunn was +appalled by the man's rashness, for how could he tell that his victim +would not take this opportunity to rise up from the place where he had +been thrust and take his revenge? + +"What an idea," he thought to himself. "I must be going dotty, it's the +strain of expecting a bullet in my back all the time, I suppose. I was +never like this before." + +Deede Dawson struck a match and put it to a gas-jet that lighted up +the whole room. Between him and Dunn lay the packing-case, and Dunn was +surprised to see that it was still there and that nothing had changed or +moved; and then again he said to himself that this was a foolish thought +only worthy of some excitable, hysterical girl. + +"It's being too much for me," he thought resignedly. "I've heard of +people being driven mad by horror. I suppose that's what's happening to +me." + +"You look--queer," Deede Dawson's voice interrupted the confused medley +of his thoughts. "Why do you look like that--Charley Wright?" + +Dunn looked moodily across the case in which the body of the murdered +man was hidden to where the murderer stood. + +After a pause, and speaking with an effort, he said: + +"You'd look queer if some one with a pistol was watching you all the +time the way you watch me." + +"You do what I tell you and you'll be all right," Deede Dawson answered. +"You see that packing-case?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"It's big enough," he said. + +"Would you like to know?" asked Deede Dawson slowly with his slow, +perpetual smile. "Would you like to know what's in it--Charley Wright?" + +And again Dunn was certain that a faint suspicion hung about those last +two words, and that his life and death hung very evenly in the balance. + +"Silver, you said," he muttered. "Didn't you?" + +"Ah, yes--yes--to be sure," answered Deede Dawson. "Yes, so I did. +Silver. I want the lid nailed down. There's a hammer and nails there. +Get to work and look sharp." + +Dunn stepped forward and began to set about a task that was so terrible +and strange, and that yet he had, at peril of his life--at peril of more +than that, indeed--to treat as of small importance. + +Standing a little distance from the lighted gas-jet, Deede Dawson +watched him narrowly, and as Dunn worked he was very sure that to betray +the least sign of his knowledge would be to bring instantly a bullet +crashing through his brain. + +It seemed curious to him that he had so carefully replaced everything +after making his discovery, and that without any forethought or special +intention he had put back everything so exactly as he had found it when +the slightest neglect or failure in that respect would most certainly +have cost him his life. + +And he felt that as yet he could not afford to die. + +One by one he drove in the nails, and as he worked at his gruesome task +he heard the faintest rustle on the landing without--the faintest sound +of a soft breath cautiously drawn in, of a light foot very carefully set +down. + +Deede Dawson plainly heard nothing; indeed, no ear less acute and less +well-trained than Dunn's could have caught sounds that were so slight +and low, but he, listening between each stroke of his hammer, was sure +that it was Ella who had followed them, and that she crouched upon the +landing without, watching and listening. + +Did that mean, he wondered, that she, too, knew? Or was it merely +natural curiosity; hostile in part, perhaps, since evidently the +relations between her and her stepfather were not too friendly--a desire +to know what task there could be in the attics so late at night for +which Deede Dawson had such need of his captive's help? + +Or was it by any chance because she wished to know how things went with +him, and what was to be his fate? + +In any case, Dunn was sure that Ella had followed then, and was on the +landing without. + +He drove home the last nail and stood up. "That's done," he said. + +"And well done," said Deede Dawson. "Well done--Charley Wright." + +He spoke the name softly and lingeringly, and then all at once he began +to laugh, a low and somewhat dreadful laughter that had in it no mirth +at all, and that sounded horrible and strange in the chill emptiness of +the attic. + +Leaning one hand on the packing-case that served as the coffin of his +dead friend, Dunn swore a silent oath to exact full retribution, and +henceforth to put that purpose on a level with the mission on which +originally he had come. + +Aloud, and in a grumbling tone he said: + +"What's the matter with my name? It's a name like any other. What's +wrong with it?" + +"What should there be?" flashed Deede Dawson in reply. + +"I don't know," Dunn answered. "You keep repeating it so, that's all." + +"It's a very good name," Deede Dawson said. "An excellent name. But +it's not suitable. Not here." He began to laugh again and then stopped +abruptly. + +"Do you know, I think you had better choose another?" he said. + +"It's all one to me," declared Dunn. "If Charley Wright don't suit, how +will Robert Dunn do? I knew a man of that name once." + +"It's a better name than Charley Wright," said Deede Dawson. "We'll call +you Robert Dunn--Charley Wright. Do you know why I can't have you call +yourself Charley Wight?" + +Dunn shook his head. + +"Because I don't like it," said Deede Dawson. "Why, that's a name that +would drive me mad," he muttered, half to himself. + +Dunn did not speak, but he thought this was a strange thing for the +other to say and showed that even he, cold and remorseless and without +any natural feeling, as he had seemed to be, yet had about him still +some touch of humanity. + +And as he mused on this, which seemed to him so strange, though really +it was not strange at all, his attentive ears caught the sound of a soft +step without, beginning to descend the stairs. + +Had that name, then, been more than she also could bear? + +If so, she must know. + +"I don't see why, I don't see what's wrong with it," he said aloud. "But +Robert Dunn will suit me just as well." + +"All a matter of taste," said Deede Dawson, his manner more composed and +natural again. + +"It's a funny thing now--suppose my name was Charley Wright, then there +would be two Charley Wrights in this attic, eh? A coincidence, that +would be?" + +"I suppose so," answered Dunn. "I knew another man named Charley Wright +once." + +"Did you? Where's he?" + +"Oh, he's dead," answered Dunn. + +Deede Dawson could not repress the start he gave and for a moment Dunn +thought that his suspicions were really roused. He came a little nearer, +his pistol still ready in his hand. + +"Dead, is he?" he said. "That's a pity. He's not here, then; but it +would be funny wouldn't it, if there were two Charley Wrights in one +room?" + +"I don't know what you mean," Dunn answered. "I think there are lots of +funnier things than that would be." + +"That's where you're wrong," retorted Deede Dawson, and he laughed +again, shrilly and dreadfully, a laughter that had in it anything but +mirth. + +"Can you carry that packing-case downstairs if I help you get it on your +shoulder?" he asked abruptly. + +"It's heavy, but I might," Dunn answered. + +He supposed that now it was about to be hidden somewhere and he felt +that he must know where, since that knowledge would mean everything and +enable him to set the authorities to work at once immediately he could +communicate with them. + +The weight of the thing taxed even his great strength to the utmost, but +he managed it somehow, and bending beneath his burden, he descended the +stairs to the hall and then, following the orders Deede Dawson gave him +from behind, out into the open air. + +He was nearly exhausted when at last his task-master told him he could +put it down as he stood still for a minute or two to recover his breath +and strength. + +The night was not very dark, for a young moon was shining in a clear +sky, and it appeared to Dunn, as he felt his strength returning, that +now at last he might find an opportunity of making an attack upon his +captor with some chance of success. + +Hitherto, in the house, in the bright glare of the gas lights, he had +known that the first suspicious movement he made would have ensured his +being instantly and remorselessly shot down, his mission unfulfilled. + +But here in the open air, in the night that the moon illumined but +faintly, it was different, and as he watched for his opportunity he felt +that sooner or later it was sure to come. + +But Deede Dawson was alert and wary, his pistol never left his hand, he +kept so well on his guard he gave Dunn no opening to take him unawares, +and Dunn did not wish to run too desperate a chance, since he was sure +that sooner or later one giving fair chance of success would present +itself. + +"Do you want it carried any further?" he asked. "It's very heavy." + +"I suppose you mean you're wondering what's in it?" said Deede Dawson +sharply. + +"It's nothing to me what's in it--silver or anything else," retorted +Dunn. "Do you want me to carry it further, that's all I asked?" + +"No," answered Deede Dawson. "No, I don't. Do you know, if you knew what +was really in it, you'd be surprised?" + +"Very likely," answered Dunn. "Why not?" + +"Yes, you would be surprised," Deede Dawson repeated, and suddenly +shouted into the darkness: "Are you ready? Are you ready there?" + +Dunn was very startled, for somehow, he had supposed all along that +Deede Dawson was quite alone. + +There was no answer to his call, but after a minute or two there was +the sound of a motor-car engine starting and then a big car came gliding +forward and stopped in front of them, driven by a form so muffled in +coats and coverings as to be indistinguishable in that faint light. + +"Put the case inside," Deede Dawson said. "I'll help you." + +With some trouble they succeeded in getting the case in and Deede Dawson +covered it carefully with a big rug. + +When he had done so he stepped back. + +"Ready, Ella?" he said. + +"Yes," answered the girl's soft and low voice that already Dunn could +have sworn to amidst a thousand others. + + + +CHAPTER X. THE NEW GARDENER + + +"Go ahead, then," said Deede Dawson, and the great car with its terrible +burden shot away into the night. + +For a moment or two Deede Dawson stood looking after it, and then +he turned and walked slowly towards the house, and mechanically Dunn +followed, the sole thought in his mind, the one idea of which he was +conscious, that of Ella driving away into the darkness with the dead +body of his murdered friend in the car behind her. + +Did she--know? he asked himself. Or was she ignorant of what it was she +had with her? + +It seemed to him that that question, hammering itself so awfully upon +his mind and clamouring for an answer, must soon send him mad. + +And still before him floated perpetually a picture of long, dark, lonely +roads, of a rushing motor-car driven by a lovely girl, of the awful +thing hidden in the car behind her. + +Dully he recognized that the opportunity for which he had watched and +waited so patiently had come and gone a dozen times, for Deede Dawson +had now quite relaxed his former wary care. + +It was as though he supposed all danger over, as though in the reaction +after an enormous strain he could think of nothing but the immediate +relief. He hardly gave a single glance at Dunn, whose faintest movement +before had never escaped him. He had even put his pistol back in his +pocket, and at almost any moment Dunn, with his unusual strength and +agility, could have seized and mastered him. + +But for such an enterprise Dunn had no longer any spirit, for all his +mind was taken up by that one picture so clear in his thoughts of Ella +in her great car driving the dead man through the night. "She must +know," he said to himself. "She must, or she would never have gone off +like that at that time--she can't know, it's impossible, or she would +never have dared." + +And again it seemed to him that this doubt was driving him mad. + +Deede Dawson entered the house and got a bottle of whisky and a syphon +of soda-water and mixed himself a drink. For the first time since Ella's +departure he seemed to remember Dunn's presence. + +"Oh, there you are," he said. + +Dunn did not answer. He stood moodily on the threshold, wondering why he +did not rush upon the other, and with his knee upon his chest, his +hands about his throat, force him to answer the question that was still +whispering, shouting, screaming itself into his ears: + +"Does she know what it is she drives with her on that big car through +the black and lonely night?" + +"Like a drink?" asked Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head, and it came to him that he did not attack Deede +Dawson and force the truth from him because he dared not, because he was +afraid, because he feared what the answer might be. + +"There's a tool-shed at the bottom of the garden," Deede Dawson said to +him. "You can sleep there, tonight. You'll find some sacks you can make +a bed of." + +Without a word in reply Dunn turned and stumbled away. He felt very +tired--physically exhausted--and the idea of a bed, even of sacks in an +outhouse, became all at once extraordinarily attractive. + +He found the place without difficulty, and, making a pile of the sacks, +flung himself down on them and was asleep almost at once. But almost +as promptly he awoke again, for he had dreamed of Ella driving her car +through the night towards some strange peril from which in his dream he +was trying frantically and ineffectively to save her when he awoke. + +So it was all through the night. + +His utter and complete exhaustion compelled him to sleep, and every time +some fresh, fantastic dream in which Ella and the huge motor-car and the +dreadful burden she had with her always figured, awoke him with a fresh +start. + +But towards morning he fell into a heavy sleep from which presently +he awoke to find it broad daylight and Deede Dawson standing on the +threshold of the shed with his perpetually smiling lips and his cold, +unsmiling eyes. + +"Well, my man; had a good sleep?" he said. + +"I was tired," Dunn answered. + +"Yes, we had a busy night," agreed Deede Dawson. "I slept well, too. +I've been wondering what to do with you. Of course, I ought to hand +you over to the police, and it's rather a risk taking on a man of your +character, but I've decided to give you a chance. Probably you'll misuse +it. But I'll give you an opportunity as gardener and chauffeur here. You +can drive a car, you say?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"That's all right," said Deede Dawson. + +"You shall have your board and lodging, and I'll get you some decent +clothes instead of those rags; and if you prove satisfactory and make +yourself useful you'll find I can pay well. There will be plenty of +chances for you to make a little money--if you know how to take them." + +"When it's money," growled Dunn, "you give me the chance, and see." + +"I think," added Deede Dawson, "I think it might improve your looks if +you shaved." + +Dunn passed his hand over the tangle of hair that hid his features so +effectually. + +"What for?" he asked. + +"Oh, well: please yourself," answered Deede Dawson; "I don't know that +it matters, and perhaps you have reasons of your own for preferring a +beard. Come on up to the house now and I'll tell Mrs. Dawson to give you +some breakfast. And you might as well have a wash, too, perhaps--unless +you object to that as well as to shaving." + +Dunn rose without answering, made his toilet by shaking off some of +the dust that clung to him, and followed his new employer out of the +tool-house into the open air. + +It was a fresh and lovely morning, and coming towards them down one of +the garden paths was Ella, looking as fresh and lovely as the morning in +a dainty cotton frock with lace at her throat and wrists. + +That she could possibly have spent the night tearing across country in a +powerful car conveying a dead man to an unknown destination, appeared to +Dunn a clean impossibility, and for a moment he almost supposed he had +been mistaken in thinking he recognized her voice. + +But he knew he had not, that he had made no mistake, that it had indeed +been Ella he had seen dash away into the darkness on her strange and +terrible errand. + +"Oh, my daughter," said Deede Dawson carelessly, noticing Dunn's +surprise. "Oh, yes, she's back--you didn't expect to see her this +morning. Well, Ella, Dunn's surprised to see you back so soon, aren't +you, Dunn?" + +Dunn did not answer, for a kind of vertigo of horror had come upon him, +and for a moment all things revolved about him in a whirling circle +wherein the one fixed point was Ella's gentle lovely face that +sometimes, he thought, had a small round hole with blue edges in the +very centre of the forehead, above the nose. + +It was her voice, clear and a little loud, that called him back to +himself. + +"He's not well," she was saying. "He's going to faint." + +"I'm all right," he muttered. "It was nothing, nothing, it's only that +I've had nothing to eat for so long." + +"Oh, poor man!" exclaimed Ella. + +"Come up to the house," Deede Dawson said. + +"Breakfast's ready," Ella said. "Mother told me to find you." + +"Has the woman come yet?" Deede Dawson asked. "If she has, you might +tell her to give Dunn some breakfast. I've just been telling him I'm +willing to give him another chance and to take him on as gardener and +chauffeur, so you can keep an eye on him and see if he works well." + +Ella was silent for a moment, but her expression was grave and a little +puzzled as though she did not quite understand this and wondered what it +meant, and when she looked up at her stepfather, Dunn was certain there +was both distrust and suspicion in her manner. + +"I suppose," she said then, "last night seemed to you a good +recommendation?" As she spoke she glanced at her wrists where the +bruises still showed, and Deede Dawson's smile broadened. + +"One should always be ready to give another chance to a poor fellow +who's down," he said. "He may run straight now he's got an opportunity. +I told him he had better shave, but he seems to think a beard suits him +best. What do you say?" + +"Breakfast's waiting," Ella answered, turning away without taking any +notice of the question. + +"I'll go in then," said Deede Dawson. "You might show Dunn the way to +the kitchen--his name's Robert Dunn, by the way--and tell Mrs. Barker to +give him something to eat." + +"I should think he could find his way there himself," Ella remarked. + +But though she made this protest, she obeyed at once, for though she +used a considerable liberty of speech to her stepfather, it was none the +less evident that she was very much afraid of him and would not be very +likely to disobey him or oppose him directly. + +"This way," she said to Dunn, and walked on along a path that led to the +back of the house. Once she stopped and looked back. She smiled slightly +and disdainfully as she did so, and Dunn saw that she was looking at a +clump of small bushes near where they had been standing. + +He guessed at once that she believed Deede Dawson to be behind those +bushes watching them, and when she glanced at him he understood that she +wished him to know it also. + +He said nothing, though a faint movement visible in the bushes convinced +him that her suspicions, if, indeed, she had them, were well-founded, +and they walked on in silence, Ella a little ahead, and Dunn a step or +two behind. + +The garden was a large one, and had at one time been well cultivated, +but now it was neglected and overgrown. It struck Dunn that if he was to +be the gardener here he would certainly not find himself short of work, +and Ella, without looking round, said to him over her shoulder: + +"Do you know anything about gardening?" + +"A little, miss," he answered. + +"You needn't call me 'miss,'" she observed. "When a man has tied a girl +to a chair I think he may regard himself as on terms of some familiarity +with her." + +"What must I call you?" he asked, and his words bore to himself a double +meaning, for, indeed, what name was it by which he ought to call her? + +But she seemed to notice nothing as she answered "My name is Cayley +--Ella Cayley. You can call me Miss Cayley. Do you know anything of +motoring?" + +"Yes," he answered. "Though I never cared much for motoring at night." + +She gave him a quick glance, but said no more, and they came almost +immediately to the back door. + +Ella opened it and entered, nodding to him to follow, and crossing a +narrow, stone-floored passage, she entered the kitchen where a tall +gaunt elderly woman in a black bonnet and a course apron was at work. + +"This is Dunn, Mrs. Barker," she called, raising her voice. "He is the +new gardener. Will you give him some breakfast, please?" She added to +Dunn: + +"When you've finished, you can go to the garage and wash the car, and +when you speak to Mrs. Barker you must shout. She is quite deaf, that is +why my stepfather engaged her, because he was sorry for her and wanted +to give her a chance, you know..." + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE PROBLEM + + +When he had finished his breakfast, and after he had had the wash of +which he certainly stood in considerable need, Dunn made his way to the +garage and there occupied himself cleaning the car. He noticed that the +mud with which it was liberally covered was of a light sandy sort, and +he discovered on one of the tyres a small shell. + +Apparently, therefore, last night's wild journey had been to the coast, +and it was a natural inference that the sea had provided a secure +hiding-place for the packing-case and its dreadful contents. + +But then that meant that there was no evidence left on which he could +take action. + +As he busied himself with his task, he tried to think out as clearly as +he could the position in which he found himself and to decide what he +ought to do next. + +To his quick and hasty nature the swiftest action was always the most +congenial, and had he followed his instinct, he would have lost no time +in denouncing Deede Dawson. But his cooler thoughts told him that he +dared not do that, since it would be to involve risks, not for himself, +but for others, that he simply dared not contemplate. + +He felt that the police, even if they credited his story, which he +also felt that very likely they would not do, could not act on his sole +evidence. + +And even if they did act and did arrest Deede Dawson, it was certain no +jury would convict on so strange a story, so entirely uncorroborated. + +The only result would be to strengthen Deede Dawson's position by the +warning, to show him his danger, and to give him the opportunity, if he +chose to use it, of disappearing and beginning again his plots and plans +after some fresh and perhaps more deadly fashion. + +"Whereas at present," he mused, "at any rate, I'm here and he doesn't +seem to suspect me, and I can watch and wait for a time, till I see my +way more clearly." + +And this decision he came to was a great relief to him, for he desired +very greatly to know more before he acted and in especial to find out +for certain what was Ella's position in all this. + +It was Deede Dawson's voice that broke in upon his meditations. + +"Ah, you're busy," he said. "That's right, I like to see a man working +hard. I've got some new things for you I think may fit fairly well, and +Mrs. Dawson is going to get one of the attics ready for you to sleep +in." + +"Very good, sir," said Dunn. + +He wondered which attic was to be assigned to him and if it would be +that one in which he had found his friend's body. He suspected, too, +that he was to be lodged in the house so that Deede Dawson might watch +him, and this pleased him, since it meant that he, in his turn, would be +able to watch Deede Dawson. + +Not that there appeared much to watch, for the days passed on and it +seemed a very harmless and quiet life that Deede Dawson lived with his +wife and stepdaughter. + +But for the memory, burned into Dunn's mind, of what he had seen that +night of his arrival, he would have been inclined to say that no more +harmless, gentle soul existed than Deede Dawson. + +But as it was, the man's very gentleness and smiling urbanity filled him +with a loathing that it was at times all he could do to control. + +The attic assigned to him to sleep in was that where he had made his +dreadful discovery, and he believed this had been done as a further test +of his ignorance, for he was sure Deede Dawson watched him closely to +see if the idea of being there was in any way repugnant to him. + +Indeed at another time he might have shrunk from the idea of sleeping +each night in the very room where his friend had been foully done +to death, but now he derived a certain grim satisfaction and a +strengthening of his nerves for the task that lay before him. + +Only a very few visitors came to Bittermeads, especially now that Mr. +John Clive, who had come often, was laid up. But one or two of the +people from the village came occasionally, and the vicar appeared two or +three times every week, ostensibly to play chess with Deede Dawson, +but in reality, Dunn thought, drawn there by Ella, who, however, seemed +quite unaware of the attraction she exercised over the good man. + +Dunn did not find that he was expected to do very much work, and in +fact, he was left a good deal to himself. + +Once or twice the car was taken out, and occasionally Deede Dawson +would come into the garden and chat with him idly for a few minutes on +indifferent subjects. When it was fine he would often bring out a little +travelling set of chessmen and board and proceed to amuse himself, +working out or composing problems. + +One day he called Dunn up to admire a problem he had just composed. + +"Pretty clever, eh?" he said, admiring his own work with much +complacence. "Quite an original idea of mine and I think the key move +will take some finding. What do you say? I suppose you do play chess?" + +"Only a very little," answered Dunn. + +"Try a game with me," said Deede Dawson, and won it easily, for in fact, +Dunn was by no means a strong player. + +His swift victory appeared to delight Deede Dawson immensely. + +"A very pretty mate I brought off there against you," he declared. "I've +not often seen a prettier. Now you try to solve that problem of mine, +it's easy enough once you hit on the key move." + +Dunn thought to himself that there were other and more important +problems which would soon be solved if only the key move could be +discovered. + +He said aloud that he would try what he could do, and Deede Dawson +promised him half a sovereign if he solved it within a week. + +"I mayn't manage it within a week," said Dunn. "I don't say I will. But +sooner or later I shall find it out." + +During all this time he had seen little of Ella, who appeared to come +very little into the garden and who, when she did so, avoided him in a +somewhat marked manner. + +Her mother, Mrs. Dawson, was a little faded woman, with timid eyes and +a frightened manner. Her health did not seem to be good, and Ella looked +after her very assiduously. That she went in deadly fear of her husband +was fairly evident, though he seemed to treat her always with great +consideration and kindness and even with a show of affection, to which +at times she responded and from which at other times she appeared to +shrink with inexplicable terror. + +"She doesn't know," Dunn said to himself. "But she suspects +--something." + +Ella, he still watched with the same care and secrecy, and sometimes he +seemed to see her walking amidst the flowers as an angel of sweetness +and laughing innocence; and sometimes he saw her, as it were, with +the shadow of death around her beauty, and behind her gentle eyes and +winning ways a great and horrible abyss. + +Of one thing he was certain--her mind was troubled and she was not at +ease; and it was plain, also, that she feared her smiling soft-spoken +stepfather. + +As the days passed, too, Dunn grew convinced that she was watching him +all the time, even when she seemed most indifferent, as closely and as +intently as he watched her. + +"All watching together," Dunn thought grimly. "It would be simple +enough, I suppose, if one could hit on the key move, but that I suppose +no one knows but Deede Dawson himself. One thing, he can't very well +be up to any fresh mischief while he's lounging about here like this. I +suppose he is simply waiting his time." + +As for the chess problem, that baffled him entirely. He said as much +to Deede Dawson, who was very pleased, but would not tell him what the +solution was. + +"No, no, find it out for yourself," he said, chuckling with a merriment +in which, for once his cold eyes seemed to take full share. + +"I'll go on trying," said Dunn, and it grew to be quite a custom between +them for Deede Dawson to ask him how he was getting on with the problem; +and for Dunn to reply that he was still searching for the key move. + +Several times little errands took Dunn into the village, where, +discreetly listening to the current gossip, he learned that Mr. John +Clive of Ramsdon Place had been injured in an attack made upon him by a +gang of ferocious poachers--at least a dozen in number--but was making +good progress towards recovery. + +Also, he found that Mr. John Clive's visits to Bittermeads had not gone +unremarked, or wholly uncriticized, since there was a vague feeling that +a Mr. Clive of Ramsdon Place ought to make a better match. + +"But a pretty face is all a young man thinks of," said the more +experienced; and on the whole, it seemed to be felt that the open +attention Clive paid to Ella was at least easily to be understood. + +Almost the first visit Clive paid, when he was allowed to venture out, +was to Bittermeads; and Dunn, returning one afternoon from an errand, +found him established on the lawn in the company of Ella, and looking +little the worse for his adventure. + +He and Ella seemed to be talking very animatedly, and Dunn took the +opportunity to busy himself with some gardening work not far away, so +that he could watch their behaviour. + +He told himself it was necessary he should know in what relation they +stood to each other, and as he heard them chatting and laughing together +with great apparent friendliness and enjoyment, he remembered with +considerable satisfaction how he had already broken one rib of Clive's, +and he wished very much for an opportunity to break another. + +For, without knowing why, he was beginning to conceive an intense +dislike for Clive; and, also, it did not seem to him quite good taste +for Ella to sit and chat and laugh with him so readily. + +"But we were told," he caught a stray remark of Ella's, "that it was a +gang of at least a dozen that attacked you." + +"No," answered Clive reluctantly. "No, I think there was only one. But +he had a grip like a bear." + +"He must have been very strong," remarked Ella thoughtfully. + +"I would give fifty pounds to meet him again, and have it out in the +light, when one could see what one was doing," declared Clive with great +vigour. + +"Oh, you would, would you?" muttered Dunn to himself. "Well, one of +these days I may claim that fifty." + +He looked round at Clive as he thought this, and Clive noticed him, and +said: + +"Is that a new man you've got there Miss Cayley? Doesn't he rather want +a shave? Where on earth did Mr. Dawson pick him up?" + +"Oh, he came here with the very best testimonials, and father engaged +him on the spot," answered Ella, touching her wrists thoughtfully. "He +certainly is not very handsome, but then that doesn't matter, does it?" + +She spoke more loudly than usual, and Dunn was certain she did so +in order that he might hear what she said. So he had no scruple in +lingering on pretence of being busy with a rose bush, and heard Clive +say: + +"Well, if he were one of my chaps, I should tell him to put the +lawn-mower over his own face." + +Ella laughed amusedly. + +"Oh, what an idea, Mr. Clive," she cried, and Dunn thought to himself: + +"Yes, one day I shall very certainly claim that fifty pounds." + + + +CHAPTER XII. AN AVOWAL + + +When Clive had gone that afternoon, Ella, who had accompanied him as far +as the gate, and had from thence waved him a farewell, came back to the +spot where Dunn was working. + +She stood still, watching him, and he looked up at her and then went +on with his work without speaking, for now, as always, the appalling +thought was perpetually in his mind: "Must she not have known what it +was she had with her in the car when she went driving that night?" + +After a little, she turned away, as if disappointed that he took no +notice of her presence. + +At once he raised himself from the task he had been bending over, and +stood moodily watching the slim, graceful figure, about which hung such +clouds of doubt and dread, and she, turning around suddenly, as if +she actually felt the impact of his gaze, saw him, and saw the strange +expression in his eyes. + +"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked quickly, her soft and +gentle tones a little shrill, as though swift fear had come upon her. + +"Like what?" he mumbled. + +"Oh, you know," she cried passionately. "Am I to be the next?" she +asked. + +He started, and looked at her wonderingly, asking himself if these words +of hers bore the grim meaning that his mind instantly gave them. + +Was it possible that if she did know something of what was going on in +this quiet country house, during these peaceful autumn days, she knew it +not as willing accomplice, but as a helpless, destined victim who saw no +way of escape. + +As if she feared she had said too much, she turned and began to walk +away. + +At once he followed. + +"Stop one moment," he exclaimed. "Miss Cayley." + +She obeyed, turning quickly to face him. They were both very pale, and +both were under the influence of strong excitement. But between +them there hung a thick cloud of doubt and dread that neither could +penetrate. + +All at once Dunn, unable to control himself longer, burst out with that +question which for so long had hovered on his lips. + +"Do you know," he said, "do you know what you took away with you in the +car that night I came here?" + +"The packing-case, you meant," she asked. "Of course I do; I helped to +get it ready--what's the matter?" + +"Nothing," he muttered, though indeed he had staggered as beneath some +sudden and violent blow. "Oh--did you?" he said, with an effort. + +"Certainly," she answered. "Now I've answered your question, will you +answer me one? Why did you tell us your name was Charley Wright?" + +"I knew a man of that name once," he answered. "He's dead now." + +"I thought perhaps," she said slowly and quite calmly, "that it was +because you had seen the name written on a photograph in my room." + +"No, it wasn't that," he answered gravely, and his doubts that for a +moment had seemed so terribly confirmed, now came back again, for though +she had said that she knew of the contents of the packing-case, yet, +if that were really so, how was it conceivable that she should speak of +such a thing so calmly? + +And yet again, if she could do it, perhaps also she could talk of it +without emotion. Once more there was fear in his eyes as he watched her, +and her own were troubled and doubtful. + +"Why do you have all that hair on your face?" she asked. + +"Well, why shouldn't I?" he retorted. "It saves trouble." + +"Does it?" she said. "Do you know what it looks like--like a disguise?" + +"A disguise?" he repeated. "Why should I want a disguise?" + +"Do you think I'm quite a fool because I'm a woman?" she asked +impatiently. "Do you suppose I couldn't see very well when you came that +night that you were not an ordinary burglar? You had some reason of your +own for breaking into this house. What was it?" + +"I'll tell you," he answered, "if you'll tell me truly what was in that +packing-case?" + +"Oh, now I understand," she cried excitedly. "It was to find that out +you came--and then Mr. Dawson made you help us get it away. That was +splendid." + +He did not speak, for once more a kind of horror held him dumb, as it +seemed to him that she really--knew. + +She saw the mingled horror and bewilderment in his eyes, and she laughed +lightly as though that amused her. + +"Do you know," she said, "I believe I guessed as much from the first, +but I'm afraid Mr. Dawson was too clever for you--as he is for most +people. Only then," she added, wrinkling her brows as though a new point +puzzled her, "why are you staying here like this?" + +"Can't you guess that too?" he asked hoarsely. + +"No," she said, shaking her head with a frankly puzzled air. "No, I +can't. That's puzzled me all the time. Do you know--I think you ought to +shave?" + +"Why?" + +"A beard makes a good disguise," she answered, "so good it's hardly fair +for you to have it when I can't." + +"Perhaps you need it less," he answered bitterly, "or perhaps no +disguise could be so effective as the one you have already." + +"What's that?" she asked. + +"Bright eyes, a pretty face, a clear complexion," he answered. + +He spoke with an extreme energy and bitterness that she did not in the +least understand, and that quite took away from the words any suspicion +of intentional rudeness. + +"If I have all that, I suppose it's natural and not a disguise," she +remarked. + +"My beard is natural too," he retorted. + +"All the same, I wish you would cut it off," she answered. "I should +like to see what you look like." + +She turned and walked away, and the more Dunn thought over this +conversation, the less he felt he understood it. + +What had she meant by that strange start and look she had given him +when she had asked if she were to be the next? And when she asserted so +confidently that she knew what was in the packing-case, was that true, +or was she speaking under some mistaken impression, or had she wished to +deceive him? + +The more he thought, the more disturbed he felt, and every hour that +passed he seemed to feel more and more strongly the influence of her +gracious beauty, the horror of his suspicions of her. + +The next day Clive came again, and again Ella seemed very pleased to see +him, and again Dunn, hanging about in their vicinity, watched gloomily +their friendly intercourse. + +That Clive was in love with Ella seemed fairly certain; at any rate, +he showed himself strongly attracted by her, and very eager for her +company. + +How she felt was more doubtful, though she made no concealment of the +fact that she liked to see him, and found pleasure in having him there. +Dunn, moving about near at hand, was aware of an odd impression that she +knew he was watching them, and that she wished him to do so for several +times he saw her glance in his direction. + +He could always move with a most extraordinary lightness of foot, so +that, big and clumsy as he seemed in build, he could easily go unheard +and even unseen, and John Clive seemed to have little idea that he +remained so persistently near at hand. + +This gift or power of Dunn's he had acquired in far-off lands, +where life may easily depend on the snapping of a twig or the right +interpretation of a trampled grass-blade, and he was using it now, +almost unconsciously, so as to make his presence near Ella and Clive as +unobtrusive as possible, when his keen eye caught sight of a bush, of +which leaves and branches were moving against the wind. + +For that he knew there could be but one explanation, and when he walked +round, so as to get behind this bush, he was not surprised to see Deede +Dawson crouching there, his eyes very intent and eager, his unsmiling +lips drawn back to show his white teeth in a threatening grin or snarl. + +Near by him was his little chess-board and men, and as Dunn came up +behind he looked round quickly and saw him. + +For a moment his eyes were deadly and his hand dropped to his +hip-pocket, where Dunn had reason to believe he carried a formidable +little automatic pistol. + +But almost at once his expression changed, and with a gesture he invited +Dunn to crouch down at his side. For a little they remained like this, +and then Deede Dawson moved cautiously away, signing to Dunn to follow +him. + +When they were at a safe distance he turned to Dunn and said + +"Is he serious, do you think, or is he playing with her? I'll make him +pay for it if he is." + +"How should I know?" answered Dunn, quite certain it was no such anxiety +as this that had set Deede Dawson watching them so carefully. + +Deede Dawson seemed to feel that the explanation he had offered was a +little crude, and he made no attempt to enlarge on it. + +With a complete change of manner, with his old smile on his lips and his +eyes as dark and unsmiling as ever, he said, + +"Pretty girl, Ella--isn't she?" + +"She is more than pretty, she is beautiful," Dunn answered with an +emphasis that made Deede Dawson look at him sharply. + +"Think so?" he said, and gave his peculiar laugh that had so little +mirth in it. "Well, you're right, she is. He'll be a lucky man that +gets her--and she's to be had, you know. But I'll tell you one thing, it +won't be John Clive." + +"I thought it rather looked," observed Dunn, "as if Miss Cayley might +mean--" + +Deede Dawson interrupted with a quick jerk of his head. + +"Never mind what she means, it'll be what I mean," he declared. "I am +boss; and what's more, she knows it. I believe in a man being master in +his own family. Don't you?" + +"If he can be," retorted Dunn. "But still, a girl naturally--" + +"Naturally nothing," Deede Dawson interrupted again. "I tell you what I +want for her, a man I can trust--trust--that's the great thing. Some one I +can trust." + +He nodded at Dunn as he said this and then walked off, and Dunn felt +very puzzled as he, too, turned away. + +"Was he offering her to me?" he asked himself. "It almost sounded like +it. If so, it must mean there's something he wants from me pretty bad. +She's beautiful enough to turn any man's head--but did she know about +poor Charlie's murder?--help in it, perhaps?--as she said she did with +the packing-case." + +He paused, and all his body was shaken by strong and fierce emotion. + +"God help me," he groaned. "I believe I would marry her tomorrow if I +could, innocent or guilty." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. INVISIBLE WRITING + + +It was the next day that there arrived by the morning post a letter for +Dunn. + +Deede Dawson raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw it; and he did not +hand it on until he had made himself master of its contents, though that +did not prove to be very enlightening or interesting. The note, in fact, +merely expressed gratification at the news that Dunn had secured steady +work, a somewhat weak hope that he would keep it, and a still fainter +hope that now perhaps he would be able to return the ten shillings +borrowed, apparently from the writer, at some time in the past. + +Mr. Deede Dawson, in spite of the jejune nature of the communication, +read it very carefully and indeed even went so far as to examine the +letter through a powerful magnifying-glass. + +But he made no discovery by the aid of that instrument, and he +neglected, for no man thinks of everything, to expose the letter to a +gentle heat, which was what Dunn did when, presently, he received it, +apparently unopened and with not the least sign to show that it had been +tampered with in any way whatever. + +Gradually, however, as Dunn held it to the fire, there appeared between +the lines fresh writing, which he read very eagerly, and which ran: + +"Jane Dunsmore, born 1830, married, against family wishes, John Clive +and had one son, John, killed early this year in a motor-car accident, +leaving one son, John, now of Ramsdon Place and third in line of +succession to the Wreste Abbey property." + +When he had read the message thus strangely and with such precaution +conveyed to him, Dunn burnt the letter and went that day about his work +in a very grave and thoughtful mood. + +"I knew it couldn't be a mere coincidence," he mused. "It wasn't +possible. I must manage to warn him, somehow; but, ten to one, he won't +believe a word, and I don't know that I blame him--I shouldn't in his +place. And he might go straight to Deede Dawson and ruin everything. I +don't know that it wouldn't be wiser and safer to say nothing for the +present, till I'm more sure of my ground--and then it may be too late." + +"Just possibly," he thought, "the job Deede Dawson clearly thinks he can +make me useful in may have something to do with Clive. If so, I may be +able to see my way more clearly." + +As it happened, Clive was away for a few days on some business he had to +attend to, so that for the present Dunn thought he could afford to wait. + +But during the week-end Clive returned, and on the Monday he came again +to Bittermeads. + +It was never very agreeable to Dunn to have to stand aloof while Clive +was laughing and chatting and drinking his tea with Ella and her mother, +and of those feelings of annoyance and vexation he made this time a +somewhat ostentatious show. + +That his manner of sulky anger and resentment did not go unnoticed by +Deede Dawson he was very sure, but nothing was said at the time. + +Next morning Deede Dawson called him while he was busy in the garage and +insisted on his trying to solve another chess problem. + +"I haven't managed the other yet," Dunn protested. "It's not too easy to +hit on these key-moves." + +"Never mind try this one," Deede Dawson said; and Ella, going out for a +morning stroll with her mother, saw them thus, poring together over the +travelling chess-board. + +"They seem busy, don't they?" she remarked. "Father is making quite a +friend of that man." + +"I don't like him," declared Mrs. Dawson, quite vigorously for her. "I'm +sure a man with such a lot of hair on his face can't be really nice, and +I thought he was inclined to be rude yesterday." + +"Yes," agreed Ella. "Yes, he was. I think Mr. Clive was a little vexed, +though he took no notice, I suppose he couldn't very well." + +"I don't like the man at all," Mrs. Dawson repeated. "All that hair, +too. Do you like him?" + +"I don't know," Ella answered, and after she and her mother had returned +from their walk she took occasion to find Dunn in the garden and ask him +some trifling question or another. + +"You are interested in chess?" she remarked, when he had answered her. + +"All problems are interesting till one finds the answer to them," he +replied. + +"There's one I know of," she retorted. "I wish you would solve for me." + +"Tell me what it is," he said quickly. "Will you?" + +She shook her head slightly, but she was watching him very intently from +her clear, candid eyes, and now, as always, her nearness to him, the +infinite appeal he found in her every look and movement, the very +fragrance of her hair, bore him away beyond all purpose and intention. + +"Tell me what it is," he said again. "Won't you? Miss Cayley, if you and +I were to trust each other--it's not difficult to see there's something +troubling you." + +"Most people have some trouble or another," she answered evasively. + +He came a little nearer to her, and instead of the gruff, harsh tones he +habitually used, his voice was singularly pleasant and low as he said: + +"People who are in trouble need help, Miss Cayley. Will you let me help +you?" + +"You can't," she answered, shaking her head. "No one could." + +"How can you tell that?" he asked eagerly. "Perhaps I know more already +than you think." + +"I daresay you do," she said slowly. "I have thought that a long time. +Will you tell me one thing?--Are you his friend or not?" + +There was no need for Dunn to ask to whom the pronoun she used referred. + +"I am so much not his friend," he answered as quietly and deliberately +as she had spoken. "That it's either his life or mine." + +At that she drew back in a startled way as though his words had gone +beyond her expectations. + +"How do I know I can trust you?" she said presently, half to herself, +half to him. + +"You can," he said, and it was as though he flung the whole of his +enigmatic and vivid personality into those two words. + +"You can," he said again. "Absolutely." + +"I must think," she muttered, pressing her hands to her head. "So much +depends--how can I trust you? Why should I--why?" + +"Because I'll trust you first," he answered with a touch of exultation +in his manner. "Listen to me and I'll tell you everything. And that +means I put my life in your hands. Well, that's nothing; I would do that +any time; but other people's lives will be in your power, too--yes, and +everything I'm here for, everything. Now listen." + +"Not now," she interrupted sharply. "He may be watching, listening--he +generally is." Again there was no need between them to specify to whom +the pronoun referred. "Will you meet me tonight near the sweet-pea +border--about nine?" + +She glided away as she spoke without waiting for him to answer, and as +soon as he was free from the magic of her presence, reaction came and he +was torn by a thousand doubts and fears and worse. + +"Why, I'm mad, mad," he groaned. "I've no right to tell what I said I +would, no right at all." + +And again there returned to him his vivid, dreadful memory of how she +had started on that midnight drive with her car so awfully laden. + +And again there returned to him his old appalling doubt: + +"Did she not know?" + +And though he would willingly have left his life in her hands, he knew +he had no right to put that of others there, and yet it seemed to him he +must keep the appointment and the promise he had made. + +About nine that evening, then, he made his way to the sweet-pea border, +though, as he went, he resolved that he would not tell her what he had +said he would. + +Because he trusted his own strength so little when he was with her, he +confirmed this resolution by an oath he swore to himself: and even that +he was not certain would be a sure protection against the witchery she +wielded. + +So it was with a mind doubtful and troubled more than it had ever been +since the beginning of these things that he came to the border where the +sweet-peas grew, and saw a dark shadow already close by them. + +But when he came a little nearer he saw that it was not Ella who was +there but Deede Dawson and his first thought was that she had betrayed +him. + +"That you, Dunn?" Deede Dawson hailed him in his usual pleasant, +friendly manner. + +"Yes," Dunn answered warily, keeping himself ready for any eventuality. + +Deede Dawson took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it and offered one +to Dunn, who refused it abruptly. + +Deede Dawson laughed at that in his peculiar, mirthless way. + +"Am I being the third that's proverbially no company?" he asked. "Were +you expecting to find some one else here? I thought I saw a white frock +vanish just as I came up." + +Dunn made no answer, and Deede Dawson continued after a pause + +"That's why I waited. You are being just a little bit rapid in this +affair, aren't you?" + +"I don't know why. You said something, didn't you?" muttered Dunn, +beginning to think that, after all, Deede Dawson's presence here was due +to accident--or rather to his unceasing and unfailing watchfulness, and +not to any treachery of Ella's. + +"Yes, I did, didn't I?" he agreed pleasantly. "But you are a working +gardener taken on out of charity to give you a chance and keep you +out of gaol, and you are looking a little high when you think of your +master's ward and daughter, aren't you?" + +"There was a time when I shouldn't have thought so," answered Dunn. + +"We're talking of the present, my good man," Deede Dawson said +impatiently. "If you want the girl you must win her. It can be done, but +it won't be easy." + +"Tell me how," said Dunn. + +"Oh, that's going too fast and too far," answered the other with his +mirthless laugh. "Now, there's Mr. John Clive--what about him?" + +"I'll answer for him," replied Dunn slowly and thickly. "I've put better +men than John Clive out of my way before today." + +"That's the way to talk," cried Deede Dawson. "Dunn, dare you play a big +game for big stakes?" + +"Try me," said Dunn. + +"If I showed you," Deede Dawson's voice sank to a whisper, "if I showed +you a pretty girl for a wife--a fortune to win--what would you say?" + +"Try me," said Dunn again, and then, making his voice as low and hoarse +as was Dunn's, he asked: + +"Is it Clive?" + +"Later--perhaps," answered Deede Dawson. "There's some one else--first. +Are you ready?" + +"Try me," said Dunn for the third time, and as he spoke his quick ear +caught the faint sound of a retreating footstep, and he told himself +that Ella must have lingered near and had perhaps heard all they said. + +"Try me," he said once more, speaking more loudly and clearly this time. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + + +Dunn went to his room that night with the feeling that a crisis was +approaching. And he wished very greatly that he knew how much Ella had +overheard of his talk with her stepfather, and what interpretation she +had put upon it. + +He determined that in the morning he would take the very first +opportunity he could find of speaking to her. + +But in the morning it appeared that Mrs. Dawson had had a bad night, and +was very unwell, and Ella hardly stirred from her side all day. + +Even when Clive called in the afternoon she would not come down, but +sent instead a message begging to be excused because of her mother's +indisposition, and Dunn, from a secure spot in the garden, watched the +young man retire, looking very disconsolate. + +This day, too, Dunn saw nothing of Deede Dawson, for that gentleman +immediately after breakfast disappeared without saying anything to +anybody, and by night had still not returned. + +Dunn therefore was left entirely to himself, and to him the day seemed +one of the longest he had ever spent. + +That Ella remained so persistently with her mother troubled him a good +deal, for he did not think such close seclusion on her part could be +really necessary. + +He was inclined to fear that Ella had overheard enough of what had +passed between him and Deede Dawson to rouse her mistrust, and that she +was therefore deliberately keeping out of his way. + +Then too, he was troubled in another fashion by Deede Dawson's absence, +for he was afraid it might mean that plans were being prepared, or +possibly action being taken, that might mature disastrously before he +himself was ready to act. + +All day this feeling of unrest and apprehension continued, and at +night when he went upstairs to bed it was stronger than ever. He felt +convinced now that Ella was deliberately avoiding him. But then, if +she distrusted him, that must be because she feared he was on her +stepfather's side, and if it seemed to her that who was on his side was +of necessity an object of suspicion to herself, then there could be no +such bond of dread and guilt between them as any guilty knowledge on her +part of Wright's death would involve. + +The substantial proof this exercise in logic appeared to afford of +Ella's innocence brought him much comfort, but did not lighten his sense +of apprehension and unrest, for he thought that in this situation in +which he found himself his doubts of Ella had merely been turned into +doubts on Ella's part of himself, and that the one was just as likely as +the other to end disastrously. + +"Though I don't know what I can do," he muttered as he stood in his +attic, "if I gain Deede Dawson's confidence I lose Ella's, and if I win +Ella's, Deede Dawson will at once suspect me." + +He went over to the window and looked out, supporting himself on his +elbows, and gazing moodily into the darkness. + +As he stood there a faint sound came softly to his ear through the +stillness of the quiet night in which nothing stirred. + +He listened, and heard it again. Beyond doubt some one was stirring in +the garden below, moving about there very cautiously and carefully, +and at once Dunn glided from the room and down the stairs with all that +extraordinary lightness of tread and agility of movement of which his +heavy body and clumsy-looking build gave so small promise. + +He had not been living so many days in the house without having taken +certain precautions, of which one had been to secure for himself a swift +and silent egress whenever necessity might arise. + +Keys to both the front and back doors were in his possession, and the +passage window on the ground floor he could at need lift bodily from +its frame, leaving ample room for passage either in or out. This was +the method of departure he chose now since he did not know but that the +doors might be watched. + +Lifting the window down, he swung himself outside, replacing behind him +the window so that it appeared to be as firmly in position as ever, but +could be removed again almost instantly should need arise. + +Once outside he listened again, and though at first everything was +quiet, presently he heard again a cautious step going to and fro at a +little distance. + +Crouching in the shadow of the house, he listened intently, and soon was +able to assure himself that there was but one footstep and that he would +have only one individual to deal with. + +"It won't be Deede Dawson's," he thought to himself, "but it may very +likely be some one waiting for him to return. I must find out who--and +why." + +Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he seemed +to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of them, he moved +quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps he had listened to. + +They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint +multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in the +woods and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men. + +A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept +forward a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would not +be safe to venture further till he was more sure of his direction, and +till some fresh sound to guide him reached his ears. + +He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he heard +something that surprised and perplexed him equally--a deep, long-drawn +sigh. + +Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this could be +who came into another person's garden late at night to stand and sigh, +and what such a proceeding could mean. + +Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after it +a low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but then +caught the name of Ella being whispered over and over again. + +He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out +something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow had +hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form so tall +and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to. + +"John Clive--what on earth--!" Dunn muttered, his bewilderment +increasing, and the next moment he understood and had some difficulty in +preventing himself from bursting out laughing as there reached him the +unmistakable sound of a kiss lightly blown through the air. + +Clive was sending a kiss through the night towards Ella's room and his +nocturnal visit was nothing more than the whim of a love-sick youth. + +With Dunn, his first amusement gave way almost at once to an extreme +annoyance. + +For, in the first place, these proceedings seemed to him exceedingly +impertinent, for what possible right did Clive imagine he had to come +playing the fool like this, sighing in the dark and blowing kisses like +a baby to its mammy? + +And secondly, unless he were greatly mistaken, John Clive might just as +sensibly and safely have dropped overboard from a ship in mid-Atlantic +for a swim as come to indulge his sentimentalities in the Bittermeads +garden at night. + +"You silly ass!" he said in a voice that was very low, but very distinct +and very full of an extreme disgust and anger. + +Clive fairly leaped in the air with his surprise, and turned and made a +sudden dash at the spot whence Dunn's voice had come, but where Dunn no +longer was. + +"What the blazes--?" he began, spluttering in ineffectual rage. +"You--you--!" + +"You silly ass!" Dunn repeated, no less emphatically than before. + +Clive made another rush that a somewhat prickly bush very effectually +stopped. + +"You--who are you--where--what--how dare you?" he gasped as he picked +himself up and tried to disentangle himself from the prickles. + +"Don't make such a row," said Dunn from a new direction. "Do you want +to raise the whole neighbourhood? Haven't you played the fool enough? +If you want to commit suicide, why can't you cut your throat quietly and +decently at home, instead of coming alone to the garden at Bittermeads +at night?" + +There was a note of sombre and intense conviction in his voice that +penetrated even the excited mind of the raging Clive. + +"What do you mean?" he asked, and then: + +"Who are you?" + +"Never mind who I am," answered Dunn. "And I mean just what I say. You +might as well commit suicide out of hand as come fooling about here +alone at night." + +"You're crazy, you're talking rubbish!" Clive exclaimed. + +"I'm neither crazy nor talking rubbish," answered Dunn. "But if you +persist in making such a row I shall take myself off and leave you to +see the thing through by yourself and get yourself knocked on the head +any way you like best." + +"Oh, I'm beginning to understand," said Clive. "I suppose you're one +of my poaching friends--are you? Look here, if you know who it was +who attacked me the other night you can earn fifty pounds any time you +like." + +"Your poaching friends, as you call them," answered Dunn, "are most +likely only anxious to keep out of your way. This has nothing to do with +them." + +"Well, come nearer and let me see you," Clive said. "You needn't be +afraid. You can't expect me to take any notice of some one I can't see, +talking rubbish in the dark." + +"I don't much care whether you take any notice or not," answered Dunn. +"You can go your own silly way if you like, it's nothing to me. I've +warned you, and if you care to listen I'll make my warning a little +clearer. And one thing I will tell you--one man already has left this +house hidden in a packing-case with a bullet through his brain, and I +will ask you a question: 'How did your father die?'" + +"He was killed in a motor-car accident," answered Clive hesitatingly, +as though not certain whether to continue this strange and puzzling +conversation or break it off. + +"There are many accidents," said Dunn. "And that may have been one, +for all I know, or it may not. Well, I've warned you. I had to do that. +You'll probably go on acting like a fool and believing that nowadays +murders don't happen, but if you're wise, you'll go home to bed and run +no more silly risks." + +"Of course I'm not going to pay the least attention," began Clive, when +Dunn interrupted him sharply. + +"Hush! hush!" he said sharply. "Crouch down: don't make a sound, don't +stir or move. Hush!" + +For Dunn's sharp ear had caught the sound of approaching footsteps that +were drawing quickly nearer, and almost instantly he guessed who it +would be, for there were few pedestrians who came along that lonely road +so late at night. + +There were two of them apparently, and at the gate of Bittermeads they +halted. + +"Well, good night," said then a voice both Dunn and Clive knew at once +for Deede Dawson's. "That was a pretty check by the knight I showed you, +wasn't it?" + +A thin, high, somewhat peculiar voice cursed Deede Dawson, chess, and +the pretty mate by the knight very comprehensively. + +"It's young Clive that worries me," said the voice when it had finished +these expressions of disapproval. + +"No need," answered Deede Dawson's voice with that strange mirthless +laugh of his. "No need at all; before the week's out he'll trouble no +one any more." + +When he heard this, Clive would have betrayed himself by some startled +movement or angry exclamation had not Dunn's heavy hand upon his +shoulder held him down with a grave and steady pressure there was no +disregarding. + +Deede Dawson and his unknown companion went on towards the house, and +admitted themselves, and as the door closed behind them Clive swung +round sharply in the darkness towards Dunn. + +"What's it mean?" he muttered in the bewildered and slightly-pathetic +voice of a child at once frightened and puzzled. "What for? Why should +any one--?" + +"It's a long story," began Dunn, and paused. + +He saw that the unexpected confirmation of his warning Clive had +thus received from Deede Dawson's own lips had rendered his task of +convincing Clive immensely more easy. + +What he had wished to say had now at least a certainty of being listened +to, a probability of being believed, and there was at any rate, he +supposed, no longer the danger he had before dreaded of Clive's going +straight with the whole story to Deede Dawson in arrogant disbelief of a +word of it. + +But he still distrusted Clive's discretion, and feared some rash and +hasty action that might ruin all his plans, and allow Deede Dawson time +to escape. + +Besides he felt that the immediate task before him was to find out who +Deede Dawson's new companion was, and, if possible, overhear anything +they might have to say to each other. + +That, and the discovery of the new-comer's identity, might prove to be +of the utmost importance. + +"I can't explain now," he said hurriedly. "I'll see you tomorrow +sometime. Don't do anything till you hear from me. Your life may depend +on it--and other people's lives that matter more." + +"Tell me who you are first," Clive said quickly, incautiously raising +his voice. "I can manage to take care of myself all right, I think, but +I want to know who you are." + +"H-ssh!" muttered Dunn. "Not so loud." + +"There was a fellow made an attack on me one night a little while ago," +Clive went on unheedingly. "You remind me of him somehow. I don't think +I trust you, my man. I think you had better come along to the police +with me." + +But Dunn's sharp ears had caught the sound of the house door opening +cautiously, and he guessed that Deede Dawson had taken the alarm and +was creeping out to see who invaded so late at night the privacy of his +garden. + +"Clear out quick! Quiet! If you want to go on living. I'll stop them +from following if I can. If you make the least noise you're done for." + +Most likely the man they had seen in his company would be with him, and +both of them would be armed. Neither Clive nor Dunn had a weapon, and +Dunn saw the danger of the position and took the only course available. + +"Go," he whispered fiercely into Clive's ear. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE SOUND OF A SHOT + + +He melted away into the darkness as he spoke, and through the night he +slipped, one shadow more amongst many, from tree to bush, from bush to +tree. Across a patch of open grass he crawled on his hands and knees; +and once lay flat on his face when against the skyline he saw a figure +he was sure was Deede Dawson's creep by a yard or two on his right hand. + +On his left another shadow showed, distinguishable in the night only +because it moved. + +In a moment both shadows were gone, secret and deadly in the dark, +and Dunn was very sure that Clive's life and his own both hung upon a +slender chance, for if either of them was discovered the leaping bullet +would do the rest. + +It would be safe and easy--suspected burglars in a garden at +midnight--nothing could be said. He lay very still with his face to the +dewy sod, and all the night seemed full to him of searching footsteps +and of a swift and murderous going to and fro. + +He heard distinctly from the road a sudden, muffled sound as Clive in +the darkness blunderingly missed his footing and fell upon one knee. + +"That's finished him," Dunn thought grimly, his ears straining for the +sharp pistol report that would tell Clive's tale was done, and then he +was aware of a cat, a favourite of Ella's and often petted by himself, +that was crouching near by under a tree, most likely much puzzled +and alarmed by this sudden irruption of hurrying men into its domain. +Instantly Dunn saw his chance, and seizing the animal, lifted it and +threw it in the direction where he guessed Deede Dawson to be. + +His guess was good and fortune served him well, for the tabby flying +caterwauling through the air alighted almost exactly in front of Deede +Dawson on top of a small bush. For a moment it hung there, quite unhurt, +but very frightened, and emitted a yell, then fled. + +In the quietness the tumult of its scrambling flight sounded +astonishingly loud, so that it sounded as through a miniature avalanche +had been let loose in the garden. + +"Only cats," Deede Dawson exclaimed disgustedly, and from behind, nearer +the house, Dunn called: + +"Who's there? What is it? What's the matter? Is it Mr. Dawson? Is +anything wrong?" + +"I think there is," said Deede Dawson softly. "I think, perhaps, there +is. What are you doing out here at this time of night, Charley Wright?" + +"I heard a noise and came down to see what it was," answered Dunn. +"There was a light in the breakfast-room, but I didn't see any one, and +the front door was open so I came out here. Is anything wrong?" + +"That's what I want to know," said Deede Dawson. "Come back to the house +with me. If any one is about, he can just take himself off." + +He spoke the last sentence loudly, and Dunn took it as a veiled +instruction to his companion to depart. + +He realized that if he had saved Clive he had done so at the cost of +missing the best opportunity that had yet come his way of obtaining very +important, and, perhaps, decisive information. + +To have discovered the identity of this stranger who had come visiting +Deede Dawson might have meant much, and he told himself angrily that +Clive's safety had certainly not been worth purchasing at the cost of +such a lost chance, though he supposed that was a point on which Clive +himself might possibly entertain a different opinion. + +But now there was nothing for it but to go quietly back to the house, +for clearly Deede Dawson's suspicions were aroused and he had his +revolver ready in his hand. + +"I suppose it was only cats all the time," he observed, with apparent +unconcern. "But at first I made sure there were no burglars in the +house." + +"And I suppose," suggested Deede Dawson. "You think one burglar's enough +in a household." + +"I don't mean to have any one else mucking around," growled Dunn in +answer. + +"Very admirable sentiments," said Deede Dawson and asked several more +questions that showed he still entertained some suspicion of Dunn, and +was not altogether satisfied that his appearance in the garden was quite +innocent, or that the noise heard there was due solely to cats. + +Dunn answered as best he could, and Deede Dawson listened and smiled, +and smiled again, and watched him from eyes that did not smile at all. + +"Oh, well," Deede Dawson said at last, with a yawn. "Anyhow, it's all +right now. You had better get along back to bed, and I'll lock up." He +accompanied Dunn into the hall and watched him ascend the stairs, and +as Dunn went slowly up them he felt by no means sure that soon a bullet +would not come questing after him, searching for heart or brain. + +For he was sure that Deede Dawson still suspected him, and he knew Deede +Dawson to be very sudden and swift in action. But nothing happened, he +reached the broad, first landing in safety, and he was about to go on up +to his attic when he beard a door at the end of the passage open and saw +Ella appear in her dressing-gown. + +"What is the matter?" she asked, in a low voice. + +"It's all right," he answered. "There was a noise in the garden, and I +came down to see what it was, but it's only cats." + +"Oh, is that all?" she said distrustfully. + +"Yes," he answered, in a lower voice still, he said: + +"Will you tell me something? Do you know any one who talks in a very +peculiar shrill high voice?" + +She did not answer, and, after a moment's hesitation, went back into her +room and closed the door behind her. + +He went on up to his attic with the feeling that she could have answered +if she had wished to, and lay down in a troubled and dispirited mood. + +For he was sure now that Ella mistrusted him and would give him +no assistance, and that weighed upon him greatly, as did also his +conviction that what it behoved him above all else to know--the identity +of the man who, in this affair, stood behind Deede Dawson and made use +of his fierce and fatal energies--he had had it in his power to discover +and had failed to make use of the opportunity. + +"I would rather know that," he said to himself, "than save a dozen +Clives ten times over." Though again it occurred to him that on this +point Clive might hold another opinion. "If he hadn't made such a +blundering row I might have got to know who Deede Dawson's visitor was. +I must try to get a word with Clive tomorrow by hook or crook, though I +daresay Deede Dawson will be very much on the lookout." + +However, next morning Deede Dawson not only made no reference to the +events of the night, but had out the car and went off immediately after +breakfast without saying when he would be back. + +As soon after his departure as possible, Dunn also set out and took +his way through the woods towards Ramsdon Place on the look-out for an +opportunity to speak to Clive unobserved. + +He thought it most likely that Clive would be drawn towards the vicinity +of Bittermeads by the double fascination of curiosity and fear, and he +supposed that if he waited and watched in the woods he would be sure +presently to see him. + +But though he remained for long hidden at a spot whence he could command +the road to Bittermeads from Ramsdon Place, he saw nothing at all of +Clive, and the sunny lazy morning was well advanced when he was startled +by the sound of a gun shot some distance away. + +"A keeper shooting rabbits, I suppose," he thought, looking round just +in time to see Ella running through the wood from the direction whence +the sound of the shot had seemed to come, and then vanish again with a +quick look behind her into the heart of a close-growing spinney. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. IN THE WOOD + + +There had been an air of haste, almost of furtiveness, about this swift +appearance and more swift vanishing of Ella, that made Dunn ask himself +uneasily what errand she could have been on. + +He hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see her return again, +or that there would be some other development, but he heard and saw +nothing. + +He caught no further glimpse of Ella, whom the green depths of the +spinney hid well; and he heard no more shots. + +After a little, he left the spot where he had been waiting and went +across to where he had seen her. + +The exact spot where she had entered the spinney was marked, for she +had broken the branch of a young tree in brushing quickly by it, and a +bramble she had trodden on had not yet lifted itself from the earth to +which she had pressed it. + +By other signs like these, plain enough and easy to read--for she had +hurried on in great haste and without care, almost, indeed, as one who +fled from some great danger or from some dreadful sight, and who had no +thought to spare save for flight alone--he followed the way she had gone +till it took him to a beaten public path that almost at once led over a +stile to the high road which passed in front of Bittermeads. Along this +beaten path, trodden by many, Ella's light foot had left no perceptible +mark, and Dunn made no attempt to track her further, since it seemed +certain that she had been simply hurrying back home. + +"She was badly frightened over something or another," he said to +himself. "She never stopped once, she went as straight and quick as she +could. I wonder what upset her like that?" + +He went back the way he had come, and at the spot where he had seen her +enter the spinney he set to work to pick up her trail in the direction +whence she had appeared, for he thought that if he followed it he might +find out what had been the cause of her evident alarm. + +The ground was much more open here, and the trail correspondingly more +difficult to follow, for often there was little but a trodden blade of +grass to show where she had passed; and sometimes, where the ground was +bare and hard, there was no visible sign left at all. + +Once or twice at such places he was totally at fault, but by casting +round in a wide circle like a dog scenting his prey he was able to pick +up her tracks again. + +They seemed to lead right into the depths of the wood, through lonely +spots that only the keepers knew, and where others seldom came. + +But that he was on the right trail he presently had proof, for on +the bank of a lovely and hidden dell he picked up a tiny embroidered +handkerchief with the initials "E. C." worked in one corner. + +It had evidently been lying there only a very short time, for it was +perfectly clean and fresh, and he picked it up and held it for a moment +in his hands, smiling to himself with pleasure at its daintiness and +smallness, and yet still uneasily wondering why she had come here, and +why she had fled away again so quickly. + +The morning was very fine and calm, though in the west heavy clouds were +gathering and seemed to promise rain soon. But overhead the sun shone +brightly, the air was calm and warm, and the little dell on whose verge +he stood a very pretty and pleasant place. + +A small stream wandered through it, the grass that carpeted it was +green and soft, near by a great oak stood alone and spread its majestic +branches far out on every side to give cool shelter from the summer +heat. + +The thought occurred to Dunn that this was just such a pretty and +secluded spot as two lovers might choose to exchange their vows in, and +the thought stung him intolerably as he wondered whether it was for such +a reason that Ella had come here. + +But if so, why had she fled away again in such strange haste? + +He walked on slowly for a yard or two, not now attempting to follow +Ella's trail, for he had the impression that this was her destination, +and that she had gone no further than here. + +All at once he caught sight of the form of a man lying hidden in +the long grass that nearly covered him from view just where the +far-spreading branches of the great oak ceased to give their shade. + +At first Dunn thought he was sleeping, and he was just about to call +out to him when something in the rigidity of the man's position and his +utter stillness struck him unpleasantly. + +He went quickly to the man's side, and the face of dead John Clive, +supine and still, stared up at him from unseeing eyes. + +He had been killed by a charge of small shot fired at such close +quarters that his breast was shot nearly in two and his clothing and +flesh charred by the burning powder. + +But Dunn, standing staring down at the dead man, saw not him, but Ella. +Ella fleeing away silently and furtively through the trees as from some +sight or scene of guilt and terror. + +He stooped closer over the dead man. Death had been instantaneous. Of +course there could be no doubt. From one hand a piece of folded paper +had fallen. + +Dunn picked it up, and saw that there was writing on it, and he read it +over slowly. + + "Dear Mr. Clive,--Can you meet me as before by the oak + tomorrow at eleven? There is something I very much want to + say to you.--Yours sincerely, + "ELLA CAYLEY." + + +Was that, then, the lure which had brought John Clive to meet his +death? Was this the bait that had made him disregard the warnings he had +received, and come alone to so quiet and solitary a spot? + +Dunn had a moment of quick envy of him; he lay so quiet and still in +the warm sunshine, with nothing to trouble or distress him any more for +ever. + +Then, stumblingly and heavily, Dunn turned an went away, and his eyes +were very hard, his bearded face set like iron. + +Like a man in a dream, or one obsessed by some purpose before which all +other things faded into nothingness, he went his way, the way Ella had +taken in her flight--through the wood, through the spinney to the public +foot-path, and then out on the road that led to Bittermeads. + +When he entered the garden there, he saw Ella sitting quietly on a +deck-chair close to her mother, quietly busy with some fancy work. + +He could not believe it; he stood watching in bewilderment, appalled and +wondering, watching her white hands flashing busily to and fro, hearing +the soft murmur of her voice as now and then she addressed some remark +to her mother, who nodded drowsily in the sunshine over a book open on +her knees. + +Ella was dressed all in white; she had flung aside her hat, and the +quiet breeze played in her fair hair, and stirred gently a stray curl +that had escaped across her broad low brow. + +The picture was one of gentleness and peace and an innocence that +thought no wrong, and yet with his own eyes he had seen her not an hour +ago fleeing with hurried steps and fearful looks from the spot where lay +a murdered man. + +Somewhat unsteadily, for he felt so little master of himself, it was +as though he had no longer even control of his own limbs, Dunn stumbled +forward, and Ella looked up and saw him, and saw also that he was +looking at her very strangely. + +She rose and came towards him, her needlework still in her hands. + +"What is the matter?" she said in a voice of some concern. "Are you +ill?" + +"No," he answered. "No. I've been looking for Mr. Clive." + +"Have you?" she said, a little surprised apparently, but in no way +flustered or disturbed. "Did you find him?" + +Dunn did not answer, for indeed he could not, and she said again: + +"Did you find him?" + +Still he made no answer, for it seemed to him those four words were +the most awful that any one had ever uttered since the beginning of the +world. + +"What is the matter?" she said again. "Is anything the matter?" + +"Oh, no, no," he said, and he gave himself a little shake like a man +wakening from deep sleep and trying to remember where he was. + +"Well, then," she said. + +"I found Mr. Clive," he said hardly and abruptly. And he repeated again: +"Yes, I found him." + +They remained standing close together and facing each other, and he saw +her as through a veil of red, and it was as though a red mist enveloped +her, and where her shadow lay the earth was red, he thought, and where +she put her foot it seemed to him red tracks remained, and never before +had he understood how utterly he loved her and must love her, now and +for evermore. + +But he uttered no sound and made no movement, only stood very still, +thinking to himself how dreadful it was that he loved her so greatly. + +She was not paying him, any attention now. A rose bush was near by, and +she picked one of the flowers, and arranged it carefully at her waist. + +She said, still looking at him: + +"Do you know--I wish you would shave yourself?" + +"Why?" he mumbled. + +"I should like to see you," she answered. "I think I have a curiosity to +see you." + +"I should think you could do that well enough," he said in the same low, +mumbled tones. + +"No," she answered. "I can only see some very untidy hair and a pair of +eyes--not very nice eyes, rather frightening eyes. I should like to see +the rest of your face some day so as to know what it's like." + +"Perhaps you shall--some day," he said. + +"Is that a threat?" she asked. "It sounded like one." + +"Perhaps," he answered. + +She laughed lightly and turned away. + +"You make me very curious," she said. "But then, you've always done +that." + +She went back to her seat by her mother, and he walked on moodily to the +house. + +Mrs. Dawson said to Ella: + +"How can you talk to that man, my dear? I think he looks perfectly +dreadful--hardly like a human being." + +"I was just telling him he ought to shave himself," said Ella. "I told +him I should like to know what he was really like." + +"I shall ask father," said Mrs. Dawson sternly, "to make it a condition +of his employment here." + + + +CHAPTER XVII. A DECLARATION + + +Dunn knew very well that he ought to give immediate information to the +authorities of what had happened. + +But he did not. He told himself that nothing could help poor John +Clive, and that any precipitate action on his part might still fatally +compromise his plans, which were now so near completion. + +But his real reason was that he knew that if he came forward he would be +very closely questioned, and sooner or later forced to tell the things +he knew so terribly involving Ella. + +And he knew that to surrender her to the police and proclaim her to the +world as guilty of such things were tasks beyond his strength; though, +to himself, with a touch of wildness in his thoughts, he said that +no proved and certain guilt should go unpunished even though his own +hand--It was a train of ideas he did not pursue. + +"Charley Wright first and now John Clive," he said to himself. "But the +end is not yet." + +Again he would not let his thoughts go on but checked them abruptly. + +In this dark and troubled mood he went out to busy himself with the +garden, and all the time he worked he watched with a sort of vertigo of +horror where Ella sat in the sunshine by her mother's side, her white +hands moving nimbly to and fro upon her needlework. + +It was not long, however, before the tragedy of the wood was discovered, +for Clive had been seen to go in that direction, and when he did not +return a search was made that was soon successful. + +The news was brought to Bittermeads towards evening by a tradesman's +boy, who came up from the village to bring something that had been +ordered from there. + +"Have you heard?" he said to Dunn excitedly. "Mr. Clive's been shot dead +by poachers." + +"Oh--by poachers?" repeated Dunn. + +"Yes, poachers," the boy answered, and went on excitedly to tell his +tale with many, and generally very inaccurate, details. + +But that the crime had been discovered and instantly set down to +poachers was at least certain, and Dunn realized at once that the +adoption of this simple and apparently plausible theory would put an end +to all really careful investigation of the circumstances and make the +discovery of the truth highly improbable. + +For the idea that the murder was the work of poachers would, when once +adopted, fill the minds of the police and of every one else, and no +suspicion would be directed elsewhere. + +By the tremendous relief he felt, Dunn understood how heavy had been the +burden of fear and apprehension that till now had oppressed him. + +If he had not found that handkerchief--if he had not secured that +letter--why, by now the police would be at Bittermeads. + +"All the same," he thought. "No one who is guilty shall escape through +me." + +But what this phrase meant, and what he intended to do, he would not +permit himself to think out clearly or try to understand. + +The boy, having told his story, hurried off to spread the news elsewhere +to more appreciative ears, for, he thought disgustedly, it might +have been just nothing at all for all the interest the gardener at +Bittermeads had shown. + +As soon as he was gone, Dunn went across to the house, and going up to +the window of the drawing-room where Ella and her mother were having +tea, he tapped on the pane. + +Ella looked up and saw him, and came at once to open the window, while +from behind Mrs. Dawson frowned in severe disapproval of what she +considered a great liberty. + +"Mr. Clive has been shot," Dunn said abruptly. "They say poachers did +it. He was killed instantly." + +Ella did not seem at first to understand. She looked puzzled and +bewildered, and did not seem to grasp the full import of his words. + +"What--what do you say?" she asked. "Mr. Clive--Who's killed?" + +Dunn thought to himself that her acting was the most wonderful thing he +had ever seen. + +It was extraordinary that she should be able to make that grey pallor +come over her cheeks as though the meaning of what he said were only now +entering her mind; wonderful that she should be able so well to give the +idea of a great horror and a great doubt coming slowly into her startled +eyes. + +"Mr. Clive?" she said again. + +"Yes, he's been killed," Dunn said. "By poachers, apparently." + +"What is that? What is that man saying?" shrilled Mrs. Dawson from +behind. "Mr. Clive--John--why, he was here yesterday." + +Dunn turned his back and walked away. He heard Ella call after him, but +he would not look back because he feared what he might do if he obeyed +her call. + +With an odd buzzing in his ears, with the blood throbbing through his +brain as though something must soon break there, he walked blindly on, +and as he came to the gate of Bittermeads he saw a motor-car coming up +the road. + +It was Deede Dawson's car, and he was driving it, and by his side sat a +sulkily-smiling stranger, his air that of one not sure of his welcome, +but determined to enforce it, in whom, with a quick start, Dunn +recognized his burglar, the man whose attempt to break into Bittermeads +he had frustrated, and whose place he had taken. + +He put up his hand instinctively for them to stop, and Deede Dawson at +once obeyed the gesture. + +Dunn noticed that the smile upon his lips was more gentle and winning +than ever, the look in his eyes more dark and menacing. + +"Well, Dunn, what is it?" he said as pleasantly as he always spoke. "Mr. +Allen," he added to his companion, "this is my man, Dunn, I told +you about, my gardener and chauffeur, and a very industrious steady +fellow--and quite trustworthy." + +He seemed to lay a certain emphasis on the last two words, and Allen +put his head on one side and looked at Dunn with an odd, mixture of +familiarity, suspicion, hesitation, and an uncertain assumption of +superiority, but with no hint of recognition showing. + +"Glad to hear it," he said. "You always want to know whom you can +trust." + +"Mr. Clive has been murdered," Dunn said abruptly. "Poachers, it is +said. Did you know?" + +"We heard about it as we came through the village," answered Deede +Dawson. "Very sad, very dreadful. It will be a great shock to poor Ella, +I fear. Take the car on to the garage, will you?" he added. + +He drove on up the drive, and at the front door they alighted and +entered the house together. Dunn followed, and getting into the car, +drove it to the garage, where he busied himself cleaning it. As he +worked he wondered very much what was the meaning of this sudden +appearance on terms of friendship with Deede Dawson of this man Allen, +whom he had last seen trying to break into the house at night. + +Was Allen an accomplice of Deede Dawson, or a dupe, or, more probably, a +new recruit? + +At any rate, to Dunn it seemed that the crisis he had expected and +prepared for was now fast approaching, and he told himself that if he +had failed in Clive's case, those others he was working for he must not +fail to save. + +"Looks as if Dawson's plans were nearly ready," he said to himself. +"Well, so are mine." + +He finished his work and shutting the garage door, he was turning away +when he saw Ella coming towards him. + +She was extremely pale, and her eyes seemed larger than ever, and very +bright against the deathly whiteness of her cheeks. + +She was wearing a blouse that was cut a little low, and he notice with a +kind of terror how soft and round was her throat, like a column of pale +and perfect ivory. + +He hoped she would not speak to him, for he thought perhaps he could not +bear it if she did, but she halted near by, and said: + +"This is very dreadful about poor Mr. Clive." + +"Very," he answered moodily. + +"Why should poachers kill him?" she asked. "Why should they want to?" + +"I don't know," he answered, watching not her but her soft throat, where +he could see a pulse fluttering. "Perhaps it wasn't poachers," he added. + +She started violently, and gave a quick look that seemed to make yet +more certain the certainty he already entertained. + +"Who else could it be?" she asked in a low voice. + +He did not answer. + +After what seemed a long time she said: + +"You asked me a question once--do you remember?" + +He shook his head. + +"Why don't you speak? Why can't you speak?" she cried angrily. "Why +can't you say something instead of just shaking your head?" + +"You see, I've asked you so many questions," he said slowly. "Perhaps I +shall ask you some more some day--which question do you mean?" + +"I mean when you asked me if I had ever met any one who spoke in a very +shrill, high whistling sort of voice? Do you remember?" + +"Yes," he said. "You wouldn't tell me." + +"Well, I will now," she said. "I did meet a man once with a voice like +that. Do you remember the night you, came here that I drove away in the +car with a packing-case you carried downstairs?" + +"Do I--remember?" he gasped, for that memory, and the thought of how she +had driven away into the night with, that grisly thing behind her on the +car had never since left his mind by night or by day. + +"Yes," she exclaimed impatiently. "Why do you keep staring so? Are you +as stupid as you choose to look? Do you remember?" + +"I remember," he answered heavily. "I remember very well." + +"Well, then, the man I took that packing-case to had a voice just like +that--high and shrill, whistling almost." + +"I thought as much," said Dunn. "May I ask you another question?" + +She nodded. + +"May I smoke?" + +She nodded again with a touch of impatience. + +He took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth and lighted +a match, but the match, when he had lighted it, he used to put light to +a scrap of folded paper with writing on it, like a note. + +This piece of paper he used to light his cigarette with and when he +had done so he watched the paper burn to an ash, not dropping it to the +ground till the little flame stung his fingers. + +The ash that had fallen he ground into the path where they stood with +the heel of his boot. + +"What have you burned there?" she asked, as if she suspected it was +something of importance he had destroyed. + +In fact it was the note that had fallen from dead John Clive's hand +wherein Ella had asked him to meet her at the oak where he had met his +death. + +That bit of paper would have been enough, Dunn thought, to place a harsh +hempen noose about the soft white throat he watched where the little +pulse still fluttered up and down. But now it was burnt and utterly +destroyed, and no one would ever see it. + +At the thought he laughed and she drew back, very startled. + +"Oh, what is the matter?" she exclaimed. + +"Nothing," he answered. "Nothing in all the world except that I love +you." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + + +When he had said this he went a step or two aside and sat down on the +stump of a tree. He was very agitated and disturbed for he had not in +the very least meant to say such a thing, he had not even known that he +really felt like that. + +It was, indeed, a rush and power of quite unexpected passion that had +swept him away and made him for the moment lose all control of himself. +Ella showed much more composure. She had become extraordinarily pale, +but otherwise she did not appear in any way agitated. + +She remained silent, her eyes bent on the ground, her only movement a +gesture by which she rubbed softly and in turn each of her wrists as +though they hurt her. + +"Well, can't you say something?" he asked roughly, annoyed by her +persistent silence. + +"I don't see that there's anything for me to say," she answered. + +"Oh, well now then," he muttered; quite disconcerted. + +She raised her eyes from the ground, and for the first time looked full +at him, in her expression both curiosity and resentment. + +"It is perfectly intolerable," she said with a heaving breast. "Will you +tell me who you are?" + +"I've told you one thing," he answered sullenly, his eyes on fire. "I +should have thought that was enough. I'll tell you nothing more." + +"I think you are the most horrid man I ever met," she cried. "And the +very, very ugliest--all that hair on your face so that no one can see +anything else. What are you like when you cut it off?" + +"Does that matter?" he asked, in the same gruff and surly manner. + +"I should think it matters a good deal when I ask you," she exclaimed. +"Do you expect any one to care for a man she has never seen--nothing +but hair. You hurt my wrists awfully that night," she added resentfully. +"And you've never even hinted you're sorry." + +His reply was unexpected and it disconcerted her greatly and for the +first time, for he caught both her wrists in his hands and kissed them +passionately where the cords had been. + +"You mustn't do that, please don't do that," she said quickly, trying to +release herself. + +Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm around +her and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and powerful she +could not have resisted it though she had wished to. + +But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she had +lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of his +bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong arms +holding her so firmly. + +He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort he did +not oppose, and she fled away down the path. + +She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that would +make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly to secure it. +She never looked back to where he stood, breathing heavily and looking +after her and thinking not of her, but of two dead men whom he had seen +of late. + +"Shall I make the third?" he wondered. "I do not care if I do, not I." + +The path Ella had fled by led into another along which when she reached +it she saw Deede Dawson coming. + +She stopped at once and began to busy herself with a flower-bed overrun +with weeds, but she could not entirely conceal her agitation from her +stepfather's cold grey eyes. + +"Oh, there you are, Ella," he said, with all that false geniality of +his that filled the girl with such loathing and distrust. "Have you seen +Dunn? Oh, there he is, isn't he? I wanted to ask you, Ella, what do you +think of Dunn?" + +She glanced over her shoulder towards where Dunn stood, and she managed +to answer with a passable air of indifference. + +"Well, I suppose," she said, "that he is quite the ugliest man I ever +saw. Of course, if he cut all of that hair off--" + +Deede Dawson laughed though his eyes remained as hard and cold as ever. + +"I shall have to give him orders to shave," he said. "Your mother was +telling me I ought to the other day, she said it didn't look respectable +to have a man about with all that hair on his face. Though I don't see +myself why hair isn't respectable, do you?" + +"It looks odd," answered Ella carelessly. + +Deede Dawson laughed again, and walked on to where Dunn was standing +waiting for him. With his perpetual smile that his cold and evil eyes so +strangely contradicted, he said to him: + +"Well, what have you and Ella been talking about?" + +"Why do you ask?" growled Dunn. + +"Because she looks upset," answered Deede Dawson. "Oh, don't be shy +about it. Shall I give you a little good advice?" + +"What?" + +"Never shave." + +"Why not?" + +"Because that thick growth of hair hiding your face gives you an air of +mystery and romance no woman could possibly resist. You're a perpetual +puzzle, and to pique a woman's curiosity is the surest way to interest +her. Why, there are plenty of women who would marry you simply to find +out what is under all that hair. So never you shave." + +"I don't mean to." + +"Unless, of course, you have to--for purposes of disguise, for example." + +"I thought you were hinting that the beard itself was a disguise," +retorted Dunn. + +"Removing it might become a better one," answered Deede Dawson. "You +told me once you knew this part fairly well. Do you know Wreste Abbey?" + +Dunn gave his questioner a scowling look that seemed full of anger and +suspicion. + +"What about it if I do?" he asked. + +"I am asking if you do know it," said Deede Dawson. + +"Yes, I do. Well?" + +"It belongs to Lord Chobham, doesn't it?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"Old man, isn't he?" + +"I'm not a book of reference about Lord Chobham," answered Dunn. "If +you want to know his age, you can easily find out, I suppose. What's the +sense of asking me a lot of questions like that?" + +"He has no family, and his heir is his younger brother, General +Dunsmore, who has one son, Rupert, I believe. Do you know if that's so?" + +"Look here," said Dunn, speaking with a great appearance of anger. +"Don't you go too far, or maybe something you won't like will happen. If +you've anything to say, say it straight out. Or there'll be trouble." + +Deede Dawson seemed a little surprised at the vehemence of the other's +tone. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. "Don't you like the family, or what's +upsetting you?" + +Dunn seemed almost choking with fury. He half-lifted one hand and let it +fall again. + +"If ever I get hold of that young Rupert Dunsmore," he said with a +little gasp for breath. "If ever I come face to face with him--man to +man--" + +"Dear me!" smiled Deede Dawson, lifting his eyebrows. "I'm treading on +sore toes, it seems. What's the trouble between you?" + +"Never you mind," replied Dunn roughly. "That's my business. But no man +ever had a worse enemy than he's been to me." + +"Has he, though?" said Deede Dawson, who seemed very interested and even +a little excited. "What did he do?" + +"Never you mind," Dunn repeated. "That's my affair, but I swore I'd get +even with him some day and I will, too." + +"Suppose," said Deede Dawson. "Suppose I showed you a way?" + +Dunn did not answer at first, and for some moments the two men stood +watching each other and staring into each other's eyes as though each +was trying to read the depths of the other's soul. + +"Suppose," said Deede Dawson very softly. "Suppose you were to meet +Rupert Dunsmore--alone--quite alone?" + +Still Dunn did not answer, but somehow it appeared that his silence was +full of a very deadly significance. + +"Suppose you did--what would you do?" murmured Deede Dawson again, +and his voice sank lower with each word he uttered till the last was a +scarce-audible whisper. + +Dunn stopped and picked up a hoe that was lying near by. He placed the +tough ash handle across his knee, and with a movement of his powerful +hands, he broke the hoe across. + +The two smashed pieces he dropped on the ground, and looking at Deede +Dawson, he said: + +"Like that--if ever Rupert Dunsmore and I meet alone, only one of us +will go away alive." And he confirmed it with an oath. + +Deede Dawson clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed. + +"Good!" he cried. "Why, you're the man I've been looking for for a long +time. The fact is, Rupert Dunsmore played me a nasty trick once, and I +want to clear accounts with him. Now, suppose I show him to you--?" + +"You do that," said Dunn, and he repeated the oath he had sworn before. +"You show him to me, and I'll take care he never troubles any one +again." + +"That's the way I like to hear a man talk," cried Deede Dawson. +"Dunsmore has been away for a time on business I can make a guess at, +but he is coming back soon. Should you know him if you saw him?" + +"Should I know him?" repeated Dunn contemptuously. "Should I know +myself?" + +"That's good," said Deede Dawson again. "By the way, perhaps you can +tell me, hasn't Lord Chobham a rather distant cousin, Walter Dunsmore, +living with him as secretary or something of the sort--quite a distant +relative, I believe, though in the direct line of succession?" + +"Very likely," said Dunn indifferently. "I think so, but I don't care +anything about the rest of them. It's only Rupert Dunsmore I have +anything against." + + + +CHAPTER XIX. THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + + +It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject of +Wreste Abbey. + +"Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery and +so on, hasn't he?" he asked. + +"Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there," Dunn answered. "Why?" + +"Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly profitable," Deede +Dawson said carelessly, for the first time definitely throwing off his +mask of law-abiding citizen under which he lived at Bittermeads. + +"It would be a risky job," answered Dunn, showing no surprise at the +suggestion. "The stuff's well guarded, and then, that's not what I'm +thinking about--it's meeting Rupert Dunsmore, man to man, and no one to +come between us. If that ever happens--" + +Deede Dawson nodded reassuringly. + +"That'll be all right," he said. "So you shall, I promise you that. +But we might as well kill two birds with one stone and clear a bit of +profit, too. I've got to live, like any one else, and I haven't five +thousand a year of my own, so I get my living out of those who have, and +I don't see who has any right to blame me. Mind, if there was any money +in chess, I should be a millionaire, but there isn't, and if a man can +make a fortune on the Stock Exchange, which takes no more thought +or skill than auction-bridge, why shouldn't I make a bit when I can? +There's the 'D. D.' gambit I've invented, people will be studying and +playing for centuries, but it'll never bring me a penny for all the +brain-work I put into it, and so I've got to protect myself, haven't I?" + +"It's what I do with less talk about it," answered Dunn contemptuously. +"Why, I've guessed all that from the first when you weren't so all-fired +keen on seeing me in gaol, as most of your honest, hard-working lot, +who only do their swindling in business-hours, would have been. And I've +kept my eyes open, of course. It wasn't hard to twig you did a bit on +the cross yourself. Well, that's your affair, but one thing I do want to +know--how much does Miss Cayley know?" + +For all his efforts he could not keep his anxiety entirely out of his +voice as he said this, and recognizing that thereby he had perhaps +risked rousing some suspicion in the other's mind, he added: + +"And her mother--the young lady and her mother, how much do they know?" + +"Oh," answered Deede Dawson, with his false laugh and cold-watchful +eyes. "My wife knows nothing at all, but Ella's the best helper I've +ever had. She looks so innocent, she can take in any one, and she +never gives the show away, she acts all the time. A wonderful girl and +useful--you'd hardly believe how useful." + +Dunn did not answer. It was only by a supreme effort that he kept his +hands from Deede Dawson's throat. He did not believe a word of what the +other said, for he knew well the utter falseness of the man. None the +less, the accusation troubled him and chilled him to the heart, as +though with the touch of the finger of death. + +"You remember that packing-case," Deede Dawson added. "The one you +helped me to get away from here the night you came. Well, she knew what +was in it, though you would never have thought so, to look at her, would +you?" + +His cold eyes were very intent and keen as he said this, and Dunn +thought to himself that it had been said more to test any possible +knowledge or suspicion of his own than for any other reason. With a +manner of only slight interest, he answered carelessly: + +"Did she? Why? Wasn't it your stuff? Had it been pinched? But she +was safe enough, the police would never stop a smart young lady in a +motor-car, except on very strong evidence." + +"Perhaps not," agreed Deede Dawson. "That's one reason why Ella's so +useful. But I've been thinking things out, and trying to make them work +in together, and I think the first thing to do is for you to drive Allen +and Ella over to Wreste Abbey this afternoon, so that they may have a +good look around." + +"Oh, Miss Cayley and Allen," Dunn muttered. + +The new-comer, Allen, had been making himself very much at home at +Bittermeads since his arrival, though he had not so far troubled to +any great extent either Ella in the house or Dunn outside. His idea of +comfort seemed to be to stay in bed very late, and spend his time when +he did get up in the breakfast-room in the company of a box of cigars +and a bottle of whisky. + +The suggestion that he and Ella should pay a visit together to Wreste +Abbey was one that greatly surprised Dunn. + +"All right," he said. "This afternoon? I'll get the car ready." + +"This is the afternoon the Abbey is thrown open to visitors, isn't it?" +asked Deede Dawson. "Allen and Ella can get in as tourists, and have a +good look round, and you can look round outside and get to know the lie +of the land. There won't be long to wait, for Rupert Dunsmore will be +back from his little excursion before long, I expect." + +He laughed in his mirthless way, and walked off, and Dunn, as he got the +car ready, seemed a good deal preoccupied and a little worried. + +"How can he know that Rupert Dunsmore is coming back?" he said to +himself. "Can he have any way of finding out things I don't know about? +And if he did, how could he know--that? Most likely it's only a guess to +soothe me down, and he doesn't really know anything at all about it." + +After lunch, Allen and Ella appeared together, ready for their +expedition. Ella looked her best in a big motoring coat and a +close-fitting hat, with a long blue veil. Allen was, for almost the +first time since his arrival, shaved, washed and tidy. + +He looked indeed as respectable as his sinister and forbidding +countenance would permit, and though Deede Dawson had made him as smart +as possible, he had permitted him to gratify his own florid taste in +adornment, so that his air of prosperity and wealth had the appearance +of being that of some recently-enriched vulgarian whose association with +a motor-car and a well-dressed girl of Ella's type was probably due to +the fact that he had recently purchased them both out of newly-acquired +wealth. + +Dunn wore a neat chauffeur's costume, with which, however, his bearded +face did not go too well. He felt indeed that their whole turn-out was +far too conspicuous considering the real nature of their errand, and +far too likely to attract attention, and he wondered if Deede Dawson's +subtle and calculating mind had not for some private reason desired that +to be so. + +"He is keeping well in the background himself," Dunn mused. "He may +reckon that if things go wrong--in case of any pursuit--it's a good move +perhaps in a way, but he may find an unexpected check to his king opened +on him." + +The drive was a long one, and Ella noticed that though Dunn consulted +his map frequently, he never appeared in any doubt concerning the way. + +A little before three they drove into the village that lay round the +park gates of Wreste Abbey. + +Motors were not allowed in the park, so Dunn put theirs in the garage +of the little hotel, that was already almost full, for visiting day at +Wreste Abbey generally drew a goodly number of tourists, while Ella +and Allen, in odd companionship, walked up to the Abbey by the famous +approach through the chestnut avenue. + +Allen was quiet and surly, and much on his guard, and very uncomfortable +in Ella's company, and Ella herself, though for different reasons was +equally silent. + +But the beauty of the walk through the chestnut avenue, and of the vista +with the great house at the end, drew from her a quick exclamation of +delight. + +"How beautiful a place this is," she said aloud. "And how peaceful and +how quiet." + +"Don't like these quiet places myself," grumbled Allen. "Don't like 'em, +don't trust 'em. Give me lots of traffic; when everything's so awful +quiet you've only got to kick your foot against a stone or drop a tool, +and likely as not you'll wake the whole blessed place." + +"Wake," repeated Ella, noticing the word, and she repeated it with +emphasis. "Why do you say 'wake'?" + + + +CHAPTER XX. ELLA'S WARNING + + +Ella did not say anything more, and in their character of tourists +visiting the place, they were admitted to the Abbey and passed on through +its magnificent rooms, where was stored a collection rich and rare even +for one of the stateliest homes of England. + +"What a wonderful place!" Ella sighed wistfully. Yet she could not enjoy +the spectacle of all these treasures as she would have done at another +time, for she was always watching Allen, who hung about a good deal, and +seemed to look more at the locks of the cases that held some of the +more valuable of the objects shown than at the things themselves, +and generally spent fully half the time in each room at the window, +admiring the view, he said; but for quite another reason, Ella +suspected. + +"I shall speak when I get back," she said to herself, pale and +resolute. "I don't care what happens; I don't care if I have to tell +mother--perhaps she knows already. Anyhow, I shall speak." + +Having come to this determination, she grew cheerful and more interested +apparently in what they were seeing, as well as less watchful of her +companion. When, presently, they left the house to go into the gardens, +it happened that they noticed an old gentleman walking at a little +distance behind a gate marked "Private," and leaning on the arm of a +tall, thin, clean-shaven man of middle-age. + +"Lord Chobham, the old gentleman," whispered a tourist, who was standing +near. "I saw him once in the House of Lords. That's his secretary with +him, Mr. Dunsmore, one of the family; he manages everything now the old +gentleman is getting so feeble." + +Ella walked on frowning and a little worried, for she thought she had +seen the secretary before and yet could not remember where. Soon she +noticed Dunn, who had apparently been obeying Deede Dawson's orders to +look round outside and get to know the lie of the land. + +He seemed at present to be a good deal interested in Lord Chobham and +his companion, for he went and leaned on the gate and stared at them so +rudely that one or two of the other tourists noticed it and frowned at +him. But he took no notice, and presently, as if not seeing that the +gate was marked "Private," he pushed it open and walked through. + +Noticing the impertinent intrusion almost at once, Mr. Dunsmore turned +round and called "This is private." + +Dunn did not seem to hear, and Mr. Dunsmore walked across to him with +a very impatient air, while the little group of tourists watched, +with much interest and indignation and a very comforting sense of +superiority. + +"He ought to be sent right out of the grounds," they told each other. +"That's the sort of rude behaviour other people have to suffer for." + +"Now, my man," said Mr. Dunsmore sharply, "this is private, you've no +business here." + +"Sorry, sir; beg pardon, I'm sure," said Dunn, touching his hat, and as +he did so he said in a sharp, penetrating whisper: "Look out--trouble's +brewing--don't know what, but look out, all the time." + +He had spoken so quickly and quietly, in the very act of turning away, +that none of the onlookers could have told that a word had passed, +but for the very violent start that Walter Dunsmore made and his quick +movement forward as if to follow the other. Immediately Dunn turned back +towards him with a swift warning gesture of his hand. + +"Careful, you fool, they're looking," he said in a quick whisper, and +in a loud voice: "Very sorry, sir; beg pardon--I'm sure I didn't mean +anything." + +Walter Dunsmore swung round upon his heel and went quickly back to where +Lord Chobham waited; and his face was like that of one who has gazed +into the very eyes of death. + +"Lord in Heaven," he muttered, "it's all over, I'm done." And his hand +felt for a little metal box he carried in his waistcoat pocket and +that held half a dozen small round tablets, each of them a strong man's +death. + +But he took his hand away again as he rejoined his cousin, patron, and +employer, old Lord Chobham. + +"What's the matter, Walter?" Lord Chobham asked. "You look pale." + +"The fellow was a bit impudent; he made me angry," said Walter +carelessly. He fingered the little box in his waistcoat pocket and +thought how one tablet on his tongue would always end it all. "By the +way, oughtn't Rupert to be back soon?" he asked. + +"Yes, he ought," said Lord Chobham severely. "It's time he married and +settled down--I shall speak to his father about it. The boy is always +rushing off somewhere or another when he ought to be getting to know the +estate and the tenants." + +Walter Dunsmore laughed. + +"I think he knows them both fairly well already," he said. "Not a tenant +on the place but swears by Rupert. He's a fine fellow, uncle." + +"Oh, you always stick up for him; you and he were always friends," +answered Lord Chobham in a grumbling tone, but really very pleased. "I +know I'm never allowed to say a word about Rupert." + +"Well, he's a fine fellow and a good friend," said Walter, and the two +disappeared into the house by a small side-door as Dunn pushed his way +through the group of tourists who looked at him with marked and severe +disapproval. + +"Disgraceful," one of them said quite loudly, and another added: "I +believe he said something impudent to that gentleman. I saw him go quite +white, and look as if he were in two minds about ordering the fellow +right out of the grounds." And a third expressed the general opinion +that the culprit looked a real ruffian with all that hair on his face. +"Might be a gorilla," said the third tourist. "And look what a clumsy +sort of walk he has; perhaps he's been drinking." + +But Dunn was quite indifferent to, and indeed unaware of this popular +condemnation as he made his way back to the hotel garage where he had +left their car. He seemed rather well pleased than otherwise as he +walked on. + +"Quite a stroke of luck for once," he mused, and he smiled to himself, +and stroked the thick growth of his untidy beard. "It's been worth +while, for he didn't recognize me in the least, and had quite a shock, +but, all the same, I shan't be sorry to shave and see my own face +again." + +He had the car out and ready when Ella and Allen came back. Allen at +once made an excuse to leave them, and went into the hotel bar to get +a drink of whisky, and when they were alone, Ella, who was looking very +troubled and thoughtful, said to Dunn, + +"We saw Lord Chobham in the garden with a gentleman some one told us was +a relative of his, a Mr. Walter Dunsmore. Did you see them?" + +"Yes," answered Dunn, a little surprised, and giving her a quick and +searching look from his bright, keen eyes. "I saw them. Why--" + +"I think I've seen the one they said was Mr. Walter Dunsmore before, +and I can't think where," she answered, puckering her brows. "I can't +think--do you know anything about him?" + +"I know he is Mr. Walter Dunsmore," answered Dunn slowly, "and I know +he is one of the family, and a great friend of Rupert Dunsmore's. Rupert +Dunsmore is Lord Chobham's nephew, you know, and heir, after his father, +to the title and estates. His father, General Dunsmore, brought him and +Walter up together like brothers, but recently Walter has lived at the +Abbey as Lord Chobham's secretary and companion. The general likes +to live abroad a good deal, and his son Rupert is always away on some +sporting or exploring expedition or another." + +"It's very strange," Ella said again. "I'm sure I've seen Walter +Dunsmore before but I can't think where." + +Allen came from the bar, having quenched his thirst for the time being, +and they started off, arriving back at Bittermeads fairly early in the +evening, for Dunn had brought them along at a good rate, and apparently +remembered the road so well from the afternoon that he never once had +occasion to refer to the map. + +He took the car round to the garage, and Allen and Ella went into the +house, where Allen made his way at once to the breakfast-room, searching +for more whisky and cigars, while Ella, after a quick word with her +mother to assure her of their safe return, went to find Deede Dawson. + +"Ah, dear child, you are back then," he greeted her. "Well, how have you +enjoyed yourself? Had a pleasant time?" + +"It was not for pleasure we went there, I think," she said listlessly. + +He looked up quickly, and though his perpetual smile still played as +usual about his lips, his eyes were hard and daunting as they fixed +themselves on hers. Before that sinister stare her own eyes sank, and +sought the little travelling set of chessmen and board that were before +him. + +"See," he said, "I've just brought off a mate. Neat isn't it? +Checkmate." + +She looked up at him, and her eyes were steadier now. + +"I've only one thing to say to you," she said. "I came here to say it. +If anything happens at Wreste Abbey I shall go straight to the police." + +"Indeed," he said, "indeed." He fingered the chessmen as though all his +attention were engaged by them. "May I ask why?" he murmured. "For what +purpose?" + +"To tell them," she answered quietly, "what I--know." + +"And what do you know?" he asked indifferently. "What do you know that +is likely to interest the police?" + +"I ought to have said, perhaps," she answered after a pause, "what I +suspect." + +"Ah, that's so different, isn't it?" he murmured gently. "So very +different. You see we all of us suspect so many things." + +She did not answer, for she had said all she had to say and she was +afraid that her strength would not carry her further. She began to walk +away, but he called her back. + +"Oh, how do you think your mother is today?" he asked. "Do you know, +her condition seems to me quite serious at times. I wonder if you are +overanxious?" + +"She is better--much better!" Ella answered, and added with a sudden +burst of fiercest, white-hot passion: "But I think it would be better if +we had both died before we met you." + +She hurried away, for she was afraid of breaking down, and Deede Dawson +smiled the more as he again turned his attention to his chessmen, taking +them up and putting them down in turn. + +"She's turning nasty," he mused. "I don't think she'll dare--but she +might. She's only a pawn, but a pawn can cause a lot of trouble +at times--a pawn may become a queen and give the mate. When a pawn +threatens trouble it's best to--remove it." + +He went out and came back a little late and busied himself with a +four-move chess problem which absorbed all his attention, and which +he did not solve to his satisfaction till past midnight. Then he went +upstairs to bed, but at the door of his room he paused and went on very +softly up the narrow stairs that led to the attics above. + +Outside the one in which Dunn slept, he waited a little till the +unbroken sound of regular breathing from within assured him that the +occupant slept. + +Cautiously and carefully he crept on, and entered the one adjoining, +where he turned the light of the electric flashlight he carried on a +large, empty packing-case that stood in one corner. + +With a two-foot rule he took from his pocket he measured it carefully +and nodded with great satisfaction. + +"A little smaller than the other," he said to himself. "But, then, it +hasn't got to hold so much." He laughed in his silent, mirthless way, as +at something that amused him. "A good deal less," he thought. "And Dunn +shall drive." + +He laughed again, and for a moment or two stood there in the darkness, +laughing silently to himself, and then, speaking aloud, he called out: + +"You can come in, Dunn." + +Dunn, whom a creaking board had betrayed, came forward unconcernedly in +his sleeping attire. + +"I saw it was you," he remarked. "At first I thought something was +wrong." + +"Nothing, nothing," answered Deede Dawson. "I was only looking at this +packing-case. I may have to send one away again soon, and I wanted to be +sure this was big enough. If I do, I shall want you to drive." + +"Not Miss Cayley?" asked Dunn. + +"No, no," answered Deede Dawson. "She might be with you perhaps, but she +wouldn't drive. Night driving is always dangerous, I think, don't you?" + +"There's things more dangerous," Dunn remarked. + +"Oh, quite true," answered Deede Dawson. "Well, did you enjoy your visit +to Wreste Abbey?" + +"No," answered Dunn roughly. "I didn't see Rupert Dunsmore, and it +wouldn't have been any good if I had with all those people about." + +"You're too impatient," Deede Dawson smiled. "I'm getting everything +ready; you can't properly expect to win a game in a dozen moves. You +must develop your pieces properly and have all ready before you start +your attack. As soon as I'm ready--why, I'll act--and you'll have to do +the rest." + +"I see," said Dunn thoughtfully. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. DOUBTS AND FEARS + + +In point of fact Dunn had not been asleep when Deede Dawson came +listening at his door. Of late he had slept little and that little had +been much disturbed by evil, haunting dreams in which perpetually he saw +his dead friend, Charley Wright, and dead John Clive always together, +while behind them floated the pale and lovely face of Ella, at whom the +two dead men looked and whispered to each other. + +In the day such thoughts troubled him less, for when he was under the +influence of Ella's gentle presence, and when he could watch her clear +and candid eyes, he found all doubt and suspicion melting away like snow +beneath warm sunshine. + +But in the silence of the night they returned, returned very dreadfully, +so dreadfully that often as he lay awake in the darkness beads of sweat +stood upon his forehead and he would drive his great hands one against +the other in his passionate effort to still the thoughts that tormented +him. Then, in the morning again, the sound of Ella's voice, the merest +glimpse of her grave and gracious personality, would bring back once +more his instinctive belief in her. + +The morning after Deede Dawson had paid his visit to the attic there +was news, however, that disturbed him greatly, for Mrs. Barker, the +charwoman who came each morning to Bittermeads, told them that two men +in the village--notorious poachers--had been arrested by the police on a +charge of being concerned in Mr. Clive's death. + +The news was a great shock to Dunn, for, knowing as he thought he did, +that the police were working on an entirely wrong idea, he had not +supposed they would ever find themselves able to make any arrest. As +a matter of fact, these arrests they had made were the result of +desperation on the part of the police, who unable to discover anything +and entirely absorbed by their preconceived idea that the crime was the +work of poachers, had arrested men they knew were poachers in the vague +hope of somehow discovering something or of somehow getting hold of some +useful clue. + +But that Dunn did not know, and feared unlucky chance or undesigned +coincidence must have appeared to suggest the guilt of the men and that +they were really in actual danger of trial and conviction. He had, too, +received that morning, through the secret means of communication he kept +open with an agent in London, conclusive proof that at the moment of +Clive's death Deede Dawson was in town on business that seemed obscure +enough, but none the less in town, and therefore undoubtedly innocent of +the actual perpetration of the murder. + +Who, then, was left who could have fired the fatal shot? + +It was a question Dunn dared not even ask himself but he saw very +plainly that if the proceedings against the two arrested men were to be +pressed, he would be forced to come forward before his preparations were +ready and tell all he knew, no matter at what cost. + +All the morning he waited and watched for his opportunity to speak to +Ella, who was in a brighter and gayer mood than he had ever seen her in +before. + +At breakfast Deede Dawson had assured her that he could not conceive +what were the suspicions she had referred to the night previously, and +while he would certainly have no objection to her mentioning them at +any time, in any quarter she thought fit if anything happened at Wreste +Abbey--and would indeed be the first to urge her to do so--he, for his +part, considered it most unlikely that anything of the sort she seemed +to dread would in fact occur. + +"Not at all likely," he said with his happy, beaming smile that never +reached those cold eyes of his. "I should say myself that nothing ever +did happen at Wreste Abbey, not since the Flood, anyhow. It strikes me +as the most peaceful, secluded spot in all England." + +"I'm very glad you think so," said Ella, tremendously relieved and glad +to hear him say so, and supposing, though his smooth words and smiles +and protestations deceived her very little, that, at any rate, what she +had said had forced him to abandon whatever plans he had been forming in +that direction. + +Her victory, as it seemed to her, won so easily and containing good +promise of further success in the future, cheered her immensely, and it +was in almost a happy mood that she went unto the garden after lunch and +met Dunn in a quiet, well-hidden corner, where he had been waiting and +watching for long. + +His appearance startled her--his eyes were so wild, his whole manner so +strained and restless, and she gave a little dismayed exclamation as she +saw him. + +"Oh, what's the matter?" she asked. "Aren't you well? You look--" + +She paused for she did not know exactly how it was he did look; and he +said in his harshest, most abrupt manner, + +"Do you remember Charley Wright?" + +"Why do you ask?" she said, puzzled. "Is anything wrong?" + +"Do you remember John Clive?" he asked, disregarding this. "Have you +heard two men have been arrested for his murder?" + +"Mrs. Barker told me so," she answered gravely. He came a little nearer, +almost threateningly nearer. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked. + +She lifted one hand and put it gently on his arm. The touch of it +thrilled him through and through, and he felt a little dazed as he +watched it resting on his coat sleeve. She had become very pale also and +her voice was low and strained as she said, + +"Have you had suspicions too?" + +He looked at her as if fascinated for a moment, and then nodded twice +and very slowly. + +"So have I," she sighed in tones so low he could scarcely hear them. + +"Oh, you, you also," he muttered, almost suffocating. + +"Yes," she said. "Yes--perhaps the same as yours. My stepfather," she +breathed, "Mr. Deede Dawson." + +He watched her closely and moodily, but he did not speak. + +"I was afraid--at first," she whispered. "But I was wrong--quite wrong. +It is as certain as it can be that he was in London at the time." + +From his pocket Dunn took out the handkerchief of hers that he had found +near the body of the dead man. + +"Is this yours?" he asked. + +"Yes," she answered. "Yes, where did you get it?" + +He did not answer, but he lifted his hands one after the other, and put +them on her shoulder, with the fingers outspread to encircle her +throat. It seemed to him that when she acknowledged the ownership of the +handkerchief she acknowledged also the perpetration of the deed, and he +became a little mad, and he had it in his mind that the slightest, the +very slightest, pressure of his fingers on that soft, round throat +would put it for ever out of her power to do such things again. Then for +himself death would be easy and welcome, and there would be an end to +all these doubts and fears that racked him with anguish beyond bearing. + +"What are you going to do?" she asked, making no attempt to resist or +escape. + +Ever so slightly the pressure of his hands upon her throat strengthened +and increased. A very little more and the lovely thing of life he +watched would be broken and cold for ever. Her eyes were steady, she +showed no sign of fear, she stood perfectly still, her hands loosely +clasped together before her. He groaned, and his arms fell to his side, +helpless. Without the slightest change of expression, she said: + +"What were you going to do?" + +"I don't know," he answered. "Do you ever go mad? I do, I think. Perhaps +you do too, and that explains it. Do you know where Charley Wright is?" + +"Yes," she answered directly. "Why? Did you know him, then?" + +"You know where he is now?" Dunn repeated. + +She nodded quietly. + +"I heard from him only last week," she said. + +"I am certainly mad or you are," he muttered, staring at her with eyes +in which such wonder and horror showed that it seemed there really was a +touch of madness there. + +"What is the matter?" she asked. + +"You heard from him last week," he said again, and again she answered: + +"Yes--last week. Why not?" + +He leaned forward, and before she knew what he intended to do he kissed +her pale, cool cheek. + +Once more she stood still and immobile, her hands loosely clasped before +her. It might have been that he had kissed a statue, and her perfect +stillness made him afraid. + +"Ella," he said. "Ella." + +"Why did you do that?" she said, a little wildly now in her turn. "It +was not that you were going to do to me before." + +"I love you," he muttered excusingly. + +She shook her head. + +"You know too little of me; you have too many doubt and fears," she +said. "You do not love me, you do not even trust me." + +"I love you all the same," he asserted positively and roughly. "I loved +you--it was when I tied your hands to the chair that night and you +looked at me with such contempt, and asked me if I felt proud. That +stung, that stung. I loved you then." + +"You see," she said sadly, "you do not even pretend to trust me. I don't +know why you should. Why are you here? Why are you disguised with all +that growth of hair? There is something you are preparing, planning. I +know it. I feel it. What is it?" + +"I told you once before," he answered, "that the end of this will be +Deede Dawson's death or mine. That's what I'm preparing." + +"He is very cunning, very clever," she said. "Do you think he suspects +you?" + +"He suspects every one always," answered Dunn. "I've been trying to get +proof to act on. I haven't succeeded. Not yet. Nothing definite. If I +can't, I shall act without. That's all." + +"If I told him even half of what you just said," she said, looking at +him. "What would happen?" + +"You see, I trust you," he answered bitterly. + +She shook her head, but her eyes were soft and tender as she said: + +"It wasn't trust in me made you say all that, it was because you didn't +care what happened after." + +"No," he said. "But when I see you, I forget everything. Do you love +me?" + +"Why, I've never even seen you yet," she exclaimed with something like +a smile. "I only know you as two eyes over a tangle of hair that I +don't believe you ever either brush or comb. Do you know, sometimes I am +curious." + +He took her hand and drew her to sit beside him on the bench under a +tree near by. All his doubts and fears and suspicions he set far from +him, and remembered nothing save that she was the woman for whom yearned +all the depths of his soul as by pre-ordained decree. And she, too, for +man, to her strange, aloof, mysterious, but dominating all her life as +though by primal necessity. + +When they parted, it was with an agreement to meet again that evening, +and in the twilight they spent a halcyon hour together, saying little, +feeling much. + +It was only when at last she had left him that he remembered all that +had passed, that had happened, that he knew, suspected, dreaded, all +that he planned and intended and would be soon called upon to put into +action. + +"She's made me mad," he said to himself, and for a long time he sat +there in the darkness, in the stillness of the evening, motionless as +the tree in whose shade he sat, plunged in the most profound and strange +reverie, from which presently his quick ear, alert and keen even when +his mind was deep in thought, caught the light and careful sound of an +approaching footstep. + +In a moment he was up and gliding through the darkness to meet who was +coming, and almost at once a voice hailed him cautiously. + +"There you are, Dunn," Deede Dawson said. "I've been looking for you +everywhere. Tomorrow or next day we shall be able to strike; everything +is ready at last, and I'll tell you now exactly what we are going to +do." + +"That's good news," said Dunn softly. + +"Come this way," Deede Dawson said, and led Dunn through the darkness to +the gate that admitted to the Bittermeads grounds from the high road. + +Here he paused, and stood for a long time in silence, leaning on the +gate and looking out across the road to the common beyond. Close +beside him stood Dunn, controlling his impatience as best he could, and +wondering if at last the secret springs of all these happenings was to +be laid bare to him. + +But Deede Dawson seemed in no hurry to begin. For a long time he +remained in the same attitude, silent and sombre in the darkness, and +when at last he spoke it was to utter a remark that quite took Dunn by +surprise. + +"What a lovely night," he said in low and pensive tones, very unlike +those he generally used. "I remember when I was a boy--that's a long +time ago." + +Dunn was too surprised by this sudden and very unexpected lapse into +sentiment to answer. Deede Dawson went on as if thinking to himself: + +"A long time--I've done a lot--seen a lot since then--too much, +perhaps--I remember mother told me once--poor soul, I believe she used +to be rather proud of me--" + +"Your mother?" Dunn said wondering greatly to think this man should +still have such memories. + +But Deede Dawson seemed either to resent his tone or else to be angry +with himself for giving way to such weakness. In a voice more like his +usual one, he said harshly and sneeringly: + +"Oh, yes, I had a mother once, just like everybody else. Why not? Most +people have their mothers, though it's not an arrangement I should care +to defend. Now then, Ella was with you tonight; you and she were alone +together a long time." + +"Well," growled Dunn, "what of it?" + +"Fine girl, isn't she?" asked Deede Dawson, and laughed. + +Dunn did not speak. It filled him with such loathing to hear this man +so much as utter Ella's name, it was all he could do to keep his hands +motionless by his side and not make use of them about the other's +throat. + +"She's been useful, very useful," Deede Dawson went on meditatively. +"Her mother had some money when I married her. I don't mind telling you +it's all spent now, but Ella's a little fortune in herself." + +"I didn't know we came to talk about her," said Dunn slowly. "I thought +you had something else to say to me." + +"So I have," Deede Dawson answered. "That's why I brought you here. We +are safe from eavesdroppers here, in a house you can never tell who is +behind a curtain or a door. But then, Ella is a part of my plans, a very +important part. Do you remember I told you I might want you to take a +second packing-case away from here in the car one night?" + +"Yes, I remember," said Dunn slowly. "I remember. What would be in it? +The same sort of thing that was in--that other?" + +"Yes," answered Deede Dawson. "Much the same." + +"I shall want to see for myself," said Dunn. "I'm a trustful sort of +person, but I don't go driving about the country with packing-cases late +at night unless I've seen for myself what's inside." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. PLOTS AND PLAYS + + +"Very wise of you," yawned Deede Dawson. "That's just what Ella +said--what's that?" + +For instinctively Dunn had raised his hand, but he lowered it again at +once. + +"Oh, cut the cackle," he said impatiently. "Tell me what you want me +to do, and make it plain, very plain, for I can tell you there's a good +deal about all this I don't understand, and I'm not inclined to trust +you far. For one thing, what are you after yourself? Where do you come +in? What are you going to get? And there's another thing I want to say. +If you are thinking of playing any tricks on me don't do it, unless you +are ready to take big risks. There's only one man alive who ever made +a fool of me, and his name is Rupert Dunsmore, and I don't think he's +today what insurance companies call a good risk. Not by any manner of +means." He paused to laugh harshly. "Let's get to business," he said. +"Look here, how do I know you mean all you say about Rupert Dunsmore? +What's he to you?" + +"Nothing," answered Deede Dawson promptly. "Nothing. But there's some +one I'm acting for to whom he is a good deal." + +"Who is that?" Dunn asked sharply. + +"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" retorted the other, and laughed +in his cold, mirthless manner. "Perhaps you aren't the only one who owes +him a grudge." + +"That's likely enough, but I want to know where I'm standing," said +Dunn. "Is this unknown person you say you are acting for anxious to +bring about Rupert Dunsmore's death?" + +"I'm not answering any questions, so you needn't ask them," replied +Deede Dawson. + +"But I will tell you that there's something big going on. Or I shouldn't +be in it, I don't use my brains on small things, you know. If it comes +off all right, I--" He paused, and for once a thrill of genuine +emotion sounded in his voice. "Thousands," he said abruptly. "Yes, and +more--more. But there's an obstacle--Rupert Dunsmore. It's your place +to remove him. That'll suit you, and it'll mean good pay, as much as you +like to ask for in reason. And Ella, if you want her. The girl won't +be any use to me when this is over, and you can have her if you like. I +don't think she'll object from what I can see--not that it would matter +if she did. So there you are. Put Rupert Dunsmore out of the way and +it'll be the best day's work you've ever done, and you shall have Ella +into the bargain--if you claim her. Makeweight." + +He began to laugh again and Dunn laughed, too, for while he was not sure +what it was that amused Deede Dawson, there were certain aspects of all +this that bore for him a very curious and ironic humour. + +"All right," he said. "You bring me face to face with Rupert Dunsmore +and you won't have to grumble about the result, for I swear only one of +us will go away alive. But how are you going to do it?" + +"I've my plan, and it's simple enough," answered Deede Dawson. "Though +I can tell you it took some working out. But the simplest problem is +always the best, whether in life or in chess." Again he indulged in +a low and guarded outburst of his thin, mirthless laughter before he +continued: "I suppose you know Rupert Dunsmore is one of those restless +people who are never content except when wandering about in some out of +the way place or another, as often as not no one having the least idea +of his whereabouts. Then he turns up unexpectedly, only to disappear +again when the whim takes him. Lately he has been away on one of these +trips, but I happen to know he is coming back almost at once--what's the +matter?" + +"I was only wondering how you knew that," answered Dunn, who had given a +sudden start. + +"Oh, I know, never mind how," Deede Dawson said. "I know that tomorrow +afternoon at four o'clock he will be waiting by the side of Brook Bourne +Spring in Ottom's Wood, near General Dunsmore's place. Which is as out +of the way and quiet and lonely a spot as you could wish for." + +"And you have information that he will be there?" Dunn said +incredulously. "How can you possibly be sure of that?" + +"Never mind how," answered Deede Dawson. "I am sure. That's enough. My +information is certain." + +"Oh, it is, is it?" Dunn muttered. "You are a wonderful man, Mr. +Dawson. You know everything--or nearly everything. You are sure of +everything--or nearly everything--but suppose he changes his mind at the +last moment and doesn't come after all?" + +"He won't," answered Deede Dawson. "You be there and you'll find him +there all right." + +"Well, perhaps," said Dunn slowly. "But what I want to know is why you +are so sure? There's a good deal hangs on your being right, you know." + +"I only wish I was as certain of everything else," Deede Dawson said. + +"Oh, all right," exclaimed Dunn. "I suppose you know and you may be +right." + +"I am," Deede Dawson assured him. "Listen carefully now, there mustn't +be any blunders. You are to make an early start tomorrow. I don't want +you to take the car for fear of its being seen and identified. You must +take the train to London and then another train back immediately to +Delsby. From Delsby you'll have an eighteen-mile walk through lonely +country where you aren't likely to meet any one, and must try not to. +The less you are seen the better. You know that for yourself, and for +your own sake you'll be careful. You'll have no time to spare, but you +will be able to get to the place I told you of by four all right--no +earlier, no later. You must arrange to be there at four exactly. You may +spoil all if you are too early. Almost as soon as you get there, Rupert +Dunsmore will arrive. You must do the rest for yourself, and then you +must strike straight across country for here. You can look up your +routes on the map. There will be less risk of attracting attention if +you come and go by different ways. You ought to be here again some time +in the small hours. I'll let you in, and you'll have cleared your own +score with Rupert Dunsmore and earned more money than you ever have had +in all your life before. Now, can I depend on you?" + +"Yes--yes," answered Dunn, over whom there had come a new and strange +sense of unreality as he stood and listened to cold-blooded murder being +thus calmly, coolly planned, as though it were some afternoon's pleasure +trip that was being arranged, so that he hardly knew whether he did, in +fact, hear this smooth, low, unceasing voice that from the darkness at +his side laid down such a bloody road for his feet to travel. + +"Oh, yes, you can depend on me," he said. "But can I depend on you, when +you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that place?" + +It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his voice +was very low and soft and confident as he said: + +"Yes, you can--absolutely. You see, I know his plans." + +"Oh, do you?" Dunn said as though satisfied. "Oh, well then, it's no +wonder you're so sure." + +"No wonder at all," agreed Deede Dawson. "There's just one other thing +I can tell you. Some one else will be there, too, at Brook Bourne Spring +in Ottam's Wood." + +"Who's that?" asked Dunn sharply. + +"The man," said Deede Dawson, "who is behind all this--the man you and +I are working for--the man who's going to pay us, even better than he +thinks." + +"He--he will be there?" repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath. + +"Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did," Deede +Dawson told him. "Most likely he'll be disguised--a mask, perhaps; I +don't know. Anyhow, he'll be there. Watching. I'm not suggesting you +would do such a thing as never go near the place, loaf around a bit, +then come back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of the way for good, +draw your pay and vanish, and leave us to find out he was as lively +and troublesome as ever. I don't think you would do that, because you +sounded as if you meant what you said when you told me he was your +worst enemy. But it's just as well to be sure, and so we mean to have a +witness; and as it's what you might call a delicate matter, that witness +will most likely be our employer himself. So you had better do the job +thoroughly if you want your pay." + +"I see you take your precautions," remarked Dunn. "Well, that's all +right, I don't mind." + +"You understand exactly what you've got to do?" Deede Dawson asked. + +Dunn nodded. + +"What about Allen?" he asked. "Does he take any part in this show?" + +"He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early the +same night, during the dinner-hour most likely," answered Deede Dawson +carelessly. "We can get in at one of the long gallery windows quite +easily, Allen says. He kept his eyes open that day you all went there. +It may be helpful to give the police two problems to work on at once; +and besides, big as this thing is, there's a shortage of ready money at +present. But our little affair at Wreste Abbey will have nothing to +do with you. You mind what you've got to do, and don't trouble about +anything else. See?" + +"I see," answered Dunn slowly. "And if you can arrange for Rupert +Dunsmore to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the rest." + +"You needn't be uneasy about that," Deede Dawson said, and laughed. +"You see, I know his plans," he repeated, and laughed again; and still +laughing that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and walked back +towards the house. + +Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he muttered: + +"Yes, but I wonder if you do." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. COUNTER-PLANS + + +The hour was late by now, but Dunn felt no inclination for sleep, and +there was no need for him to return indoors as yet, since Deede Dawson, +who always locked up the house himself, never did so till past midnight. +Till the small hours, very often he was accustomed to sit up absorbed in +those chess problems, the composing and solving of which were his great +passion, so that, indeed, it is probable that under other circumstances +he might have passed a perfectly harmless and peaceful existence, known +to wide circles as an extraordinarily clever problemist and utterly +unknown elsewhere. + +But the Fate that is, after all, but man's own character writ large, +had decreed otherwise. And the little, fat, smiling man bending over his +travelling chess board on which he moved delicately to and fro the tiny +red and white men of carved ivory, now and again removing a piece and +laying it aside, had done as much with as little concern to his fellow +creatures from the very beginning of his terrible career. + +Outside, leaning on the gate where Deede Dawson had left him, Dunn was +deep in thought that was not always very comforting, for there was +very much in all this laid out for him to accomplish that he did not +understand and that disturbed him a good deal. + +A careful, cautious "Hist!" broke in upon his thoughts, and in an +instant he stiffened to close attention, every nerve on the alert. + +The sound was repeated, a faint and wary footstep sounded, and in the +darkness a form appeared and stole slowly nearer. + +Dunn poised for a moment, ready for attack or retreat, and then all at +once his tense attitude relaxed. + +"You, Walter," he exclaimed. "That's good! But how did you get here? And +how did you know where I was?" + +The new-comer drew a little nearer and showed the tall, thin form of +Walter Dunsmore to whom Dunn had spoken at Wreste Abbey. + +"I had to come," he murmured. "I couldn't rest without seeing you. You +upset me the other day, saying what you did. Isn't it very dangerous +your being here? Suppose Deede Dawson--" + +"Oh, if he suspected, there would soon be an end of me," answered Dunn +grimly. "But I think I'm going to win--at least, I did till tonight." + +"What's happened?" the other asked sharply and anxiously. + +"He has been telling me his plans," answered Dunn. "He has told me +everything--he has put himself entirely in my power--he has done what I +have been waiting and hoping for ever since I came here. He has given +me his full confidence at last, and I never felt more uneasy or less +certain of success than I do at this moment." + +"He has told you--everything?" Walter Dunsmore asked. "Everything, +except who is behind it all," answered Dunn. "I asked him who he was +acting for, and he refused to say. But we shall know that tomorrow, +for he told me something almost as good--he told me where this employer +would be at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. So then we shall have him, +unless Deede Dawson was lying." + +"Of course, it all depends on finding that out," remarked Walter +thoughtfully. "Finding out his identity." + +"Yes, that's the key move to the problem," Dunn said. "And tomorrow we +shall know it, if Deede Dawson was speaking the truth just now." + +"I should think he was," said Walter slowly. "I should think it is +certain he was. You may depend on that, I think." + +"I think so, too," agreed Dunn. "But how did you find out where I was?" + +"You know that day you came to Wreste Abbey? There was some fellow you +had with you who told the landlord of the Chobham Arms, so I easily +found out from him," answered Walter. + +"Anyhow, I'm glad you're here," Dunn said. "I was wondering how to get +in touch with you. Well, this is Deede Dawson's plan in brief. Tomorrow, +at four in the afternoon, Rupert Dunsmore is to be killed--and I've +undertaken to do the deed." + +"What do you mean?" exclaimed Walter, starting. + +"I've promised that if Deede Dawson will bring me face to face with +Rupert Dunsmore, I'll murder him," answered Dunn, laughing softly. + +"A fairly safe offer on your part, isn't it?" observed Walter. "At +least, unless there's any saving clause about mirrors." + +"Oh, none," answered Dunn. "I told Deede Dawson Rupert Dunsmore was my +worst enemy, and that's true enough, for I think every man's worst enemy +is himself." + +"I wish I had none worse," muttered Walter. + +"I think you haven't, old chap," Dunn said smilingly. "But come across +the road. It'll be safer on the common. Deede Dawson is so cunning +one is never safe from him. One can never be sure he isn't creeping up +behind." + +"Well, I daresay it's wise to take every precaution," observed Walter. +"But I can't imagine either him or any one else getting near you without +your knowledge." + +Robert Dunn,--or rather, Rupert Dunsmore, as was his name by right of +birth--laughed again to himself, very softly in the darkness. + +"Perhaps not," he said. "But I take no chances I can avoid with Deede +Dawson. Come along." + +They crossed the road together and sat down on the common at an open +spot, where none could well approach them unheard or unseen. Dunn laid +his hand affectionately on Walter's shoulder as they settled themselves. + +"Old chap," he said. "It was good of you to come here. You've run some +risk. It's none too safe near Bittermeads. But I'm glad to see you, +Walter. It's a tremendous relief after all this strain of doubt and +watching and suspicion to be with some one I know--some one I can +trust--some one like you, Walter." + +In the darkness, Walter put out his hand and took Dunn's and held it for +a moment. + +"I have been anxious about you," he said. Dunn returned the pressure +warmly. + +"I know," he said. "Jove, old chap, it's good to see you again. You +don't know what it's like after all this long time, feeling that every +step was a step in the dark, to be at last with a real friend again." + +"I think I can guess," Walter said softly. + +Dunn shook his head. + +"No one could," he said. "I tell you I've doubted, distrusted, suspected +till I wasn't sure of my own shadow. Well, that's all over now. Tomorrow +we can act." + +"Tell me what I'm to do," Walter Dunsmore said. + +"There's a whole lot I don't understand yet," Dunn continued slowly. +"I suppose it was that that was making me feel so jolly down before +you came. I don't feel sure somehow--not sure. Deede Dawson is such a +cunning brute. He seems to have laid his whole hand bare, and yet there +may be cards up his sleeve still. Besides, his plan he told me about +seems so bald. And I don't understand why he should think he is so +sure of what I--I mean, of what Rupert--it's a bit confusing to have a +double identity--is going to do. He says he is sure Rupert Dunsmore +is to be at the Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow at four. He says his +information is certain, and that he has full knowledge of what Rupert +Dunsmore is going to do, which is more than I have. But what can it be +that's making him so sure?" + +"That's probably simple enough," said Walter. "You said you suspected +there was a leakage from Burns & Swift's office, and you told Burns to +make misleading statements about your movements occasionally when he was +dictating his letters. Well, I expect this is one." + +"That may be; only Deede Dawson seems so very sure," answered Dunn. "But +what's specially important is his saying that his employer, whoever it +is, who is behind all this, will be there too." + +"A meeting? Is that it?" exclaimed Walter. + +"No, that's not the idea," answered Dunn. "You see, the idea is that +Rupert Dunsmore will be there at four, and that I'm to be there in +ambush to murder myself. Whoever is behind all this will be there +too--to see I carry out my work properly. And that gives us our chance." + +"Oh, that's good," exclaimed Walter. "We shall have him for certain." + +"That's what I want you to see to," said Dunn. "I want you to have men +you can trust well hidden all round, ready to collar him. And I want you +to have all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood well watched and every one +going along them noted. You understand?" + +"That's quite easy," declared Walter. "I can promise not a soul will get +into Ottam's Wood without being seen, and I'll make very sure indeed of +getting hold of any one hiding anywhere near Brook Bourne Spring. And +once we've done that--once we know who it is--" + +"Yes," agreed Dunn. "We shall be all right then. That is the one thing +necessary to know--the key move to the problem--the identity of who it +is pulling the strings. He must be a clever beggar; anyhow, I mean to +see him hang for it yet." + +"I daresay he's clever," agreed Walter. "He is playing for big stakes. +Anyhow, we'll have him tomorrow all right; that seems certain--at last." + +"At last," agreed Dunn, with a long-drawn sigh. "Ugh! it's all been such +a nightmare. It's been pretty awful, knowing there was some one--not +able to guess who. Ever since you discovered that first attempt, ever +since we became certain there was a plot going on to clear out every one +in succession to the Chobham estates--and that was jolly plain, though +the fools of police did babble about no evidence, as if pistol bullets +come from nowhere and poisoned cups of tea--" + +"Ah, I was to blame there, that was my fault," said Walter. "You see, we +had no proof about the shooting, and when I had spilt that tea, no proof +of poison either. I shall always regret that." + +"A bit of bad luck," Dunn agreed. "But accidents will happen. Anyhow, it +was clear enough some one was trying to make a jolly clear sweep. It may +be a madman; it may be some one with a grudge against us; it may be, as +poor Charley thought, some one in the line of succession, who is just +clearing the way to inherit the title and estates himself. I wish I knew +what made Charley suspicious of Deede Dawson in the first place." + +"You don't know that?" Walter asked. + +"No, he never told me," answered Dunn. "Poor Charley, it cost him his +life. That's another thing we must find out--where they've hidden his +body." + +"He was sure from the first," remarked Walter, "that it was a conspiracy +on the part of some one in the line of succession?" + +"Yes," agreed Dunn. "It's likely enough, too. You see, ever since that +big family row and dispersion eighty years ago, a whole branch of +the family has been entirely lost sight of. There may be half a dozen +possible heirs we know nothing about. Like poor John Clive. I daresay if +we had known of his existence we should have begun by suspecting him." + +"There's one thing pretty sure," remarked Walter. "If these pleasant +little arrangements did succeed, it would be a fairly safe guess that +the inheritor of the title and estates was the guilty person. It might +be brought home to him, too." + +"Perhaps," agreed Dunn dryly. "But just a trifle too late to interest me +for one. And I don't mean to let the dad or uncle be sacrificed if I can +help it. I failed with Clive, poor fellow, but I don't mean to again, +and I don't see how we can. Deede Dawson has exposed his hand. Now we +can play ours." + +"But what are you going to do?" Walter asked. "Are you going to follow +out his instructions?" + +"To the letter," Dunn answered. "We are dealing with very wary, +suspicious people, and the least thing might make them take alarm. The +important point, of course, is the promise that Deede Dawson's employer +will be at Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow afternoon. That's our trump +card. Everything hangs on that. And to make sure there's no hitch, I +shall do exactly what I've been told to do. I expect I shall be watched. +I shall be there at four o'clock, and ten minutes after I hope we shall +have laid hands on--whoever it is." + +Walter nodded. + +"I don't see how we can fail," he said. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. AN APHORISM + + +"No," Dunn agreed after a long pause. "No, I don't see myself how +failure is possible; I don't see what there is to go wrong. All the +same, I shan't be sorry when it's all over; I suppose I'm nervous, +that's the truth of it. But Deede Dawson's hardly the sort of man I +should have expected to lay all his cards on the table so openly." + +"Oh, I think that's natural enough," answered Walter. "Quite natural--he +thinks you are in with him and he tells you what he wants you to do. But +I don't quite see the object of your visit to the Abbey the other day. +You gave me the shock of my life, I think. I hadn't the least idea who +you were--that beard makes a wonderful difference." + +Dunn laughed quietly. + +"It's a good disguise," he admitted. "I didn't quite know myself +first time I looked in a mirror. We went to the Abbey to prepare for a +burglary there." + +"Oh, is that on the cards, too?" exclaimed Walter. "I didn't expect +that." + +"Yes," answered Dunn. "My own idea is that Deede Dawson sees an +opportunity for making a bit on his own. After all of us are disposed of +and his friend has got the title and estates, he won't dare to prosecute +of course, and so Deede Dawson thinks it a good opportunity to visit +the Abbey and pick up any pictures or heirlooms or so-so he can that it +would be almost impossible to dispose of in the ordinary way, but that +he expects he will be able to sell back at a good price to the new owner +of the property. I think he calculates that that gentleman will be ready +to pay as much as he is asked. I don't know, but I think that's his idea +from something he said the other day about the uselessness of even good +stuff from a big house unless you knew of a sure market, or could sell +it back again to the owner." + +"Jolly clever idea if it works all right," said Walter slowly. "I can +see Mr. Deede Dawson is a man who needs watching. And I suppose we had +better be on the look-out at the Abbey tomorrow night?" + +"Evening," corrected Dunn. "It's planned for the dinner-hour." + +"Right," said Walter. "We shall see some crowded hours tomorrow, I +expect. Well, it's like this, as I understand it--we had better be sure +everything is quite clear. Their idea is that you will meet and murder +Rupert Dunsmore, who they have no notion is really your own self, at +Brook Bourne Spring at four tomorrow afternoon, and the unknown somebody +who is behind all this business will be in hiding there to make sure +you do your work properly. Our idea is to watch all the roads leading to +Ottam's Wood and to have men in ambush near the spring to seize any one +hiding there at that time. Then we shall know who is at the bottom of +all these plots and shall be able to smash the whole conspiracy. In +addition, Deede Dawson and this other man you speak of, Allen, are going +to break into the Abbey tomorrow evening and we are to be ready for them +and catch them in the act?" + +"Yes," said Dunn, "that's the idea; you can manage all right?" + +"Oh, yes," answered Walter. "It's all simple enough--you've planned it +out so jolly well there's nothing much left for me to do. And I don't +see what you're nervous about; there's nothing that can go wrong very +well--your plans are perfect, I think." + +"It's easy enough to make plans when you know just what the other side +are going to do," observed Dunn. "There's one point more. Miss Cayley--I +mentioned her in one of the notes I sent you through Burns." + +"Yes, I remember--Deede Dawson's step-daughter," said Walter. "I suppose +she is in it?" + +"She is not; she knows nothing," declared Dunn vehemently. + +"But it was she who took away poor Charley's body, wasn't it?" asked +Walter. "But for that you would have had evidence enough to act on at +once, wouldn't you?" + +"She did not know what she was doing," Dunn replied. "And now she is in +danger herself. I am convinced Deede Dawson is growing afraid of her, +he dropped hints; I'm sure he is planning something, perhaps he means +to murder her as well. So besides these other arrangements I want to see +that there's a trustworthy man watching here. I don't anticipate that +there's any immediate danger--it's almost certain that if he means +anything he will wait till he sees how this other business is turning +out. But I want some one trustworthy to be at hand in case of need. You +will see to that?" + +"Oh, yes, I can spare Simmonds; I'll send him," answered Walter. +"Though, I must say, my dear chap, I don't think I should trouble much +about that young lady. But it can be easily managed, in fact everything +you want me to do is easy enough; I only wish some of it was a bit +difficult or dangerous." + +"You're a good chap, Walter," said Dunn, putting his hand on the other's +shoulder again. "Well, I think it's all settled now. I tell you I'm +looking forward a good deal to four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I feel +as if I would give all I possess to know who it is." + +"Don't make that offer," Walter said with a smile, "or the fates may +accept it." + +"I feel as though there's only one thing in the world I want one half so +much," Dunn said. "As to know who this--devil is." + +"Devil?" repeated Walter. "Well, yes, devil's a word like any other." + +"I think it's justified in this case," said Dunn sternly. "Poor Charley +Wright dead! One thing I can't understand about that is how they got him +back here when you saw him in London when you did. But they're a cunning +lot. They must have worked it somehow. Then Clive. I feel to blame for +Clive's death--as if I ought to have managed better and saved him. Now +there's this other devilry they are planning. I tell you, Walter, I +feel the whole world will be a sweeter place after four o'clock tomorrow +afternoon." + +"At any rate," said Walter, "I think we may be sure of one thing--after +four o'clock tomorrow afternoon you will know all--all." He paused and +repeated, slightly varying the phrase: "Yes, after four o'clock tomorrow +afternoon you will know everything--everything." He added in a brisker +tone: "There's nothing else to arrange?" + +"No," said Dunn, "I don't think so, and I had better go now or Deede +Dawson will be suspecting something. He'll want to know what I've been +stopping out so late for. Good-bye, old chap, and good luck." + +They shook hands. + +"Good-bye and good luck, Rupert, old man," Walter said. "You may depend +on me--you know that." + +"Yes, I do know that," Dunn answered. + +They shook hands again, and Dunn said: "You've hurt your hand. It's tied +up. Is it anything much?" + +"No, no," answered Walter with a little laugh. "A mere scratch. I +scratched it on a bit of wood, a lid that didn't fit properly." + +"Well, good-bye and good luck," Dunn said again, and they parted, Walter +disappearing into the darkness and Dunn returning to the house. + +Deede Dawson heard him enter, and he came to the door of the room in +which he had been sitting. + +"Oh, there you are," he said. "Been enjoying the night air or what? +You've been a long time." + +"I've been thinking," Dunn muttered in the heavy, sulky manner he always +assumed at Bittermeads. + +"Not weakening, eh?" asked Deede Dawson. + +"No," answered Dunn. "I'm not." + +"Good," Deede Dawson exclaimed. "There's a lot to win, and no fear of +failure. I don't see that failure's possible. Do you?" + +"No," answered Dunn. "I suppose not." + +"The mate's sure this time," Deede Dawson declared. "It's our turn to +move, and whatever reply the other side makes, we're sure of our mate +next move. By the way, did you ever solve that problem I showed you the +other day?" + +"Yes, I think so," answered Dunn. "It was a long time before I could hit +on the right move, but I managed it at last, I think." + +"Come and show me, then," said Deede Dawson, bustling back into his room +and beginning to set up the pieces on his travelling chess-board. "This +was the position, wasn't it? Now, what's your move?" + +Dunn showed him, and Deede Dawson burst into a laugh that had in it for +once a touch of honest enjoyment. + +"Yes, that would do it, but for one thing you haven't noticed," he said. +"Black can push the pawn at KB7 and make it, not a queen, but a knight, +giving check to your king and no mate for you next move." + +"Yes, that's so," agreed Dunn. "I hadn't thought of that." + +"Unexpected, eh? Making the pawn a knight?" smiled Deede Dawson. "But in +chess, and in life, it's the unexpected you have to look out for." + +"That's quite an aphorism," said Dunn. "It's true, too." + +He went up to bed, but did not sleep well, and when at last he fell into +a troubled slumber, it seemed to him that Charley Wright and John Clive +were there, one on each side of him, and that they had come, not because +they sought for vengeance, but because they wished to warn him of a doom +like their own that they could see approaching but he could not. + +Toward's morning he got an hour's sound rest, and he was down stairs in +good time. He did not see Ella, but he heard her moving about, so knew +that she was safe as yet; and Deede Dawson gave him some elaborate +parting instructions, a little money, and a loaded revolver. + +"I don't know that I want that," said Dunn. "My hands will be all I need +once I'm face to face with Rupert Dunsmore." + +"That's the right spirit," said Deede Dawson approvingly. "But the +pistol may be useful too. You needn't use it if you can manage without, +but you may as well have it. Good-bye, and the best of luck. Take care +of yourself, and don't lose your head or do anything foolish." + +"Oh, you can trust me," said Dunn. + +"I think I can," smiled Deede Dawson. "I think I can. Good-bye. Be +careful, avoid noise and fuss, don't be seen any more than you can help, +and if you shoot, aim low." + +"There's a vade mecum for the intending assassin," Dunn thought grimly +to himself, but he said nothing, gave the other a sullen nod, and +started off on his strange and weird mission of murdering himself. +He found himself wondering if any one else had ever been in such a +situation. He did not suppose so. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. THE UNEXPECTED + + +To the very letter Dunn followed the careful and precise instructions +given him by Deede Dawson, for he did not wish to rouse in any way +the slightest suspicion or run the least risk of frightening off that +unknown instigator of these plots who was, it had been promised him, to +be present near Brook Bourne Spring at four that afternoon. + +Even the thought of Ella was perhaps less clear and vivid to his mind +just now than was his intense and passionate desire to discover the +identity of the strange and sinister personality against whom he had +matched himself. + +"Very likely it's some madman," he thought to himself. "How in the name +of common sense can he expect to inherit the title and estates quietly +after such a series of crimes as he seems to contemplate? Does he think +no one will have any suspicion of him when he comes forward? Even if +he is successful in getting rid of all of us in this way, how does he +expect to be able to reap his reward? Of course he may think that there +will be no direct evidence if he manages cleverly enough, and that mere +suspicion he will be able to disregard and live down in time, but surely +it will be plain enough that 'who benefits is guilty'? The whole thing +is mad, fantastic. Why, the mere fact of any one making a claim to the +title and estates would be almost enough to justify a jury in returning +a verdict of guilty." + +But though his thoughts ran in this wise all the time he was journeying +to London, and though he repeated them to himself over and over again, +none the less there remained an uneasy consciousness in his mind that +perhaps these people had plans more subtle than he knew, and that even +this difficulty of making their claim without bringing instant suspicion +on themselves they had provided for. + +It was late in the year now, but the day was warm and very calm and +fine. At the London terminus where he alighted he had a strong feeling +that he was watched, and when he took the train back to Delsby he still +had the idea that he was being kept under observation. + +He felt he had been wise in deciding to carry out Deede Dawson's +instructions so closely, for he was sure that if he had failed to do +so in any respect alarm would have been taken at once, and warning +telegrams gone flying on the instant to all concerned. Then that +self-baited trap at Brook Bourne Spring, wherein he hoped to see his +enemy taken, would remain unapproached, and all his work and risk would +have gone for nothing. + +When he alighted at his destination he was a little before time, and so +he got himself something to eat at a small public-house near the station +before starting on his fifteen-mile walk across country. Though he was +not sure, he did not think any one was observing him now. Most likely +his movements up to the present had appeared satisfactory, and it had +not been thought necessary to watch him longer. + +But he was careful to do nothing to rouse suspicion if he were still +being spied upon, and after he had eaten and had a smoke he started off +on his long tramp. + +Even yet he was careful, and so long as he was near the village he made +a show of avoiding observation as much as possible. Later on, when he +had made certain he was not being followed, he did not trouble so much, +though he still kept it in mind that any one he met or passed might well +be in fact one of Deede Dawson's agents. + +He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in other +circumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough. It was a +little curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief preoccupation +seemed to shift from his immediate errand and intense eagerness to +discover the identity of his unknown foe, with whom he hoped to stand +face to face so soon, to a troubled and pressing anxiety about Ella. + +Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least real +danger. He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put on watch at +Bittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy. None the less, +his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile he traversed, till +presently her situation seemed to him the one weak link in his careful +plans. + +That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be taken +in, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt certain +enough. Walter would see to that. Sure was it, too, that the enterprise +Deede Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at the Abbey must result +in their discomfiture and capture. Walter would see to that also. But +concerning Ella's position doubt would insist on intruding, till at last +he decided that the very moment the Brook Bourne Spring business +was satisfactorily finished with he would hurry at his best speed to +Bittermeads and make sure of her safety. + +Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened speed, +and looking at his watch he saw that it was two o'clock, and that he +was still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles from his +destination. + +He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by Deede +Dawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot where the path +he had to take branched off from the road he had been following. At this +spot a heavy country lad was sitting on a gate by the wayside, and as +Dunn approached he clambered heavily down and slouched forward to meet +him. + +"Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?" he asked. + +Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this sudden +recognition in so lonely a spot. + +"Yes, I am," he said, after a moment's hesitation. "Why?" + +"If you are, there's this as I'm to give you," the lad answered, drawing +a note from his pocket. + +"Oh, who gave you that?" Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note contained +some final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering if this lad were +one of his agents in disguise, or merely some inhabitant of the district +hired for the one purpose of delivering the letter. + +But the lad's drawled reply disconcerted him greatly. + +"A lady," he said. "A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait here +and give you this. All alone she was, and drove just like a man." + +He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it was +addressed to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella's writing. He +blinked at it in very great surprise, for there was nothing he expected +less, and he did not understand how she knew so well where he would be +or how she had managed to get away from Bittermeads uninterfered with by +Deede Dawson. + +His first impulse was to suspect some new trap, some new and cunning +trap that, perhaps, the unconscious Ella was being used to bait. Taking +the letter from the boy, he said: + +"How did you know it was for me?" + +"Lady told me," answered the boy grinning. "She said as I was to look +out for a chap answering to the name of Robert Dunn, with his face so +covered with hair you couldn't see nothing of it no more'n you can see +a sheep's back for wool. 'As soon as I set eye on 'ee,' says I, 'That's +him,' I says, and so 'twas." + +He grinned again and slouched away and Dunn stood still, holding the +letter in his hand and not opening it at first. It was almost as though +he feared to do so, and when at last he tore the envelope open it was +with a hand that trembled a little in spite of all that he could do. +For there was something about this strange communication and the means +adopted to deliver it to him that struck him as ominous in the extreme. +Some sudden crisis must have arisen, he thought, and it appeared to him +that Ella's knowledge of where to find him implied a knowledge of Deede +Dawson's plans that meant she was either his willing and active agent +and accomplice, or else she had somehow acquired a knowledge of her +stepfather's proceedings that must make her position a thousand times +more critical and dangerous than before. + +He flung the envelope aside and began to read the contents. It opened +abruptly, without any form of address, and it was written in a hand that +showed plain signs of great distress and agitation: "You are in great +danger. I don't know what. I heard them talking. They spoke as though +something threatened you, something you could not escape. Be careful, +very careful. You asked me once if I had ever heard a man with a high, +squeaky voice, and I did not answer. It was to a man with a voice like +that I gave the packing-case I took away from here the night you came. +Do you remember? He was here all last night, I think. I saw him go very +early. He is Mr. Walter Dunsmore. I saw him that day at Wreste Abbey, +and I knew I had seen him before. This morning I recognized him. I am +sure because he hurt his hand on the packing-case lid, and I saw the +mark there still. He and my stepfather were talking all night, I think +I couldn't hear everything. There is a General Dunsmore. Something is +to happen to him at three o'clock and then to you later, and they both +laughed a great deal because they think you will be blamed for whatever +happens to General Dunsmore. He is to be enticed somewhere to meet +you, but you are not to be there till four, too late. I am afraid, more +afraid than ever I have been. What shall I do? I think they are making +plans to do something awful. I don't know what to do. I think my +stepfather suspects I know something, he keeps looking, looking, smiling +all the time. Please come back and take mother and me away, for I think +he means to kill us both." + +There was no signature, but written like an afterthought across one +corner of the note were the scribbled words: + +"You told me something once, I don't know if you meant it." And then, +underneath, was the addition--"He never stops smiling." + +Twice over Dunn read this strange, disturbing message, and then a third +time, and he made a little gesture of annoyance for it did not seem to +him that the words he read made sense, or else it was that his brain no +longer worked normally, and could not interpret them. + +"Oh, but that's absurd," he said aloud. + +He looked all around him, surprised to see that the face of the +country-side had not changed in any way, but was all just as it had been +before this letter had been put into his hands. + +He began to read a third, but stopped half-way through the first +sentence. + +"Then it's Walter all the time," he muttered. "Walter--Walter!" + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. A RACE AGAINST TIME + + +Even when he had said this aloud it was still as though he could not +grasp its full meaning. + +"Walter," he repeated vaguely. "Walter." + +His thoughts, that had seemed as frozen by the sudden shock of the +tremendous revelation so unconsciously made to him by Ella, began to +stir and move again, and almost at once, with an extraordinary and +abnormal rapidity. + +As a drowning man is said to see flash before his eyes the whole history +and record of his life, so now Dunn saw the whole story of his life-long +friendship with Walter pictured before him. + +For when he was very small, Walter had been to him like an elder +brother, and when he was older, it was Walter who had taught him to +ride and to shoot, to hunt and to fish, and when he was at school it was +Walter to whom he looked up as the dashing young man of the world, who +knew all life's secrets, and when he was at college it was Walter who +had helped him out of the inevitable foolish scrapes into which it is +the custom of the undergraduate to fall. + +Then, when he had come to man's estate, Walter had still been his +confidential friend and adviser. In Walter's hand he had been accustomed +to leave everything during his absences on his hunting and exploring +trips; and at what time during this long and kindly association of +good-fellowship had such black hate and poison of envy bred in Walter's +heart? + +"Walter!" he said aloud once more, and he uttered the name as though it +were a cry of anguish. + +Yet, too, even in his utter bewilderment and surprise, it seemed strange +to him that he had never once suspected, never dreamed, never once had +the shadow of a suspicion. + +Little things, trifling things, a word, an accent, a phrase that had +passed at the time for a jest, a thousand such memories came back to him +now with a new and terrible significance. + +For, after all, Walter was in the direct line. Only just a few lives +stood between him and a great inheritance, a great position. Perhaps +long brooding on what might so easily be had made him mad. + +Dunn remembered now, too, that it was Walter who had discovered that +first murderous attempt which had first put them on their guard, but +perhaps he had discovered it only because he knew of it, and when it +failed, saw his safest plan was to be foremost in tracking it out. + +And it was Walter who had last seen poor Charley Wright alone, and far +from Bittermeads. But perhaps that was a lie to confuse the search for +the missing man, and a reason why that search had failed so utterly up +to the moment of Dunn's own grim discovery in the attic. + +With yet a fresh shock so that he reeled as he stood with the impact of +the thought, Dunn realized that all this implied that every one of his +precautions had been rendered futile that of all his elaborate plans not +one would take effect since all had been entrusted to the care of the +very man against whom they were aimed. + +It was Walter for whom the net had been laid in Ottam's Wood; and Walter +to whom had been entrusted the task of drawing that net tight at the +right moment. + +It was Walter's friends and agents who were to break into Wreste +Abbey, and Walter to whom had been entrusted the task of defeating and +capturing them. It was Walter from whom Ella stood in most danger if her +action that morning had been observed, and it was Walter to whom he had +given the task of protecting her. + +At this thought, he turned and began to run as fast as he could in the +direction of Bittermeads. + +At all costs she must be saved, she who had exposed the whole awful +plot. For a hundred yards or so he fled, swift as the wind, till on a +sudden he stopped dead with the realization of the fact that every yard +he took that way took him further and further from Ottam's Wood. + +For there was danger there, too--grim and imminent--and sentences +in Ella's hasty letter that bore now to his new knowledge a deep +significance she had not dreamed of. + +As when a flash of lightning lights all the landscape up and shows the +traveller dreadful dangers that beset his path, so a wave of intuition +told Dunn clearly the whole conspiracy; so that he saw it all, and +saw how every detail was to be fitted in together. His father, General +Dunsmore, was to be murdered first at the Brook Bourne Spring, to which +he was being lured; and afterwards, when Dunn arrived, he was to be +murdered, too. And on him, dead and unable to defend himself, the +blame of his father's death would be laid. It would not be difficult to +manage. Walter would arrange it all as neatly as he had been accustomed +to arrange the Dunsmore business affairs placed in his hands for +settlement. + +A forged letter or two, Dunn's own revolver used to shoot the old man +with and then placed in Dunn's dead hand when his own turn had come, +convincing detail like that would be easy to arrange. Why, the very +fact of his disguise, the tangled beard that he had grown to hide his +features with, would appear conclusive. Any coroner's jury would return +a verdict of wilful murder against his memory on that one fact alone. + +Walter would see to that all right. A little false evidence apparently +reluctantly given would be added, and all would be kneaded together into +the one substance till the whole guilt of all that happened would appear +to lie solely on his shoulders. + +As for motive, it would simply be put forward that he had been in a +hurry to succeed his uncle. And very likely some tale of a quarrel with +his father or something of that sort would be invented, and would go +uncontradicted since there would be no one to contradict it. + +And most probably what was contemplated at Wreste Abbey was no ordinary +burglary, but the assassination of old Lord Chobham, of which the guilt +would also be set down to him. + +Very clearly now he realized that this tremendous plot was aimed, not +only at life, but at honour--that not only was his life required, but +also that he should be thought a murderer. + +With the realization of the danger that threatened at Wreste Abbey he +turned and began to run back in the direction where it lay, that he +might take timely warning there, but he did not run a dozen strides when +he remembered Ella again, and paused. + +Surely he must think of her first, alone and unprotected. For she was +the woman he loved; and besides, she had summoned him to her help, and +then she was a woman, and at least, the others were men. + +All this flood of thoughts, this intuitive grasping of a situation +terrible beyond conception, almost unparalleled in bloody and dreadful +horror, passed through his mind with extreme rapidity. + +Once more he turned and began to run--to run as he had never run before, +for now he saw that all depended on the speed with which he could cover +the eight miles that lay between him and Ottam's Wood, whether he could +still save his father or not. + +The district was lonely in the extreme, there was no human habitation +near, no place where he could obtain any help or any swift means of +conveyance. His one hope must be in his speed, his feet must be swift to +save, not only his own life and his father's, but his honour, too, and +Ella and his old uncle as well; and all--all hung upon the speed with +which he could cover the eight long miles that lay between him and Brook +Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood. Even as he ran, as he thought of Ella, +he came abruptly to a pause, wrung with sudden anguish. For each fleet +stride he was making towards Brook Bourne Spring was taking him +further and further away from Bittermeads just as before each step to +Bittermeads had been taking him further from Ottam's Wood. + +He began to run again, even faster than before, and it was towards +Ottam's Wood that he ran, each step taking him further from Bittermeads +and further from the woman he loved in her bitter need and peril, who +looked to him for the help he could not give. With pain and anguish +he ran on, ran as men have seldom run--as seldom so much was hung upon +their running. + +On and on he sped, fleet as the wind, fleet as the light breeze that +blew lightly by. A solitary villager trudging on some errand in this +lonely place, tells to this day the tale of the bearded, wild-eyed man +who raced so madly by him, raced on and down the long, straight road +till his figure dwindled and vanished in the distance. + +A shepherd boy went home with a tale of a strange thing he had seen of +a man running so fast it seemed he was scarcely in sight before he was +gone again. + +And except for those two and one other none saw him at all and he ran +his race alone beneath the skies, across the bare country side. + +It was at a spot where the path ran between two high hedges that he came +upon a little herd of cows a lad was driving home. + +It seemed impossible to pass through that tangle of horns and tails and +plunging hoofs, and so indeed it was, but Dunn took another way, and +with one leap, cleared the first beast clean and alighted on the back of +the second. + +Before the startled beast could plunge away he leaped again from the +vantage of its back and landed on the open ground beyond and so on, +darting full speed past the staring driver, whose tale that he told when +he got home caused him to go branded for years as a liar. + +On and on Dunn fled, without stay or pause, at the utmost of his speed +every second of time, every yard of distance. For he knew he had need +of every ounce of power he possessed or could call to his aid, since he +knew well that all, all, might hang upon a second less or more, and now +four miles lay behind him and four in front. + +Still on he raced with labouring lungs and heart near to bursting +--onward still, swift, swift and sure, and now there were six miles +behind and only two in front, and he was beginning to come to a part of +the country that he knew. + +Whether he was soon or late he had no idea or how long it was that he +had raced like this along the lonely country road at the full extremity +and limit of his strength. + +He dared not take time to glance at his watch, for he knew the fraction +of a second he would thus lose might mean the difference between in time +and too late. On he ran still and presently he left the path and took +the fields. + +But he had forgotten that though the distance might be shorter the going +would be harder, and on the rough grass he stumbled, and across the bare +ground damp earth clung to his boots and hindered him as though each +foot had become laden with lead. + +His speed was slower, his effort greater if possible, and when he came +to a hedge he made no effort to leap, but crashed through it as best he +could and broke or clambered or tumbled a path for himself. + +Now Ottam's Wood was very near, and reeling and staggering like a man +wounded to the death but driven by inexorable fate, he plunged on still, +and there was a little froth gathering at the corners of his mouth and +from one of his nostrils came a thin trickle of blood. + +Yet still he held on, though in truth he hardly knew any longer why he +ran or what his need for haste, and as he came to the wood round a spur +where a cluster of young beeches grew, he saw a tall, upright, elderly +man walking there, well-dressed and of a neat, soldier-like appearance. + +"Hallo--there you are--father--" he gasped and fell down, prone +unconscious. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + +When he came to himself he was lying on his back, and bending over him +was his father's familiar face, wearing an expression of great surprise +and wonder, and still greater annoyance. + +"What is the matter?" General Dunsmore asked as soon as he saw that his +son's senses were returning to him. "Have you all gone mad together? You +send me a mysterious note to meet you here at three, you turn up racing +and running like an escaped lunatic, and with a disgusting growth of +hair all over your face, so that I didn't know you till you spoke, and +then there's Walter dodging about in the wood here like a poacher hiding +from the keepers. Are you both quite mad, Rupert?" + +"Walter," Rupert repeated, lifting himself on one hand, "Walter--have +you seen him?" + +"Over there," said the general, nodding towards the right. "He was +dodging and creeping about for all the world like some poaching rascal. +I waved, but he didn't see me, and when I tried to overtake him I lost +sight of him somehow in the trees, and found I had come right out of my +way for Brook Bourne Spring." + +"Thank God for that," said Rupert fervently as a picture presented +itself to him of his unsuspecting father trying in that lonely wood to +find and overtake the man whose murderous purpose was aimed at his life. + +"What do you mean?" snapped the general. "And why have you made such a +spectacle of yourself with all that beard? Why, I didn't know you till +you spoke--there's Walter there. What makes him look like that?" + +For Walter had just come out of the wood about fifty yards to their +right, and when he saw them talking together he understood at once that +in some way or another all his plans had failed. + +He was looking at them through a gap in some undergrowth that hid most +of his body, but showed his head and shoulders plainly, and as he stood +there watching them his face was like a fiend's. + +"Walter," the general shouted, and to his son Rupert he said: "The boy's +ill." + +Walter moved forward from among the trees. He had a gun in his hand, and +he flung it forward as though preparing to fire, and at the same moment +Rupert Dunsmore drew from his pocket the pistol Deede Dawson had given +him and fired himself. + +But at the very moment that he pulled the trigger the general struck up +his arm so that the bullet flew high and harmless through the tops of +the trees. + +Walter stepped back again into the wood, and Rupert said: + +"You don't know what you have done, father." + +"You are mad, mad," the general gasped. + +His face was very pale, and he trembled a little, for though he had +heard many bullets whistle by his ears, that had happened in action +against an enemy, and was altogether different from this. He put out his +hand in an attempt to take the pistol that Rupert easily evaded. + +"Give it to me," he said. "I saved his life; you might have killed him." + +"Yes, you saved him, father," Rupert muttered, thinking to himself that +the saving of Walter's life might well mean the loss of Ella's, since +very likely the failure of their plots would be at once attributed by +the conspirators to her. "Father, I never wrote that letter you say you +had. Walter forged it to get you here, where he meant to kill us both. +That's why he looked like that, that's why he had his gun." + +General Dunsmore only stared blankly at him for a moment. + +"Kill me? Kill you? What for?" he gasped. + +"So that he might become Lord Chobham of Wreste Abbey instead of Lord +Chobham's poor relation," answered Rupert. "The poison attempt on uncle +which Walter discovered was first of all his own doing; it was through +him Charley Wright lost his life. He has committed at least one other +murder. Today he meant to kill both of us. Then he would have been heir +to the title and estates, and when uncle died he would have been Lord +Chobham." + +"Nonsense, absurd, impossible. You're mad, quite mad," the general +stammered. "Why, he would have been hanged at once." + +"Not if he could have fixed the blame elsewhere," Rupert answered. "That +was to have been my part; it was carefully arranged to make it seem I +was responsible for it all. I haven't time to explain now. I don't think +he is coming back. I expect he is only loaded with small shot, and he +doesn't dare try a long range shot or come near now he knows I'm ready +for him." + +"But it's--it's impossible--Walter," stammered the general. +"Impossible." + +"The impossible so often happens," answered Rupert, and handed his +pistol to him. "You must trust me, father, and do what I tell you. Take +this pistol in case you are attacked on the way home. You may be, but +I don't think it's likely. Get the motor out and go straight to Wreste +Abbey. An attempt on uncle's life will be made tonight, if they still +carry out their plans, about dinner-time tonight. See that every +possible precaution is taken. See to that first. Then send help as soon +as you can to Bittermeads, a house on the outskirts of Ramsdon; any one +there will tell you where it is." + +"But what are you going to do?" General Dunsmore asked. + +"I'm going to find Walter, if he's still hiding in the wood here, as he +may be," Rupert answered. "I should like a little chat with him." For +a moment he nearly lost his self-control, and for a single moment there +showed those fiery and tempestuous passions he was keeping now in such +stern repression. "Yes a little talk with him, just us two," he said. +"And if he's cleared out, or I can't find him I'm going straight on to +Bittermeads. There's some one there who may be in danger, so the sooner +I am there the better." + +"But wait a moment," the general cried. "Are you armed?" + +"Yes, with my hands, I shall want no more when Walter and I meet again," +Rupert answered, and, without another word, plunged into the wood at the +spot where Walter had vanished. + +At first the track of Walter's flying footsteps was plain enough for he +had fled full speed, panic having overtaken him when he saw Rupert and +his father together and understood that in some way his deep conspiracy +had failed and his treachery become known. + +For a little distance, therefore, he had crashed through bracken and +undergrowth, heedless of all but the one need that was upon him to flee +away and escape while there was yet time. But, after a while, his first +panic subsiding, he had gone more carefully, and, as the weather had +been very dry of late, when he came to open ground his footmarks were +scarcely visible. + +In such spots Rupert could make but slow progress, and he was +handicapped, too, by the fact, that all the time he had to be on his +guard lest from some unsuspected quarter his enemy should come upon him +unawares. + +For, indeed, this enterprise he had undertaken in the flood tide of +his passion and fierce anger was dangerous enough since he, quite +weaponless, was following up a very desperate armed man who would know +that for him there could be henceforth no question of mercy. + +But there was that burning in Rupert's heart that made him heedless of +all danger, and indeed, he who for mere love of sport and adventure, had +followed a wounded tiger into the jungle and tracked a buffalo through +thick reeds, was not likely to draw back now. + +Once he thought he had succeeded, for he saw a bush move and he rushed +at once upon it. But when he reached it there was nothing there, and the +ground about was hard and bare, showing no marks to prove any one +had lately been near. And once he saw a movement in the midst of some +bracken and caught a glimpse of what seemed like Walter's coat, so that +he was sure he had him at last, and he shouted and ran forward. + +But again no one was there, though the bracken was all trampled and +beaten down. The tracks Walter had made in going were plain, too, but +Rupert lost them almost at once and could not find them again, and when +he came a little later to the further edge of the wood, he decided to +waste no more time, but to make his way direct to Bittermeads so as at +least to make sure of Ella's safety. + +He told himself that he had failed badly in woodcraft and, indeed, he +had been too fierce and hot in his pursuit to show his wonted skill. + +The plan that had been in his mind from the moment when he left his +father was to take advantage of the fact that on this edge of the wood +was situated a farm belonging to Lord Chobham, where horses were bred +and where he was well known. + +Some of these horses were sure to be out in the fields, and it would +be easy for him, wasting no time in explanation, to catch one of +them, mount bare-backed and ride through the New Plantation--the New +Plantation was a hundred years old, but still kept that name--over the +brow of the hill beyond, swim the canal in the valley, and so straight +across-country to Ramsdon. + +Riding thus direct he would save time and distance, and arrive more +quickly than by going the necessary distance to secure a motor-car which +would have also to take a much more circuitous route. + +He jumped the hedge, therefore, that lay at the wood's edge and slid +down the steep bank into the sunken road beyond where he found himself +standing in front of Walter, who held in his hands a gun levelled +straight at Rupert's heart. + +"I could have shot you time after time in there you know," he said +quietly. "From behind that bush and from out of the bracken, too. I +don't know why I didn't. I suppose it wasn't worth while, now I shall +never be Lord Chobham." + +He flung down his gun as he spoke and sprang on a bicycle that he had +held leaning against his legs. + +Quickly he sped away, leaving Rupert standing staring after him, +realizing that his life had hung upon the bending of Walter's finger, +and that Walter, with at least two cold-blooded murders to his +account, or little more to hope for in this world or the next, had now +inexplicably spared him for whose destruction, of life and honour alike, +he had a little before been laying such elaborate, hellish plans. + +With a gesture of his hands that proved he failed to understand, Rupert +ran on and crossed a field to where he saw some horses grazing. + +One he knew immediately for one of his father's mares, and he knew her +also for an animal of speed and endurance. + +The mare knew him, too, and suffered him to mount her without +difficulty, and without a soul on the farm being aware of what was +happening and without having to waste any precious time on explanations +or declaring his identity, Rupert rode away, sitting the mare +bare-backed, through the New Plantation towards Bittermeads, where he +hoped, arriving unexpectedly, to be able to save Ella before the danger +he was sure threatened her came to a head. + +Of one thing he was certain. Deede Dawson would never do what his +companion in villainy had just done, he would spare no one; fierce, +malignant and evil to the last, his one thought if he knew they had and +vengeance approached would be to do what harm he could before the end. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. BACK AT BITTERMEADS + + +When, riding fast, Rupert Dunsmore came in sight of Bittermeads he +experienced a feeling of extreme relief. Though what he had feared he +did not quite know, for he did not see that any alarm could have reached +here yet or any hint come to Deede Dawson of the failure of all his +plotting. + +Even if Walter had had the idea of returning to give his accomplice +warning, he could not have come by the road on his bicycle as quickly +as Rupert had ridden across country. And that Walter would spend either +time or thought on Deede Dawson did not appear in any way probable. + +To Rupert, therefore, it seemed certain that Deede Dawson could know +nothing as yet. But all the same it was an immense relief to see the +house again and to know that in a few moments he would be there. + +He tied up the mare to a convenient tree, and with eyes that were quick +and alert and every nerve and muscle ready for all emergencies, he drew +near the house. + +All was still and quiet, no smoke came from the chimneys, there was no +sign of life or movement anywhere. For a moment he hesitated and then +made his way round to the back, hoping to find Mrs. Barker there and +perhaps obtain from her information as to the whereabouts of Deede +Dawson and of Ella and her mother. + +For it seemed to him it would be his best plan to get the two women +quietly out of the way if he could possibly do so before making any +attempt to deal with Deede Dawson or letting him know of his return. + +For the mere fact that he was back again so soon would show at once that +something had gone seriously wrong, and once Deede Dawson knew that, he +would be, Rupert well realized, in a very desperate and reckless mood +and ripe for committing any mischief that he could. + +Cautiously Rupert opened the back door and found himself in the +stone-paved passage that ran between the kitchen and the scullery and +pantry. Everything seemed very quiet and still, and there was no sign of +Mrs. Barker nor any appearance that she had been that morning busy about +her usual tasks. The kitchen fire was not lighted, a pile of unwashed +crockery stood on the table, there had apparently been no attempt to +prepare any meals. + +Frowning uneasily, for all this did not seem to him of good omen, Rupert +went quickly on to the living rooms. + +They were unoccupied and did not seem to have been much used that day; +and in the small breakfast-room Deede Dawson had been accustomed +to consider his special apartment, his favourite little travelling +chessboard stood on the table with pieces in position on it. + +There was a letter, too, he had begun but not finished, to the editor +of a chess-column in some paper, apparently to the effect that a certain +problem "cooked," and that by such and such a move "the mate for the +first player that appeared certain was unexpectedly and instantly +transferred in this dramatic manner into a mate for his opponent." + +The words seemed somehow oddly appropriate to Rupert, and he smiled +grimly as he read them and then all at once his expression changed and +his whole attitude became one of intense watchfulness and readiness. + +For his quick eye had noted that the ink on the nib of the pen that this +letter had been written with, was not yet dry. + +Then Deede Dawson must have been here a moment or two ago and must have +gone in a hurry. That could only mean he was aware of Rupert's return +and was warned and suspicious. It is perhaps characteristic of Rupert's +passionate and eager temperament that only now did it occur to him +that he was quite unarmed and that without a weapon of any kind he was +matching himself against as reckless and as formidable a criminal as had +ever lived. + +For want of anything better he picked up the heavy glass inkpot standing +on the table, emptied the contents in a puddle on the floor, and held +the inkpot itself ready in his hand. + +He listened intently, but heard no sound--no sound at all in the whole +house, and this increased his apprehensions, for he knew well that Deede +Dawson was a man always the most dangerous when most silent. + +It was possible of course that he had fled, but not likely. He would not +go, Rupert thought, till he had made his preparations and not without +a last effort to take revenge on those who had defeated him and in this +dramatic way turned the mate he had expected to secure into a win for +his opponent. + +Still Rupert listened intently, straining his ears to catch the least +sound to hint to him where his enemy was, for he knew that if he failed +to discover him his first intimation of his proximity might well come in +the shape of the white-hot sting of a bullet, rending flesh and bone. + +Then, too, where was Ella, and where was her mother? + +There was something inexpressibly sinister in the utter quietness of the +house, a quietness not at all of peace and rest but of a brooding, angry +threat. + +Still he could hear nothing, and he left the room, very quickly and +noiselessly, and he made sure there was no one anywhere in any of these +rooms on the ground floor. + +He locked the front door and the back to make sure no one should enter +or leave too easily, and returned on tiptoe, moving to and fro like +a shadow cast by a changing light, so swift and noiseless were his +movements. + +For a little he remained crouching against the side of the stairway, +listening for any sound that might float down to him from above. + +But none came--and on a sudden, in one movement, as it were, he ran up +the stairs and crouched down on the topmost one so that any bullet aimed +at him as he appeared might perhaps fly overhead. + +But none was fired; there was still no sound at all, no sign that the +house held any living creature beside himself. He began to think +that Deede Dawson must have sent the two women away and now have gone +himself. + +But there was the pen downstairs with ink still wet upon the nib to +prove that he had been here recently, and again very suddenly Rupert +leaped to his feet and ran noiselessly down the corridor and entered +quickly into Ella's room. + +He had not been in it since the night of his arrival at Bittermeads, but +it appeared to him extraordinarily familiar and every little object in +it of ornament or use seemed to speak to him softly of Ella's gracious +presence. + +Of Ella herself there was no sign, but he noticed that the tassel at the +end of the window blind cord was moving as if recently disturbed. + +The movement was very slight, almost imperceptible, indeed, but it +existed; and it proved that some one must very shortly before have been +standing at the window. He moved to it and looked out. + +The view commanded the road by which he had approached Bittermeads, and +he wondered if Ella had been standing there and had seen his approach, +and then had concealed herself for some reason. + +But, if so, why and where was she hiding? And where was Deede Dawson? +And why was everything so silent and so still? + +He turned from the window, and as he did so he caught a faint sound in +the passage without. + +Instantly he crouched behind the bed, the heavy glass inkpot that was +his one weapon poised in his hand. + +The sound did not come again, but as he waited, he saw the door begin to +open very slowly, very quietly. + +Lower still he crouched, the inkpot ready to throw, every nerve taut and +tense for the leap at his foe's throat with which he meant to follow it +up. The door opened a little more, very slowly, very carefully. It was +wide enough now to admit of entry, and through the opening there sidled, +pale and red-eyed, Ella's mother, looking so frail and feeble and so +ruffled and disturbed she reminded Rupert irresistibly of a frightened +hen. + +She edged her way in as though she dared not open the door too widely, +and Rupert hesitated in great perplexity and vexation, for he saw that +he must show himself, and he feared that she would announce his presence +by flight or screams. + +But he could not possibly get away without her knowledge; and besides, +she might be able to give him useful information. + +He stood up quickly, with his finger to his lips. "Hush!" he said. "Not +a sound--not a sound." The warning seemed unnecessary, for Mrs. Dawson +appeared too paralysed with fear to utter even the faintest cry as she +dropped tremblingly on the nearest chair. + +"Hush! Hush!" he said. "Where is Ella?" + +"I--I don't know," quavered Mrs. Dawson. + +"When did you see her last?" + +"A little while ago," Mrs. Dawson faltered. "She went upstairs. She +didn't come down, so I thought I would try to find her." + +"Where's Deede Dawson?" Rupert asked. + +"I--I don't know," she quavered again. + +"When did you see him last?" + +"I--I--a little while ago," she faltered. "He went upstairs--he didn't +come down again. I thought I would try to find her--him--I was so +frightened when they didn't either of them come down again." + +It was evident she was far too confused and upset to give any useful +information of any nature, even if she knew anything. + +"Deede's been so strange," she said. "And Ella too. I think it's +very hard on me--dreams, too. He said he wanted her to help him get a +packing-case ready he had to send away somewhere. I don't know where. I +don't think Ella wanted to--" + +"A packing-case?" Rupert muttered. "What for?" + +"It's what they came upstairs to do," Mrs. Dawson said. "And--and--" +She began to cry feebly. "It's my nerves," she said. "He's looked so +strange at us all day--and neither of them has come down again." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. THE ATTIC + + +It was evident that more had occurred to make Mrs. Dawson afraid that +she would, or perhaps could, say. + +"Wait here," Rupert said to her. "Don't stir." The command seemed +superfluous, for she had not at that moment the appearance of still +possessing the power to move. Without speaking again, Rupert left the +room and went quickly to the foot of the narrow stairs that led to the +attics above. + +He listened, crouching there, and heard nothing, and a cold fear came to +him that perhaps Deede Dawson had done up above what he wished to do and +then effected his escape while he himself had been lingering in Ella's +room. + +Adopting his plan of a rapid rush to disconcert the aim of any one who +might be about to fire at him, he made a swift dash up the stairs and on +the topmost one crouched down again and waited. + +But still nothing happened, all was very quiet, and the door of one +attic, the one which had been assigned to him as a bed-chamber, was wide +open so that he could see into it and see that it was unoccupied. + +But the doors of both the others were closed, and as he looked he made +out in the gloom, for this landing by the attic was very badly-lighted +by a small and awkwardly-placed skylight, a scattered dozen or so of +hairpins, and a tortoiseshell comb such as he had seen sometimes in +Ella's hair, lying on the floor near the door of the larger of the two +attics, the one in which he remembered well he had found Deede Dawson on +a certain night busy measuring and examining an empty packing-case. + +With one quick rush he crossed the landing and flung himself at the +door. + +It opened at once, for it was not locked, and within he saw Deede +Dawson, screw-driver in his hand, standing behind a large packing-case, +the lid of which he had apparently that minute finished fastening down. + +He looked up as Rupert entered thus precipitately, and he showed no sign +of surprise or alarm. + +"You're back early," he said. "Something gone wrong?" + +"What are you doing? What's in there?" Rupert asked, looking at the +packing-case, his mouth and lips so suddenly dry he found it difficult +to speak at all. + +Deede Dawson began to laugh, a low and dreadful laughter that had in it +no trace of merriment at all, but only of mockery and malice. + +It was such laughter as a devil from the nethermost pit might give vent +to when he saw at last a good man yield to long temptation. + +"What's in there?" Rupert said again, pointing to the packing-case, and +it was as though his soul swooned within him for fear of what the answer +might be. + +"What do the children say?" Deede Dawson returned with his terrible +smile. "I'll give you three guesses, isn't it? See if you can guess in +three tries." + +"What's in there?" Rupert asked the third time, and Deede Dawson laid +down the screw-driver with which he had just driven home the last screw. + +"Oh, see for yourself, if you want to," he said. "But you ought to know. +You know what was in the other case I sent away from here, the one I got +Ella to take in the car for me? I want you to take this one away now, +the sooner it's away the better." + +"That's it, is it?" Rupert muttered. + +He no longer doubted, and for a moment all things swam together before +him and he felt dizzy and a little sick, and so weak he staggered and +nearly fell, but recovered himself in time. + +The sensation passed and he saw Deede Dawson as it were a long way off, +and between them the packing-case, huge, monstrous, and evil, like a +thing of dread from some other world. Violent shudderings swept though +him one after the other, and he was aware that Deede Dawson was speaking +again. + +"What did you say?" he asked vacantly, when the other paused. + +"You look ill," Deede Dawson answered. "Anything wrong? Why have you +come back so soon? Have you failed?" + +Rupert passed his hand before his eyes to clear away the mist that hung +there and that hampered his sight. + +He perceived that Deede Dawson held his right hand in the pocket of his +coat, grasping something that bulged out curiously. + +He divined that it was a pistol, and that Deede Dawson was ready to +shoot at any moment, but that he wished very greatly to know first of +all what had happened and why Rupert had returned so soon and whether +there was immediate necessity for flight or not. + +That he was uneasy was certain, for his cold eyes showed a hesitation +and a doubt such as Rupert had never seen in them before. + +"I'll tell you what's happened," Rupert heard himself saying hoarsely. +"If you'll tell me what's in there." + +"A bargain, eh?" Deede Dawson said. "It's easy enough. You can look for +yourself if you unscrew the lid, but then, after all, why should we take +all that trouble?" + +As he spoke his pistol showed in his hand, and at once the heavy glass +inkpot Rupert had held all this time flew straight and true, and with +tremendous force, at Deede Dawson's head. + +He avoided it only by the extreme rapidity with which he dropped behind +the packing-case, and it flew over his head and crashed against the +centre panel of a big wardrobe that stood in one corner of the room, +splitting the panel it struck from top to bottom. + +Following it, Rupert hurled himself forward with one great spring, but +agile as a cat that leaps away from the mastiff's teeth, Deede Dawson +slipped from his grasp to the other side of the room. In doing so he +knocked his arm against the corner of the packing-case, so that his +revolver fell to the ground. + +With a shout Rupert stooped and seized it, and straightened himself +to see that Deede Dawson had already another revolver in his hand--a +second one that he had drawn from an inner pocket. + +They remained very still, watching each other intently, neither eager +to fire, since both wished first to make the other speak. For Rupert +desired very greatly that Deede Dawson should tell him where Ella was, +and Deede Dawson needed that Rupert should explain what had gone wrong, +and how imminent and great was the danger that therefore most likely +threatened him. + +Each knew, too, that the slightest movement he made would set the other +shooting, and each realized that in that close and narrow space any +exchange of shots must almost of necessity mean the death of both, since +both were cool and deadly marksmen, well accustomed to the use of the +revolver. + +Deede Dawson was the first to speak. + +"Well, what next?" he said. "If that inkpot of yours had hit me it would +pretty well have knocked my brains out, and if I hadn't hit my elbow +against the corner of the packing-case I would have had you shot through +with holes like a sieve by now. So far the score's even. Let's chat a +bit, and see if we can't come to some arrangement. Look, I'll show I +trust you." + +As he spoke he laid down, much to Rupert's surprise, and to his equal +suspicion, his revolver on the top of a moth-eaten roll of old carpet +that leaned against the wall near where he was standing. + +"You see, I trust you," he said once more. + +"Take your pistol up again," answered Rupert grimly. "I do not trust +you." + +"Ah, that's a pity." Deede Dawson smiled, making no effort to do as the +other said. "You see, we are both good shots, and if we start blazing +away at each other up here we shall both be leaking pretty badly before +long. That's a prospect that has no attraction for me; I don't know +if it has for you. But there are things I can tell you that might be +interesting, and things you can tell me I want to know. Why not exchange +a little information, and then separate calmly, rather than indulge in +pistol practice that can only mean the death of us both? For if your +first bullet goes through my brain I swear my first will be in your +heart." + +"Likely enough," agreed Rupert, "but worth while perhaps." + +"Oh, that's fanaticism," Deede Dawson answered. "Flattering perhaps to +me, but not quite reasonable, eh?" + +"There's only one thing I want to know from you," Rupert said slowly. + +"Then why not ask it, why not agree to the little arrangement I suggest, +eh? Eh, Rupert Dunsmore?" + +"You know me, then?" + +"Oh, long enough." + +"Where is Ella?" + +Deede Dawson laughed again. + +"That's a thing I know and you don't," he said. "Well, she's safe away +in London by this time." + +"That's a lie, for her mother's here still," answered Rupert, even +though his heart leapt merely to hear the words. + +"Unbelieving Thomas," smiled the other. "Well, then, she is where +she is, and that you can find out for yourself. But I'll make another +suggestion. We are both good shots, and if we start to fire we shall +kill each other. I am certain of killing you, but I shan't escape +myself. Well, then, why not toss for it? Equal chances for both, and +certain safety for one. Will you toss me, the one who loses to give up +his pistol to the other?" + +"It seems to me a good idea," Deede Dawson argued. "Here we are watching +each other like cats, and knowing that the least movement of either will +start the other off, and both of us pulling trigger as hard as we can. +My idea would mean a chance for one. Well, let's try another way; the +best shot to win. You don't trust me, but I will you." + +Leaving his pistol lying where he had put it down, he crossed the attic, +and with a pencil he took from his pocket drew a circle on the panel of +the wardrobe door that Rupert had split with the inkpot he had thrown. + +In the centre of the circle he marked a dot, and turned smilingly to the +frowning and suspicious Rupert. + +"There you are," he said, and made another circle near the first one. +"Now you put a bullet into the middle of this circle and I'll put one +afterwards through the second circle, and the one who is nearest to the +dots I've marked, wins. What have you to say to that? Seems to me better +than our killing each other. Isn't it?" + +"I think you're playing the fool for some reason of your own," answered +Rupert. "There's only one thing I want to know from you. Where is Ella?" + +"Let me know how you can shoot," answered Deede Dawson, "and I'll tell +you, by all that's holy, I will." + +Rupert hesitated. He did not understand all this, he could not imagine +what motive was in Deede Dawson's mind, though it was certainly true +enough that once they began shooting at each other neither man was at +all likely to survive, for Rupert knew he would not miss and he did not +think Deede Dawson would either. + +Above all, there was the one thing he wished to know, the one +consideration that weighed with him above all others--what had become of +Ella? And this time there had been in Deede Dawson's voice an accent +of twisted and malign sincerity that seemed to say he really would be +willing to tell the truth about her if Rupert would gratify his whim +about this sort of shooting-match that he was suggesting. + +The purpose of it Rupert could not understand, but it did not seem to +him there would be any risk of harm in agreeing, for Deede Dawson +was standing so far away from his own weapon he could not well be +contemplating any immediate mischief or treachery. + +It did occur to him that the pistol he held might be loaded in one +chamber only and that Deede Dawson might be scheming to induce him to +throw away his solitary cartridge. + +But a glance reassured him on that point. + +"Let me see how you can shoot," Deede Dawson repeated, leaning +carelessly with folded arms against the wall a little distance away. +"And I promise you I'll tell you where Ella is." + +Rupert lifted his pistol and was indeed on the very point of firing when +he caught a glimpse of such evil triumph and delight in Deede Dawson's +cold eyes that he hesitated and lowered the weapon, and at the same +time, looking more closely, searching more intently for some indication +of Deede Dawson's hidden purpose, he noticed, caught in the crack of the +wardrobe door, a tiny shred of some blue material only just visible. + +He remembered that sometimes of an afternoon Ella had been accustomed +to wear a frock made of a material exactly like that of which so tiny a +fragment showed now in the crack of the wardrobe door. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. SOME EXPLANATIONS + + +He turned quickly towards Deede Dawson. Their eyes met, and in that +mutual glance Rupert Dunsmore read that his suspicions were correct and +Deede Dawson that his dreadful trap was discovered. + +Neither spoke. For a brief moment they remained impassive, immobile, +their eyes meeting like blows, and then Deede Dawson made one spring to +seize again the revolver he had laid down in the hope of enticing Rupert +into the awful snare prepared for him. + +But quick as he was, Rupert was quicker still, and as Deede Dawson +leaped he lifted his pistol and fired, though his aim was not at the +man, but at the revolver lying on the top of the roll of carpet where +Deede Dawson had placed it. + +The bullet, for Rupert was a man who seldom missed, struck the weapon +fair and whirled it, shattered and useless, to the floor. Deede Dawson, +whose hand had been already outstretched to seize it, drew back with +a snarl that was more like the cry of a trapped wolf than any sound +produced from human lips. + +Still, Rupert did not speak. With the smoking pistol in his hand he +watched silently and steadily his helpless enemy who, for his part, was +silent, too, and very still, for he felt that doom was close upon him. + +Yet he showed not the least sign of fear, but only a fierce and sullen +defiance. + +"Shoot away, why don't you shoot?" he sneered. "Mind you don't miss. I +trusted you when I put my revolver down and I was a fool, but I thought +you would play fair." + +Without a word Rupert tossed his pistol through the attic window. + +They heard the tinkling fall of the glass, they heard more faintly the +sound of the revolver striking the outhouse roof twenty feet below and +rebounding thence to the paved kitchen yard beneath, and then all was +quiet again. + +"I only need my hands for you," said Rupert softly, as softly as a +mother coos to her drowsy babe. "My hands for you." + +For the first time Deede Dawson seemed to fear, for, indeed, there was +that in Rupert Dunsmore's eyes to rouse fear in any man. With a sudden +swift spring, Rupert leaped forward and Deede Dawson, not daring to +abide that onslaught, turned and ran, screaming shrilly. + +During the space of one brief moment, a dreadful and appalling moment, +there was a wild strange hunting up and down the narrow space of that +upper attic, cumbered with lumber and old, disused furniture. + +Round and round Deede Dawson fled, screaming still in a high shrill way, +like some wild thing in pain, and hard upon him followed Rupert, nor had +they gone a second time about that room before Rupert had Deede Dawson +in a fast embrace, his arms about the other's middle. + +One last great cry Deede Dawson gave when Rupert seized him, and then +was silent as Rupert lifted him and swung him high at arm's length. + +As a child in play sports with its doll, so Rupert swung Deede Dawson +twice about his head, round and round and then loosed him so that he +went hurling through the air with awful force, like a stone shot from a +catapult, clean through the window through which Rupert had the moment +before tossed his pistol with but little more apparent effort. + +Right through the window, bearing panes and sash with him, Deede Dawson +flew with the impetus of that great throw and out beyond and down, +turning over and over the while, down through the empty air to fall and +be shattered like a piece of worthless crockery on the stone threshold +of the outhouse door. + +Surprised to find himself alone, Rupert put his hand to his forehead and +looked vacantly around. + +"My God, what have I done?" he thought. + +He was trembling violently, and the fury of the passion that had +possessed him and had given his mighty muscles a force more than human, +was still upon him. + +Going to the window, he looked out, for he did not quite know what had +happened and from it he looked back at the wardrobe door. + +"Oh, yes," he said. "Yes." + +He ran to it and tore open the door and from within very tenderly and +gently he lifted down the half-swooning Ella who, securely gagged and +tightly bound, had been thrust into its interior to conceal her from +him. + +Hurriedly he freed her from her bonds and from the handkerchief that was +tied over her mouth and holding her in his arms like a child, pressing +her close to his heart, he carried her lightly out of that dreadful +room. + +Only once did she stir, only once did she speak, when lifting her pale, +strained face to him she murmured very faintly something in which he +just caught the words: + +"Deede Dawson." + +"He'll trouble us no more nor any one else, I think," answered Rupert, +and she said no more but snuggled down in his arms as though with a +feeling of perfect security and safety. + +He took her to her own room and left her with her mother, and then went +down to the hall and took a chair and sat at the front door. + +All at once he felt very tired and one of his shoulders hurt him, for he +had strained a muscle there rather badly. + +His one desire was to rest, and he did not even trouble to go round to +the back of the house to see what had happened to Deede Dawson, though +indeed that was not a point on which he entertained much doubt. + +For a long time he sat there quietly, till at last his father arrived in +a motor-car from Wreste Abbey, together with a police-inspector from the +county town whom he had picked up on the way. + +Rupert took them into the room where Deede Dawson's chessmen and the +board were still standing and told them as briefly as he could what had +happened since the first day when he had left his home to try to trace +out and defeat the plot hatched by Walter Dunsmore and Deede Dawson. + +"You people wouldn't act," he said to the inspector. "You said there +was no evidence, no proof, and I daresay you were right enough from the +legal point of view. But it was plain enough to me that there was +some sort of conspiracy against my uncle's life, I thought against my +father's as well, but I was not sure of that at first. It was through +poor Charley Wright I became so certain. He found out things and told me +about them; but for him the first attempt to poison my uncle would have +succeeded. Even then we had still no evidence to prove the reality of +our suspicions, for Walter destroyed it, by accident, I thought at the +time, purposely, as I know now. It was something Walter said that gave +Charley the idea of coming here. Then he vanished. He must have roused +their suspicions somehow, and they killed him. But again Walter put us +all off the scent by his story of having seen Charley in London, so that +it was there the search for him was made, and no one ever thought of +Bittermeads. I never suspected Walter, such an idea never entered my +head; but luckily I didn't tell him of my idea of coming to Bittermeads +myself to try to find out what was really going on here. He knew nothing +of where I was till I told him that day at Wreste Abbey, then of course +he came over here at once. I thought it was anxiety for my safety, but I +expect really it was to warn his friends. When I saw him here that night +I told him every single thing, I trusted the carrying-out of everything +I had arranged to him. If it hadn't been for a note Miss Cayley wrote +me to warn me, I should have walked right into the trap and so would my +father too." + +The police-inspector asked a few questions and then made a search of the +room which resulted in the discovery of quite sufficient proof of the +guilt of Deede Dawson and of Walter Dunsmore. + +Among these proofs was also a hastily-scribbled note from Walter that +solved the mystery of John Clive's death. It was not signed, but both +General Dunsmore and Rupert knew his writing and were prepared to swear +to it. Beginning abruptly and scribbled on a torn scrap of paper, it +ran: + +"I found Clive where you said, lucky you got hold of the note and read +it before she sent it, for no doubt she meant to warn him. Take care she +gets no chance of the sort again. I did Clive's business all right. +She saw me and I think recognized me from that time she saw me over the +packing-case business, before I took it out to sink it at sea. At any +rate, she ran off in a great hurry. If you aren't careful, she'll make +trouble yet." + +"Apparently," remarked the inspector when he had read this aloud, "the +young lady was very luckily not watched closely enough and did make +trouble for them. Could I see her, do you think?" + +"I don't know, I'll go and ask," Rupert said. + +Ella was still very shaken, but she consented to see the inspector, and +they all went together to her room where she was lying on her bed with +her mother fussing nervously about her. + +She told them in as few words as possible the story of how she had +always disliked and mistrusted the man whom so unfortunately her mother +had married, and how gradually her suspicions strengthened till she +became certain that he was involved in many unlawful deeds. + +But always her inner certainty had fallen short of absolute proof, so +careful had he been in all he did. + +"I knew I knew," she said. "But there was nothing I really knew. And +he made me do all sorts of things for him. I wouldn't have cared for +myself, but if I tried to refuse he made mother suffer. She was very, +very frightened of him, but she would never leave him. She didn't dare. +There was one night he made me go very late with a packing-case full of +silver things he had, and he wouldn't tell me where he had got them. I +believe he stole them all, but I helped him pack them, and I took them +away the night Mr. Dunsmore came and gave them to a man wearing a mask. +My stepfather said it was just a secret family matter he was helping +some friends in, and later on I saw the same man in the woods near here +one day--the day Mr. Clive was killed by the poachers--and when he +came another time to the house I thought I must try to find out what he +wanted. I listened while they talked and they said such strange things +I made up my mind to try to warn Mr. Dunsmore, for I was sure there was +something they were plotting." + +"There was indeed," said Rupert grimly. "And but for that warning you +sent me they would have succeeded." + +"Somehow they found out what I had done," Ella continued. "As soon as +I got back he kept looking at me so strangely. I was afraid--I had been +afraid a long time, for that matter--but I tried not to show it. In the +afternoon he told me to go up to the attic. He said he wanted me to help +him pack some silver. It was the same silver I had packed before; for +some reason he had got it back again. This time I had to pack it in the +little boxes, and after I had finished I waited up there till suddenly +he ran in very quickly and looking very excited. He said I had betrayed +them, and should suffer for it, and he took some rope and he tied me as +tightly as he could, and tied a great handkerchief over my mouth, and +pushed me inside the wardrobe and locked it. I think he would have +killed me then only he was afraid of Mr. Dunsmore, and very anxious to +know what had happened, and why Mr. Dunsmore had come home, and if there +was any danger. And I was a long time there, and I heard a great noise, +and then Mr. Dunsmore opened the door and took me out." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. CONCLUSION + + +Three months had passed, and in a quiet little cottage on the outskirts +of a small country town, situated in one of the most beautiful and +peaceful vales of the south-west country, Ella was slowly recovering +from the shock of the dreadful experiences through which she had passed. + +She had been ill for some weeks, but her mother, fussily incompetent +at most times, was always at her best when sickness came, and she had +nursed her daughter devotedly and successfully. + +As soon as possible they had come to this quiet little place where +people, busy with their own affairs and the important progress of the +town, had scarcely heard of what the newspapers of the day called "The +Great Chobham Sensation." + +But, in fact, very much to Rupert's relief, comparatively little had +been made known publicly, and the whole affair had attracted wonderfully +little attention. + +The one public proceeding had been the inquest of Deede Dawson, and that +the coroner, at the request of the police eagerly searching for Walter +Dunsmore, had made as brief and formal as possible. Under his direction +the jury had returned a verdict of "justifiable homicide," and Ella's +illness had had at least one good result of making it impossible for her +to attend to give her evidence in person. + +At a trial, of course, everything would have had to be told in full, +but both Allen, Deede Dawson's accomplice, and Walter Dunsmore, his +instigator and employer, had vanished utterly. + +For Walter the search was very hot, but so far entirely without result. +Now could Allen be found. He was identified with a fair degree of +certainty as an old criminal well known to the authorities, and it was +thought almost certain that he had had previous dealings with Deede +Dawson, and knew enough about him to be able to force himself into +Bittermeads. + +Of the actual plot in operation there he most likely knew little or +nothing, but probably Deede Dawson thought he might be useful, and +the store of silver found in the attic that Ella had been employed in +packing ready for removal was identified as part of the plunder from a +recent burglary in a northern town. + +It was thought, therefore, that both Allen and Deede Dawson might have +been concerned in that affair, that Deede Dawson had managed to secure +the greater share of the booty, and that Allen, on the night when Rupert +found him breaking into Bittermeads, was endeavouring to get hold of the +silver for himself. + +But the actual facts are not likely now ever to be known, for from that +day to this nothing has been heard of Allen. His old haunts know him +no more, and to his record, carefully preserved at Scotland Yard, there +have been no recent additions. + +One theory is that Deede Dawson, finding him troublesome, took effectual +steps to dispose of him. Another is that Deede Dawson got him away by +either bribes or threats, and that, not knowing of Deede Dawson's death, +he does not venture to return. + +In any case, he was a commonplace criminal, and his fate is of little +interest to any one but himself. + +It was Walter for whom the police hunted with diligence and effort, but +with a total lack of success, so that they began to think at the end of +three months that he must somehow have succeeded in making his way out +of the country. + +During the first portion of this time Rupert had been very busy with a +great many things that needed his attention. And then Lord Chobham, his +health affected by the crimes and treachery of a kinsman whom he had +known and trusted as he had known and trusted Walter, was attacked by +acute bronchitis which affected his heart and carried him off within the +week. The title and estates passed, therefore, to General Dunsmore, and +Rupert became the Honourable Rupert Dunsmore and the direct heir. All +this meant for him a great deal more to see to and arrange, for the +health of the new Lord Chobham had also been affected and he left +practically everything in his son's hands, so that, except for the +letters which came regularly but had been often written in great haste, +Ella knew and heard little of Rupert. + +But today he was to come, for everything was finally in order, and, +though this she did not know till later, Walter Dunsmore had at last +been discovered, dead from poison self-administered, in a wretched +lodging in an East End slum. Rupert had been called to identify the body +and he had been able to arrange it so that very little was said at +the inquest, where the customary verdict of "Suicide during temporary +insanity" was duly returned by a quite uninterested jury. + +That the last had been heard of the tragedy that had so nearly +overwhelmed his life, Rupert was able now to feel fairly well assured, +and it was therefore in a mood more cheerful than he had known of late +that he started on his journey to Ella's new residence. + +He had sent a wire to confirm his letter, and it was in a mood that +was more than a little nervous that she busied herself with her +preparations. + +She chose her very simplest gown, and when there was absolutely nothing +more to do she went into their little sitting-room to wait alone by the +fire she had built up there, for it was winter now and today was cold +and inclined to be stormy. + +Rupert had not said exactly when she was to expect him, and she sat for +a long time by the fire, starting at every sound and imagining at every +moment that she heard the front-door bell ring. + +"I shall not let him feel himself bound," she said to herself with great +decision. "I shall tell him I hope we shall always be friends but that's +all; and if he wants anything more, I shall say No. But most likely +he won't say a word about all that nonsense, it would be silly to take +seriously what he said--there." + +To Ella, now, Bittermeads was always "there," and though she told +herself several times that probably Rupert had not the least idea of +repeating what he had said to her--there--and that most likely he was +coming today merely to make a friendly call, and that it would never do +for either of them to think again of what they had said when they were +both so excited and overwrought, yet in her heart she knew a great deal +better than all that. + +But she said to herself very often: + +"Anyhow, I shall certainly refuse him." + +And on this point her mind was irrevocably made up since, after all, +whether Rupert would accept refusal or not would still remain entirely +for him to decide. + +At half-past three she heard the garden-gate creak, and when she ran to +the window to peep, she saw with a kind of chill surprise that there was +a stranger coming through. + +"Some one he's sent," she said to herself. "He doesn't want to come +himself and so he has sent some one else instead. I am glad." + +Having said this and repeated again the last three words, and having +gulped down a sob--presumably of joy--that unexpectedly fluttered into +her throat, she went quickly to open the door. + +The newly-arrived stranger smiled at her as she showed herself but did +not speak. He was a man of middle height, quite young, and wrapped in +a big, loose overcoat that very completely hid his figure. His face, +clean-shaven, showed clear, strongly-marked well-shaped features with a +firm mouth round which at this moment played a very gentle and winning +smile, a square-cut chin, and extremely bright, clear kindly eyes that +were just now smiling too. + +When he took off his hat she saw that his hair was cut rather closely, +and very neatly brushed and combed, and she found his smile so +compelling and so winning that in spite of her disappointment she found +herself returning it. + +It occurred to her that she had some time or another seen some one like +this stranger, but when or where she could not imagine. + +Still he did not speak, but his eyes were very tender and kind as they +rested on her so that she wondered a little. + +"Yes?" she said inquiringly. "Yes?" + +"Don't you know me, Ella?" he said then, very softly, and in a voice +that she recognized instantly. + +"Is it you--you?" she breathed. + +Instinctively she lifted her hands to greet him, and at once she found +herself caught up and held, pressed passionately to his strongly-beating +heart. + + ***** + +An hour later, by the fire in the sitting-room, Ella suddenly remembered +tea. + +"Good gracious! You must be starving," she cried, smitten with remorse. +"And there's poor mother waiting upstairs all this time. Oh, Rupert, are +you very hungry?" + +"Starving," he asserted, but held her to him as closely as ever. + +"I must get the tea," she protested. She put one cheek against his and +sighed contentedly. + +"It's nice to see the real you," she murmured. "But oh, Rupert, I do +miss your dear bristly beard." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. 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Punshon + + + + + +CONTENTS + +I THE LONE PASSENGER + +II THE FIGHT IN THE WOODS + +III A COINCIDENCE + +IV A WOMAN WEEPS + +V A WOMAN AND A MAN + +VI A DISCOVERY + +VII QUESTION AND ANSWER + +VIII CAPTIVITY CAPTURE + +IX THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + +X THE NEW GARDENER + +XI THE PROBLEM + +XII AN AVOWAL + +XIII INVISIBLE WRITING + +XIV LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + +XV THE SOUND OF A SHOT + +XVI IN THE WOOD + +XVII A DECLARATION + +XVIII ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + +XIX THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + +XX ELLA'S WARNING + +XXI DOUBTS AND FEARS + +XXII PLOTS AND PLANS + +XXIII COUNTER PLANS + +XXIV AN APHORISM + +XXV THE UNEXPECTED + +XXVI A RACE AGAINST TIME + +XXVII FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + +XXVIII BACK AT BITTERMEADS + +XXIX THE ATTIC + +XXX SOME EXPLANATIONS + +XXXI CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LONE PASSENGER + + +That evening the down train from London deposited at the little +country station of Ramsdon but a single passenger, a man of middle +height, shabbily dressed, with broad shoulders and long arms and a +most unusual breadth and depth of chest. + +Of his face one could see little, for it was covered by a thick +growth of dark curly hair, beard, moustache and whiskers, all +overgrown and ill-tended, and as he came with a somewhat slow and +ungainly walk along the platform, the lad stationed at the gate to +collect tickets grinned amusedly and called to one of the porters +near: + +"Look at this, Bill; here's the monkey-man escaped and come back +along of us." + +It was a reference to a travelling circus that had lately visited +the place and exhibited a young chimpanzee advertised as "the +monkey-man," and Bill guffawed appreciatively. + +The stranger was quite close and heard plainly, for indeed the youth +at the gate had made no special attempt to speak softly. + +The boy was still laughing as he held out his hand for the ticket, +and the stranger gave it to him with one hand and at the same time +shot out a long arm, caught the boy--a well-grown lad of sixteen +--by the middle and, with as little apparent effort as though +lifting a baby, swung him into the air to the top of the gate-post, +where he left him clinging with arms and legs six feet from the +ground. + +"Hi, what are you a-doing of?" shouted the porter, running up, as +the amazed and frightened youth, clinging to his gate-post, emitted +a dismal howl. + +"Teaching a cheeky boy manners," retorted the stranger with an angry +look and in a very gruff and harsh voice. "Do you want to go on +top of the other post to make a pair?" + +The porter drew back hurriedly. + +"You be off," he ordered as he retreated. "We don't want none of +your sort about here." + +"I certainly have no intention of staying," retorted the other as +gruffly as before. "But I think you'll remember Bobbie Dunn next +time I come this way." + +"Let me down; please let me down," wailed the boy, clinging +desperately to the gate-post on whose top he had been so +unceremoniously deposited, and Dunn laughed and walked away, leaving +the porter to rescue his youthful colleague and to cuff his ears +soundly as soon as he had done so, by way of a relief to his feelings. + +"That will learn you to be a bit civil to folk, I hope," said the +porter severely. "But that there chap must have an amazing strong +arm," he added thoughtfully. "Lifting you up there all the same as +you was a bunch of radishes." + +For some distance after leaving the station, Dunn walked on slowly. + +He seemed to know the way well or else to be careless of the +direction he took, for he walked along deep in thought with his eyes +fixed on the ground and not looking in the least where he was going. + +Abruptly, a small child appeared out of the darkness and spoke to +him, and he started violently and in a very nervous manner. + +"What was that? What did you say, kiddy?" he asked, recovering +himself instantly and speaking this time not in the gruff and harsh +tones he had used before but in a singularly winning and pleasant +voice, cultivated and gentle, that was in odd contrast with his +rough and battered appearance. "The time, was that what you wanted +to know?" + +"Yes, sir; please, sir," answered the child, who had shrunk back in +alarm at the violent start Dunn had given, but now seemed reassured +by his gentle and pleasant voice. "The right time," the little one +added almost instantly and with much emphasis on the "right." + +Dunn gravely gave the required information with the assurance that +to the best of his belief it was "right," and the child thanked him +and scampered off. + +Resuming his way, Dunn shook his head with an air of grave +dissatisfaction. + +"Nerves all to pieces," he muttered. "That won't do. Hang it all, +the job's no worse than following a wounded tiger into the jungle, +and I've done that before now. Only then, of course, one knew what +to expect, whereas now--And I was a silly ass to lose my temper +with that boy at the station. You aren't making a very brilliant +start, Bobby, my boy." + +By this time he had left the little town behind him and he was +walking along a very lonely and dark road. + +On one side was a plantation of young trees, on the other there was +the open ground, covered with furze bush, of the village common. + +Where the plantation ended stood a low, two-storied house of medium +size, with a veranda stretching its full length in front. It stood +back from the road some distance and appeared to be surrounded by a +large garden. + +At the gate Dunn halted and struck a match as if to light a pipe, +and by the flickering flame of this match the name "Bittermeads," +painted on the gate became visible. + +"Here it is, then," he muttered. "I wonder--" + +Without completing the sentence he slipped through the gate, which +was not quite closed, and entered the garden, where he crouched +down in the shadow of some bushes that grew by the side of the +gravel path leading to the house, and seemed to compose himself +for a long vigil. + +An hour passed, and another. Nothing had happened--he had seen +nothing, heard nothing, save for the passing of an occasional +vehicle or pedestrian on the road, and he himself had never stirred +or moved, so that he seemed one with the night and one with the +shadows where he crouched, and a pair of field-mice that had come +from the common opposite went to and fro about their busy occupations +at his feet without paying him the least attention. + +Another hour passed, and at last there began to be signs of life +about the house. + +A light shone in one window and in another, and vanished, and soon +the door opened and there appeared two people on the threshold, +clearly visible in the light of a strong incandescent gas-burner +just within the hall. + +The watcher in the garden moved a little to get a clearer view. + +In the paroxysm of terror at this sudden coming to life of what +they had believed to be a part of the bushes, the two little +field-mice scampered away, and Dunn bit his lip with annoyance, +for he knew well that some of those he had had traffic with in the +past would have been very sure, on hearing that scurrying-off of +the frightened mice, that some one was lurking near at hand. + +But the two in the lighted doorway opening on the veranda heard and +suspected nothing. + +One was a man, one a woman, both were young, both were +extraordinarily good-looking, and as they stood in the blaze of the +gas they made a strikingly handsome and attractive picture on which, +however, Dunn seemed to look from his hiding-place with hostility +and watchful suspicion. + +"How dark it is, there's not a star showing," the girl was saying. +"Shall you be able to find your way, even with the lantern? You'll +keep to the road, won't you?" + +Her voice was low and pleasant and so clear Dunn heard every word +distinctly. She seemed quite young, not more than twenty or +twenty-one, and she was slim and graceful in build and tall for a +woman. Her face, on which the light shone directly, was oval in +shape with a broad, low forehead on which clustered the small, +unruly curls of her dark brown hair, and she had clear and very +bright brown eyes. The mouth and chin were perhaps a little large +to be in absolute harmony with the rest of her features, and she +was of a dark complexion, with a soft and delicate bloom that +would by itself have given her a right to claim her possession of +a full share of good looks. She was dressed quite simply in a +white frock with a touch of colour at the waist and she had a very +flimsy lace shawl thrown over her shoulders, presumably intended +as a protection against the night air. + +Her companion was a very tall and big man, well over six feet in +height, with handsome, strongly-marked features that often bore an +expression a little too haughty, but that showed now a very tender +and gentle look, so that it was not difficult to guess the state of +his feelings towards the girl at his side. His shoulders were broad, +his chest deep, and his whole build powerful in the extreme, and +Dunn, looking him up and down with the quick glance of one accustomed +to judge men, thought that he had seldom seen one more capable of +holding his own. + +Answering his companion's remark, he said lightly: + +"Oh, no, I shall cut across the wood, it's ever so much shorter, +you know." + +"But it's so dark and lonely," the girl protested. "And then, after +last week--" + +He interrupted her with a laugh, and he lifted his head with a +certain not unpleasing swagger. + +"I don't think they'll trouble me for all their threats," he said. +"For that matter, I rather hope they will try something of the sort +on. They need a lesson." + +"Oh, I do hope you'll be careful," the girl exclaimed. + +He laughed again and made another lightly-confident, almost-boastful +remark, to the effect that he did not think any one was likely to +interfere with him. + +For a minute or two longer they lingered, chatting together as they +stood in the gas-light on the veranda and from his hiding-place Dunn +watched them intently. It seemed that it was the girl in whom he +was chiefly interested, for his eyes hardly moved from her and in +them there showed a very grim and hard expression. + +"Pretty enough," he mused. "More than pretty. No wonder poor +Charles raved about her, if it's the same girl--if it is, she ought +to know what's become of him. But then, where does this big chap +come in?" + +The "big chap" seemed really going now, though reluctantly, and it +was not difficult to see that he would have been very willing to +stay longer had she given him the least encouragement. + +But that he did not get, and indeed it seemed as if she were a +little bored and a little anxious for him to say good night and go. + +At last he did so, and she retired within the house, while he came +swinging down the garden path, passing close to where Dunn lay +hidden, but without any suspicion of his presence, and out into the +high road. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIGHT IN THE WOOD + + +From his hiding-place in the bushes Dunn slipped out, as the big +man vanished into the darkness down the road, and for the fraction +of a second he seemed to hesitate. + +The lights in the house were coming and going after a fashion that +suggested that the inmates were preparing for bed, and almost at +once Dunn turned his back to the building and hurried very quickly +and softly down the road in the direction the big man had just +taken. + +"After all," he thought, "the house can't run away, that will be +still there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big +chap is and where he comes from." + +In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness +of his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he +moved, a shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man +did as he melted through the darkness and a swift runner would have +difficulty in keeping pace with him. + +An old labourer going home late bade the big man a friendly good +night and passed on without seeing or hearing Dunn following close +behind, and a solitary woman, watching at her cottage door, saw +plainly the big man's tall form and heard his firm and heavy steps +and would have been ready to swear no other passed that way at that +time, though Dunn was not five yards behind, slipping silently and +swiftly by in the shelter of the trees lining the road. + +A little further beyond this cottage a path, reached by climbing a +stile, led from the high road first across an open field and then +through the heart of a wood that seemed to be of considerable extent. + +The man Dunn was following crossed this stile and when he had gone +a yard or two along the path he halted abruptly, as though all at +once grown uneasy, and looked behind. + +From where he stood any one following him across the stile must have +shown plainly visible against the sky line, but though he lingered +for a moment or two, and even, when he walked on, still looked back +very frequently, he saw nothing. + +Yet Dunn, when his quarry paused and looked back like this, was only +a little distance behind, and when the other moved on Dunn was still +very near. + +But he had not crossed the stile, for when he came to it he realised +that in climbing it his form would be plainly visible in outline for +some distance, and so instead, he had found and crawled through a gap +in the hedge not far away. + +They came, Dunn so close and so noiseless behind his quarry he might +well have seemed the other's shadow, to the outskirts of the wood, +and as they entered it Dunn made his first fault, his first failure +in an exhibition of woodcraft that a North American Indian or an +Australian "black-fellow" might have equalled, but could not have +surpassed. + +For he trod heavily on a dry twig that snapped with a very loud, +sharp retort, clearly audible for some distance in the quiet night, +and, as dry twigs only snap like that under the pressure of +considerable weight, the presence of some living creature in the +wood other than the small things that run to and fro beneath the +trees, stood revealed to all ears that could hear. + +Dunn stood instantly perfectly still, rigid as a statue, listening +intently, and he noted with satisfaction and keen relief that the +regular heavy tread of the man in front did not alter or change. + +"Good," he thought to himself. "What luck, he hasn't heard it." + +He moved on again, as silently as before, perhaps a little inclined +to be contemptuous of any one who could fail to notice so plain a +warning, and he supposed that the man he was following must be some +townsman who knew nothing at all of the life of the country and was, +like so many of the dwellers in cities, blind and deaf outside the +range of the noises of the streets and the clamour of passing traffic. + +This thought was still in his mind when all at once the steady sound +of footsteps he had been following ceased suddenly and abruptly, cut +off on the instant as you turn off water from a tap. + +Dunn paused, too, supposing that for some reason the other had +stopped for a moment and would soon walk on again. + +But a minute passed and then another and there was still no sound of +the footsteps beginning again. A little puzzled, Dunn moved +cautiously forward. + +He saw nothing, he found nothing, there was no sign at all of the +man he had been following. + +It was as though he had vanished bodily from the face of the earth, +and yet how this had happened, or why, or what had become of him, +Dunn could not imagine, for this spot was, it seemed, in the very +heart of the wood, there was no shelter of any sort or kind anywhere +near, and though there were trees all round just the ground was +fairly open. + +"Well, that's jolly queer," he muttered, for indeed it had a strange +and daunting effect, this sudden disappearance in the midst of the +wood of the man he had followed so far, and the silence around seemed +all the more intense now that those regular and heavy footsteps had +ceased. + +"Jolly queer, as queer a thing as ever I came across," he muttered +again. + +He listened and heard a faint sound from his right. He listened +again and thought he heard a rustling on his left, but was not sure +and all at once a great figure loomed up gigantic before him and the +light of lantern gleamed in his face. + +"Now, my man," a voice said, "you've been following me ever since I +left Bittermeads, and I'm going to give you a lesson you won't +forget in a hurry." + +Dunn stood quite still. At the moment his chief feeling was one of +intense discomfiture at the way in which he had been outwitted, and +he experienced, too, a very keen and genuine admiration for the +woodcraft the other had shown. + +Evidently, all the time he had known, or at any rate, suspected, +that he was being followed, and choosing this as a favourable spot +he had quietly doubled on his tracks, come up behind his pursuer, +and taken him unawares. + +Dunn had not supposed there was a man in England who could have +played such a trick on him, but his admiration was roughly disturbed +before he could express it, for the grasp upon his collar tightened +and upon his shoulders there alighted a tremendous, stinging blow, +as with all his very considerable strength, the big man brought down +his walking-stick with a resounding thwack. + +The sheer surprise of it, the sudden sharp pain, jerked a quick cry +from Dunn, who had not been in the least prepared for such an attack, +and in the darkness had not seen the stick rise, and the other +laughed grimly. + +"Yes, you scoundrel," he said. "I know very well who you are and +what you want, and I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your +life." + +Again the stick rose in the air, but did not fall, for round about +his body Dunn laid such a grip as he had never felt before and as +would for certain have crushed in the ribs of a weaker man. The +lantern crashed to the ground, they were in darkness. + +"Ha! Would you?" the man exclaimed, taken by surprise in his turn, +and, giant as he was, he felt himself plucked up from the ground as +you pluck a weed from a lawn and held for a moment in mid-air and +then dashed down again. + +Perhaps not another man alive could have kept his footing under +such treatment, but, somehow, he managed to, though it needed all +his great strength to resist the shock. + +He flung away his walking-stick, for he realized very clearly now +that this was not going to be, as he had anticipated, a mere case +of the administration of a deserved punishment, but rather the +starkest, fiercest fight that ever he had known. + +He grappled with his enemy, trying to make the most of his superior +height and weight, but the long arms twined about him, seemed to +press the very breath from his body and for all the huge efforts he +put forth with every ounce of his tremendous strength behind them, +he could not break loose from the no less tremendous grip wherein +he was taken. + +Breast to breast they fought, straining, swaying a little this way +or that, but neither yielding an inch. Their muscles stood out like +bars of steel, their breath came heavily, neither man was conscious +any more of anything save his need to conquer and win and overthrow +his enemy. + +The quick passion of hot rage that had come upon Dunn when he felt +the other's unexpected blow still burned and flamed intensely, so +that he no longer remembered even the strange and high purpose which +had brought him here. + +His adversary, too, had lost all consciousness of all other things +in the lust of this fierce physical battle, and when he gave +presently a loud, half-strangled shout, it was not fear that he +uttered or a cry for aid, but solely for joy in such wild struggle +and efforts as he had never known before. + +And Dunn spake no word and uttered no sound, but strove all the more +with all the strength of every nerve and muscle he possessed once +again to pluck the other up that he might dash him down a second +time. + +In quick and heavy gasps came their breaths as they still swayed +and struggled together, and though each exerted to the utmost a +strength few could have withstood, each found that in the other he +seemed to have met his match. + +In vain Dunn tried again to lift his adversary up so that he might +hurl him to the ground. It was an effort, a grip that seemed as +though it might have torn up an oak by the roots, but the other +neither budged nor flinched beneath it. + +And in vain, in his turn, did he try to bend Dunn backwards to crush +him to the earth, it was an effort before which one might have +thought that iron and stone must have given away, but Dunn still +sustained it. + +Thus dreadfully they fought, there in the darkness, there in the +silence of the night. + +Dreadfully they wrestled, implacable, fierce, determined, every +primeval passion awake and strong again, and slowly, very slowly, +that awful grip laid upon the big man's body began to tell. + +His breathing grew more difficult, his efforts seemed aimed more +to release himself than to overcome his adversary, he gave way an +inch or two, no more, but still an inch or two of ground. + +There was a sharp sound, like a thin, dry twig snapping beneath a +careless foot. + +It was one of his ribs breaking beneath the dreadful and +intolerable pressure of Dunn's enormous grip. But neither of the +combatants heard or knew, and with one last effort the big man put +forth all his vast strength in a final attempt to bear his enemy +down. + +Dunn resisted still, resisted, though the veins stood out like +cords on his brow, though a little trickle of blood crept from +the corner of his mouth and though his heart swelled almost to +bursting. + +There was a sound of many waters in his ears, the darkness all +around grew shot with little flames, he could hear some one +breathing very noisily and he was not sure whether this were himself +or his adversary till he realized that it was both of them. With +one sudden, almost superhuman effort, he heaved his great adversary +up, but had not strength enough left to do more than let him slip +from his grasp to fall on the ground, and with the effort he himself +dropped forward on his hands and knees, just as a lantern shone at +a distance and a voice cried: + +"This way, Tom. Master John, Master John, where are you?" + + + +CHAPTER III + +A COINCIDENCE + + +Another voice answered from near by and Dunn scrambled hurriedly to +his feet. + +He had but a moment in which to decide what to do, for these new +arrivals were coming at a run and would be upon him almost instantly +if he stayed where he was. + +That they were friends of the man he had just overthrown and whose +huge bulk lay motionless in the darkness at his feet, seemed plain, +and it also seemed plain to him that the moment was not an opportune +one for offering explanations. + +Swiftly he decided to slip away into the darkness. What had +happened might be cleared up later when he knew more and was more +sure of his ground; at present he must think first, he told himself, +of the success of his mission. + +Physically, he was greatly exhausted and his gait was not so steady +nor his progress so silent and skillful as it had been before, as +now he hurried away from the scene of the combat. + +But the two new-comers made no attempt to pursue him and indeed did +not seem to give his possible presence in the vicinity even a +thought, as with many muttered exclamations of dismay and anger, +they stooped over the body of his prostrate enemy. + +It was evident they recognized him at once, and that he was the "Mr. +John" whose name they had called, for so they spoke of him to each +other as they busied themselves about him. + +"I expect I've been a fool again," Dunn thought to himself ruefully, +as from a little distance, well-sheltered in the darkness, he +crouched upon the ground and listened and watched. "I may have +ruined everything. Any one but a fool would have asked him what he +meant when he hit out like that instead of flying into a rage and +hitting back the way I did. Most likely it was some mistake when +he said he knew who I was and what I wanted--at least if it +wasn't--I hope I haven't killed him, anyhow." + +Secure in the protection the dark night afforded him, he remained +sufficiently near at hand to be able to assure himself soon that +his overthrown adversary was certainly not killed, for now he began +to express himself somewhat emphatically concerning the manner in +which the two new-comers were ministering to him. + +Presently he got to his feet and, with one of them supporting him +on each side, began to limp away, and Dunn followed them, though +cautiously and at a distance, for he was still greatly exhausted +and in neither the mood nor the condition for running unnecessary +risks. + +The big man, Mr. John, as the others called him, seemed little +inclined for speech, but the others talked a good deal, subsiding +sometimes when he told them gruffly to be quiet but invariably +soon beginning again their expressions of sympathy and vows of +vengeance against his unknown assailant. + +"How many of them do you think there were, Mr. John, sir?" one +asked presently. "I'll lay you marked a fair sight of the villains." + +"There was only one man," Mr. John answered briefly. + +"Only one?" the other repeated in great surprise. "For the Lord's +sake, Mr. John--only one? Why, there ain't any one man between +here and Lunnon town could stand up to you, sir, in a fair tussle." + +"Well, he did," Mr. John answered. "He had the advantage, he took +me by surprise, but I never felt such a grip in my life." + +"Lor', now, think of that," said the other in tones in which +surprise seemed mingled with a certain incredulity. "It don't +seem possible, but for sure, then, he don't come from these here +parts, that I'll stand to." + +"I knew that much before," retorted Mr. John. "I said all the time +they were outsiders, a London gang very likely. You'll have to get +Dr. Rawson, Bates. I don't know what's up, but I've a beast of a +pain in my side. I can hardly breathe." + +Bates murmured respectful sympathy as they came out of the shelter +of the trees, and crossing some open ground, reached a road along +the further side of which ran a high brick wall. + +In this, nearly opposite the spot where they emerged on the road, +was a small door which one of the men opened and through which they +passed and locked it behind them, leaving Dunn without. + +He hesitated for a moment, half-minded to scale the wall and +continue on the other side of it to follow them. + +Calculating the direction in which the village of Ramsdon must lie, +he turned that way and had gone only a short distance when he was +overtaken by a pedestrian with whom he began conversation by asking +for a light for his pipe. + +The man seemed inclined to be conversational, and after a few casual +remarks, Dunn made an observation on the length of the wall they +were passing and to the end of which they had just come. + +"Must be a goodish-sized place in there," he said. "Whose is it?" + +"Oh, that there's Ramsdon Place," the other answered. "Mr. John +Clive lives there now his father's dead." + +Dunn stood still in the middle of the road. + +"Who? What?" he stammered. "Who--who did you say?" + +"Mr. John Clive," the other repeated. "Why--what's wrong about +that?" + +"Nothing, nothing," Dunn answered, but his voice shook a little +with what seemed almost fear, and behind the darkness of the +friendly night his face had become very pale. "Clive--John +Clive, you say? Oh, that's impossible." + +"Needn't believe it if you don't want to," grumbled the other. +"Only what do you want asking questions for if you thinks folks +tells lies when they answers them?" + +"I didn't mean that, of course not," exclaimed Dunn hurriedly, by +no means anxious to offend the other. "I'm very sorry, I only meant +it was impossible it should be the same Mr. John Clive I knew once, +though I think he came from about here somewhere. A little, +middle-aged man, I mean, quite bald and wears glasses?" + +"Oh, that ain't this 'un," answered the other, his good humour quite +restored. "This is a young man and tremendous big. I ain't so +small myself, but he tops me by a head and shoulders and so he does +most hereabouts. Strong, too, with it, there ain't so many would +care to stand up against him, I can tell you. Why, they do say he +caught two poachers in the wood there last month and brought 'em out +one under each arm like a pair of squealing babes." + +"Did he, though?" said Dunn. "Take some doing, that, and I daresay +the rest of the gang will try to get even with him for it." + +"Well, they do say as there's been threats," the other agreed. "But +what I says is as Mr. John can look after hisself all right. There +was a tale as a man had been dodging after him at night, but all he +said when they told him, was as if he caught any one after him he +would thrash them within an inch of their lives." + +"Serve them right, too," exclaimed Dunn warmly. + +Evidently this explained, in part at least, what had recently +happened. Mr. Clive, finding himself being followed, had supposed +it was one of his poaching enemies and had at once attempted to +carry out his threat he had made. + +Dunn told himself, at any rate, the error would have the result of +turning all suspicion away from him, and yet he still seemed very +disturbed and ill at ease. + +"Has Mr. Clive been here long?" he asked. + +"It must be four or five years since his father bought the place," +answered his new acquaintance. "Then, when the old man was killed +a year ago, Mr. John inherited everything." + +"Old Mr. Clive was killed, was he?" asked Dunn, and his voice +sounded very strange in the darkness. "How was that?" + +"Accident to his motor-car," the other replied. "I don't hold with +them things myself--give me a good horse, I say. People didn't +like the old man much, and some say Mr. John's too fond of taking +the high hand. But don't cross him and he won't cross you, that's +his motto and there's worse." + +Dunn agreed and asked one or two more questions about the details +of the accident to old Mr. Clive, in which he seemed very interested. + +But he did not get much more information about that concerning which +his new friend evidently knew very little. However, he gave Dunn a +few more facts concerning Mr. John Clive, as that he was unmarried, +was said to be very wealthy, and had the reputation of being +something of a ladies' man. + +A little further on they parted, and Dunn took a side road which he +calculated should lead him back to Bittermeads. + +"It may be pure coincidence," he mused as he walked slowly in a very +troubled and doubtful mood. "But if so, it's a very queer one, and +if it isn't, it seems to me Mr. John Clive might as well put his +head in a lion's jaws as pay visits at Bittermeads. But of course +he can't have the least suspicion of the truth--if it is the truth. +If I hadn't lost my temper like a fool when he whacked out at me +like that I might have been able to warn him, or find out something +useful perhaps. And his father killed recently in an accident--is +that a coincidence, too, I wonder?" + +He passed his hand across his forehead on which a light sweat stood, +though he was not a man easily affected, for he had seen and endured +many things. + +His mind was very full of strange and troubled thoughts as at last +he came back to Bittermeads, where, leaning with his elbows on the +garden gate, he stood for a long time, watching the dark and silent +house and thinking of that scene of which he had been a spectator +when John Clive and the girl had stood together on the veranda in +the light of the gas from the hall and had bidden each other good +night. + +"It seems," he mused, "as though the last that was seen of poor +Charley must have been just like that. It was just such a dark +night as this when Simpson saw him. He was standing on that +veranda when Simpson recognized him by the light of the gas behind, +and a girl was bidding him good night--a very pretty girl, too, +Simpson said." + +Silent and immobile he stood there a long time, not so much now as +one who watched, but rather as if deep in thought, for his head was +bent and supported on his hands and his eyes were fixed on the +ground. + +"As for this John Clive," he muttered presently, rousing himself. +"I suppose that must be a coincidence, but it's queer, and queer +the father should have died--like that." + +He broke off, shuddering slightly, as though at thoughts too awful +to be endured, and pushing open the gate, he walked slowly up the +gravel path towards the house, round which he began to walk, going +very slowly and cautiously and often pausing as if he wished to +make as close examination of the place as the darkness would permit. + +More by habit than because he thought there was any need of it, he +moved always with that extreme and wonderful dexterity of quietness +he could assume at will, and as he turned the corner of the building +and came behind it, his quick ear, trained by many an emergency to +pick out the least unusual sound, caught a faint, continued +scratching noise, so faint and low it might well have passed +unnoticed. + +All at once he understood and realized that some one quite close at +hand was stealthily cutting out the glass from one of the panes of +a ground-floor window. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A WOMAN WEEPS + + +Cautiously he glided nearer, moving as noiselessly as any shadow, +seeming indeed but one shadow the more in the heavy surrounding +darkness. + +The persistent scratching noise continued, and Dunn was now so close +he could have put out his hand and touched the shoulder of the man +who was causing it and who still, intent and busy, had not the least +idea of the other's proximity. + +A faint smile touched Dunn's lips. The situation seemed not to be +without a grim humour, for if one-half of what he suspected were +true, one might as sensibly and safely attempt to break into the +condemned cell at Pentonville Gaol as into this quiet house. + +But then, was it perhaps possible that this fellow, working away so +unconcernedly, within arm's-length of him, was in reality one of +them, seeking to obtain admittance in this way for some reason of +his own, some private treachery, it might be, or some dispute? To +Dunn that did not seem likely. More probably the fellow was merely +an ordinary burglar--some local practitioner of the housebreaking +art, perhaps--whose ill-fortune it was to have hit upon this house +to rob without his having the least idea of the nature of the place +he was trying to enter. + +"He might prove a useful recruit for them, though," Dunn thought, +and a sudden idea flashed into his mind, vivid and startling. + +For one moment he thought intently, weighing in his mind this idea +that had come to him so suddenly. He was not blind to the risks it +involved, but his eager temperament always inclined him to the most +direct and often to the most dangerous course. His mind was made up, +his plan of action decided. + +The scratching of the burglar's tool upon the glass ceased. Already +he had smeared treacle over the square of glass he intended to +remove and had covered it with paper so as to be able to take it out +easily and in one piece without the risk of falling fragments +betraying him. + +Through the gap thus made he thrust his arm and made sure there were +no alarms fitted and no obstacles in the way of his easy entrance. + +Cautiously he unfastened the window and cautiously and silently +lifted the sash, and when he had done so he paused and listened for +a space to make sure no one was stirring and that no alarm had been +caused within the house. + +Still very cautiously and with the utmost precaution to avoid making +even the least noise, he put one knee upon the window-sill, +preparatory to climbing in, and as he did so Dunn touched him lightly +on the shoulder. + +"Well, my man, what are you up to?" he said softly. And without a +word, without giving the least warning, the burglar, a man evidently +of determination and resource, swung round and aimed at Dunn's head +a tremendous blow with the heavy iron jemmy he held in his right +hand. + +But Dunn was not unprepared for an attack and those bright, keen +eyes of his seemed able to see as well in the dark as in the light. +He threw up his left hand and caught the other's wrist before that +deadly blow he aimed could descend and at the same instant he +dashed his own clenched fist full into the burglar's face. + +As it happened, more by good luck than intended aim, the blow took +him on the point of the chin. He dropped instantly, collapsing in +on himself as falls a pole-axed bullock, and lay, unconscious, in a +crumpled heap on the ground. + +For a little Dunn waited, crouching above him and listening for the +least sound to show that their brief scuffle had been heard. + +But it had all passed nearly as silently as quickly. Within the +house everything remained silent, there was no sound audible, no +gleam of light to show that any of the inmates had been disturbed. + +Taking from his pocket a small electric flash-lamp Dunn turned its +light on his victim. + +He seemed a man of middle age with a brutal, heavy-jawed face and a +low, receding forehead. His lips, a little apart, showed yellow, +irregular teeth, of which two at the front of the lower jaw had been +broken, and the scar of an old wound, running from the corner of his +left eye down to the centre of his cheek, added to the sinister and +forbidding aspect he bore. + +His build was heavy and powerful and near by, where he had dropped +it when he fell, lay the jemmy with which he had struck at Dunn. +It was a heavy, ugly-looking thing, about two feet in length and +with one end nearly as sharp as that of a chisel. + +Dunn picked it up and felt it thoughtfully. + +"Just as well I got my blow in first," he mused. "If he had landed +that fairly on my skull I don't think anything else in this world +would ever have interested me any more." + +Stooping over the unconscious man, he felt in his pockets and found +an ugly-looking revolver, fully loaded, a handful of cartridges, a +coil of thin rope, an electric torch, a tiny dark lantern no bigger +than a match-box, and so arranged that the single drop of light it +permitted to escape fell on one spot only, a bunch of +curiously-shaped wires Dunn rightly guessed to be skeleton keys +used for opening locks quietly, together with some tobacco, a pipe, +a little money, and a few other personal belongings of no special +interest or significance. + +These Dunn replaced where he had found them, but the revolver, the +rope, the torch, the dark lantern, and the bunch of wires he took +possession of. + +He noticed also that the man was wearing rubber-soled boots and +rubber gloves, and these last he also kept. Stooping, he lifted the +unconscious man on to his shoulder and carried him with perfect ease +and at a quick pace out of the garden and across the road to the +common opposite, where, in a convenient spot, behind some furze +bushes, he laid him down. + +"When he comes round," Dunn muttered. "He won't know where he is +or what's happened, and probably his one idea will be to clear off +as quickly as possible. I don't suppose he'll interfere with me at +all." + +Then a new idea seemed to strike him, and he hurriedly removed his +own coat and trousers and boots and exchanged them for those the +burglar was wearing. + +They were not a good fit, but he could get them on and the idea in +his mind was that if the police of the district began searching, as +very likely they would, for Mr. John Clive's assailant, and if they +had discovered any clues in the shape of footprints or torn bits of +clothing or buttons--and Dunn knew his attire had suffered +considerably during the struggle--then it would be as well that +such clues should lead not to him, but to this other man, who, if +he were innocent on that score, had at any rate been guilty of +attempting to carry out a much worse offence. + +"I'm afraid your luck's out, old chap," Dunn muttered, apostrophizing +the unconscious man. "But you did your best to brain me, and that +gives me a sort of right to make you useful. Besides, if the police +do run you in, it won't mean anything worse than a few questions it'll +be your own fault if you can't answer. Anyhow, I can't afford to run +the risk of some blundering fool of a policeman trying to arrest me +for assaulting the local magnate." + +Much relieved in mind, for he had been greatly worried by a fear that +this encounter with John Clive might lead to highly inconvenient legal +proceedings, he left the unlucky burglar lying in the shelter of the +furze bushes and returned to the house. + +All was as he had left it, the open window gaped widely, almost +inviting entrance, and he climbed silently within. The apartment +in which he found himself was apparently the drawing-room and he +felt his way cautiously and slowly across it, moving with infinite +care so as to avoid making even the least noise. + +Reaching the door, he opened it and went out into the hall. All +was dark and silent. He permitted himself here to flash on his +electric torch for a moment, and he saw that the hall was spacious +and used as a lounge, for there were several chairs clustered in +its centre, opposite the fireplace. There were two or three doors +opening from it, and almost opposite where he stood were the stairs, +a broad flight leading to a wide landing above. + +Still with the same extreme silence and care, he began to ascend +these stairs and when he was about half-way up he became aware of +a faint and strange sound that came trembling through the silence +and stillness of the night. + +What it was he could not imagine. He listened for a time and then +resumed his silent progress with even more care than previously, +and only when he reached the landing did he understand that this +faint and low sound he heard was caused by a woman weeping very +softly in one of the rooms near by. + +Silently he crossed the landing in the direction whence the sound +seemed to come. Now, too, he saw a thread of light showing beneath +a door at a little distance, and when he crept up to it and listened +he could hear for certain that it was from within this room that +there came the sound of muffled, passionate weeping. + +The door was closed, but he turned the handle so carefully that he +made not the least sound and very cautiously he began to push the +door back, the tiniest fraction of an inch at a time, so that even +one watching closely could never have said that it moved. + +When, after a long time, during which the muffled weeping never +ceased, he had it open an inch or two, he leaned forward and peeped +within. + +It was a bed-chamber, and, crouching on the floor near the fireplace, +in front of a low arm-chair, her head hidden on her arms and resting +on the seat of the chair, was the figure of a girl. She had made no +preparations for retiring, and by the frock she wore Dunn recognized +her as the girl he had seen on the veranda bidding good-bye to John +Clive. + +The sound of her weeping was very pitiful, her attitude was full of +an utter and poignant despair, there was something touching in the +extreme in the utter abandonment to grief shown by this young and +lovely creature who seemed framed only for joy and laughter. + +The stern features and hard eyes of the unseen watcher softened, +then all at once they grew like tempered steel again. + +For on the mantlepiece, just above where the weeping girl crouched, +stood a photograph--the photograph of a young and good-looking, +gaily-smiling man. Across it, in a boyish and somewhat unformed +hand, was written + + "Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright." + +It was this photograph that had caught Dunn's eyes. Both it and +the writing and the signature he recognized, and his look was very +stern, his eyes as cold as death itself, as slowly, slowly he pushed +back the door of the room another inch or so. + + + +CHAPTER V + +A WOMAN AND A MAN + + +The girl stirred. It was as though some knowledge of the slow +opening of the door had penetrated to her consciousness before as +yet she actually saw or heard anything. + +She rose to her feet, drying her eyes with her handkerchief, and +as she was moving to a drawer near to get a clean one her glance +fell on the partially-open door. + +"I thought I shut it," she said aloud in a puzzled manner. + +She crossed the floor to the door and closed it with a push from +her hand and in the passage outside Dunn stood still, not certain +what to do next. + +But for that photograph he might have gone quietly away, giving up +the reckless plan that had formed itself so suddenly in his mind +while he watched the burglar at work. + +That photograph, however, with its suggestion that he stood indeed +on the brink of the solution of the mystery, seemed a summons to +him to go on. It was as though a voice from the dead called him to +continue on his task to punish and to save, and slowly, very slowly, +with an infinite caution, he turned again the handle of the door +and still very slowly, still with the same infinite caution, he +pushed back the door the merest fraction of an inch at a time so +that not even one watching could have said that it moved. + +When he had it once more so far open that he could see within, he +bent forward to look. The girl was beginning her preparations for +the night now. She had assumed a long, comfortable-looking +dressing-gown and, standing in front of the mirror, she had just +finished brushing her hair and was beginning to fasten it up in a +long plait. He could see her face in the mirror; her deep, sad +eyes, swollen with crying, her cheeks still tear-stained, her mouth +yet quivering with barely-repressed emotion. + +He was still watching her when, as if growing uneasy, she turned +her head and glanced over her shoulder, and though he moved back +so quickly that she did not catch sight of him, she saw that the +door was open once more. + +"What can be the matter with the door?" she exclaimed aloud, and +she crossed the room towards it with a quick and somewhat impatient +movement. + +But this time, instead of closing it, she pulled it open and found +herself face to face with Dunn. + +He did not speak or move, and she stood staring at him blankly. +Slowly her mouth opened as though to utter a cry that, however, +could not rise above her fluttering throat. Her face had taken on +the pallor of death, her great eyes showed the awful fear she felt. + +Still without speaking, Dunn stepped forward into the room and, +closing the door, stood with his back to it. + +She shrank away and put her hand upon a chair, but for the support +of which she must certainly have fallen, for her limbs were +trembling so violently they gave her little support. + +"Don't hurt me," she panted. + +In truth he presented a strange and terrifying appearance. The +unkempt hair that covered his face and through which his keen eyes +glowed like fire, gave him an unusual and formidable aspect. In +one hand he held the ugly-looking jemmy he had taken from the +burglar, and the new clothes he had donned, ill-fitting and soiled, +served to accentuate the ungainliness of his form. + +The frightened girl was not even sure that he was human, and she +shrank yet further away from him till she sank down upon the bed, +dizzy with fear and almost swooning. + +As yet he had not spoken, for his eyes had gone to the mantlepiece +on which he saw that the photograph signed with the name "Charley +Wright," did not now stand upright, but had fallen forward on its +face so that one could no longer see what it represented. + +It must have fallen just as he entered the room and this seemed to +him an omen, though whether of good or ill, he did not know. + +"Who are you?" the girl stammered. "What do you want?" + +He looked at her moodily and still without answering, though in his +bright and keen eyes a strange light burned. + +She was lovely, he thought, of that there could be no question. +But her beauty made to him small appeal, for he was wondering what +kind of soul lay behind those perfect features, that smooth and +delicate skin, those luminous eyes. Yet his eyes were still hard +and it was in his roughest, gruffest tones that he said: + +"You needn't be afraid, I won't hurt you." + +"I'll give you everything I have," she panted, "if only you'll go +away." + +"Not so fast as all that," he answered, coolly, for indeed he had +not taken so mad a risk in order to go away again if he could help +it. "Who is there in the house besides you?" + +"Only mother," she answered, looking up at him very pleadingly as +if in hopes that he must relent when he saw her in distress. +"Please, won't you take what you want and go away? Please don't +disturb mother, it would nearly kill her." + +"I'm not going to hurt either you or your mother if you'll be +sensible," he said irritably, for, unreasonably enough, the extreme +fear she showed and her pleading tones annoyed him. He had a +feeling that he would like to shake her, it was so absurd of her +to look at him as though she expected him to gobble her up in a +mouthful. + +She seemed a little reassured. + +"Mother will be so dreadfully frightened," she repeated, "I'll give +you everything there is in the house if only you'll go at once." + +"I can take everything I want without your giving it me," he +retorted. "How do I know you're telling the truth when you say +there's no one else in the house? How many servants have you?" + +"None," she answered. "There's a woman comes every day, but she +doesn't sleep here." + +"Do you live all alone here with your mother?" he asked, watching +her keenly. + +"There's my stepfather," she answered. "But he's not here tonight." + +"Oh, is he away?" Dunn asked, his expression almost one of +disappointment. + +The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching +him as keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of +disappointment, and could not help wondering what sort of burglar +it was who was not pleased to hear that the man of the house was +away, and that he had only two women to deal with. + +And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but +rather at a loss what to do next. + +As in truth he was, for that the stepfather should be away, and this +girl and her mother all alone, was, perhaps, the one possibility that +he had never considered. + +She noticed, too, that he did not pay any attention to her jewellery, +which was lying close to his hand on the toilet-table, and though in +point of actual fact this jewellery was not of any great value, it +was exceedingly precious in her eyes, and she did not understand a +burglar who showed no eagerness to seize on it. + +"Did you want to see Mr. Dawson?" she asked, her voice more +confident now and even with a questioning note in it. + +"Mr. Dawson! Who's he?" Dunn asked, disconcerted by the question, +but not wishing to seem so. + +"My stepfather, Mr. Deede Dawson," she answered. "I think you knew +that. If you want him, he went to London early today, but I think +it's quite likely he may come back tonight." + +"What should I want him for?" growled Dunn, more and more, +disconcerted, as he saw that he was not playing his part too well. + +"I don't know," she answered. "I suppose you do." + +"You suppose a lot," he retorted roughly. "Now you listen to me. +I don't want to hurt you, but I don't mean to be interfered with. +I'm going over the house to see what I can find that's worth +taking. Understand?" + +"Oh, perfectly," she said. + +She was watching him closely, and she noticed that he still made no +attempt to take possession of her jewellery, though it lay at his +hand, and that puzzled her very much, indeed, for she supposed the +very first thing a burglar did was always to seize such treasures +as these of hers. But this man paid them no attention whatever, and +did not even notice them. + +He was feeling in his pockets now and he took out the revolver and +the coil of thin rope he had secured from the burglar. + +"Now, do you know what I'm going to do?" he asked, with an air of +roughness and brutality that was a little overdone. He put the +revolver and the rope down on the bed, the revolver quite close to +her. + +"I'm going," he continued, "to tie you up to one of those chairs. +I can't risk your playing any tricks or giving an alarm, perhaps, +while I'm searching the house. I shall take what's worth having, +and then I shall clear off, and if your stepfather's coming home +tonight you won't have to wait long till he releases you, and if he +don't come I can't help it." + +He turned his back to her as he spoke and took hold of one of the +chairs in the room, and then of another and looked at them as though +carefully considering which would be the best to use for the +carrying out of his threat. + +He appeared to find it difficult to decide, for he kept his back +turned to her for two or three minutes, during all of which time the +revolver lay on the bed quite close to her hand. + +He listened intently for he fully expected her to snatch it up, and +he wished to be ready to turn before she could actually fire. But, +indeed, nothing was further from her thoughts, for she did not know +in the least how to use the weapon or even how to fire it off, and +the very thought of employing it to kill any one would have terrified +her far more even than had done her experiences of this night. + +So the pistol lay untouched by her side, while, very pale and +trembling a little, she waited what he would do, and on his side he +felt as much puzzled by her failure to use the opportunity he had put +in her way as she was puzzled by his neglect to seize her jewellery +lying ready to his hand. + +He was still hesitating, still appearing unable to decide which chair +to employ in carrying out his proclaimed purpose of fastening her up +when she asked a question that made him swing round upon her very +quickly and with a very startled look. + +"Are you a real burglar?" she said. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A DISCOVERY + + +"What do you mean?" Dunn asked quickly. The matted growth of hair +on his face served well to hide any change of expression, but his +eyes betrayed him with their look of surprise and discomfiture, and +in her own clear and steady glance appeared now a kind of puzzled +mockery as if she understood well that all he did was done for some +purpose, though what that purpose was still perplexed her. + +"I mean," she said slowly, "well--what do I mean? I am only asking +a question. Are you a burglar--or have you come here for some +other reason?" + +"I don't know what you're getting at," he grumbled. "Think I'm here +for fun? Not me. Come and sit on this chair and put your hands +behind you and don't make a noise, or scream, or anything, not if +you value your life." + +"I don't know that I do very much," she answered with a manner of +extreme bitterness, but more as if speaking to herself than to him. + +She did as he ordered, and he proceeded to tie her wrists together +and to fasten them to the back of the chair on which she had seated +herself. He was careful not to draw the cords too tight, but at the +same time he made the fastening secure. + +"You won't disturb mother, will you?" she asked quietly when he had +finished. "Her room's the one at the end of the passage." + +"I don't want to disturb any one," he answered. "I only want to get +off quietly. I won't gag you, but don't you try to make any noise, +if you do I'll come back. Understand?" + +"Oh, perfectly," she answered. "May I ask one question? Do you +feel very proud of yourself just now?" + +He did not answer, but went out of the room quickly, and he had an +impression that she smiled as she watched him go, and that her smile +was bitter and a little contemptuous. + +"What a girl," he muttered. "She scored every time. I didn't find +out a thing, she didn't do anything I expected or wanted her to. +She seemed as if she spotted me right off--I wonder if she did? I +wonder if she could be trusted?" + +But then he thought of that photograph on the mantelpiece and his look +grew stern and hard again. He was careful to avoid the room the girl +had indicated as occupied by her mother, but of all the others on that +floor he made a hasty search without discovering anything to interest +him or anything of the least importance or at all unusual. + +From the wide landing in the centre of the house a narrow stairway, +hidden away behind an angle of the wall so that one did not notice it +at first, led above to three large attics with steeply-sloping roofs +and evidently designed more for storage purposes than for habitation. + +The doors of two of these were open and within was merely a collection +of such lumber as soon accumulates in any house. + +The door of the third attic was locked, but by aid of the jemmy he +still carried, he forced it open without difficulty. + +Within was nothing but a square packing-case, standing in the middle +of the floor. Otherwise the light of the electric torch he flashed +around showed only the bare boarding of the floor and the bare +plastered walls. + +Near the packing-case a hammer and some nails lay on the floor and +the lid was in position but was not fastened, as though some +interruption had occurred before the task of nailing it down could +be completed. + +Dunn noted that one nail had been driven home, and he was on the +point of leaving the attic, for he knew he had not much time and +hoped that downstairs he would be able to make some discoveries of +importance, when it occurred to him that it might be wise to see +what was in this case, the nailing down the lid of which had not +been completed. + +He crossed the room to it, and without drawing the one nail, pushed +back the lid which pivoted on it quite easily. + +Within appeared a covering of coarse sacking. He pulled this away +with a careless hand, and beneath the beam of his electric torch +showed the pale and dreadful features of a dead man--of a man, the +center of whose forehead showed the small round hole where a bullet +had entered in; of a man whose still-recognizable features were those +of the photograph on the mantel-piece of the room downstairs, the +photograph that was signed: + + "Devotedly yours, + Charley Wright." + +For a long time Robert Dunn stood, looking down in silence at that +dead face which was hardly more still, more rigid than his own. + +He shivered, for he felt very cold. It was as though the coldness +of the death in whose presence he stood had laid its chilly hand on +him also. + +At last he stirred and looked about him with a bewildered air, then +carefully and with a reverent hand, he put back the sackcloth covering. + +"So I've found you, Charley," he whispered. "Found you at last." + +He replaced the lid, leaving everything as it had been when he +entered the attic, and stood for a time, trying to collect his +thoughts which the shock of this dreadful discovery had so +disordered, and to decide what to do next. + +"But, then, that's simple," he thought. "I must go straight to the +police and bring them here. They said they wanted proof; they said +I had nothing to go on but bare suspicion. But that's evidence +enough to hang Deede Dawson--the girl, too, perhaps." + +Then he wondered whether it could be that she knew nothing and was +innocent of all part or share in this dreadful deed. But how could +that be possible? How could it be that such a crime committed in +the house in which she lived could remain unknown to her? + +On the other hand, when he thought of her clear, candid eyes; when +he remembered her gentle beauty, it did not seem conceivable that +behind them could lie hidden the tigerish soul of a murderess. + +"That's only sentiment, though," he muttered. "Nothing more. +Beautiful women have been rotten bad through and through before +today. There's nothing for me to do but to go and inform the police, +and get them here as soon as possible. If she's innocent, I suppose +she'll be able to prove it." + +He hesitated a moment, as he thought of how he had left her, bound +and a prisoner. + +It seemed brutal to leave her like that while he was away, for he +would probably be some time absent. But with a hard look, he told +himself that whatever pain she suffered she must endure it. + +His first and sole thought must be to bring to justice the murderers +of his unfortunate friend; and to secure, too, thereby, the success +almost certainly of his own mission. + +To release her and leave her at liberty might endanger the attainment +of both those ends, and so she must remain a prisoner. + +"Only," he muttered, "if she knew the attic almost over her head +held such a secret, why, didn't she take the chance I gave her of +getting hold of my revolver? That she didn't, looks as if she knew +nothing." + +But then he thought again of the photograph in her room and +remembered that agony of grief to which she had been surrendering +herself when he first saw her. Now those passionate tears of hers +seemed to him like remorse. + +"I'll leave her where she is," he decided again. "I can't help it; +I mustn't run any risks. My first duty is to get the police here and +have Deede Dawson arrested." + +He went down the stairs still deep in thought, and when he reached +the landing below he would not even go to make sure that his captive +was still secure. + +An obscure feeling that he did not wish to see her, and still more +that he did not wish her to see him, prevented him. + +He descended the second flight of steps to the hall, taking fewer +precautions to avoid making a noise and still very deep in thought. + +For some time he had had but little hope that young Charley Wright +still lived. + +Nevertheless, the dreadful discovery he had made in the attic above +had affected him profoundly, and left his mind in a chaos of +emotions so that he was for the time much less acutely watchful than +usual. + +They had spent their boyhood together, and he remembered a thousand +incidents of their childhood. They had been at school and college +together. And how brilliantly Charley had always done at work and +play, surmounting every difficulty with a laugh, as if it were merely +some new and specially amusing jest! + +Every one had thought well of him, every one had believed that his +future career would be brilliant. Now it had ended in this obscure +and dreadful fashion, as ends the life of a trapped rat. + +Dunn found himself hardly able to realize that it was really so, and +through all the confused medley of his thoughts there danced and +flickered his memory of a young and lovely face, now tear-stained, +now smiling, now pale with terror, now calmly disdainful. + +"Can she have known?" he muttered. "She must have known--she can't +have known--it's not possible either way." + +He shuddered and as he put his foot on the lowest stair he raised +his hands to cover his face as though to shut out the visions that +passed before him. + +Another step forward he took in the darkness, and all at once there +flashed upon him the light of a strong electric torch, suddenly +switched on. + +"Put up your hands," said a voice sharply. "Or you're a dead man." + +He looked bewilderedly, taken altogether by surprise, and saw he +was faced by a fat little man with a smooth, chubby, smiling face +and eyes that were cold and grey and deadly, and who held in one +hand a revolver levelled at his heart. + +"Put up your hands," this newcomer said again, his voice level and +calm, his eyes intent and deadly. "Put up your hands or I fire." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +QUESTION AND ANSWER + + +Dunn obeyed promptly. + +There was that about this little fat, smiling man and his unsmiling +eyes which proclaimed very plainly that he was quite ready to put +his threat into execution. + +For a moment or two they stood thus, each regarding the other very +intently. Dunn, his hands in the air, the steady barrel of the +other's pistol levelled at his heart, knew that never in all his +adventurous life had he been in such deadly peril as now, and the +grotesque thought came into his mind to wonder if there were room +for two in that packing-case in the attic. + +Or perhaps no attempt would be made to hide his death since, after +all, it is always permissible to shoot an armed burglar. + +The clock on the stairs began to strike the hour, and he wondered if +he would still be alive when the last stroke sounded. + +He did not much think so for he thought he could read a very deadly +purpose in the other's cold grey eyes, nor did he suppose that a man +with such a secret as that of the attic upstairs to hide was likely +to stand on any scruple. + +And he thought that if he still lived when the clock finished striking +he would take it for an omen of good hope. + +The last stroke sounded and died away into the silence of the night. + +The revolver was still levelled at his heart, the grim purpose in +the other's eyes had not changed, and yet Dunn drew a breath of +deep relief as though the worst of the danger was past. + +Through his mind, that had been a little dulled by the sudden +consciousness of so extreme a peril, thought began again to race +with more than normal rapidity and clearness. + +It occurred to him, with a sense of the irony of the position, that +when he entered this house it had been with the deliberate intention +of getting himself discovered by the inmates, believing that to show +himself to them in the character of a burglar might gain him their +confidence. + +It had seemed to him that so he might come to be accepted as one of +them and perhaps learn in time the secret of their plans. + +The danger that they might adopt the other course of handing him +over to the police had not seemed to him very great, for he had his +reasons for believing that there would be no great desire to draw +the attention of the authorities to Bittermeads for any reason +whatever. + +But the discovery he had made in the attic changed all that. It +changed his plans, for now he could go to the police immediately. +And it changed also his conception of how these people were likely +to act. + +Before, it had not entered his mind to suppose that he ran any +special risk of being shot at sight, but now he understood that the +only thing standing between him and instant death was the faint +doubt in his captor's mind as to how much he knew. + +It seemed to him his only hope was to carry out his original plan +and try to pass himself off as the sort of person who might be +likely to be useful to the master of Bittermeads. + +"Don't shoot, sir," he said, in a kind of high whine. "I ain't +done no harm, and it's a fair cop--and me not a month out of +Dartmoor Gaol. I shall get a hot 'un for this, I know." + +The little fat man did not answer; his eyes were as deadly, the +muzzle of his pistol as steady as before. + +Dunn wondered if it were from that pistol had issued the bullet that +had drilled so neat and round a hole in his friend's forehead. He +supposed so. + +He said again + +"Don't shoot, Mr. Deede Dawson, sir; I ain't done no harm." + +"Oh, you know my name, do you, you scoundrel?" Deede Dawson said, +a little surprised. + +"Yes, sir," Dunn answered. "We always find out as much as we can +about a crib before we get to work." + +"I see," said Mr. Dawson. "Very praiseworthy. Attention to +business and all that. Pray, what did you find out about me?" + +"Only as you was to be away tonight, sir," answered Dunn. "And that +there didn't seem to be any other man in the house, and, of course, +how the house lay and the garden, and so. But I didn't know as you +was coming home so soon." + +"No, I don't suppose you did," said Deede Dawson. + +"I ain't done no harm," Dunn urged, making his voice as whining and +pleading as he could. "I've only just been looking round the two +top floors--I ain't touched a thing. Give a cove a chance, sir." + +"You've been looking round, have you?" said Deede Dawson slowly. +"Did you find anything to interest you?" + +"I've only been in the bedrooms and the attics," answered Dunn, +changing not a muscle of his countenance and thinking boldness his +safest course, for he knew well the slightest sign or hint of +knowledge that he gave would mean his death. "I'd only just come +downstairs when you copped me, sir; I ain't touched a thing in one +of these rooms down here." + +"Haven't you?" said Deede Dawson slowly, and his face was paler, +his eyes more deadly, the muzzle of his pistol yet more inflexibly +steady than before. + +More clearly still did Dunn realize that the faintest breath of +suspicion stirring in the other's mind that he knew of what was +hidden in the attic would mean certain death and just such another +neat little hole bored through heart or brain as that he had seen +showing in the forehead of his dead friend. + +"Haven't you, though?" Deede Dawson repeated. "The bedrooms--the +attics--that's all?" + +"Yes, sir, that's all, take my oath that's all," Dunn repeated +earnestly, as if he wished very much to impress on his captor that +he had searched bedrooms and attics thoroughly, but not these +downstairs rooms. + +Deede Dawson was plainly puzzled, and for the first time a little +doubt seemed to show in his hard grey eyes. + +Dunn perceived that a need was on him to know for certain whether +his dreadful secret had been discovered or not. + +Until he had assured himself on that point Dunn felt comparatively +safe, but he still knew also that to allow the faintest suspicion +to dawn in Deede Dawson's mind would mean for him instant death. + +He saw, too, watching very warily and ready to take advantage of +any momentary slip or forgetfulness, how steady was Deede Dawson's +hand, how firm and watchful his eyes. + +With many men, with most men indeed, Dunn would have seized or made +some opportunity to dash in and attack, taking the chance of being +shot down first, since there are few indeed really skilled in the +use of a revolver, the most tricky if the most deadly of weapons. + +But he realized he had small hope of taking unawares this fat +little smiling man with the unsmiling eyes and steady hand, and he +was well convinced that the first doubtful movement he made would +bring a bullet crashing through his brain. + +His only hope was in delay and in diverting suspicion, and Deede +Dawson's voice was very soft and deadly as he said: + +"So you've been looking in the bedrooms, have you? What did you +find there?" + +"Nothing, sir, not a thing," protested Dunn. "I didn't touch a +thing, I only wanted to look round before coming down here to see +about the silver." + +"And the attics?" asked Deede Dawson. "What did you find there?" + +"There wasn't no one in them," Dunn answered. "I only wanted to +make sure the young lady was telling the truth about there being +no servants in the house to sleep." + +"Did you look in all the attics, then?" asked Deede Dawson. + +"Yes," answered Dunn. "'There was one as was locked, but I tooked +the liberty of forcing it just to make sure. I ain't done no harm +to speak of." + +"You found one locked, eh?" said Deede Dawson, and his smile grew +still more pleasant and more friendly. "That must have surprised +you a good deal, didn't it?" + +"I thought as perhaps there was some one waiting already to give +the alarm," answered Dunn. "I didn't mind the old lady, but I +couldn't risk there being some one hiding there, so I had to look, +but I ain't done no damage to speak of, I could put it right for +you myself in half-an-hour, sir, if you'll let me." + +"Could you, indeed?" said Deede Dawson. "Well, and did you find +any one sleeping there?" + +But for that hairy disguise upon his cheeks and chin, Dunn would +almost certainly have betrayed himself, so dreadful did the question +seem to him, so poignant the double meaning that it bore, so clear +his memory of his friend he had found there, sleeping indeed. + +But there was nothing to show his inner agitation, as he said, +shaking his head + +"There wasn't no one there, any more than in the other attics, +nothing but an old packing-case." + +"And what?" said Deede Dawson, his voice so soft it was like a +caress, his smile so sweet it was a veritable benediction. "What +was in that packing-case?" + +"Didn't look," answered Dunn, and then, with a sudden change of +manner, as though all at once understanding what previously had +puzzled him. "Lum-me," he cried, "is that where you keep the +silver? Lor', and to think I never even troubled to look." + +"You never looked?" repeated Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head with an air of baffled regret. "Never thought +of it," he said. "I thought it was just lumber like in the other +attics, and I might have got clear away with it if I had known, as +easy as not." + +His chagrin was so apparent, his whole manner so innocent, that +Deede Dawson began to believe he really did know nothing. + +"Didn't you wonder why the door was locked?" he asked. + +"Lor'," answered Dunn, "if you stopped to wonder about everything +you find rummy in a crib you're cracking, when would you ever get +your business done?" + +"So you didn't look--in that packing-case?" Deede Dawson repeated. + +"If I had," answered Dunn ruefully, "I shouldn't be here, copped +like this. I should have shoved with the stuff and not waited for +nothing more. But I never had no luck." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Deede Dawson grimly, and as he spoke +a soft voice called down from upstairs. + +"Is there any one there?" it said. "Oh, please, is any one there?" + +"Is that you, Ella?" Deede Dawson called back. "Come down here." + +"I can't," she answered. "I'm fastened to a chair." + +"I didn't hurt the young lady," Dunn interposed quickly. "I only +tied her up as gentle as I could to a chair so as to stop her from +interfering." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Deede Dawson, and seemed a little +amused, as though the thought of his stepdaughter's plight pleased +him rather than not. "Well, if she can't come down here, we'll go +up there. Turn round, my man, and go up the stairs and keep your +hands over your head all the time. I shan't hesitate to shoot if +you don't, and I never miss." + +Dunn was not inclined to value his life at a very high price as he +turned and went awkwardly up the stairs, still holding his hands +above his head. + +But he meant to save it if he could, for many things depended on +it, among them due punishment to be exacted for the crime he had +discovered this night; and also, perhaps, for the humiliation he +was now enduring. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE + +Up the stairs, across the landing, and down the passage opposite +Dunn went in silence, shepherded by the little man behind whose +pistol was still levelled and still steady. + +His hands held high in the air, he pushed open with his knee the +door of the girl's room and entered, and she looked up as he did +so with an expression of pure astonishment at his attitude of +upheld hands that changed to one of comprehension and of faint +amusement as Deede Dawson followed, revolver in hand. + +"Oh," she murmured. "Captivity captive, it seems." + +At the fireplace Dunn turned and found her looking at him very +intently, while from the doorway Deede Dawson surveyed them both, +for once his eyes appearing to share in the smile that played about +his lips as though he found much satisfaction in what he saw. + +"Well, Ella," he said. "You've been having adventures, it seems, +but you don't look too comfortable like that." + +"Nor do I feel it," she retorted. "So please set me free." + +"Yes, so I will," he answered, but he still hesitated, and Dunn had +the idea that he was pleased to see the girl like this, and would +leave her so if he could, and that he was wondering now if he could +turn her predicament to his own advantage in any way. + +"Yes, I will," he said again. "Your mother--?" + +"She hasn't wakened," Ella answered. "I don't think she has heard +anything. I don't suppose she will, for she took two of those pills +last night that Dr. Rawson gave her for when she couldn't sleep." + +"It's just as well she did," said Deede Dawson. + +"Yes, but please undo my hands," she asked him. "The cords are +cutting my wrists dreadfully." + +As she spoke she glanced at Dunn, standing by the fireplace and +listening gravely to what they said, and Deede Dawson exclaimed +with an air of great indignation:-- + +"The fellow deserves to be well thrashed for treating you like that. +I've a good mind to do it, too, before handing him over to the +police." + +"But you haven't released me yet," she remarked. + +"Oh, yes, yes," he said, starting as if this were quite a new idea. +"I'll release you at once--but I must watch this scoundrel. He +must have frightened you dreadfully." + +"Indeed he did not," she answered quickly, again looking at Dunn. +"No, he didn't," she said again with a touch of defiance in her +manner and a certain slightly lifting her small, round chin. "At +least not much after just at first," she added. + +"I'll loose you," Deede Dawson said once more, and coming up to her, +he began to fumble in a feeble, ineffectual way at the cords that +secured her wrists. + +"Jove, he's tied you up pretty tight, Ella!" he said. + +"He believes in doing his work thoroughly, I suppose," she remarked, +lifting her eyes to Dunn's with a look in them that was partly +questioning and partly puzzled and wholly elusive. "I daresay he +always likes to do everything thoroughly." + +"Seems so," said Deede Dawson, giving up his fumbling and +ineffectual efforts to release her. + +He stepped back and stood behind her chair, looking from her to Dunn +and back again, and once more Dunn was conscious of an impression +that he wished to make use for his own purposes of the girl's +position, but that he did not know how to do so. + +"You are a nice scoundrel," said Deede Dawson suddenly, with an +indignation that seemed to Dunn largely assumed. "Treating a girl +like this. Ella, what would you like done to him? He deserves +shooting. Shall I put a bullet through him for you?" + +"He might have treated me worse, I suppose," said Ella quietly. +"And if you would be less indignant with him, you might be more +help to me. There are scissors on the table somewhere." + +"I'll get them," Deede Dawson said. "I'll get them," he repeated, +as though now at last finally making up his mind. + +He took the scissors from the toilet-table where they lay before +the looking-glass and cut the cords by which Ella was secured. + +With a sigh of relief she straightened herself from the confined +position in which she had been held and began to rub her wrists, +which were slightly inflamed where the cords had bruised her soft +skin. + +"Like to tie him up that way now?" asked Deede Dawson. "You shall +if you like." + +She turned and looked full at Dunn and he looked back at her with +eyes as steady and as calm as her own. + +Again she showed that faint doubt and wonder which had flickered +through her level gaze before as though she felt that there was +more in all this than was apparent, and did not wish to condemn him +utterly without a hearing. + +But it was plain also that she did not wish to say too much before +her stepfather and she answered carelessly + +"I don't think I could tie him tight enough, besides, he looks +ridiculous enough like that with his hands up in the air." + +It was her revenge for what he had made her suffer. He felt himself +flush and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft had +struck home. + +"Well, go and look through his pockets," Deede Dawson said. "And +see if he's got a revolver. Don't be frightened; if he lowers his +hands he'll be a dead man before he knows it." + +"He has a pistol," she said. "He showed it me, it's in his coat +pocket." + +"Better get it then," Deede Dawson told her. She obeyed and brought +him the weapon, and he nodded with satisfaction as he put it in his +own pocket. + +"I think we might let you put your hands down now," he remarked, +and Dunn gladly availed himself of the permission, for every muscle +in his arms was aching badly. + +He remained standing by the wall while Deede Dawson, seating himself +on the chair to which Ella had been bound, rested his chin on his +left hand and, with the pistol still ready in his right, regarded +Dunn with a steady questioning gaze. + +Ella was standing near the bed. She had poured a few drops of +eau-de-Cologne on her wrists and was rubbing them softly, and for +ever after the poignant pleasant odour of the scent has remained +associated in Robert Dunn's mind with the strange events of that +night so that always even the merest whiff of it conjures up before +his mind a picture of that room with himself silent by the +fireplace and Ella silent by the bed and Deede Dawson, pistol in +hand, seated between them, as silent also as they, and very watchful. + +Ella appeared fully taken up with her occupation and might almost +have forgotten the presence of the two men. She did not look at +either of them, but continued to rub and chafe her wrists softly. + +Deede Dawson had forgotten for once to smile, his brow was slightly +wrinkled, his cold grey eyes intent and watchful, and Dunn felt very +sure that he was thinking out some plan or scheme. + +The hope came to him that Deede Dawson was thinking he might prove +of use, and that was the thought which, above all others, he wished +the other to have. It was, indeed, that thought which all his +recent actions had been aimed to implant in Deede Dawson's mind +till his dreadful discovery in the attic had seemed to make at last +direct action possible. How, in his present plight that thought, +if Deede Dawson should come to entertain it, might yet prove his +salvation. Now and again Deede Dawson gave him quick, searching +glances, but when at last he spoke it was Ella he addressed. + +"Wrists hurt you much?" he asked. + +"Not so much now," she answered. "They were beginning to hurt a +great deal, though." + +"Were they, though?" said Deede Dawson. "And to think you might +have been like that for hours if I hadn't chanced to come home. +Too bad, what a brute this fellow is." + +"Men mostly are, I think," she observed indifferently. + +"And women mostly like to get their own back again," he remarked +with a chuckle, and then turned sharply to Dunn. "Well, my man," +he asked, "what have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Nothing," Dunn answered. "It was a fair cop." + +"You've had a taste of penal servitude before, I suppose?" Deede +Dawson asked. + +"Maybe," Dunn answered, as if not wishing to betray himself. +"Maybe not." + +"Well, I think I remember you said something about not being long +out of Dartmoor," remarked Deede Dawson. "How do you relish the +prospect of going back there?" + +"I wonder," interposed Ella thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is in +you that makes you so love to be cruel, father?" + +"Eh what?" he exclaimed, quite surprised. "Who's being cruel?" + +"You," she answered. "You enjoy keeping him wondering what you are +going to do with him, just as you enjoyed seeing me tied to that +chair and would have liked to leave me there." + +"My dear Ella!" he protested. "My dear child!" + +"Oh, I know," she said wearily. "Why don't you hand the man over +to the police if you're going to, or let him go at once if you +mean to do that?" + +"Let him go, indeed!" exclaimed Deede Dawson. "What an idea! What +should I do that for?" + +"If you'll give me another chance," said Dunn quickly, "I'll do +anything--I should get it pretty stiff for this lot, and that +wouldn't be any use to you, sir, would it? I can do almost anything +--garden, drive a motor, do what I'm told, It's only because I've +never had a chance I've had to take to this line." + +"If you could do what you're told you certainly might be useful," +said Deede Dawson slowly. "And I don't know that it would do me +any good to send you off to prison--you deserve it, of course. +Still--you talk sometimes like an educated man?" + +"I had a bit of education," Dunn answered. + +"I see," said Deede Dawson. "Well, I won't ask you any more +questions, you'd probably only lie. What's your name?" + +With that sudden recklessness which was a part of his impulsive and +passionate nature, Dunn answered: + +"Charley Wright." + +The effect was instantaneous and apparent on both his auditors. + +Ella gave a little cry and started so violently that she dropped +the bottle of eau-de-Cologne she had in her hands. + +Deede Dawson jumped to his feet with a fearful oath. His face went +livid, his fat cheeks seemed suddenly to sag, of his perpetual +smile every trace vanished. + +He swung his revolver up, and Dunn saw the crooked forefinger quiver +as though in the very act of pressing the trigger. + +The pressure of a hair decided, indeed, whether the weapon was to +fire or not, as in a high-pitched, stammering voice, Deede Dawson +gasped: + +"What--what do you mean? What do you mean by that?" + +"I only told you my name," Dunn answered. "What's wrong with it?" + +Doubtful and afraid, Deede Dawson stood hesitant. His forehead had +become very damp, and he wiped it with a nervous gesture. + +"Is that your name--your real name?" he muttered. + +"Never had another that I know of," Dunn answered. + +Deede Dawson sat down again on the chair. He was still plainly +very disturbed and shaken, and Ella seemed scarcely less agitated, +though Dunn, watching them both very keenly, noticed that she was +now looking at Deede Dawson with a somewhat strange expression and +with an air as though his extreme excitement puzzled her and made +her--afraid. + +"Nothing wrong with the name, is there?" Dunn muttered again. + +"No, no," Deede Dawson answered. "No. It's merely a coincidence, +that's all. A coincidence, I suppose, Ella?" + +Ella did not answer. Her expression was very troubled and full of +doubt as she stood looking from her stepfather to Dunn and back +again. + +"It's only that your name happens to be the same as that of a friend +of ours--a great friend of my daughter's," Deede Dawson said as +though he felt obliged to offer some explanation. "That's all--a +coincidence. It startled me for the moment." He laughed. "That's +all. Well, my man, it happens there is something I can make you +useful in. If you do prove useful and do what I tell you, perhaps +you may get let off. I might even keep you on in a job. I won't +say I will, but I might. You look a likely sort of fellow for work, +and I daresay you aren't any more dishonest than most people. Funny +how things happen--quite a coincidence, your name. Well, come on; +it's that packing-case you saw in the attic upstairs. I want you +to help me downstairs with that--Charley Wright." + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ATTIC OF MYSTERY + + +Robert Dunn was by no means sure that he was not going to his death +as he went out of Ella's room on his way to the attics above, for +he had perceived a certain doubt and suspicion in Deede Dawson's +manner, and he thought it very likely that a fatal intention lay +behind. + +But he obeyed with a brisk promptitude of manner, like one who saw +a prospect of escape opening before him, and as he went he saw that +Ella had relapsed into her former indifference and was once more +giving all her attention to bathing her wrists with eau-de-Cologne; +and he saw, too, that Deede Dawson, following close behind, kept +always his revolver ready. + +"Perhaps he only wants to get me out of her way before he shoots," +he reflected. "Perhaps there is room in that packing-case for two. +It will be strange to die. Shall I try to rush him? But he would +shoot at once, and I shouldn't have a chance. One thing, if +anything happens to me, no one will ever know what's become of poor +Charley." + +And this seemed to him a great pity, so that he began to form +confused and foolish plans for securing that his friend's fate +should become known. + +With a sudden start, for he had not known he was there, he found +himself standing on the threshold of that attic of death. It was +quite dark up here, and from behind Deede Dawson's voice told him +impatiently to enter. + +He obeyed, wondering if ever again he would cross that threshold +alive, and Deede Dawson followed him into the dark attic so that +Dunn was appalled by the man's rashness, for how could he tell that +his victim would not take this opportunity to rise up from the +place where he had been thrust and take his revenge? + +"What an idea," he thought to himself. "I must be going dotty, it's +the strain of expecting a bullet in my back all the time, I suppose. +I was never like this before." + +Deede Dawson struck a match and put it to a gas-jet that lighted up +the whole room. Between him and Dunn lay the packing-case, and Dunn +was surprised to see that it was still there and that nothing had +changed or moved; and then again he said to himself that this was a +foolish thought only worthy of some excitable, hysterical girl. + +"It's being too much for me," he thought resignedly. "I've heard +of people being driven mad by horror. I suppose that's what's +happening to me." + +"You look--queer," Deede Dawson's voice interrupted the confused +medley of his thoughts. "Why do you look like that--Charley +Wright?" + +Dunn looked moodily across the case in which the body of the +murdered man was hidden to where the murderer stood. + +After a pause, and speaking with an effort, he said: + +"You'd look queer if some one with a pistol was watching you all +the time the way you watch me." + +"You do what I tell you and you'll be all right," Deede Dawson +answered. "You see that packing-case?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"It's big enough," he said. + +"Would you like to know?" asked Deede Dawson slowly with his slow, +perpetual smile. "Would you like to know what's in it--Charley +Wright?" + +And again Dunn was certain that a faint suspicion hung about those +last two words, and that his life and death hung very evenly in +the balance. + +"Silver, you said," he muttered. "Didn't you?" + +"Ah, yes--yes--to be sure," answered Deede Dawson. "Yes, so I +did. Silver. I want the lid nailed down. There's a hammer and +nails there. Get to work and look sharp." + +Dunn stepped forward and began to set about a task that was so +terrible and strange, and that yet he had, at peril of his life--at +peril of more than that, indeed--to treat as of small importance. + +Standing a little distance from the lighted gas-jet, Deede Dawson +watched him narrowly, and as Dunn worked he was very sure that to +betray the least sign of his knowledge would be to bring instantly +a bullet crashing through his brain. + +It seemed curious to him that he had so carefully replaced +everything after making his discovery, and that without any +forethought or special intention he had put back everything so +exactly as he had found it when the slightest neglect or failure +in that respect would most certainly have cost him his life. + +And he felt that as yet he could not afford to die. + +One by one he drove in the nails, and as he worked at his gruesome +task he heard the faintest rustle on the landing without--the +faintest sound of a soft breath cautiously drawn in, of a light +foot very carefully set down. + +Deede Dawson plainly heard nothing; indeed, no ear less acute and +less well-trained than Dunn's could have caught sounds that were so +slight and low, but he, listening between each stroke of his hammer, +was sure that it was Ella who had followed them, and that she +crouched upon the landing without, watching and listening. + +Did that mean, he wondered, that she, too, knew? Or was it merely +natural curiosity; hostile in part, perhaps, since evidently the +relations between her and her stepfather were not too friendly--a +desire to know what task there could be in the attics so late at +night for which Deede Dawson had such need of his captive's help? + +Or was it by any chance because she wished to know how things went +with him, and what was to be his fate? + +In any case, Dunn was sure that Ella had followed then, and was on +the landing without. + +He drove home the last nail and stood up. "That's done," he said. + +"And well done," said Deede Dawson. "Well done--Charley Wright." + +He spoke the name softly and lingeringly, and then all at once he +began to laugh, a low and somewhat dreadful laughter that had in it +no mirth at all, and that sounded horrible and strange in the chill +emptiness of the attic. + +Leaning one hand on the packing-case that served as the coffin of +his dead friend, Dunn swore a silent oath to exact full retribution, +and henceforth to put that purpose on a level with the mission on +which originally he had come. + +Aloud, and in a grumbling tone he said: + +"What's the matter with my name? It's a name like any other. What's +wrong with it?" + +"What should there be?" flashed Deede Dawson in reply. + +"I don't know," Dunn answered. "You keep repeating it so, that's all." + +"It's a very good name," Deede Dawson said. "An excellent name. +But it's not suitable. Not here." He began to laugh again and then +stopped abruptly. + +"Do you know, I think you had better choose another?" he said. + +"It's all one to me," declared Dunn. "If Charley Wright don't suit, +how will Robert Dunn do? I knew a man of that name once." + +"It's a better name than Charley Wright," said Deede Dawson. "We'll +call you Robert Dunn--Charley Wright. Do you know why I can't have +you call yourself Charley Wight?" + +Dunn shook his head. + +"Because I don't like it," said Deede Dawson. "Why, that's a name +that would drive me mad," he muttered, half to himself. + +Dunn did not speak, but he thought this was a strange thing for the +other to say and showed that even he, cold and remorseless and +without any natural feeling, as he had seemed to be, yet had about +him still some touch of humanity. + +And as he mused on this, which seemed to him so strange, though +really it was not strange at all, his attentive ears caught the +sound of a soft step without, beginning to descend the stairs. + +Had that name, then, been more than she also could bear? + +If so, she must know. + +"I don't see why, I don't see what's wrong with it," he said aloud. +"But Robert Dunn will suit me just as well." + +"All a matter of taste," said Deede Dawson, his manner more composed +and natural again. + +"It's a funny thing now--suppose my name was Charley Wright, then +there would be two Charley Wrights in this attic, eh? A coincidence, +that would be?" + +"I suppose so," answered Dunn. "I knew another man named Charley +Wright once." + +"Did you? Where's he?" + +"Oh, he's dead," answered Dunn. + +Deede Dawson could not repress the start he gave and for a moment +Dunn thought that his suspicions were really roused. He came a +little nearer, his pistol still ready in his hand. + +"Dead, is he?" he said. "That's a pity. He's not here, then; but +it would be funny wouldn't it, if there were two Charley Wrights in +one room?" + +"I don't know what you mean," Dunn answered. "I think there are +lots of funnier things than that would be." + +"That's where you're wrong," retorted Deede Dawson, and he laughed +again, shrilly and dreadfully, a laughter that had in it anything +but mirth. + +"Can you carry that packing-case downstairs if I help you get it on +your shoulder?" he asked abruptly. + +"It's heavy, but I might," Dunn answered. + +He supposed that now it was about to be hidden somewhere and he felt +that he must know where, since that knowledge would mean everything +and enable him to set the authorities to work at once immediately he +could communicate with them. + +The weight of the thing taxed even his great strength to the utmost, +but he managed it somehow, and bending beneath his burden, he +descended the stairs to the hall and then, following the orders +Deede Dawson gave him from behind, out into the open air. + +He was nearly exhausted when at last his task-master told him he +could put it down as he stood still for a minute or two to recover +his breath and strength. + +The night was not very dark, for a young moon was shining in a clear +sky, and it appeared to Dunn, as he felt his strength returning, +that now at last he might find an opportunity of making an attack +upon his captor with some chance of success. + +Hitherto, in the house, in the bright glare of the gas lights, he +had known that the first suspicious movement he made would have +ensured his being instantly and remorselessly shot down, his mission +unfulfilled. + +But here in the open air, in the night that the moon illumined but +faintly, it was different, and as he watched for his opportunity he +felt that sooner or later it was sure to come. + +But Deede Dawson was alert and wary, his pistol never left his hand, +he kept so well on his guard he gave Dunn no opening to take him +unawares, and Dunn did not wish to run too desperate a chance, +since he was sure that sooner or later one giving fair chance of +success would present itself. + +"Do you want it carried any further?" he asked. "It's very heavy." + +"I suppose you mean you're wondering what's in it?" said Deede +Dawson sharply. + +"It's nothing to me what's in it--silver or anything else," +retorted Dunn. "Do you want me to carry it further, that's all I +asked?" + +"No," answered Deede Dawson. "No, I don't. Do you know, if you +knew what was really in it, you'd be surprised?" + +"Very likely," answered Dunn. "Why not?" + +"Yes, you would be surprised," Deede Dawson repeated, and suddenly +shouted into the darkness: "Are you ready? Are you ready there?" + +Dunn was very startled, for somehow, he had supposed all along that +Deede Dawson was quite alone. + +There was no answer to his call, but after a minute or two there +was the sound of a motor-car engine starting and then a big car +came gliding forward and stopped in front of them, driven by a form +so muffled in coats and coverings as to be indistinguishable in that +faint light. + +"Put the case inside," Deede Dawson said. "I'll help you." + +With some trouble they succeeded in getting the case in and Deede +Dawson covered it carefully with a big rug. + +When he had done so he stepped back. + +"Ready, Ella?" he said. + +"Yes," answered the girl's soft and low voice that already Dunn +could have sworn to amidst a thousand others. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEW GARDENER + + +"Go ahead, then," said Deede Dawson, and the great car with its +terrible burden shot away into the night. + +For a moment or two Deede Dawson stood looking after it, and then +he turned and walked slowly towards the house, and mechanically Dunn +followed, the sole thought in his mind, the one idea of which he was +conscious, that of Ella driving away into the darkness with the dead +body of his murdered friend in the car behind her. + +Did she--know? he asked himself. Or was she ignorant of what it +was she had with her? + +It seemed to him that that question, hammering itself so awfully +upon his mind and clamouring for an answer, must soon send him mad. + +And still before him floated perpetually a picture of long, dark, +lonely roads, of a rushing motor-car driven by a lovely girl, of the +awful thing hidden in the car behind her. + +Dully he recognized that the opportunity for which he had watched +and waited so patiently had come and gone a dozen times, for Deede +Dawson had now quite relaxed his former wary care. + +It was as though he supposed all danger over, as though in the +reaction after an enormous strain he could think of nothing but the +immediate relief. He hardly gave a single glance at Dunn, whose +faintest movement before had never escaped him. He had even put his +pistol back in his pocket, and at almost any moment Dunn, with his +unusual strength and agility, could have seized and mastered him. + +But for such an enterprise Dunn had no longer any spirit, for all +his mind was taken up by that one picture so clear in his thoughts +of Ella in her great car driving the dead man through the night. +"She must know," he said to himself. "She must, or she would never +have gone off like that at that time--she can't know, it's +impossible, or she would never have dared." + +And again it seemed to him that this doubt was driving him mad. + +Deede Dawson entered the house and got a bottle of whisky and a +syphon of soda-water and mixed himself a drink. For the first time +since Ella's departure he seemed to remember Dunn's presence. + +"Oh, there you are," he said. + +Dunn did not answer. He stood moodily on the threshold, wondering +why he did not rush upon the other, and with his knee upon his chest, +his hands about his throat, force him to answer the question that +was still whispering, shouting, screaming itself into his ears: + +"Does she know what it is she drives with her on that big car through +the black and lonely night?" + +"Like a drink?" asked Deede Dawson. + +Dunn shook his head, and it came to him that he did not attack Deede +Dawson and force the truth from him because he dared not, because he +was afraid, because he feared what the answer might be. + +"There's a tool-shed at the bottom of the garden," Deede Dawson said +to him. "You can sleep there, tonight. You'll find some sacks you +can make a bed of." + +Without a word in reply Dunn turned and stumbled away. He felt very +tired--physically exhausted--and the idea of a bed, even of sacks +in an outhouse, became all at once extraordinarily attractive. + +He found the place without difficulty, and, making a pile of the +sacks, flung himself down on them and was asleep almost at once. +But almost as promptly he awoke again, for he had dreamed of Ella +driving her car through the night towards some strange peril from +which in his dream he was trying frantically and ineffectively to +save her when he awoke. + +So it was all through the night. + +His utter and complete exhaustion compelled him to sleep, and every +time some fresh, fantastic dream in which Ella and the huge motor-car +and the dreadful burden she had with her always figured, awoke him +with a fresh start. + +But towards morning he fell into a heavy sleep from which presently +he awoke to find it broad daylight and Deede Dawson standing on the +threshold of the shed with his perpetually smiling lips and his +cold, unsmiling eyes. + +"Well, my man; had a good sleep?" he said. + +"I was tired," Dunn answered. + +"Yes, we had a busy night," agreed Deede Dawson. "I slept well, +too. I've been wondering what to do with you. Of course, I ought +to hand you over to the police, and it's rather a risk taking on a +man of your character, but I've decided to give you a chance. +Probably you'll misuse it. But I'll give you an opportunity as +gardener and chauffeur here. You can drive a car, you say?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"That's all right," said Deede Dawson. + +"You shall have your board and lodging, and I'll get you some decent +clothes instead of those rags; and if you prove satisfactory and +make yourself useful you'll find I can pay well. There will be +plenty of chances for you to make a little money--if you know how +to take them." + +"When it's money," growled Dunn, "you give me the chance, and see." + +"I think," added Deede Dawson, "I think it might improve your looks +if you shaved." + +Dunn passed his hand over the tangle of hair that hid his features +so effectually. + +"What for?" he asked. + +"Oh, well: please yourself," answered Deede Dawson; "I don't know +that it matters, and perhaps you have reasons of your own for +preferring a beard. Come on up to the house now and I'll tell Mrs. +Dawson to give you some breakfast. And you might as well have a +wash, too, perhaps--unless you object to that as well as to shaving." + +Dunn rose without answering, made his toilet by shaking off some of +the dust that clung to him, and followed his new employer out of the +tool-house into the open air. + +It was a fresh and lovely morning, and coming towards them down one +of the garden paths was Ella, looking as fresh and lovely as the +morning in a dainty cotton frock with lace at her throat and wrists. + +That she could possibly have spent the night tearing across country +in a powerful car conveying a dead man to an unknown destination, +appeared to Dunn a clean impossibility, and for a moment he almost +supposed he had been mistaken in thinking he recognized her voice. + +But he knew he had not, that he had made no mistake, that it had +indeed been Ella he had seen dash away into the darkness on her +strange and terrible errand. + +"Oh, my daughter," said Deede Dawson carelessly, noticing Dunn's +surprise. "Oh, yes, she's back--you didn't expect to see her this +morning. Well, Ella, Dunn's surprised to see you back so soon, +aren't you, Dunn?" + +Dunn did not answer, for a kind of vertigo of horror had come upon +him, and for a moment all things revolved about him in a whirling +circle wherein the one fixed point was Ella's gentle lovely face +that sometimes, he thought, had a small round hole with blue edges +in the very centre of the forehead, above the nose. + +It was her voice, clear and a little loud, that called him back to +himself. + +"He's not well," she was saying. "He's going to faint." + +"I'm all right," he muttered. "It was nothing, nothing, it's only +that I've had nothing to eat for so long." + +"Oh, poor man!" exclaimed Ella. + +"Come up to the house," Deede Dawson said. + +"Breakfast's ready," Ella said. "Mother told me to find you." + +"Has the woman come yet?" Deede Dawson asked. "If she has, you +might tell her to give Dunn some breakfast. I've just been telling +him I'm willing to give him another chance and to take him on as +gardener and chauffeur, so you can keep an eye on him and see if he +works well." + +Ella was silent for a moment, but her expression was grave and a +little puzzled as though she did not quite understand this and +wondered what it meant, and when she looked up at her stepfather, +Dunn was certain there was both distrust and suspicion in her manner. + +"I suppose," she said then, "last night seemed to you a good +recommendation?" As she spoke she glanced at her wrists where the +bruises still showed, and Deede Dawson's smile broadened. + +"One should always be ready to give another chance to a poor fellow +who's down," he said. "He may run straight now he's got an +opportunity. I told him he had better shave, but he seems to think +a beard suits him best. What do you say?" + +"Breakfast's waiting," Ella answered, turning away without taking +any notice of the question. + +"I'll go in then," said Deede Dawson. "You might show Dunn the way +to the kitchen--his name's Robert Dunn, by the way--and tell Mrs. +Barker to give him something to eat." + +"I should think he could find his way there himself," Ella remarked. + +But though she made this protest, she obeyed at once, for though she +used a considerable liberty of speech to her stepfather, it was none +the less evident that she was very much afraid of him and would not +be very likely to disobey him or oppose him directly. + +"This way," she said to Dunn, and walked on along a path that led +to the hack of the house. Once she stopped and looked hack. She +smiled slightly and disdainfully as she did so, and Dunn saw that +she was looking at a clump of small bushes near where they had been +standing. + +He guessed at once that she believed Deede Dawson to be behind those +bushes watching them, and when she glanced at him he understood that +she wished him to know it also. + +He said nothing, though a faint movement visible in the bushes +convinced him that her suspicions, if, indeed, she had them, were +well-founded, and they walked on in silence, Ella a little ahead, +and Dunn a step or two behind. + +The garden was a large one, and had at one time been well cultivated, +but now it was neglected and overgrown. It struck Dunn that if he +was to be the gardener here he would certainly not find himself short +of work, and Ella, without looking round, said to him over her +shoulder: + +"Do you know anything about gardening?" + +"A little, miss," he answered. + +"You needn't call me 'miss,'" she observed. "When a man has tied +a girl to a chair I think he may regard himself as on terms of some +familiarity with her." + +"What must I call you?" he asked, and his words bore to himself a +double meaning, for, indeed, what name was it by which he ought to +call her? + +But she seemed to notice nothing as she answered "My name is Cayley +--Ella Cayley. You can call me Miss Cayley. Do you know anything +of motoring?" + +"Yes," he answered. "Though I never cared much for motoring at night." + +She gave him a quick glance, but said no more, and they came almost +immediately to the back door. + +Ella opened it and entered, nodding to him to follow, and crossing a +narrow, stone-floored passage, she entered the kitchen where a tall +gaunt elderly woman in a black bonnet and, a course apron was at +work. + +"This is Dunn, Mrs. Barker," she called, raising her voice. "He is +the new gardener. Will you give him some breakfast, please?" She +added to Dunn: + +"When you've finished, you can go to the garage and wash the car, +and when you speak to Mrs. Barker you must shout. She is quite deaf, +that is why my stepfather engaged her, because he was sorry for her +and wanted to give her a chance, you know . . . " + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PROBLEM + + +When he had finished his breakfast, and after he had had the wash +of which he certainly stood in considerable need, Dunn made his +way to the garage and there occupied himself cleaning the car. +He noticed that the mud with which it was liberally covered was of +a light sandy sort, and he discovered on one of the tyres a small +shell. + +Apparently, therefore, last night's wild journey had been to the +coast, and it was a natural inference that the sea had provided a +secure hiding-place for the packing-case and its dreadful contents. + +But then that meant that there was no evidence left on which he +could take action. + +As he busied himself with his task, he tried to think out as clearly +as he could the position in which he found himself and to decide +what he ought to do next. + +To his quick and hasty nature the swiftest action was always the +most congenial, and had he followed his instinct, he would have lost +no time in denouncing Deede Dawson. But his cooler thoughts told +him that he dared not do that, since it would be to involve risks, +not for himself, but for others, that he simply dared not contemplate. + +He felt that the police, even if they credited his story, which he +also felt that very likely they would not do, could not act on his +sole evidence. + +And even if they did act and did arrest Deede Dawson, it was certain +no jury would convict on so strange a story, so entirely +uncorroborated. + +The only result would be to strengthen Deede Dawson's position by +the warning, to show him his danger, and to give him the +opportunity, if he chose to use it, of disappearing and beginning +again his plots and plans after some fresh and perhaps more deadly +fashion. + +"Whereas at present," he mused, "at any rate, I'm here and he +doesn't seem to suspect me, and I can watch and wait for a time, +till I see my way more clearly." + +And this decision he came to was a great relief to him, for he +desired very greatly to know more before he acted and in especial +to find out for certain what was Ella's position in all this. + +It was Deede Dawson's voice that broke in upon his meditations. + +"Ah, you're busy," he said. "That's right, I like to see a man +working hard. I've got some new things for you I think may fit +fairly well, and Mrs. Dawson is going to get one of the attics +ready for you to sleep in." + +"Very good, sir," said Dunn. + +He wondered which attic was to be assigned to him and if it would +be that one in which he had found his friend's body. He suspected, +too, that he was to be lodged in the house so that Deede Dawson +might watch him, and this pleased him, since it meant that he, in +his turn, would be able to watch Deede Dawson. + +Not that there appeared much to watch, for the days passed on and +it seemed a very harmless and quiet life that Deede Dawson lived +with his wife and stepdaughter. + +But for the memory, burned into Dunn's mind, of what he had seen +that night of his arrival, he would have been inclined to say that +no more harmless, gentle soul existed than Deede Dawson. + +But as it was, the man's very gentleness and smiling urbanity +filled him with a loathing that it was at times all he could do +to control. + +The attic assigned to him to sleep in was that where he had made +his dreadful discovery, and he believed this had been done as a +further test of his ignorance, for he was sure Deede Dawson +watched him closely to see if the idea of being there was in any +way repugnant to him. + +Indeed at another time he might have shrunk from the idea of +sleeping each night in the very room where his friend had been +foully done to death, but now he derived a certain grim +satisfaction and a strengthening of his nerves for the task that +lay before him. + +Only a very few visitors came to Bittermeads, especially now that +Mr. John Clive, who had come often, was laid up. But one or two +of the people from the village came occasionally, and the vicar +appeared two or three times every week, ostensibly to play chess +with Deede Dawson, but in reality, Dunn thought, drawn there by +Ella, who, however, seemed quite unaware of the attraction she +exercised over the good man. + +Dunn did not find that he was expected to do very much work, and in +fact, he was left a good deal to himself. + +Once or twice the car was taken out, and occasionally Deede Dawson +would come into the garden and chat with him idly for a few minutes +on indifferent subjects. When it was fine he would often bring out +a little travelling set of chessmen and board and proceed to amuse +himself, working out or composing problems. + +One day he called Dunn up to admire a problem he had just composed. + +"Pretty clever, eh?" he said, admiring his own work with much +complacence. "Quite an original idea of mine and I think the key +move will take some finding. What do you say? I suppose you do +play chess?" + +"Only a very little," answered Dunn. + +"Try a game with me," said Deede Dawson, and won it easily, for in +fact, Dunn was by no means a strong player. + +His swift victory appeared to delight Deede Dawson immensely. + +"A very pretty mate I brought off there against you," he declared. +"I've not often seen a prettier. Now you try to solve that problem +of mine, it's easy enough once you hit on the key move." + +Dunn thought to himself that there were other and more important +problems which would soon be solved if only the key move could be +discovered. + +He said aloud that he would try what he could do, and Deede Dawson +promised him half a sovereign if he solved it within a week. + +"I mayn't manage it within a week," said Dunn. "I don't say I will. +But sooner or later I shall find it out." + +During all this time he had seen little of Ella, who appeared to +come very little into the garden and who, when she did so, avoided +him in a somewhat marked manner. + +Her mother, Mrs. Dawson, was a little faded woman, with timid eyes +and a frightened manner. Her health did not seem to be good, and +Ella looked after her very assiduously. That she went in deadly +fear of her husband was fairly evident, though he seemed to treat +her always with great consideration and kindness and even with a +show of affection, to which at times she responded and from which +at other times she appeared to shrink with inexplicable terror. + +"She doesn't know," Dunn said to himself. "But she suspects +--something." + +Ella, he still watched with the same care and secrecy, and sometimes +he seemed to see her walking amidst the flowers as an angel of +sweetness and laughing innocence; and sometimes he saw her, as it +were, with the shadow of death around her beauty, and behind her +gentle eyes and winning ways a great and horrible abyss. + +Of one thing he was certain--her mind was troubled and she was not +at ease; and it was plain, also, that she feared her smiling +soft-spoken stepfather. + +As the days passed, too, Dunn grew convinced that she was watching +him all the time, even when she seemed most indifferent, as closely +and as intently as he watched her. + +"All watching together," Dunn thought grimly. "It would be simple +enough, I suppose, if one could hit on the key move, but that I +suppose no one knows but Deede Dawson himself. One thing, he can't +very well be up to any fresh mischief while he's lounging about here +like this. I suppose he is simply waiting his time." + +As for the chess problem, that baffled him entirely. He said as +much to Deede Dawson, who was very pleased, but would not tell him +what the solution was. + +"No, no, find it out for yourself," he said, chuckling with a +merriment in which, for once his cold eyes seemed to take full share. + +"I'll go on trying," said Dunn, and it grew to be quite a custom +between them for Deede Dawson to ask him how he was getting on +with the problem; and for Dunn to reply that he was still searching +for the key move. + +Several times little errands took Dunn into the village, where, +discreetly listening to the current gossip, he learned that Mr. +John Clive of Ramsdon Place had been injured in an attack made upon +him by a gang of ferocious poachers--at least a dozen in number +--but was making good progress towards recovery. + +Also, he found that Mr. John Clive's visits to Bittermeads had not +gone unremarked, or wholly uncriticized, since there was a vague +feeling that a Mr. Clive of Ramsdon Place ought to make a better +match. + +"But a pretty face is all a young man thinks of," said the more +experienced; and on the whole, it seemed to be felt that the open +attention Clive paid to Ella was at least easily to be understood. + +Almost the first visit Clive paid, when he was allowed to venture +out, was to Bittermeads; and Dunn, returning one afternoon from an +errand, found him established on the lawn in the company of Ella, +and looking little the worse for his adventure. + +He and Ella seemed to be talking very animatedly, and Dunn took the +opportunity to busy himself with some gardening work not far away, +so that he could watch their behaviour. + +He told himself it was necessary he should know in what relation +they stood to each other, and as he heard them chatting and +laughing together with great apparent friendliness and enjoyment, +he remembered with considerable satisfaction how he had already +broken one rib of Clive's, and he wished very much for an opportunity +to break another. + +For, without knowing why, he was beginning to conceive an intense +dislike for Clive; and, also, it did not seem to him quite good +taste for Ella to sit and chat and laugh with him so readily. + +"But we were told," he caught a stray remark of Ella's, "that it +was a gang of at least a dozen that attacked you." + +"No," answered Clive reluctantly. "No, I think there was only one. +But he had a grip like a bear." + +"He must have been very strong," remarked Ella thoughtfully. + +"I would give fifty pounds to meet him again, and have it out in +the light, when one could see what one was doing," declared Clive +with great vigour. + +"Oh, you would, would you?" muttered Dunn to himself. "Well, one +of these days I may claim that fifty." + +He looked round at Clive as he thought this, and Clive noticed him, +and said: + +"Is that a new man you've got there Miss Cayley? Doesn't he rather +want a shave? Where on earth did Mr. Dawson pick him up?" + +"Oh, he came here with the very best testimonials, and father +engaged him on the spot," answered Ella, touching her wrists +thoughtfully. "He certainly is not very handsome, but then that +doesn't matter, does it?" + +She spoke more loudly than usual, and Dunn was certain she did so +in order that he might hear what she said. So he had no scruple +in lingering on pretence of being busy with a rose bush, and heard +Clive say: + +"Well, if he were one of my chaps, I should tell him to put the +lawn-mower over his own face." + +Ella laughed amusedly. + +"Oh, what an idea, Mr. Clive," she cried, and Dunn thought to himself: + +"Yes, one day I shall very certainly claim that fifty pounds." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN AVOWAL + + +When Clive had gone that afternoon, Ella, who had accompanied him +as far as the gate, and had from thence waved him a farewell, came +back to the spot where Dunn was working. + +She stood still, watching him, and he looked up at her and then +went on with his work without speaking, for now, as always, the +appalling thought was perpetually in his mind: "Must she not have +known what it was she had with her in the car when she went driving +that night?" + +After a little, she turned away, as if disappointed that he took no +notice of her presence. + +At once he raised himself from the task he had been bending over, +and stood moodily watching the slim, graceful figure, about which +hung such clouds of doubt and dread, and she, turning around +suddenly, as if she actually felt the impact of his gaze, saw him, +and saw the strange expression in his eyes. + +"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked quickly, her soft and +gentle tones a little shrill, as though swift fear had come upon her. + +"Like what?" he mumbled. + +"Oh, you know," she cried passionately. "Am I to be the next?" she +asked. + +He started, and looked at her wonderingly, asking himself if these +words of hers bore the grim meaning that his mind instantly gave +them. + +Was it possible that if she did know something of what was going on +in this quiet country house, during these peaceful autumn days, she +knew it not as willing accomplice, but as a helpless, destined victim +who saw no way of escape. + +As if she feared she had said too much, she turned and began to +walk away. + +At once he followed. + +"Stop one moment," he exclaimed. "Miss Cayley." + +She obeyed, turning quickly to face him. They were both very pale, +and both were under the influence of strong excitement. But between +them there hung a thick cloud of doubt and dread that neither could +penetrate. + +All at once Dunn, unable to control himself longer, burst out with +that question which for so long had hovered on his lips. + +"Do you know," he said, "do you know what you took away with you in +the car that night I came here?" + +"The packing-case, you meant" she asked. "Of course I do; I helped +to get it ready--what's the matter?" + +"Nothing," he muttered, though indeed he had staggered as beneath +some sudden and violent blow. "Oh--did you?" he said, with an +effort. + +"Certainly," she answered. "Now I've answered your question, will +you answer me one? Why did you tell us your name was Charley Wright?" + +"I knew a man of that name once," he answered. "He's dead now." + +"I thought perhaps," she said slowly and quite calmly, "that it was +because you had seen the name written on a photograph in my room." + +"No, it wasn't that," he answered gravely, and his doubts that for +a moment had seemed so terribly confirmed, now came back again, for +though she had said that she knew of the contents of the +packing-case, yet, if that were really so, how was it conceivable +that she should speak of such a thing so calmly? + +And yet again, if she could do it, perhaps also she could talk of +it without emotion. Once more there was fear in his eyes as he +watched her, and her own were troubled and doubtful. + +"Why do you have all that hair on your face?" she asked. + +"Well, why shouldn't I?" he retorted. "It saves trouble." + +"Does it?" she said. "Do you know what it looks like--like a +disguise?" + +"A disguise?" he repeated. "Why should I want a disguise?" + +"Do you think I'm quite a fool because I'm a woman?" she asked +impatiently. "Do you suppose I couldn't see very well when you +came that night that you were not an ordinary burglar? You had +some reason of your own for breaking into this house. What was +it?" + +"I'll tell you," he answered, "if you'll tell me truly what was in +that packing-case?" + +"Oh, now I understand," she cried excitedly. "It was to find that +out you came--and then Mr. Dawson made you help us get it away. +That was splendid." + +He did not speak, for once more a kind of horror held him dumb, as +it seemed to him that she really--knew. + +She saw the mingled horror and bewilderment in his eyes, and she +laughed lightly as though that amused her. + +"Do you know," she said, "I believe I guessed as much from the +first, but I'm afraid Mr. Dawson was too clever for you--as he is +for most people. Only then," she added, wrinkling her brows as +though a new point puzzled her, "why are you staying here like +this?" + +"Can't you guess that too?" he asked hoarsely. + +"No," she said, shaking her head with a frankly puzzled air. "No, +I can't. That's puzzled me all the time. Do you know--I think +you ought to shave?" + +"Why?" + +"A beard makes a good disguise," she answered, "so good it's hardly +fair for you to have it when I can't." + +"Perhaps you need it less," he answered bitterly, "or perhaps no +disguise could be so effective as the one you have already." + +"What's that?" she asked. + +"Bright eyes, a pretty face, a clear complexion," he answered. + +He spoke with an extreme energy and bitterness that she did not in +the least understand, and that quite took away from the words any +suspicion of intentional rudeness. + +"If I have all that, I suppose it's natural and not a disguise," +she remarked. + +"My beard is natural too," he retorted. + +"All the same, I wish you would cut it off," she answered. "I +should like to see what you look like." + +She turned and walked away, and the more Dunn thought over this +conversation, the less he felt he understood it. + +What had she meant by that strange start and look she had given him +when she had asked if she were to be the next? And when she +asserted so confidently that she knew what was in the packing-case, +was that true, or was she speaking under some mistaken impression, +or had she wished to deceive him? + +The more he thought, the more disturbed he felt, and every hour that +passed he seemed to feel more and more strongly the influence of her +gracious beauty, the horror of his suspicions of her. + +The next day Clive came again, and again Ella seemed very pleased +to see him, and again Dunn, hanging about in their vicinity, +watched gloomily their friendly intercourse. + +That Clive was in love with Ella seemed fairly certain; at any rate, +he showed himself strongly attracted by her, and very eager for +her company. + +How she felt was more doubtful, though she made no concealment of +the fact that she liked to see him, and found pleasure in having +him there. Dunn, moving about near at hand, was aware of an odd +impression that she knew he was watching them, and that she wished +him to do so for several times he saw her glance in his direction. + +He could always move with a most extraordinary lightness of foot, +so that, big and clumsy as he seemed in build, he could easily go +unheard and even unseen, and John Clive seemed to have little idea +that he remained so persistently near at hand. + +This gift or power of Dunn's he had acquired in far-off lands, where +life may easily depend on the snapping of a twig or the right +interpretation of a trampled grass-blade, and he was using it now, +almost unconsciously, so as to make his presence near Ella and Clive +as unobtrusive as possible, when his keen eye caught sight of a bush, +of which leaves and branches were moving against the wind. + +For that he knew there could be but one explanation, and when he +walked round, so as to get behind this bush, he was not surprised +to see Deede Dawson crouching there, his eyes very intent and eager, +his unsmiling lips drawn back to show his white teeth in a +threatening grin or snarl. + +Near by him was his little chess-board and men, and as Dunn came up +behind he looked round quickly and saw him. + +For a moment his eyes were deadly and his hand dropped to his +hip-pocket, where Dunn had reason to believe he carried a formidable +little automatic pistol. + +But almost at once his expression changed, and with a gesture he +invited Dunn to crouch down at his side. For a little they remained +like this, and then Deede Dawson moved cautiously away, signing to +Dunn to follow him. + +When they were at a safe distance he turned to Dunn and said + +"Is he serious, do you think, or is he playing with her? I'll make +him pay for it if he is." + +"How should I know?" answered Dunn, quite certain it was no such +anxiety as this that had set Deede Dawson watching them so carefully. + +Deede Dawson seemed to feel that the explanation he had offered was +a little crude, and he made no attempt to enlarge on it. + +With a complete change of manner, with his old smile on his lips +and his eyes as dark and unsmiling as ever, he said + +"Pretty girl, Ella--isn't she?" + +"She is more than pretty, she is beautiful," Dunn answered with an +emphasis that made Deede Dawson look at him sharply. + +"Think so?" he said, and gave his peculiar laugh that had so little +mirth in it. "Well, you're right, she is. He'll be a lucky man +that gets her--and she's to be had, you know. But I'll tell you +one thing, it won't be John Clive." + +"I thought it rather looked," observed Dunn, "as if Miss Cayley +might mean--" + +Deede Dawson interrupted with a quick jerk of his head. + +"Never mind what she means, it'll be what I mean," he declared. "I +am boss; and what's more, she knows it. I believe in a man being +master in his own family. Don't you?" + +"If he can be," retorted Dunn. "But still, a girl naturally--" + +"Naturally nothing," Deede Dawson interrupted again. "I tell you +what I want for her, a man I can-trust-trust-that's the great thing. +Some one I can trust." + +He nodded at Dunn as he said this and then walked off, and Dunn +felt very puzzled as he, too, turned away. + +"Was he offering her to me?" he asked himself. "It almost sounded +like it. If so, it must mean there's something he wants from me +pretty bad. She's beautiful enough to turn any man's head--but +did she know about poor Charlie's murder? --help in it, perhaps? +--as she said she did with the packing-case." + +He paused, and all his body was shaken by strong and fierce emotion. + +"God help me," he groaned. "I believe I would marry her tomorrow +if I could, innocent or guilty." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +INVISIBLE WRITING + + +It was the next day that there arrived by the morning post a letter +for Dunn. + +Deede Dawson raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw it; and he +did not hand it on until he had made himself master of its contents, +though that did not prove to be very enlightening or interesting. +The note, in fact, merely expressed gratification at the news that +Dunn had secured steady work, a somewhat weak hope that he would +keep it, and a still fainter hope that now perhaps he would be able +to return the ten shillings borrowed, apparently from the writer, at +some time in the past. + +Mr. Deede Dawson, in spite of the jejune nature of the communication, +read it very carefully and indeed even went so far as to examine the +letter through a powerful magnifying-glass. + +But he made no discovery by the aid of that instrument, and he +neglected, for no man thinks of everything, to expose the letter to +a gentle heat, which was what Dunn did when, presently, he received +it, apparently unopened and with not the least sign to show that it +had been tampered with in any way whatever. + +Gradually, however, as Dunn held it to the fire, there appeared +between the lines fresh writing, which he read very eagerly, and +which ran: + +"Jane Dunsmore, born 1830, married, against family wishes, John +Clive and had one son, John, killed early this year in a motor-car +accident, leaving one son, John, now of Ramsdon Place and third in +line of succession to the Wreste Abbey property." + +When he had read the message thus strangely and with such +precaution conveyed to him, Dunn burnt the letter and went that day +about his work in a very grave and thoughtful mood. + +"I knew it couldn't be a mere coincidence," he mused. "It wasn't +possible. I must manage to warn him, somehow; but, ten to one, he +won't believe a word, and I don't know that I blame him--I shouldn't +in his place. And he might go straight to Deede Dawson and ruin +everything. I don't know that it wouldn't be wiser and safer to say +nothing for the present, till I'm more sure of my ground--and then +it may be too late." + +"Just possibly," he thought, "the job Deede Dawson clearly thinks +he can make me useful in may have something to do with Clive. If so, +I may be able to see my way more clearly." + +As it happened, Clive was away for a few days on some business he +had to attend to, so that for the present Dunn thought he could +afford to wait. + +But during the week-end Clive returned, and on the Monday he came +again to Bittermeads. + +It was never very agreeable to Dunn to have to stand aloof while +Clive was laughing and chatting and drinking his tea with Ella and +her mother, and of those feelings of annoyance and vexation he made +this time a somewhat ostentatious show. + +That his manner of sulky anger and resentment did not go unnoticed +by Deede Dawson he was very sure, but nothing was said at the time. + +Next morning Deede Dawson called him while he was busy in the garage +and insisted on his trying to solve another chess problem. + +"I haven't managed the other yet," Dunn protested. "It's not too +easy to hit on these key-moves." + +"Never mind try this one," Deede Dawson said; and Ella, going out +for a morning stroll with her mother, saw them thus, poring together +over the travelling chess-board. + +"They seem busy, don't they?" she remarked. "Father is making quite +a friend of that man." + +"I don't like him," declared Mrs. Dawson, quite vigorously for her. +"I'm sure a man with such a lot of hair on his face can't be really +nice, and I thought he was inclined to be rude yesterday." + +"Yes," agreed Ella. "Yes, he was. I think Mr. Clive was a little +vexed, though he took no notice, I suppose he couldn't very well." + +"I don't like the man at all," Mrs. Dawson repeated. "All that +hair, too. Do you like him?" + +"I don't know," Ella answered, and after she and her mother had +returned from their walk she took occasion to find Dunn in the +garden and ask him some trifling question or another. + +"You are interested in chess?" she remarked, when he had answered +her. + +"All problems are interesting till one finds the answer to them," +he replied. + +"There's one I know of," she retorted. "I wish you would solve +for me." + +"Tell me what it is," he said quickly. "Will you?" + +She shook her head slightly, but she was watching him very intently +from her clear, candid eyes, and now, as always, her nearness to +him, the infinite appeal he found in her every look and movement, +the very fragrance of her hair, bore him away beyond all purpose +and intention. + +"Tell me what it is," he said again. "Won't you? Miss Cayley, if +you and I were to trust each other--it's not difficult to see +there's something troubling you." + +"Most people have some trouble or another," she answered evasively. + +He came a little nearer to her, and instead of the gruff, harsh +tones he habitually used, his voice was singularly pleasant and low +as he said: + +"People who are in trouble need help, Miss Cayley. Will you let me +help you?" + +"You can't," she answered, shaking her head. "No one could." + +"How can you tell that?" he asked eagerly. "Perhaps I know more +already than you think." + +"I daresay you do," she said slowly. "I have thought that a long +time. Will you tell me one thing? --Are you his friend or not?" + +There was no need for Dunn to ask to whom the pronoun she used +referred. + +"I am so much not his friend," he answered as quietly and +deliberately as she had spoken. "That it's either his life or mine." + +At that she drew back in a startled way as though his words had gone +beyond her expectations. + +"How do I know I can trust you?" she said presently, half to herself, +half to him. + +"You can," he said, and it was as though he flung the whole of his +enigmatic and vivid personality into those two words. + +"You can," he said again. "Absolutely." + +"I must think," she muttered, pressing her hands to her head. "So +much depends--how can I trust you? Why should I--why?" + +"Because I'll trust you first," he answered with a touch of +exultation in his manner. "Listen to me and I'll tell you +everything. And that means I put my life in your hands. Well, +that's nothing; I would do that any time; but other people's lives +will be in your power, too--yes, and everything I'm here for, +everything. Now listen." + +"Not now," she interrupted sharply. "He may be watching, listening +--he generally is." Again there was no need between them to +specify to whom the pronoun referred. "Will you meet me tonight +near the sweet-pea border--about nine?" + +She glided away as she spoke without waiting for him to answer, and +as soon as he was free from the magic of her presence, reaction +came and he was torn by a thousand doubts and fears and worse. + +"Why, I'm mad, mad," he groaned. "I've no right to tell what I +said I would, no right at all." + +And again there returned to him his vivid, dreadful memory of how +she had started on that midnight drive with her car so awfully laden. + +And again there returned to him his old appalling doubt: + +"Did she not know?" + +And though he would willingly have left his life in her hands, he +knew he had no right to put that of others there, and yet it +seemed to him he must keep the appointment and the promise he had +made. + +About nine that evening, then, he made his way to the sweet-pea +border, though, as he went, he resolved that he would not tell her +what he had said he would. + +Because he trusted his own strength so little when he was with her, +he confirmed this resolution by an oath he swore to himself: and +even that he was not certain would be a sure protection against the +witchery she wielded. + +So it was with a mind doubtful and troubled more than it had ever +been since the beginning of these things that he came to the border +where the sweet-peas grew, and saw a dark shadow already close by +them. + +But when he came a little nearer he saw that it was not Ella who +was there but Deede Dawson and his first thought was that she had +betrayed him. + +"That you, Dunn?" Deede Dawson hailed him in his usual pleasant, +friendly manner. + +"Yes," Dunn answered warily, keeping himself ready for any +eventuality. + +Deede Dawson took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it and offered +one to Dunn, who refused it abruptly. + +Deede Dawson laughed at that in his peculiar, mirthless way. + +"Am I being the third that's proverbially no company?" he asked. +"Were you expecting to find some one else here? I thought I saw a +white frock vanish just as I came up." + +Dunn made no answer, and Deede Dawson continued after a pause + +"That's why I waited. You are being just a little bit rapid in +this affair, aren't you?" + +"I don't know why. You said something, didn't you?" muttered Dunn, +beginning to think that, after all, Deede Dawson's presence here +was due to accident--or rather to his unceasing and unfailing +watchfulness, and not to any treachery of Ella's. + +"Yes, I did, didn't I?" he agreed pleasantly. "But you are a +working gardener taken on out of charity to give you a chance and +keep you out of gaol, and you are looking a little high when you +think of your master's ward and daughter, aren't you?" + +"There was a time when I shouldn't have thought so," answered Dunn. + +"We're talking of the present, my good man," Deede Dawson said +impatiently. "If you want the girl you must win her. It can be +done, but it won't be easy." + +"Tell me how," said Dunn. + +"Oh, that's going too fast and too far," answered the other with +his mirthless laugh. "Now, there's Mr. John Clive--what about +him?" + +"I'll answer for him," replied Dunn slowly and thickly. "I've put +better men than John Clive out of my way before today." + +"That's the way to talk," cried Deede Dawson. "Dunn, dare you play +a big game for big stakes?" + +"Try me," said Dunn. + +"If I showed you," Deede Dawson's voice sank to a whisper, "if I +showed you a pretty girl for a wife--a fortune to win--what would +you say?" + +"Try me," said Dunn again, and then, making his voice as low and +hoarse as was Dunn's, he asked: + +"Is it Clive?" + +"Later--perhaps," answered Deede Dawson. "There's some one else +--first. Are you ready?" + +"Try me," said Dunn for the third time, and as he spoke his quick +ear caught the faint sound of a retreating footstep, and he told +himself that Ella must have lingered near and had perhaps heard all +they said. + +"Try me," he said once more, speaking more loudly and clearly this +time. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT + + +Dunn went to his room that night with the feeling that a crisis was +approaching. And he wished very greatly that he knew how much Ella +had overheard of his talk with her stepfather, and what +interpretation she had put upon it. + +He determined that in the morning he would take the very first +opportunity he could find of speaking to her. + +But in the morning it appeared that Mrs. Dawson had had a bad night, +and was very unwell, and Ella hardly stirred from her side all day. + +Even when Clive called in the afternoon she would not come down, +but sent instead a message begging to be excused because of her +mother's indisposition, and Dunn, from a secure spot in the garden, +watched the young man retire, looking very disconsolate. + +This day, too, Dunn saw nothing of Deede Dawson, for that gentleman +immediately after breakfast disappeared without saying anything to +anybody, and by night had still not returned. + +Dunn therefore was left entirely to himself, and to him the day +seemed one of the longest he had ever spent. + +That Ella remained so persistently with her mother troubled him a +good deal, for he did not think such close seclusion on her part +could be really necessary. + +He was inclined to fear that Ella had overheard enough of what had +passed between him and Deede Dawson to rouse her mistrust, and that +she was therefore deliberately keeping out of his way. + +Then too, he was troubled in another fashion by Deede Dawson's +absence, for he was afraid it might mean that plans were being +prepared, or possibly action being taken, that might mature +disastrously before he himself was ready to act. + +All day this feeling of unrest and apprehension continued, and at +night when he went upstairs to bed it was stronger than ever. He +felt convinced now that Ella was deliberately avoiding him. But +then, if she distrusted him, that must be because she feared he +was on her stepfather's side, and if it seemed to her that who was +on his side was of necessity an object of suspicion to herself, then +there could be no such bond of dread and guilt between them as any +guilty knowledge on her part of Wright's death would involve. + +The substantial proof this exercise in logic appeared to afford of +Ella's innocence brought him much comfort, but did not lighten his +sense of apprehension and unrest, for he thought that in this +situation in which he found himself his doubts of Ella had merely +been turned into doubts on Ella's part of himself, and that the one +was just as likely as the other to end disastrously. + +"Though I don't know what I can do," he muttered as he stood in his +attic, "if I gain Deede Dawson's confidence I lose Ella's, and if +I win Ella's, Deede Dawson will at once suspect me." + +He went over to the window and looked out, supporting himself on his +elbows, and gazing moodily into the darkness. + +As he stood there a faint sound came softly to his ear through the +stillness of the quiet night in which nothing stirred. + +He listened, and heard it again. Beyond doubt some one was stirring +in the garden below, moving about there very cautiously and carefully, +and at once Dunn glided from the room and down the stairs with all +that extraordinary lightness of tread and agility of movement of +which his heavy body and clumsy-looking build gave so small promise. + +He had not been living so many days in the house without having +taken certain precautions, of which one had been to secure for +himself a swift and silent egress whenever necessity might arise. + +Keys to both the front and back doors were in his possession, and +the passage window on the ground floor he could at need lift +bodily from its frame, leaving ample room for passage either in +or out. This was the method of departure he chose now since he +did not know but that the doors might be watched. + +Lifting the window down, he swung himself outside, replacing behind +him the window so that it appeared to be as firmly in position as +ever, but could be removed again almost instantly should need arise. + +Once outside he listened again, and though at first everything was +quiet, presently he heard again a cautious step going to and fro +at a little distance. + +Crouching in the shadow of the house, he listened intently, and +soon was able to assure himself that there was but one footstep +and that he would have only one individual to deal with. + +"It won't be Deede Dawson's," he thought to himself, "but it may +very likely be some one waiting for him to return. I must find out +who--and why." + +Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he +seemed to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of +them, he moved quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps +he had listened to. + +They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint +multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in +the woods and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men. + +A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept +forward a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would +not be safe to venture further till he was more sure of his +direction, and till some fresh sound to guide him reached his ears. + +He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he +heard something that surprised and perplexed him equally--a deep, +long-drawn sigh. + +Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this +could be who came into another person's garden late at night to +stand and sigh, and what such a proceeding could mean. + +Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after +it a low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but +then caught the name of Ella being whispered over and over again. + +He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out +something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow +had hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form +so tall and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to. + +"John Clive--what on earth--!" Dunn muttered, his bewilderment +increasing, and the next moment he understood and had some difficulty +in preventing himself from bursting out laughing as there reached +him the unmistakable sound of a kiss lightly blown through the air. + +Clive was sending a kiss through the night towards Ella's room and +his nocturnal visit was nothing more than the whim of a love-sick +youth. + +With Dunn, his first amusement gave way almost at once to an extreme +annoyance. + +For, in the first place, these proceedings seemed to him exceedingly +impertinent, for what possible right did Clive imagine he had to +come playing the fool like this, sighing in the dark and blowing +kisses like a baby to its mammy? + +And secondly, unless he were greatly mistaken, John Clive might just +as sensibly and safely have dropped overboard from a ship in +mid-Atlantic for a swim as come to indulge his sentimentalities in +the Bittermeads garden at night. + +"You silly ass!" he said in a voice that was very low, but very +distinct and very full of an extreme disgust and anger. + +Clive fairly leaped in the air with his surprise, and turned and +made a sudden dash at the spot whence Dunn's voice had come, but +where Dunn no longer was. + +"What the blazes--?" he began, spluttering in ineffectual rage. +"You--you--!" + +"You silly ass!" Dunn repeated, no less emphatically than before. + +Clive made another rush that a somewhat prickly bush very +effectually stopped. + +"You--who are you--where--what--how dare you?" he gasped as he +picked himself up and tried to disentangle himself from the +prickles. + +"Don't make such a row," said Dunn from a new direction. "Do you +want to raise the whole neighbourhood? Haven't you played the fool +enough? If you want to commit suicide, why can't you cut your +throat quietly and decently at home, instead of coming alone to the +garden at Bittermeads at night?" + +There was a note of sombre and intense conviction in his voice that +penetrated even the excited mind of the raging Clive. + +"What do you mean?" he asked, and then: + + "Who are you?" + +"Never mind who I am," answered Dunn. "And I mean just what I say. +You might as well commit suicide out of hand as come fooling about +here alone at night." + +"You're crazy, you're talking rubbish!" Clive exclaimed. + +"I'm neither crazy nor talking rubbish," answered Dunn. "But if +you persist in making such a row I shall take myself off and leave +you to see the thing through by yourself and get yourself knocked +on the head any way you like best." + +"Oh, I'm beginning to understand," said Clive. "I suppose you're +one of my poaching friends--are you? Look here, if you know who +it was who attacked me the other night you can earn fifty pounds +any time you like." + +"Your poaching friends, as you call them," answered Dunn, "are +most likely only anxious to keep out of your way. This has +nothing to do with them." + +"Well, come nearer and let me see you," Clive said. "You needn't +be afraid. You can't expect me to take any notice of some one I +can't see, talking rubbish in the dark." + +"I don't much care whether you take any notice or not," answered +Dunn. "You can go your own silly way if you like, it's nothing to +me. I've warned you, and if you care to listen I'll make my warning +a little clearer. And one thing I will tell you--one man already +has left this house hidden in a packing-case with a bullet through +his brain, and I will ask you a question: 'How did your father die?'" + +"He was killed in a motor-car accident," answered Clive hesitatingly, +as though not certain whether to continue this strange and puzzling +conversation or break it off. + +"There are many accidents," said Dunn. "And that may have been one, +for all I know, or it may not. Well, I've warned you. I had to do +that. You'll probably go on acting like a fool and believing that +nowadays murders don't happen, but if you're wise, you'll go home +to bed and run no more silly risks." + +"Of course I'm not going to pay the least attention," began Clive, +when Dunn interrupted him sharply. + +"Hush! hush!" he said sharply. "Crouch down: don't make a sound, +don't stir or move. Hush!" + +For Dunn's sharp ear had caught the sound of approaching footsteps +that were drawing quickly nearer, and almost instantly he guessed +who it would be, for there were few pedestrians who came along that +lonely road so late at night. + +There were two of them apparently, and at the gate of Bittermeads +they halted. + +"Well, good night," said then a voice both Dunn and Clive knew at +once for Deede Dawson's. "That was a pretty check by the knight +I showed you, wasn't it?" + +A thin, high, somewhat peculiar voice cursed Deede Dawson, chess, +and the pretty mate by the knight very comprehensively. + +"It's young Clive that worries me," said the voice when it had +finished these expressions of disapproval. + +"No need," answered Deede Dawson's voice with that strange mirthless +laugh of his. "No need at all; before the week's out he'll trouble +no one any more." + +When he heard this, Clive would have betrayed himself by some +startled movement or angry exclamation had not Dunn's heavy hand +upon his shoulder held him down with a grave and steady pressure +there was no disregarding. + +Deede Dawson and his unknown companion went on towards the house, +and admitted themselves, and as the door closed behind them Clive +swung round sharply in the darkness towards Dunn. + +"What's it mean?" he muttered in the bewildered and +slightly-pathetic voice of a child at once frightened and puzzled. +"What for? Why should any one--?" + +"It's a long story," began Dunn, and paused. + +He saw that the unexpected confirmation of his warning Clive had +thus received from Deede Dawson's own lips had rendered his task +of convincing Clive immensely more easy. + +What he had wished to say had now at least a certainty of being +listened to, a probability of being believed, and there was at +any rate, he supposed, no longer the danger he had before dreaded +of Clive's going straight with the whole story to Deede Dawson +in arrogant disbelief of a word of it. + +But he still distrusted Clive's discretion, and feared some rash +and hasty action that might ruin all his plans, and allow Deede +Dawson time to escape. + +Besides he felt that the immediate task before him was to find +out who Deede Dawson's new companion was, and, if possible, +overhear anything they might have to say to each other. + +That, and the discovery of the new-comer's identity, might prove +to be of the utmost importance. + +"I can't explain now," he said hurriedly. "I'll see you tomorrow +sometime. Don't do anything till you hear from me. Your life may +depend on it--and other people's lives that matter more." + +"Tell me who you are first," Clive said quickly, incautiously +raising his voice. "I can manage to take care of myself all right, +I think, but I want to know who you are." + +"H-ssh!" muttered Dunn. "Not so loud." + +"There was a fellow made an attack on me one night a little while +ago," Clive went on unheedingly. "You remind me of him somehow. +I don't think I trust you, my man. I think you had better come +along to the police with me." + +But Dunn's sharp ears had caught the sound of the house door +opening cautiously, and he guessed that Deede Dawson had taken +the alarm and was creeping out to see who invaded so late at night +the privacy of his garden. + +"Clear out quick! Quiet! If you want to go on living. I'll stop +them from following if I can. If you make the least noise you're +done for." + +Most likely the man they had seen in his company would be with him, +and both of them would be armed. Neither Clive nor Dunn had a +weapon, and Dunn saw the danger of the position and took the only +course available. + +"Go," he whispered fiercely into Clive's ear. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SOUND OF A SHOT + + +He melted away into the darkness as he spoke, and through the night +he slipped, one shadow more amongst many, from tree to bush, from +bush to tree. Across a patch of open grass he crawled on his hands +and knees; and once lay flat on his face when against the skyline +he saw a figure he was sure was Deede Dawson's creep by a yard or +two on his right hand. + +On his left another shadow showed, distinguishable in the night +only because it moved. + +In a moment both shadows were gone, secret and deadly in the dark, +and Dunn was very sure that Clive's life and his own both hung +upon a slender chance, for if either of them was discovered the +leaping bullet would do the rest. + +It would be safe and easy--suspected burglars in a garden at +midnight--nothing could be said. He lay very still with his face +to the dewy sod, and all the night seemed full to him of searching +footsteps and of a swift and murderous going to and fro. + +He heard distinctly from the road a sudden, muffled sound as Clive +in the darkness blunderingly missed his footing and fell upon one +knee. + +"That's finished him," Dunn thought grimly, his ears straining for +the sharp pistol report that would tell Clive's tale was done, and +then he was aware of a cat, a favourite of Ella's and often petted +by himself, that was crouching near by under a tree, most likely +much puzzled and alarmed by this sudden irruption of hurrying men +into its domain. Instantly Dunn saw his chance, and seizing the +animal, lifted it and threw it in the direction where he guessed +Deede Dawson to be. + +His guess was good and fortune served him well, for the tabby +flying caterwauling through the air alighted almost exactly in +front of Deede Dawson on top of a small bush. For a moment it +hung there, quite unhurt, but very frightened, and emitted a yell, +then fled. + +In the quietness the tumult of its scrambling flight sounded +astonishingly loud, so that it sounded as through a miniature +avalanche had been let loose in the garden. + +"Only cats," Deede Dawson exclaimed disgustedly, and from behind, +nearer the house, Dunn called: + +"Who's there? What is it? What's the matter? Is it Mr. Dawson? +Is anything wrong?" + +"I think there is," said Deede Dawson softly. "I think, perhaps, +there is. What are you doing out here at this time of night, +Charley Wright?" + +"I heard a noise and came down to see what it was," answered Dunn. +"There was a light in the breakfast-room, but I didn't see any one, +and the front door was open so I came out here. Is anything wrong?" + +"That's what I want to know," said Deede Dawson. "Come back to the +house with me. If any one is about, he can just take himself off." + +He spoke the last sentence loudly, and Dunn took it as a veiled +instruction to his companion to depart. + +He realized that if he had saved Clive he had done so at the cost +of missing the best opportunity that had yet come his way of +obtaining very important, and, perhaps, decisive information. + +To have discovered the identity of this stranger who had come +visiting Deede Dawson might have meant much, and he told himself +angrily that Clive's safety had certainly not been worth purchasing +at the cost of such a lost chance, though he supposed that was a +point on which Clive himself might possibly entertain a different +opinion. + +But now there was nothing for it but to go quietly back to the +house, for clearly Deede Dawson's suspicions were aroused and he +had his revolver ready in his hand. + +"I suppose it was only cats all the time," he observed, with apparent +unconcern. "But at first I made sure there were no burglars in the +house." + +"And I suppose," suggested Deede Dawson. "You think one burglar's +enough in a household." + +"I don't mean to have any one else mucking around," growled Dunn +in answer. + +"Very admirable sentiments," said Deede Dawson and asked several +more questions that showed he still entertained some suspicion of +Dunn, and was not altogether satisfied that his appearance in the +garden was quite innocent, or that the noise heard there was due +solely to cats. + +Dunn answered as best he could, and Deede Dawson listened and smiled, +and smiled again, and watched him from eyes that did not smile at +all. + +"Oh, well," Deede Dawson said at last, with a yawn. "Anyhow, it's +all right now. You had better get along back to bed, and I'll lock +up." He accompanied Dunn into the hall and watched him ascend the +stairs, and as Dunn went slowly up them he felt by no means sure +that soon a bullet would not come questing after him, searching for +heart or brain. + +For he was sure that Deede Dawson still suspected him, and he knew +Deede Dawson to be very sudden and swift in action. But nothing +happened, he reached the broad, first landing in safety, and he was +about to go on up to his attic when he beard a door at the end of +the passage open and saw Ella appear in her dressing-gown. + +"What is the matter?" she asked, in a low voice. + +"It's all right," he answered. "There was a noise in the garden, +and I came down to see what it was, but it's only cats." + +"Oh, is that all?" she said distrustfully. + +"Yes," he answered, in a lower voice still, he said: + +"Will you tell me something? Do you know any one who talks in a +very peculiar shrill high voice?" + +She did not answer, and, after a moment's hesitation, went back +into her room and closed the door behind her. + +He went on up to his attic with the feeling that she could have +answered if she had wished to, and lay down in a troubled and +dispirited mood. + +For he was sure now that Ella mistrusted him and would give him +no assistance, and that weighed upon him greatly, as did also his +conviction that what it behoved him above all else to know--the +identity of the man who, in this affair, stood behind Deede Dawson +and made use of his fierce and fatal energies--he had had it in +his power to discover and had failed to make use of the opportunity. + +"I would rather know that," he said to himself, "than save a dozen +Clives ten times over." Though again it occurred to him that on +this point Clive might hold another opinion. "If he hadn't made +such a blundering row I might have got to know who Deede Dawson's +visitor was. I must try to get a word with Clive tomorrow by hook +or crook, though I daresay Deede Dawson will be very much on the +lookout." + +However, next morning Deede Dawson not only made no reference to +the events of the night, but had out the car and went off +immediately after breakfast without saying when he would be back. + +As soon after his departure as possible, Dunn also set out and took +his way through the woods towards Ramsdon Place on the look-out for +an opportunity to speak to Clive unobserved. + +He thought it most likely that Clive would be drawn towards the +vicinity of Bittermeads by the double fascination of curiosity and +fear, and he supposed that if he waited and watched in the woods he +would be sure presently to see him. + +But though he remained for long hidden at a spot whence he could +command the road to Bittermeads from Ramsdon Place, he saw nothing +at all of Clive, and the sunny lazy morning was well advanced when +he was startled by the sound of a gun shot some distance away. + +"A keeper shooting rabbits, I suppose," he thought, looking round +just in time to see Ella running through the wood from the direction +whence the sound of the shot had seemed to come, and then vanish +again with a quick look behind her into the heart of a close-growing +spinney. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +IN THE WOOD + + +There had been an air of haste, almost of furtiveness, about this +swift appearance and more swift vanishing of Ella, that made Dunn +ask himself uneasily what errand she could have been on. + +He hesitated for a moment, half expecting to see her return again, +or that there would be some other development, but he heard and saw +nothing. + +He caught no further glimpse of Ella, whom the green depths of the +spinney hid well; and he heard no more shots. + +After a little, he left the spot where he had been waiting and went +across to where he had seen her. + +The exact spot where she had entered the spinney was marked, for +she had broken the branch of a young tree in brushing quickly by it, +and a bramble she had trodden on had not yet lifted itself from the +earth to which she had pressed it. + +By other signs like these, plain enough and easy to read--for she +had hurried on in great haste and without care, almost, indeed, as +one who fled from some great danger or from some dreadful sight, +and who had no thought to spare save for flight alone--he followed +the way she had gone till it took him to a beaten public path that +almost at once led over a stile to the high road which passed in +front of Bittermeads. Along this beaten path, trodden by many, +Ella's light foot had left no perceptible mark, and Dunn made no +attempt to track her further, since it seemed certain that she had +been simply hurrying back home. + +"She was badly frightened over something or another," he said to +himself. "She never stopped once, she went as straight and quick +as she could. I wonder what upset her like that?" + +He went back the way he had come, and at the spot where he had seen +her enter the spinney he set to work to pick up her trail in the +direction whence she had appeared, for he thought that if he followed +it he might find out what had been the cause of her evident alarm. + +The ground was much more open here, and the trail correspondingly +more difficult to follow, for often there was little but a trodden +blade of grass to show where she had passed; and sometimes, where +the ground was bare and hard, there was no visible sign left at all. + +Once or twice at such places he was totally at fault, but by casting +round in a wide circle like a dog scenting his prey he was able to +pick up her tracks again. + +They seemed to lead right into the depths of the wood, through lonely +spots that only the keepers knew, and where others seldom came. + +But that he was on the right trail he presently had proof, for on +the bank of a lovely and hidden dell he picked up a tiny embroidered +handkerchief with the initials "E. C." worked in one corner. + +It had evidently been lying there only a very short time, for it +was perfectly clean and fresh, and he picked it up and held it for +a moment in his hands, smiling to himself with pleasure at its +daintiness and smallness, and yet still uneasily wondering why she +had come here, and why she had fled away again so quickly. + +The morning was very fine and calm, though in the west heavy clouds +were gathering and seemed to promise rain soon. But overhead the +sun shone brightly, the air was calm and warm, and the little dell +on whose verge he stood a very pretty and pleasant place. + +A small stream wandered through it, the grass that carpeted it was +green and soft, near by a great oak stood alone and spread its +majestic branches far out on every side to give cool shelter from +the summer heat. + +The thought occurred to Dunn that this was just such a pretty and +secluded spot as two lovers might choose to exchange their vows in, +and the thought stung him intolerably as he wondered whether it was +for such a reason that Ella had come here. + +But if so, why had she fled away again in such strange haste? + +He walked on slowly for a yard or two, not now attempting to follow +Ella's trail, for he had the impression that this was her +destination, and that she had gone no further than here. + +All at once he caught sight of the form of a man lying hidden in +the long grass that nearly covered him from view just where the +far-spreading branches of the great oak ceased to give their shade. + +At first Dunn thought he was sleeping, and he was just about to +call out to him when something in the rigidity of the man's position +and his utter stillness struck him unpleasantly. + +He went quickly to the man's side, and the face of dead John Clive, +supine and still, stared up at him from unseeing eyes. + +He had been killed by a charge of small shot fired at such close +quarters that his breast was shot nearly in two and his clothing +and flesh charred by the burning powder. + +But Dunn, standing staring down at the dead man, saw not him, but +Ella. Ella fleeing away silently and furtively through the trees +as from some sight or scene of guilt and terror. + +He stooped closer over the dead man. Death had been instantaneous. +Of course there could be no doubt. From one hand a piece of folded +paper had fallen. + +Dunn picked it up, and saw that there was writing on it, and he +read it over slowly. + + "Dear Mr. Clive,--Can you meet me as before by the oak + tomorrow at eleven? There is something I very much want to + say to you.--Yours sincerely, + "ELLA CAYLEY." + + +Was that, then, the lure which had brought John Clive to meet his +death? Was this the bait that had made him disregard the warnings +he had received, and come alone to so quiet and solitary a spot? + +Dunn had a moment of quick envy of him; he lay so quiet and still +in the warm sunshine, with nothing to trouble or distress him any +more for ever. + +Then, stumblingly and heavily, Dunn turned an went away, and his +eyes were very hard, his bearded face set like iron. + +Like a man in a dream, or one obsessed by some purpose before which +all other things faded into nothingness, he went his way, the way +Ella had taken in her flight--through the wood, through the spinney +to the public foot-path, and then out on the road that led to +Bittermeads. + +When he entered the garden there, he saw Ella sitting quietly on a +deck-chair close to her mother, quietly busy with some fancy work. + +He could not believe it; he stood watching in bewilderment, +appalled and wondering, watching her white hands flashing busily +to and fro, hearing the soft murmur of her voice as now and then she +addressed some remark to her mother, who nodded drowsily in the +sunshine over a book open on her knees. + +Ella was dressed all in white; she had flung aside her hat, and the +quiet breeze played in her fair hair, and stirred gently a stray +curl that had escaped across her broad low brow. + +The picture was one of gentleness and peace and an innocence that +thought no wrong, and yet with his own eyes he had seen her not +an hour ago fleeing with hurried steps and fearful looks from the +spot where lay a murdered man. + +Somewhat unsteadily, for he felt so little master of himself, it +was as though he had no longer even control of his own limbs, Dunn +stumbled forward, and Ella looked up and saw him, and saw also that +he was looking at her very strangely. + +She rose and came towards him, her needlework still in her hands. + +"What is the matter?" she said in a voice of some concern. "Are +you ill?" + +"No," he answered. "No. I've been looking for Mr. Clive." + +"Have you?" she said, a little surprised apparently, but in no +way flustered or disturbed. "Did you find him?" + +Dunn did not answer, for indeed he could not, and she said again: + +"Did you find him?" + +Still he made no answer, for it seemed to him those four words were +the most awful that any one had ever uttered since the beginning of +the world. + +"What is the matter?" she said again. "Is anything the matter?" + +"Oh, no, no," he said, and he gave himself a little shake like a +man wakening from deep sleep and trying to remember where he was. + +"Well, then," she said. + +"I found Mr. Clive," he said hardly and abruptly. And he repeated +again: "Yes, I found him." + +They remained standing close together and facing each other, and +he saw her as through a veil of red, and it was as though a red +mist enveloped her, and where her shadow lay the earth was red, he +thought, and where she put her foot it seemed to him red tracks +remained, and never before had he understood how utterly he loved +her and must love her, now and for evermore. + +But he uttered no sound and made no movement, only stood very still, +thinking to himself how dreadful it was that he loved her so greatly. + +She was not paying him, any attention now. A rose bush was near by, +and she picked one of the flowers, and arranged it carefully at her +waist. + +She said, still looking at him: + +"Do you know--I wish you would shave yourself?" + +"Why?" he mumbled. + +"I should like to see you," she answered. "I think I have a +curiosity to see you." + +"I should think you could do that well enough," he said in the same +low, mumbled tones. + +"No," she answered. "I can only see some very untidy hair and a +pair of eyes--not very nice eyes, rather frightening eyes. I +should like to see the rest of your face some day so as to know +what it's like." + +"Perhaps you shall--some day," he said. + +"Is that a threat?" she asked. "It sounded like one." + +"Perhaps," he answered. + +She laughed lightly and turned away. + +"You make me very curious," she said. "But then, you've always +done that." + +She went back to her seat by her mother, and he walked on moodily +to the house. + +Mrs. Dawson said to Ella: + +"How can you talk to that man, my dear? I think he looks perfectly +dreadful--hardly like a human being." + +"I was just telling him he ought to shave himself," said Ella. +"I told him I should like to know what he was really like." + +"I shall ask father," said Mrs. Dawson sternly, "to make it a +condition of his employment here." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A DECLARATION + + +Dunn knew very well that he ought to give immediate information to +the authorities of what had happened. + +But he did not. He told himself that nothing could help poor John +Clive, and that any precipitate action on his part might still +fatally compromise his plans, which were now so near completion. + +But his real reason was that he knew that if he came forward he +would be very closely questioned, and sooner or later forced to tell +the things he knew so terribly involving Ella. + +And he knew that to surrender her to the police and proclaim her to +the world as guilty of such things were tasks beyond his strength; +though, to himself, with a touch of wildness in his thoughts, he +said that no proved and certain guilt should go unpunished even +though his own hand-- It was a train of ideas he did not pursue. + +"Charley Wright first and now John Clive," he said to himself. "But +the end is not yet." + +Again he would not let his thoughts go on but checked them abruptly. + +In this dark and troubled mood he went out to busy himself with the +garden, and all the time he worked he watched with a sort of vertigo +of horror where Ella sat in the sunshine by her mother's side, her +white hands moving nimbly to and fro upon her needlework. + +It was not long, however, before the tragedy of the wood was +discovered, for Clive had been seen to go in that direction, and +when he did not return a search was made that was soon successful. + +The news was brought to Bittermeads towards evening by a tradesman's +boy, who came up from the village to bring something that had been +ordered from there. + +"Have you heard?" he said to Dunn excitedly. "Mr. Clive's been shot +dead by poachers." + +"Oh--by poachers?" repeated Dunn. + +"Yes, poachers," the boy answered, and went on excitedly to tell +his tale with many, and generally very inaccurate, details. + +But that the crime had been discovered and instantly set down to +poachers was at least certain, and Dunn realized at once that the +adoption of this simple and apparently plausible theory would put +an end to all really careful investigation of the circumstances +and make the discovery of the truth highly improbable. + +For the idea that the murder was the work of poachers would, when +once adopted, fill the minds of the police and of every one else, +and no suspicion would be directed elsewhere. + +By the tremendous relief he felt, Dunn understood how heavy had been +the burden of fear and apprehension that till now had oppressed him. + +If he had not found that handkerchief--if he had not secured that +letter--why, by now the police would be at Bittermeads. + +"All the same," he thought. "No one who is guilty shall escape +through me." + +But what this phrase meant, and what he intended to do, he would +not permit himself to think out clearly or try to understand. + +The boy, having told his story, hurried off to spread the news +elsewhere to more appreciative ears, for, he thought disgustedly, +it might have been just nothing at all for all the interest the +gardener at Bittermeads had shown. + +As soon as he was gone, Dunn went across to the house, and going up +to the window of the drawing-room where Ella and her mother were +having tea, he tapped on the pane. + +Ella looked up and saw him, and came at once to open the window, +while from behind Mrs. Dawson frowned in severe disapproval of what +she considered a great liberty. + +"Mr. Clive has been shot," Dunn said abruptly. "They say poachers +did it. He was killed instantly." + +Ella did not seem at first to understand. She looked puzzled and +bewildered, and did not seem to grasp the full import of his words. + +"What--what do you say?" she asked. "Mr. Clive-- Who's killed?" + +Dunn thought to himself that her acting was the most wonderful thing +he had ever seen. + +It was extraordinary that she should be able to make that grey +pallor come over her cheeks as though the meaning of what he said +were only now entering her mind; wonderful that she should be able +so well to give the idea of a great horror and a great doubt coming +slowly into her startled eyes. + +"Mr. Clive?" she said again. + +"Yes, he's been killed," Dunn said. "By poachers, apparently." + +"What is that? What is that man saying?" shrilled Mrs. Dawson from +behind. "Mr. Clive--John--why, he was here yesterday." + +Dunn turned his back and walked away. He heard Ella call after him, +but he would not look back because he feared what he might do if he +obeyed her call. + +With an odd buzzing in his ears, with the blood throbbing through +his brain as though something must soon break there, he walked +blindly on, and as he came to the gate of Bittermeads he saw a +motor-car coming up the road. + +It was Deede Dawson's car, and he was driving it, and by his side +sat a sulkily-smiling stranger, his air that of one not sure of his +welcome, but determined to enforce it, in whom, with a quick start, +Dunn recognized his burglar, the man whose attempt to break into +Bittermeads he had frustrated, and whose place he had taken. + +He put up his hand instinctively for them to stop, and Deede Dawson +at once obeyed the gesture. + +Dunn noticed that the smile upon his lips was more gentle and +winning than ever, the look in his eyes more dark and menacing. + +"Well, Dunn, what is it?" he said as pleasantly as he always spoke. +"Mr. Allen," he added to his companion, "this is my man, Dunn, I +told you about, my gardener and chauffeur, and a very industrious +steady fellow--and quite trustworthy." + +He seemed to lay a certain emphasis on the last two words, and Allen +put his head on one side and looked at Dunn with an odd, mixture of +familiarity, suspicion, hesitation, and an uncertain assumption of +superiority, but with no hint of recognition showing. + +"Glad to hear it," he said. "You always want to know whom you can +trust." + +"Mr. Clive has been murdered," Dunn said abruptly. "Poachers, it +is said. Did you know?" + +"We heard about it as we came through the village," answered Deede +Dawson. "Very sad, very dreadful. It will be a great shock to poor +Ella, I fear. Take the car on to the garage, will you?" he added. + +He drove on up the drive, and at the front door they alighted and +entered the house together. Dunn followed, and getting into the +car, drove it to the garage, where he busied himself cleaning it. +As he worked he wondered very much what was the meaning of this +sudden appearance on terms of friendship with Deede Dawson of this +man Allen, whom he had last seen trying to break into the house at +night. + +Was Allen an accomplice of Deede Dawson, or a dupe, or, more +probably, a new recruit? + +At any rate, to Dunn it seemed that the crisis he had expected and +prepared for was now fast approaching, and he told himself that if +he had failed in Clive's case, those others he was working for he +must not fail to save. + +"Looks as if Dawson's plans were nearly ready," he said to himself. +"Well, so are mine." + +He finished his work and shutting the garage door, he was turning +away when he saw Ella coming towards him. + +She was extremely pale, and her eyes seemed larger than ever, and +very bright against the deathly whiteness of her cheeks. + +She was wearing a blouse that was cut a little low, and he notice +with a kind of terror how soft and round was her throat, like a +column of pale and perfect ivory. + +He hoped she would not speak to him, for he thought perhaps he could +not bear it if she did, but she halted near by, and said: + +"This is very dreadful about poor Mr. Clive." + +"Very," he answered moodily. + +"Why should poachers kill him?" she asked. "Why should they want +to?" + +"I don't know," he answered, watching not her but her soft throat, +where he could see a pulse fluttering. "Perhaps it wasn't poachers," +he added. + +She started violently, and gave a quick look that seemed to make yet +more certain the certainty he already entertained. + +"Who else could it be?" she asked in a low voice. + +He did not answer. + +After what seemed a long time she said: + +"You asked me a question once--do you remember?" + +He shook his head. + +"Why don't you speak? Why can't you speak?" she cried angrily. +"Why can't you say something instead of just shaking your head?" + +"You see, I've asked you so many questions," he said slowly. +"Perhaps I shall ask you some more some day--which question do you +mean?" + +"I mean when you asked me if I had ever met any one who spoke in a +very shrill, high whistling sort of voice? Do you remember?" + +"Yes," he said. "You wouldn't tell me." + +"Well, I will now," she said. "I did meet a man once with a voice +like that. Do you remember the night you, came here that I drove +away in the car with a packing-case you carried downstairs?" + +"Do I--remember?" he gasped, for that memory, and the thought of +how she had driven away into the night with, that grisly thing behind +her on the car had never since left his mind by night or by day. + +"Yes," she exclaimed impatiently. "Why do you keep staring so? Are +you as stupid as you choose to look? Do you remember?" + +"I remember," he answered heavily. "I remember very well." + +"Well, then, the man I took that packing-case to had a voice just +like that--high and shrill, whistling almost." + +"I thought as much," said Dunn. "May I ask you another question?" + +She nodded. + +"May I smoke?" + +She nodded again with a touch of impatience. + +He took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth and +lighted a match, but the match, when he had lighted it, he used to +put light to a scrap of folded paper with writing on it, like a note. + +This piece of paper he used to light his cigarette with and when he +had done so he watched the paper burn to an ash, not dropping it to +the ground till the little flame stung his fingers. + +The ash that had fallen he ground into the path where they stood +with the heel of his boot. + +"What have you burned there?" she asked, as if she suspected it was +something of importance he had destroyed. + +In fact it was the note that had fallen from dead John Clive's hand +wherein Ella had asked him to meet her at the oak where he had met +his death. + +That bit of paper would have been enough, Dunn thought, to place a +harsh hempen noose about the soft white throat he watched where the +little pulse still fluttered up and down. But now it was burnt and +utterly destroyed, and no one would ever see it. + +At the thought he laughed and she drew back, very startled. + +"Oh, what is the matter?" she exclaimed. + +"Nothing," he answered. "Nothing in all the world except that I +love you." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ROBERT DUNN'S ENEMY + + +When he had said this he went a step or two aside and sat down on +the stump of a tree. He was very agitated and disturbed for he had +not in the very least meant to say such a thing, he had not even +known that he really felt like that. + +It was, indeed, a rush and power of quite unexpected passion that +had swept him away and made him for the moment lose all control +of himself. Ella showed much more composure. She had become +extraordinarily pale, but otherwise she did not appear in any way +agitated. + +She remained silent, her eyes bent on the ground, her only movement +a gesture by which she rubbed softly and in turn each of her wrists +as though they hurt her. + +"Well, can't you say something?" he asked roughly, annoyed by her +persistent silence. + +"I don't see that there's anything for me to say," she answered. + +"Oh, well now then," he muttered; quite disconcerted. + +She raised her eyes from the ground, and for the first time looked +full at him, in her expression both curiosity and resentment. + +"It is perfectly intolerable," she said with a heaving breast. +"Will you tell me who you are?" + +"I've told you one thing," he answered sullenly, his eyes on fire. +"I should have thought that was enough. I'll tell you nothing more." + +"I think you are the most horrid man I ever met," she cried. "And +the very, very ugliest--all that hair on your face so that no one +can see anything else. What are you like when you cut it off?" + +"Does that matter?" he asked, in the same gruff and surly manner. + +"I should think it matters a good deal when I ask you," she +exclaimed. "Do you expect any one to care for a man she has never +seen--nothing but hair. You hurt my wrists awfully that night," +she added resentfully. "And you've never even hinted you're sorry." + +His reply was unexpected and it disconcerted her greatly and for +the first time, for he caught both her wrists in his hands and +kissed them passionately where the cords had been. + +"You mustn't do that, please don't do that," she said quickly, +trying to release herself. + +Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm +around her and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and +powerful she could not have resisted it though she had wished to. + +But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she +had lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of +his bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong +arms holding her so firmly. + +He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort +he did not oppose, and she fled away down the path. + +She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that +would make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly +to secure it. She never looked back to where he stood, breathing +heavily and looking after her and thinking not of her, but of two +dead men whom he had seen of late. + +"Shall I make the third?" he wondered. "I do not care if I do, +not I." + +The path Ella had fled by led into another along which when she +reached it she saw Deede Dawson coming. + +She stopped at once and began to busy herself with a flower-bed +overrun with weeds, but she could not entirely conceal her agitation +from her stepfather's cold grey eyes. + +"Oh, there you are, Ella," he said, with all that false geniality of +his that filled the girl with such loathing and distrust. "Have you +seen Dunn? Oh, there he is, isn't he? I wanted to ask you, Ella, +what do you think of Dunn?" + +She glanced over her shoulder towards where Dunn stood, and she +managed to answer with a passable air of indifference. + +"Well, I suppose," she said, "that he is quite the ugliest man I +ever saw. Of course, if he cut all of that hair off--" + +Deede Dawson laughed though his eyes remained as hard and cold as +ever. + +"I shall have to give him orders to shave," he said. "Your mother +was telling me I ought to the other day, she said it didn't look +respectable to have a man about with all that hair on his face. +Though I don't see myself why hair isn't respectable, do you?" + +"It looks odd," answered Ella carelessly. + +Deede Dawson laughed again, and walked on to where Dunn was standing +waiting for him. With his perpetual smile that his cold and evil +eyes so strangely contradicted, he said to him: + +"Well, what have you and Ella been talking about?" + +"Why do you ask?" growled Dunn. + +"Because she looks upset," answered Deede Dawson. "Oh, don't be shy +about it. Shall I give you a little good advice?" + +"What?" + +"Never shave." + +"Why not?" + +"Because that thick growth of hair hiding your face gives you an air +of mystery and romance no woman could possibly resist. You're a +perpetual puzzle, and to pique a woman's curiosity is the surest way +to interest her. Why, there are plenty of women who would marry you +simply to find out what is under all that hair. So never you shave." + +"I don't mean to." + +"Unless, of course, you have to--for purposes of disguise, for +example." + +"I thought you were hinting that the beard itself was a disguise," +retorted Dunn. + +"Removing it might become a better one," answered Deede Dawson. +"You told me once you knew this part fairly well. Do you know +Wreste Abbey?" + +Dunn gave his questioner a scowling look that seemed full of anger +and suspicion. + +"What about it if I do?" he asked. + +"I am asking if you do know it," said Deede Dawson. + +"Yes, I do. Well?" + +"It belongs to Lord Chobham, doesn't it?" + +Dunn nodded. + +"Old man, isn't he?" + +"I'm not a book of reference about Lord Chobham," answered Dunn. +"If you want to know his age, you can easily find out, I suppose. +What's the sense of asking me a lot of questions like that?" + +"He has no family, and his heir is his younger brother, General +Dunsmore, who has one son, Rupert, I believe. Do you know if +that's so?" + +"Look here," said Dunn, speaking with a great appearance of anger. +"Don't you go too far, or maybe something you won't like will happen. +If you've anything to say, say it straight out. Or there'll be +trouble." + +Deede Dawson seemed a little surprised at the vehemence of the +other's tone. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. "Don't you like the family, or what's +upsetting you?" + +Dunn seemed almost choking with fury. He half-lifted one hand and +let it fall again. + +"If ever I get hold of that young Rupert Dunsmore," he said with a +little gasp for breath. "If ever I come face to face with him--man +to man--" + +"Dear me!" smiled Deede Dawson, lifting his eyebrows. "I'm treading +on sore toes, it seems. What's the trouble between you?" + +"Never you mind," replied Dunn roughly. "That's my business. But +no man ever had a worse enemy than he's been to me." + +"Has he, though?" said Deede Dawson, who seemed very interested and +even a little excited. "What did he do?" + +"Never you mind," Dunn repeated. "That's my affair, but I swore I'd +get even with him some day and I will, too." + +"Suppose," said Deede Dawson. "Suppose I showed you a way?" + +Dunn did not answer at first, and for some moments the two men stood +watching each other and staring into each other's eyes as though +each was trying to read the depths of the other's soul. + +"Suppose," said Deede Dawson very softly. "Suppose you were to meet +Rupert Dunsmore--alone--quite alone?" + +Still Dunn did not answer, but somehow it appeared that his silence +was full of a very deadly significance. + +"Suppose you did--what would you do?" murmured Deede Dawson again, +and his voice sank lower with each word he uttered till the last +was a scarce-audible whisper. + +Dunn stopped and picked up a hoe that was lying near by. He placed +the tough ash handle across his knee, and with a movement of his +powerful hands, he broke the hoe across. + +The two smashed pieces he dropped on the ground, and looking at +Deede Dawson, he said: + +"Like that--if ever Rupert Dunsmore and I meet alone, only one of +us will go away alive." And he confirmed it with an oath. + +Deede Dawson clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed. + +"Good!" he cried. "Why, you're the man I've been looking for for +a long time. The fact is, Rupert Dunsmore played me a nasty trick +once, and I want to clear accounts with him. Now, suppose I show +him to you--?" + +"You do that," said Dunn, and he repeated the oath he had sworn +before. "You show him to me, and I'll take care he never troubles +any one again." + +"That's the way I like to hear a man talk," cried Deede Dawson. +"Dunsmore has been away for a time on business I can make a guess +at, but he is coming back soon. Should you know him if you saw +him?" + +"Should I know him?" repeated Dunn contemptuously. "Should I know +myself?" + +"That's good," said Deede Dawson again. "By the way, perhaps you +can tell me, hasn't Lord Chobham a rather distant cousin, Walter +Dunsmore, living with him as secretary or something of the sort +--quite a distant relative, I believe, though in the direct line +of succession?" + +"Very likely," said Dunn indifferently. "I think so, but I don't +care anything about the rest of them. It's only Rupert Dunsmore I +have anything against." + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY + + +It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject of +Wreste Abbey. + +"Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery +and so on, hasn't he?" he asked. + +"Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there," Dunn answered. "Why?" + +"Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly profitable," Deede +Dawson said carelessly, for the first time definitely throwing off +his mask of law-abiding citizen under which he lived at Bittermeads. + +"It would be a risky job," answered Dunn, showing no surprise at the +suggestion. "The stuff's well guarded, and then, that's not what +I'm thinking about--it's meeting Rupert Dunsmore, man to man, and +no one to come between us. If that ever happens--" + +Deede Dawson nodded reassuringly. + +"That'll be all right," he said. "So you shall, I promise you that. +But we might as well kill two birds with one stone and clear a bit +of profit, too. I've got to live, like any one else, and I haven't +five thousand a year of my own, so I get my living out of those who +have, and I don't see who has any right to blame me. Mind, if there +was any money in chess, I should be a millionaire, but there isn't, +and if a man can make a fortune on the Stock Exchange, which takes +no more thought or skill than auction-bridge, why shouldn't I make a +bit when I can? There's the 'D. D.' gambit I've invented, people +will be studying and playing for centuries, but it'll never bring me +a penny for all the brain-work I put into it, and so I've got to +protect myself, haven't I?" + +"It's what I do with less talk about it," answered Dunn +contemptuously. "Why, I've guessed all that from the first when +you weren't so all-fired keen on seeing me in gaol, as most of your +honest, hard-working lot, who only do their swindling in business-hours, +would have been. And I've kept my eyes open, of course. It wasn't +hard to twig you did a bit on the cross yourself. Well, that's your +affair, but one thing I do want to know--how much does Miss Cayley +know?" + +For all his efforts he could not keep his anxiety entirely out of +his voice as he said this, and recognizing that thereby he had +perhaps risked rousing some suspicion in the other's mind, he added: + +"And her mother--the young lady and her mother, how much do they +know?" + +"Oh," answered Deede Dawson, with his false laugh and cold-watchful +eyes. "My wife knows nothing at all, but Ella's the best helper +I've ever had. She looks so innocent, she can take in any one, and +she never gives the show away, she acts all the time. A wonderful +girl and useful--you'd hardly believe how useful." + +Dunn did not answer. It was only by a supreme effort that he kept +his hands from Deede Dawson's throat. He did not believe a word of +what the other said, for he knew well the utter falseness of the man. +None the less, the accusation troubled him and chilled him to the +heart, as though with the touch of the finger of death. + +"You remember that packing-case," Deede Dawson added. "The one you +helped me to get away from here the night you came. Well, she knew +what was in it, though you would never have thought so, to look at +her, would you?" + +His cold eyes were very intent and keen as he said this, and Dunn +thought to himself that it had been said more to test any possible +knowledge or suspicion of his own than for any other reason. With +a manner of only slight interest, he answered carelessly: + +"Did she? Why? Wasn't it your stuff? Had it been pinched? But +she was safe enough, the police would never stop a smart young lady +in a motor-car, except on very strong evidence." + +"Perhaps not," agreed Deede Dawson. "That's one reason why Ella's +so useful. But I've been thinking things out, and trying to make +them work in together, and I think the first thing to do is for you +to drive Allen and Ella over to Wreste Abbey this afternoon, so +that they may have a good look around." + +"Oh, Miss Cayley and Allen," Dunn muttered. + +The new-comer, Allen, had been making himself very much at home at +Bittermeads since his arrival, though he had not so far troubled +to any great extent either Ella in the house or Dunn outside. His +idea of comfort seemed to be to stay in bed very late, and spend +his time when he did get up in the breakfast-room in the company +of a box of cigars and a bottle of whisky. + +The suggestion that he and Ella should pay a visit together to +Wreste Abbey was one that greatly surprised Dunn. + +"All right," he said. "This afternoon? I'll get the car ready." + +"This is the afternoon the Abbey is thrown open to visitors, isn't +it?" asked Deede Dawson. "Allen and Ella can get in as tourists, +and have a good look round, and you can look round outside and get +to know the lie of the land. There won't be long to wait, for +Rupert Dunsmore will be back from his little excursion before long, +I expect." + +He laughed in his mirthless way, and walked off, and Dunn, as he +got the car ready, seemed a good deal preoccupied and a little +worried. + +"How can he know that Rupert Dunsmore is coming back?" he said to +himself. "Can he have any way of finding out things I don't know +about? And if he did, how could he know--that? Most likely it's +only a guess to soothe me down, and he doesn't really know anything +at all about it." + +After lunch, Allen and Ella appeared together, ready for their +expedition. Ella looked her best in a big motoring coat and a +close-fitting hat, with a long blue veil. Allen was, for almost +the first time since his arrival, shaved, washed and tidy. + +He looked indeed as respectable as his sinister and forbidding +countenance would permit, and though Deede Dawson had made him as +smart as possible, he had permitted him to gratify his own florid +taste in adornment, so that his air of prosperity and wealth had +the appearance of being that of some recently-enriched vulgarian +whose association with a motor-car and a well-dressed girl of Ella's +type was probably due to the fact that he had recently purchased +them both out of newly-acquired wealth. + +Dunn wore a neat chauffeur's costume, with which, however, his +bearded face did not go too well. He felt indeed that their whole +turn-out was far too conspicuous considering the real nature of +their errand, and far too likely to attract attention, and he +wondered if Deede Dawson's subtle and calculating mind had not for +some private reason desired that to be so. + +"He is keeping well in the background himself," Dunn mused. "He may +reckon that if things go wrong--in case of any pursuit--it's a +good move perhaps in a way, but he may find an unexpected check to +his king opened on him." + +The drive was a long one, and Ella noticed that though Dunn consulted +his map frequently, he never appeared in any doubt concerning the way. + +A little before three they drove into the village that lay round the +park gates of Wreste Abbey. + +Motors were not allowed in the park, so Dunn put theirs in the garage +of the little hotel, that was already almost full, for visiting day +at Wreste Abbey generally drew a goodly number of tourists, while +Ella and Allen, in odd companionship, walked up to the Abbey by the +famous approach through the chestnut avenue. + +Allen was quiet and surly, and much on his guard, and very +uncomfortable in Ella's company, and Ella herself, though for +different reasons was equally silent. + +But the beauty of the walk through the chestnut avenue, and of the +vista with the great house at the end, drew from her a quick +exclamation of delight. + +"How beautiful a place this is," she said aloud. "And how peaceful +and how quiet." + +"Don't like these quiet places myself," grumbled Allen. "Don't like +'em, don't trust 'em. Give me lots of traffic; when everything's so +awful quiet you've only got to kick your foot against a stone or drop +a tool, and likely as not you'll wake the whole blessed place." + +"Wake," repeated Ella, noticing the word, and she repeated it with +emphasis. "Why do you say 'wake'?" + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ELLA'S WARNING + + +Ella did not say anything more, and in their character of tourists +visiting the place, they were admitted to the Abbey and passed on +though its magnificent rooms, where was stored a collection rich +and rare even for one of the stateliest homes of England. + +"What a wonderful place!" Ella sighed wistfully. Yet she could not +enjoy the spectacle of all these treasures as she would have done +at another time, for she was always watching Allen, who hung about +a good deal, and seemed to look more at the locks of the cases that +held some of the more valuable of the objects shown than at the +things themselves, and generally spent fully half the time in each +room at the window, admiring, the view, he said; but for quite +another reason, Ella suspected. + +"I shall speak when I get back," she said to herself, pale and +resolute. "I don't care what happens; I don't care if I have to +tell mother--perhaps she knows already. Anyhow, I shall speak." + +Having come to this determination, she grew cheerful and more +interested apparently in what they were seeing, as well as less +watchful of her companion. When, presently, they left the house to +go into the gardens, it happened that they noticed an old gentleman +walking at a little distance behind a gate marked "Private," and +leaning on the arm of a tall, thin, clean-shaven man of middle-age. + +"Lord Chobham, the old gentleman," whispered a tourist, who was +standing near. "I saw him once in the House of Lords. That's his +secretary with him, Mr. Dunsmore, one of the family; he manages +everything now the old gentleman is getting so feeble." + +Ella walked on frowning and a little worried, for she thought she +had seen the secretary before and yet could not remember where. +Soon she noticed Dunn, who had apparently been obeying Deede Dawson's +orders to look round outside and get to know the lie of the land. + +He seemed at present to be a good deal interested in Lord Chobham +and his companion, for he went and leaned on the gate and stared at +them so rudely that one or two of the other tourists noticed it +and frowned at him. But he took no notice, and presently, as if +not seeing that the gate was marked "Private," he pushed it open +and walked through. + +Noticing the impertinent intrusion almost at once, Mr. Dunsmore +turned round and called "This is private." + +Dunn did not seem to hear, and Mr. Dunsmore walked across to him +with a very impatient air, while the little group of tourists +watched, with much interest and indignation and a very comforting +sense of superiority. + +"He ought to be sent right out of the grounds," they told each other. +"That's the sort of rude behaviour other people have to suffer for." + +"Now, my man," said Mr. Dunsmore sharply, "this is private, you've +no business here." + +"Sorry, sir; beg pardon, I'm sure," said Dunn, touching his hat, and +as he did so he said in a sharp, penetrating whisper: "Look out-- +trouble's brewing--don't know what, but look out, all the time." + +He had spoken so quickly and quietly, in the very act of turning away, +that none of the onlookers could have told that a word had passed, but +for the very violent start that Walter Dunsmore made and his quick +movement forward as if to follow the other. Immediately Dunn turned +back towards him with a swift warning gesture of his hand. + +"Careful, you fool, they're looking," he said in a quick whisper, +and in a loud voice: "Very sorry, sir; beg pardon--I'm sure +I didn't mean anything." + +Walter Dunsmore swung round upon his heel and went quickly back to +where Lord Chobham waited; and his face was like that of one who +has gazed into the very eyes of death. + +"Lord in Heaven," he muttered, "it's all over, I'm done." And his +hand felt for a little metal box he carried in his waistcoat pocket +and that held half a dozen small round tablets, each of them a strong +man's death. + +But he took his hand away again as he rejoined his cousin, patron, +and employer, old Lord Chobham. + +"What's the matter, Walter?" Lord Chobham asked. "You look pale." + +"The fellow was a bit impudent; he made me angry," said Walter +carelessly. He fingered the little box in his waistcoat pocket and +thought how one tablet on his tongue would always end it all. "By +the way, oughtn't Rupert to be back soon?" he asked. + +"Yes, he ought," said Lord Chobham severely. "It's time he married +and settled down--I shall speak to his father about it. The boy +is always rushing off somewhere or another when he ought to be +getting to know the estate and the tenants." + +Walter Dunsmore laughed. + +"I think he knows them both fairly well already," he said. "Not a +tenant on the place but swears by Rupert. He's a fine fellow, uncle." + +"Oh, you always stick up for him; you and he were always friends," +answered Lord Chobham in a grumbling tone, but really very pleased. +"I know I'm never allowed to say a word about Rupert." + +"Well, he's a fine fellow and a good friend," said Walter, and the +two disappeared into the house by a small side-door as Dunn pushed +his way through the group of tourists who looked at him with marked +and severe disapproval. + +"Disgraceful," one of them said quite loudly, and another added: "I +believe he said something impudent to that gentleman. I saw him go +quite white, and look as if he were in two minds about ordering the +fellow right out of the grounds." And a third expressed the general +opinion that the culprit looked a real ruffian with all that hair +on his face. "Might be a gorilla," said the third tourist. "And +look what a clumsy sort of walk he has; perhaps he's been drinking." + +But Dunn was quite indifferent to, and indeed unaware of this popular +condemnation as he made his way back to the hotel garage where he had +left their car. He seemed rather well pleased than otherwise as he +walked on. + +"Quite a stroke of luck for once," he mused, and he smiled to +himself, and stroked the thick growth of his untidy beard. "It's +been worth while, for he didn't recognize me in the least, and had +quite a shock, but, all the same, I shan't be sorry to shave and +see my own face again." + +He had the car out and ready when Ella and Allen came back. Allen +at once made an excuse to leave them, and went into the hotel bar +to get a drink of whisky, and when they were alone, Ella, who was +looking very troubled and thoughtful, said to Dunn + +"We saw Lord Chobham in the garden with a gentleman some one told +us was a relative of his, a Mr. Walter Dunsmore. Did you see them?" + +"Yes," answered Dunn, a little surprised, and giving her a quick +and searching look from his bright, keen eyes. "I saw them. Why--" + +"I think I've seen the one they said was Mr. Walter Dunsmore before, +and I can't think where," she answered, puckering her brows. +"I can't think--do you know anything about him?" + +"I know he is Mr. Walter Dunsmore," answered Dunn slowly, "and I +know he is one of the family, and a great friend of Rupert Dunsmore's. +Rupert Dunsmore is Lord Chobham's nephew, you know, and heir, after +his father, to the title and estates. His father, General Dunsmore, +brought him and Walter up together like brothers, but recently Walter +has lived at the Abbey as Lord Chobham's secretary and companion. +The general likes to live abroad a good deal, and his son Rupert is +always away on some sporting or exploring expedition or another." + +"It's very strange," Ella said again. "I'm sure I've seen Walter +Dunsmore before but I can't think where." + +Allen came from the bar, having quenched his thirst for the time +being, and they started off, arriving back at Bittermeads fairly +early in the evening, for Dunn had brought them along at a good +rate, and apparently remembered the road so well from the afternoon +that he never once had occasion to refer to the map. + +He took the car round to the garage, and Allen and Ella went into +the house, where Allen made his way at once to the breakfast-room, +searching for more whisky and cigars, while Ella, after a quick +word with her mother to assure her of their safe return, went to +find Deede Dawson. + +"Ah, dear child, you are back then," he greeted her. "Well, how +have you enjoyed yourself? Had a pleasant time?" + +"It was not for pleasure we went there, I think," she said +listlessly. + +He looked up quickly, and though his perpetual smile still played +as usual about his lips, his eyes were hard and daunting as they +fixed themselves on hers. Before that sinister stare her own eyes +sank, and sought the little travelling set of chessmen and board +that were before him. + +"See," he said, "I've just brought off a mate. Neat isn't it? +Checkmate." + +She looked up at him, and her eyes were steadier now. + +"I've only one thing to say to you," she said. "I came here to say +it. If anything happens at Wreste Abbey I shall go straight to the +police." + +"Indeed," he said, "indeed." He fingered the chessmen as though all +his attention were engaged by them. "May I ask why?" he murmured. +"For what purpose?" + +"To tell them," she answered quietly, "what I--know." + +"And what do you know?" he asked indifferently. "What do you know +that is likely to interest the police?" + +"I ought to have said, perhaps," she answered after a pause, "what +I suspect." + +"Ah, that's so different, isn't it?" he murmured gently. "So very +different. You see we all of us suspect so many things." + +She did not answer, for she had said all she had to say and she was +afraid that her strength would not carry her further. She began to +walk away, but he called her back. + +"Oh, how do you think your mother is today?" he asked. "Do you know, +her condition seems to me quite serious at times. I wonder if you +are overanxious?" + +"She is better--much better!" Ella answered, and added with a sudden +burst of fiercest, white-hot passion: "But I think it would be better +if we had both died before we met you." + +She hurried away, for she was afraid of breaking down, and Deede +Dawson smiled the more as he again turned his attention to his +chessmen, taking them up and putting them down in turn. + +"She's turning nasty," he mused. "I don't think she'll dare--but +she might. She's only a pawn, but a pawn can cause a lot of trouble +at times--a pawn may become a queen and give the mate. When a pawn +threatens trouble it's best to--remove it." + +He went out and came back a little late and busied himself with a +four-move chess problem which absorbed all his attention, and which +he did not solve to his satisfaction till past midnight. Then he +went upstairs to bed, but at the door of his room he paused and went +on very softly up the narrow stairs that led to the attics above. + +Outside the one in which Dunn slept, he waited a little till the +unbroken sound of regular breathing from within assured him that +the occupant slept. + +Cautiously and carefully he crept on, and entered the one adjoining, +where he turned the light of the electric flashlight he carried on a +large, empty packing-case that stood in one corner. + +With a two-foot rule he took from his pocket he measured it +carefully and nodded with great satisfaction. + +"A little smaller than the other," he said to himself. "But, then, +it hasn't got to hold so much." He laughed in his silent, mirthless +way, as at something that amused him. "A good deal less," he thought. +"And Dunn shall drive." + +He laughed again, and for a moment or two stood there in the +darkness, laughing silently to himself, and then, speaking aloud, +he called out: + +"You can come in, Dunn." + +Dunn, whom a creaking board had betrayed, came forward unconcernedly +in his sleeping attire. + +"I saw it was you," he remarked. "At first I thought something was +wrong." + +"Nothing, nothing," answered Deede Dawson. "I was only looking at +this packing-case. I may have to send one away again soon, and I +wanted to be sure this was big enough. If I do, I shall want you to +drive." + +"Not Miss Cayley?" asked Dunn. + +"No, no," answered Deede Dawson. "She might be with you perhaps, but +she wouldn't drive. Night driving is always dangerous, I think, don't +you?" + +"There's things more dangerous," Dunn remarked. + +"Oh, quite true," answered Deede Dawson. "Well, did you enjoy your +visit to Wreste Abbey?" + +"No," answered Dunn roughly. "I didn't see Rupert Dunsmore, and it +wouldn't have been any good if I had with all those people about." + +"You're too impatient," Deede Dawson smiled. "I'm getting everything +ready; you can't properly expect to win a game in a dozen moves. You +must develop your pieces properly and have all ready before you start +your attack. As soon as I'm ready--why, I'll act--and you'll have +to do the rest." + +"I see," said Dunn thoughtfully. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DOUBTS AND FEARS + + +In point of fact Dunn had not been asleep when Deede Dawson came +listening at his door. Of late he had slept little and that little +had been much disturbed by evil, haunting dreams in which perpetually +he saw his dead friend, Charley Wright, and dead John Clive always +together, while behind them floated the pale and lovely face of Ella, +at whom the two dead men looked and whispered to each other. + +In the day such thoughts troubled him less, for when he was under +the influence of Ella's gentle presence, and when he could watch her +clear and candid eyes, he found all doubt and suspicion melting away +like snow beneath warm sunshine. + +But in the silence of the night they returned, returned very +dreadfully, so dreadfully that often as he lay awake in the darkness +beads of sweat stood upon his forehead and he would drive his great +hands one against the other in his passionate effort to still the +thoughts that tormented him. Then, in the morning again, the sound +of Ella's voice, the merest glimpse of her grave and gracious +personality, would bring back once more his instinctive belief in +her. + +The morning after Deede Dawson had paid his visit to the attic there +was news, however, that disturbed him greatly, for Mrs. Barker, the +charwoman who came each morning to Bittermeads, told them that two +men in the village--notorious poachers--had been arrested by the +police on a charge of being concerned in Mr. Clive's death. + +The news was a great shock to Dunn, for, knowing as he thought he +did, that the police were working on an entirely wrong idea, he had +not supposed they would ever find themselves able to make any arrest. +As a matter of fact, these arrests they had made were the result of +desperation on the part of the police, who unable to discover +anything and entirely absorbed by their preconceived idea that the +crime was the work of poachers, had arrested men they knew were +poachers in the vague hope of somehow discovering something or of +somehow getting hold of some useful clue. + +But that Dunn did not know, and feared unlucky chance or undesigned +coincidence must have appeared to suggest the guilt of the men and +that they were really in actual danger of trial and conviction. He +had, too, received that morning, through the secret means of +communication he kept open with an agent in London, conclusive proof +that at the moment of Clive's death Deede Dawson was in town on +business that seemed obscure enough, but none the less in town, +and therefore undoubtedly innocent of the actual perpetration of +the murder. + +Who, then, was left who could have fired the fatal shot? + +It was a question Dunn dared not even ask himself but he saw very +plainly that if the proceedings against the two arrested men were +to be pressed, he would be forced to come forward before his +preparations were ready and tell all he knew, no matter at what cost. + +All the morning he waited and watched for his opportunity to speak +to Ella, who was in a brighter and gayer mood than he had ever seen +her in before. + +At breakfast Deede Dawson had assured her that he could not conceive +what were the suspicions she had referred to the night previously, +and while he would certainly have no objection to her mentioning +them at any time, in any quarter she thought fit if anything happened +at Wreste Abbey--and would indeed be the first to urge her to do so +--he, for his part, considered it most unlikely that anything of the +sort she seemed to dread would in fact occur. + +"Not at all likely," he said with his happy, beaming smile that +never reached those cold eyes of his. "I should say myself that +nothing ever did happen at Wreste Abbey, not since the Flood, anyhow. +It strikes me as the most peaceful, secluded spot in all England." + +"I'm very glad you think so," said Ella, tremendously relieved and +glad to hear him say so, and supposing, though his smooth words and +smiles and protestations deceived her very little, that, at any rate, +what she had said had forced him to abandon whatever plans he had +been forming in that direction. + +Her victory, as it seemed to her, won so easily and containing good +promise of further success in the future, cheered her immensely, and +it was in almost a happy mood that she went unto the garden after +lunch and met Dunn in a quiet, well-hidden corner, where he had been +waiting and watching for long. + +His appearance startled her--his eyes were so wild, his whole +manner so strained and restless, and she gave a little dismayed +exclamation as she saw him. + +"Oh, what's the matter?" she asked. "Aren't you well? You look--" + +She paused for she did not know exactly how it was he did look; +and he said in his harshest, most abrupt manner + +"Do you remember Charley Wright?" + +"Why do you ask?" she said, puzzled. "Is anything wrong?" + +"Do you remember John Clive?" he asked, disregarding this. "Have +you heard two men have been arrested for his murder?" + +"Mrs. Barker told me so," she answered gravely. He came a little +nearer, almost threateningly nearer. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked. + +She lifted one hand and put it gently on his arm. The touch of it +thrilled him through and through, and he felt a little dazed as he +watched it resting on his coat sleeve. She had become very pale +also and her voice was low and strained as she said + +"Have you had suspicions too?" + +He looked at her as if fascinated for a moment, and then nodded +twice and very slowly. + +"So have I," she sighed in tones so low he could scarcely hear them. + +"Oh, you, you also," he muttered, almost suffocating. + +"Yes," she said. "Yes--perhaps the same as yours. My stepfather," +she breathed, "Mr. Deede Dawson." + +He watched her closely and moodily, but he did not speak. + +"I was afraid--at first," she whispered. "But I was wrong--quite +wrong. It is as certain as it can be that he was in London at the +time." + +From his pocket Dunn took out the handkerchief of hers that he had +found near the body of the dead man. + +"Is this yours?" he asked. + +"Yes," she answered. "Yes, where did you get it?" + +He did not answer, but he lifted his hands one after the other, and +put them on her shoulder, with the fingers outspread to encircle her +throat. It seemed to him that when she acknowledged the ownership +of the handkerchief she acknowledged also the perpetration of the +deed, and he became a little mad, and he had it in his mind that the +slightest, the very slightest, pressure of his fingers on that soft, +round throat would put it for ever out of her power to do such things +again. Then for himself death would be easy and welcome, and there +would be an end to all these doubts and fears that racked him with +anguish beyond bearing. + +"What are you going to do?" she asked, making no attempt to resist +or escape. + +Ever so slightly the pressure of his hands upon her throat +strengthened and increased. A very little more and the lovely +thing of life he watched would be broken and cold for ever. Her +eyes were steady, she showed no sign of fear, she stood perfectly +still, her hands loosely clasped together before her. He groaned, +and his arms fell to his side, helpless. Without the slightest +change of expression, she said: + +"What were you going to do?" + +"I don't know," he answered. "Do you ever go mad? I do, I think. +Perhaps you do too, and that explains it. Do you know where Charley +Wright is?" + +"Yes," she answered directly. "Why? Did you know him, then?" + +"You know where he is now?" Dunn repeated. + +She nodded quietly. + +"I heard from him only last week," she said. + +"I am certainly mad or you are," he muttered, staring at her with +eyes in which such wonder and horror showed that it seemed there +really was a touch of madness there. + +"What is the matter?" she asked. + +"You heard from him last week," he said again, and again she +answered: + +"Yes--last week. Why not?" + +He leaned forward, and before she knew what he intended to do he +kissed her pale, cool cheek. + +Once more she stood still and immobile, her hands loosely clasped +before her. It might have been that he had kissed a statue, and +her perfect stillness made him afraid. + +"Ella," he said. "Ella." + +"Why did you do that?" she said, a little wildly now in her turn. +"It was not that you were going to do to me before." + +"I love you," he muttered excusingly. + +She shook her head. + +"You know too little of me; you have too many doubt and fears," she +said. "You do not love me, you do not even trust me." + +"I love you all the same," he asserted positively and roughly. "I +loved you--it was when I tied your hands to the chair that night +and you looked at me with such contempt, and asked me if I felt +proud. That stung, that stung. I loved you then." + +"You see," she said sadly, "you do not even pretend to trust me. I +don't know why you should. Why are you here? Why are you disguised +with all that growth of hair? There is something you are preparing, +planning. I know it. I feel it. What is it?" + +"I told you once before," he answered, "that the end of this will +be Deede Dawson's death or mine. That's what I'm preparing." + +"He is very cunning, very clever," she said. "Do you think he +suspects you?" + +"He suspects every one always," answered Dunn. "I've been trying +to get proof to act on. I haven't succeeded. Not yet. Nothing +definite. If I can't, I shall act without. That's all." + +"If I told him even half of what you just said," she said, looking +at him. "What would happen?" + +"You see, I trust you," he answered bitterly. + +She shook her head, but her eyes were soft and tender as she said: + +"It wasn't trust in me made you say all that, it was because you +didn't care what happened after." + +"No," he said. "But when I see you, I forget everything. Do you +love me?" + +"Why, I've never even seen you yet," she exclaimed with something +like a smile. "I only know you as two eyes over a tangle of hair +that I don't believe you ever either brush or comb. Do you know, +sometimes I am curious." + +He took her hand and drew her to sit beside him on the bench under +a tree near by. All his doubts and fears and suspicions he set far +from him, and remembered nothing save that she was the woman for +whom yearned all the depths of his soul as by pre-ordained decree. + And she, too, forgot all else save that she had met her man--her +man, to her strange, aloof, mysterious, but dominating all her life +as though by primal necessity. + +When they parted, it was with an agreement to meet again that +evening, and in the twilight they spent a halcyon hour together, +saying little, feeling much. + +It was only when at last she had left him that he remembered all +that had passed, that had happened, that he knew, suspected, dreaded, +all that he planned and intended and would be soon called upon to put +into action. + +"She's made me mad," he said to himself, and for a long time he sat +there in the darkness, in the stillness of the evening, motionless +as the tree in whose shade he sat, plunged in the most profound and +strange reverie, from which presently his quick ear, alert and keen +even when his mind was deep in thought, caught the light and careful +sound of an approaching footstep. + +In a moment he was up and gliding through the darkness to meet who +was coming, and almost at once a voice hailed him cautiously. + +"There you are, Dunn," Deede Dawson said. "I've been looking for +you everywhere. Tomorrow or next day we shall be able to strike; +everything is ready at last, and I'll tell you now exactly what we +are going to do." + +"That's good news," said Dunn softly. + +"Come this way," Deede Dawson said, and led Dunn through the +darkness to the gate that admitted to the Bittermeads grounds from +the high road. + +Here he paused, and stood for a long time in silence, leaning on +the gate and looking out across the road to the common beyond. +Close beside him stood Dunn, controlling his impatience as best he +could, and wondering if at last the secret springs of all these +happenings was to be laid bare to him. + +But Deede Dawson seemed in no hurry to begin. For a long time he +remained in the same attitude, silent and sombre in the darkness, +and when at last he spoke it was to utter a remark that quite took +Dunn by surprise. + +"What a lovely night," he said in low and pensive tones, very unlike +those he generally used. "I remember when I was a boy--that's a +long time ago." + +Dunn was too surprised by this sudden and very unexpected lapse into +sentiment to answer. Deede Dawson went on as if thinking to himself: + +"A long time--I've done a lot--seen a lot since then--too much, +perhaps--I remember mother told me once--poor soul, I believe she +used to be rather proud of me--" + +"Your mother?" Dunn said wondering greatly to think this man should +still have such memories. + +But Deede Dawson seemed either to resent his tone or else to be +angry with himself for giving way to such weakness. In a voice more +like his usual one, he said harshly and sneeringly: + +"Oh, yes, I had a mother once, just like everybody else. Why not? +Most people have their mothers, though it's not an arrangement I +should care to defend. Now then, Ella was with you tonight; you +and she were alone together a long time." + +"Well," growled Dunn, "what of it?" + +"Fine girl, isn't she?" asked Deede Dawson, and laughed. + +Dunn did not speak. It filled him with such loathing to hear this +man so much as utter Ella's name, it was all he could do to keep +his hands motionless by his side and not make use of them about the +other's throat. + +"She's been useful, very useful," Deede Dawson went on meditatively. +"Her mother had some money when I married her. I don't mind telling +you it's all spent now, but Ella's a little fortune in herself." + +"I didn't know we came to talk about her," said Dunn slowly. "I +thought you had something else to say to me." + +"So I have," Deede Dawson answered. "That's why I brought you here. +We are safe from eavesdroppers here, in a house you can never tell +who is behind a curtain or a door. But then, Ella is a part of my +plans, a very important part. Do you remember I told you I might +want you to take a second packing-case away from here in the car +one night?" + +"Yes, I remember," said Dunn slowly. "I remember. What would be +in it? The same sort of thing that was in--that other?" + +"Yes," answered Deede Dawson. "Much the same." + +"I shall want to see for myself," said Dunn. "I'm a trustful sort of +person, but I don't go driving about the country with packing-cases +late at night unless I've seen for myself what's inside." + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +PLOTS AND PLAYS + + +"Very wise of you," yawned Deede Dawson. "That's just what Ella +said--what's that?" + +For instinctively Dunn had raised his hand, but he lowered it again +at once. + +"Oh, cut the cackle," he said impatiently. "Tell me what you want +me to do, and make it plain, very plain, for I can tell you there's +a good deal about all this I don't understand, and I'm not inclined +to trust you far. For one thing, what are you after yourself? Where +do you come in? What are you going to get? And there's another +thing I want to say. If you are thinking of playing any tricks on +me don't do it, unless you are ready to take big risks. There's only +one man alive who ever made a fool of me, and his name is Rupert +Dunsmore, and I don't think he's today what insurance companies call +a good risk. Not by any manner of means." He paused to laugh +harshly. "Let's get to business," he said. "Look here, how do I +know you mean all you say about Rupert Dunsmore? What's he to you?" + +"Nothing," answered Deede Dawson promptly. "Nothing. But there's +some one I'm acting for to whom he is a good deal." + +"Who is that?" Dunn asked sharply. + +"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" retorted the other, and +laughed in his cold, mirthless manner. "Perhaps you aren't the +only one who owes him a grudge." + +"That's likely enough, but I want to know where I'm standing," said +Dunn. "Is this unknown person you say you are acting for anxious +to bring about Rupert Dunsmore's death?" + +"I'm not answering any questions, so you needn't ask them," replied +Deede Dawson. + +"But I will tell you that there's something big going on. Or I +shouldn't be in it, I don't use my brains on small things, you know. +If it comes off all right, I--" He paused, and for once a thrill +of genuine emotion sounded in his voice. "Thousands," he said +abruptly. "Yes, and more--more. But there's an obstacle--Rupert +Dunsmore. It's your place to remove him. That'll suit you, and +it'll mean good pay, as much as you like to ask for in reason. And +Ella, if you want her. The girl won't be any use to me when this +is over, and you can have her if you like. I don't think she'll +object from what I can see--not that it would matter if she did. +So there you are. Put Rupert Dunsmore out of the way and it'll be +the best day's work you've ever done, and you shall have Ella into +the bargain--if you claim her. Makeweight." + +He began to laugh again and Dunn laughed, too, for while he was not +sure what it was that amused Deede Dawson, there were certain +aspects of all this that bore for him a very curious and ironic +humour. + +"All right," he said. "You bring me face to face with Rupert +Dunsmore and you won't have to grumble about the result, for I +swear only one of us will go away alive. But how are you going to +do it?" + +"I've my plan, and it's simple enough," answered Deede Dawson. +"Though I can tell you it took some working out. But the simplest +problem is always the best, whether in life or in chess." Again he +indulged in a low and guarded outburst of his thin, mirthless +laughter before he continued: "I suppose you know Rupert Dunsmore +is one of those restless people who are never content except when +wandering about in some out of the way place or another, as often +as not no one having the least idea of his whereabouts. Then he +turns up unexpectedly, only to disappear again when the whim takes +him. Lately he has been away on one of these trips, but I happen +to know he is coming back almost at once--what's the matter?" + +"I was only wondering how you knew that," answered Dunn, who had +given a sudden start. + +"Oh, I know, never mind how," Deede Dawson said. "I know that +tomorrow afternoon at four o'clock he will be waiting by the side +of Brook Bourne Spring in Ottom's Wood, near General Dunsmore's +place. Which is as out of the way and quiet and lonely a spot as +you could wish for." + +"And you have information that he will be there?" Dunn said +incredulously. "How can you possibly be sure of that?" + +"Never mind how," answered Deede Dawson. "I am sure. That's enough. +My information is certain." + +"Oh, it is, is it?" Dunn muttered. "You are a wonderful man, Mr. +Dawson. You know everything--or nearly everything. You are sure +of everything--or nearly everything--but suppose he changes his +mind at the last moment and doesn't come after all?" + +"He won't," answered Deede Dawson. "You be there and you'll find +him there all right." + +"Well, perhaps," said Dunn slowly. "But what I want to know is why +you are so sure? There's a good deal hangs on your being right, +you know." + +"I only wish I was as certain of everything else," Deede Dawson said. + +"Oh, all right," exclaimed Dunn. "I suppose you know and you may +be right." + +"I am," Deede Dawson assured him. "Listen carefully now, there +mustn't be any blunders. You are to make an early start tomorrow. +I don't want you to take the car for fear of its being seen and +identified. You must take the train to London and then another +train back immediately to Delsby. From Delsby you'll have an +eighteen-mile walk through lonely country where you aren't likely +to meet any one, and must try not to. The less you are seen the +better. You know that for yourself, and for your own sake you'll +be careful. You'll have no time to spare, but you will be able to +get to the place I told you of by four all right--no earlier, no +later. You must arrange to be there at four exactly. You may +spoil all if you are too early. Almost as soon as you get there, +Rupert Dunsmore will arrive. You must do the rest for yourself, +and then you must strike straight across country for here. You can +look up your routes on the map. There will be less risk of +attracting attention if you come and go by different ways. You +ought to be here again some time in the small hours. I'll let you +in, and you'll have cleared your own score with Rupert Dunsmore and +earned more money than you ever have had in all your life before. +Now, can I depend on you?" + +"Yes--yes," answered Dunn, over whom there had come a new and +strange sense of unreality as he stood and listened to cold-blooded +murder being thus calmly, coolly planned, as though it were some +afternoon's pleasure trip that was being arranged, so that he +hardly knew whether he did, in fact, hear this smooth, low, +unceasing voice that from the darkness at his side laid down such +a bloody road for his feet to travel. + +"Oh, yes, you can depend on me," he said. "But can I depend on you, +when you say Rupert Dunsmore will be there at that time and that +place?" + +It was a moment or two before Deede Dawson answered, and then his +voice was very low and soft and confident as he said: + +"Yes, you can--absolutely. You see, I know his plans." + +"Oh, do you?" Dunn said as though satisfied. "Oh, well then, it's +no wonder you're so sure." + +"No wonder at all," agreed Deede Dawson. "There's just one other +thing I can tell you. Some one else will be there, too, at Brook +Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood." + +"Who's that?" asked Dunn sharply. + +"The man," said Deede Dawson, "who is behind all this--the man you +and I are working for--the man who's going to pay us, even better +than he thinks." + +"He--he will be there?" repeated Dunn, drawing a deep, breath. + +"Yes, but you won't see him, and it wouldn't help you if you did," +Deede Dawson told him. "Most likely he'll be disguised--a mask, +perhaps; I don't know. Anyhow, he'll be there. Watching. I'm +not suggesting you would do such a thing as never go near the place, +loaf around a bit, then come back and report Rupert Dunsmore out of +the way for good, draw your pay and vanish, and leave us to find out +he was as lively and troublesome as ever. I don't think you would +do that, because you sounded as if you meant what you said when you +told me he was your worst enemy. But it's just as well to be sure, +and so we mean to have a witness; and as it's what you might call +a delicate matter, that witness will most likely be our employer +himself. So you had better do the job thoroughly if you want your +pay." + +"I see you take your precautions," remarked Dunn. "Well, that's +all right, I don't mind." + +"You understand exactly what you've got to do?" Deede Dawson asked. + +Dunn nodded. + +"What about Allen?" he asked. "Does he take any part in this show?" + +"He and I are planning a little visit to Wreste Abbey rather early +the same night, during the dinner-hour most likely," answered Deede +Dawson carelessly. "We can get in at one of the long gallery windows +quite easily, Allen says. He kept his eyes open that day you all +went there. It may be helpful to give the police two problems to +work on at once; and besides, big as this thing is, there's a +shortage of ready money at present. But our little affair at Wreste +Abbey will have nothing to do with you. You mind what you've got +to do, and don't trouble about anything else. See?" + +"I see," answered Dunn slowly. "And if you can arrange for Rupert +Dunsmore to be there at that time all right, I'll answer for the +rest." + +"You needn't be uneasy about that," Deede Dawson said, and laughed. +"You see, I know his plans," he repeated, and laughed again; and +still laughing that chill, mirthless way of his, he turned and +walked back towards the house. + +Dunn watched him go through the darkness, and to himself he +muttered: + +"Yes, but I wonder if you do." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +COUNTER-PLANS + + +The hour was late by now, but Dunn felt no inclination for sleep, +and there was no need for him to return indoors as yet, since Deede +Dawson, who always locked up the house himself, never did so till +past midnight. Till the small hours, very often he was accustomed +to sit up absorbed in those chess problems, the composing and +solving of which were his great passion, so that, indeed, it is +probable that under other circumstances he might have passed a +perfectly harmless and peaceful existence, known to wide circles as +an extraordinarily clever problemist and utterly unknown elsewhere. + +But the Fate that is, after all, but man's own character writ large, +had decreed otherwise. And the little, fat, smiling man bending +over his travelling chess board on which he moved delicately to and +fro the tiny red and white men of carved ivory, now and again +removing a piece and laying it aside, had done as much with as +little concern to his fellow creatures from the very beginning of +his terrible career. + +Outside, leaning on the gate where Deede Dawson had left him, Dunn +was deep in thought that was not always very comforting, for there +was very much in all this laid out for him to accomplish that he +did not understand and that disturbed him a good deal. + +A careful, cautious "Hist!" broke in upon his thoughts, and in an +instant he stiffened to close attention, every nerve on the alert. + +The sound was repeated, a faint and wary footstep sounded, and in +the darkness a form appeared and stole slowly nearer. + +Dunn poised for a moment, ready for attack or retreat, and then all +at once his tense attitude relaxed. + +"You, Walter," he exclaimed. "That's good! But how did you get +here? And how did you know where I was?" + +The new-comer drew a little nearer and showed the tall, thin form +of Walter Dunsmore to whom Dunn had spoken at Wreste Abbey. + +"I had to come," he murmured. "I couldn't rest without seeing you. +You upset me the other day, saying what you did. Isn't it very +dangerous your being here? Suppose Deede Dawson--" + +"Oh, if he suspected, there would soon be an end of me," answered +Dunn grimly. "But I think I'm going to win--at least, I did till +tonight." + +"What's happened?" the other asked sharply and anxiously. + +"He has been telling me his plans," answered Dunn. "He has told me +everything--he has put himself entirely in my power--he has done +what I have been waiting and hoping for ever since I came here. +He has given me his full confidence at last, and I never felt more +uneasy or less certain of success than I do at this moment." + +"He has told you--everything?" Walter Dunsmore asked. "Everything, +except who is behind it all," answered Dunn. "I asked him who he +was acting for, and he refused to say. But we shall know that +tomorrow, for he told me something almost as good--he told me where +this employer would be at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. So then +we shall have him, unless Deede Dawson was lying." + +"Of course, it all depends on finding that out," remarked Walter +thoughtfully. "Finding out his identity." + +"Yes, that's the key move to the problem," Dunn said. "And tomorrow +we shall know it, if Deede Dawson was speaking the truth just now." + +"I should think he was," said Walter slowly. "I should think it is +certain he was. You may depend on that, I think." + +"I think so, too," agreed Dunn. "But how did you find out where I +was?" + +"You know that day you came to Wreste Abbey? There was some fellow +you had with you who told the landlord of the Chobham Arms, so I +easily found out from him," answered Walter. + +"Anyhow, I'm glad you're here," Dunn said. "I was wondering how to +get in touch with you. Well, this is Deede Dawson's plan in brief. +Tomorrow, at four in the afternoon, Rupert Dunsmore is to be killed +--and I've undertaken to do the deed." + +"What do you mean?" exclaimed Walter, starting. + +"I've promised that if Deede Dawson will bring me face to face with +Rupert Dunsmore, I'll murder him," answered Dunn, laughing softly. + +"A fairly safe offer on your part, isn't it?" observed Walter. "At +least, unless there's any saving clause about mirrors." + +"Oh, none," answered Dunn. "I told Deede Dawson Rupert Dunsmore +was my worst enemy, and that's true enough, for I think every man's +worst enemy is himself." + +"I wish I had none worse," muttered Walter. + +"I think you haven't, old chap," Dunn said smilingly. "But come +across the road. It'll be safer on the common. Deede Dawson is +so cunning one is never safe from him. One can never be sure +he isn't creeping up behind." + +"Well, I daresay it's wise to take every precaution," observed +Walter. "But I can't imagine either him or any one else getting +near you without your knowledge." + +Robert Dunn,--or rather, Rupert Dunsmore, as was his name by +right of birth--laughed again to himself, very softly in the +darkness. + +"Perhaps not," he said. "But I take no chances I can avoid with +Deede Dawson. Come along." + +They crossed the road together and sat down on the common at an +open spot, where none could well approach them unheard or unseen. +Dunn laid his hand affectionately on Walter's shoulder as they +settled themselves. + +"Old chap," he said. "It was good of you to come here. You've run +some risk. It's none too safe near Bittermeads. But I'm glad to +see you, Walter. It's a tremendous relief after all this strain of +doubt and watching and suspicion to be with some one I know--some +one I can trust--some one like you, Walter." + +In the darkness, Walter put out his hand and took Dunn's and held +it for a moment. + +"I have been anxious about you," he said. Dunn returned the +pressure warmly. + +"I know," he said. "Jove, old chap, it's good to see you again. +You don't know what it's like after all this long time, feeling that +every step was a step in the dark, to be at last with a real friend +again." + +"I think I can guess," Walter said softly. + +Dunn shook his head. + +"No one could," he said. "I tell you I've doubted, distrusted, +suspected till I wasn't sure of my own shadow. Well, that's all +over now. Tomorrow we can act." + +"Tell me what I'm to do," Walter Dunsmore said. + +"There's a whole lot I don't understand yet," Dunn continued slowly. +"I suppose it was that that was making me feel so jolly down before +you came. I don't feel sure somehow--not sure. Deede Dawson is +such a cunning brute. He seems to have laid his whole hand bare, +and yet there may be cards up his sleeve still. Besides, his plan +he told me about seems so bald. And I don't understand why he +should think he is so sure of what I--I mean, of what Rupert +--it's a bit confusing to have a double identity--is going to do. +He says he is sure Rupert Dunsmore is to be at the Brook Bourne +Spring tomorrow at four. He says his information is certain, and +that he has full knowledge of what Rupert Dunsmore is going to do, +which is more than I have. But what can it be that's making him +so sure?" + +"That's probably simple enough," said Walter. "You said you +suspected there was a leakage from Burns & Swift's office, and you +told Burns to make misleading statements about your movements +occasionally when he was dictating his letters. Well, I expect this +is one." + +"That may be; only Deede Dawson seems so very sure," answered Dunn. +"But what's specially important is his saying that his employer, +whoever it is, who is behind all this, will be there too." + +"A meeting? Is that it?" exclaimed Walter. + +"No, that's not the idea," answered Dunn. "You see, the idea is +that Rupert Dunsmore will be there at four, and that I'm to be +there in ambush to murder myself. Whoever is behind all this will +be there too--to see I carry out my work properly. And that gives +us our chance." + +"Oh, that's good," exclaimed Walter. "We shall have him for +certain." + +"That's what I want you to see to," said Dunn. "I want you to have +men you can trust well hidden all round, ready to collar him. And +I want you to have all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood well +watched and every one going along them noted. You understand?" + +"That's quite easy," declared Walter. "I can promise not a soul +will get into Ottam's Wood without being seen, and I'll make very +sure indeed of getting hold of any one hiding anywhere near Brook +Bourne Spring. And once we've done that--once we know who it is--" + +"Yes," agreed Dunn. "We shall be all right then. That is the one +thing necessary to know--the key move to the problem--the +identity of who it is pulling the strings. He must be a clever +beggar; anyhow, I mean to see him hang for it yet." + +"I daresay he's clever," agreed Walter. "He is playing for big +stakes. Anyhow, we'll have him tomorrow all right; that seems +certain--at last." + +"At last," agreed Dunn, with a long-drawn sigh. "Ugh! it's all +been such a nightmare. It's been pretty awful, knowing there was +some one--not able to guess who. Ever since you discovered that +first attempt, ever since we became certain there was a plot going +on to clear out every one in succession to the Chobham estates-- +and that was jolly plain, though the fools of police did babble +about no evidence, as if pistol bullets come from nowhere and +poisoned cups of tea--" + +"Ah, I was to blame there, that was my fault," said Walter. "You +see, we had no proof about the shooting, and when I had spilt that +tea, no proof of poison either. I shall always regret that." + +"A bit of bad luck," Dunn agreed. "But accidents will happen. +Anyhow, it was clear enough some one was trying to make a jolly +clear sweep. It may be a madman; it may be some one with a grudge +against us; it may be, as poor Charley thought, some one in the +line of succession, who is just clearing the way to inherit the +title and estates himself. I wish I knew what made Charley +suspicious of Deede Dawson in the first place." + +"You don't know that?" Walter asked. + +"No, he never told me," answered Dunn. "Poor Charley, it cost him +his life. That's another thing we must find out--where they've +hidden his body." + +"He was sure from the first," remarked Walter, "that it was a +conspiracy on the part of some one in the line of succession?" + +"Yes," agreed Dunn. "It's likely enough, too. You see, ever since +that big family row and dispersion eighty years ago, a whole branch +of the family has been entirely lost sight of. There may be half a +dozen possible heirs we know nothing about. Like poor John Clive. +I daresay if we had known of his existence we should have begun by +suspecting him." + +"There's one thing pretty sure," remarked Walter. "If these +pleasant little arrangements did succeed, it would be a fairly safe +guess that the inheritor of the title and estates was the guilty +person. It might be brought home to him, too." + +"Perhaps," agreed Dunn dryly. "But just a trifle too late to +interest me for one. And I don't mean to let the dad or uncle be +sacrificed if I can help it. I failed with Clive, poor fellow, but +I don't mean to again, and I don't see how we can. Deede Dawson +has exposed his hand. Now we can play ours." + +"But what are you going to do?" Walter asked. "Are you going to +follow out his instructions?" + +"To the letter," Dunn answered. "We are dealing with very wary, +suspicious people, and the least thing might make them take alarm. +The important point, of course, is the promise that Deede Dawson's +employer will be at Brook Bourne Spring tomorrow afternoon. That's +our trump card. Everything hangs on that. And to make sure there's +no hitch, I shall do exactly what I've been told to do. I expect +I shall be watched. I shall be there at four o'clock, and ten +minutes after I hope we shall have laid hands on--whoever it is." + +Walter nodded. + +"I don't see how we can fail," he said. + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN APHORISM + + +"No," Dunn agreed after a long pause. "No, I don't see myself how +failure is possible; I don't see what there is to go wrong. All the +same, I shan't be sorry when it's all over; I suppose I'm nervous, +that's the truth of it. But Deede Dawson's hardly the sort of man +I should have expected to lay all his cards on the table so openly." + +"Oh, I think that's natural enough," answered Walter. "Quite +natural--he thinks you are in with him and he tells you what he +wants you to do. But I don't quite see the object of your visit to +the Abbey the other day. You gave me the shock of my life, I think. +I hadn't the least idea who you were--that beard makes a wonderful +difference." + +Dunn laughed quietly. + +"It's a good disguise," he admitted. "I didn't quite know myself +first time I looked in a mirror. We went to the Abbey to prepare +for a burglary there." + +"Oh, is that on the cards, too?" exclaimed Walter. "I didn't expect +that." + +"Yes," answered Dunn. "My own idea is that Deede Dawson sees an +opportunity for making a bit on his own. After all of us are +disposed of and his friend has got the title and estates, he won't +dare to prosecute of course, and so Deede Dawson thinks it a good +opportunity to visit the Abbey and pick up any pictures or heirlooms +or so-so he can that it would be almost impossible to dispose of in +the ordinary way, but that he expects he will be able to sell back +at a good price to the new owner of the property. I think he +calculates that that gentleman will be ready to pay as much as he +is asked. I don't know, but I think that's his idea from something +he said the other day about the uselessness of even good stuff from +a big house unless you knew of a sure market, or could sell it back +again to the owner." + +"Jolly clever idea if it works all right," said Walter slowly. "I +can see Mr. Deede Dawson is a man who needs watching. And I suppose +we had better be on the look-out at the Abbey tomorrow night?" + +"Evening," corrected Dunn. "It's planned for the dinner-hour." + +"Right," said Walter. "We shall see some crowded hours tomorrow, I +expect. Well, it's like this, as I understand it--we had better be +sure everything is quite clear. Their idea is that you will meet +and murder Rupert Dunsmore, who they have no notion is really your +own self, at Brook Bourne Spring at four tomorrow afternoon, and the +unknown somebody who is behind all this business will be in hiding +there to make sure you do your work properly. Our idea is to watch +all the roads leading to Ottam's Wood and to have men in ambush near +the spring to seize any one hiding there at that time. Then we shall +know who is at the bottom of all these plots and shall be able to +smash the whole conspiracy. In addition, Deede Dawson and this other +man you speak of, Allen, are going to break into the Abbey tomorrow +evening and we are to be ready for them and catch them in the act?" + +"Yes," said Dunn, "that's the idea; you can manage all right?" + +"Oh, yes," answered Walter. "It's all simple enough--you've +planned it out so jolly well there's nothing much left for me to +do. And I don't see what you're nervous about; there's nothing +that can go wrong very well--your plans are perfect, I think." + +"It's easy enough to make plans when you know just what the other +side are going to do," observed Dunn. "There's one point more. +Miss Cayley--I mentioned her in one of the notes I sent you through +Burns." + +"Yes, I remember--Deede Dawson's step-daughter," said Walter. "I +suppose she is in it?" + +"She is not; she knows nothing," declared Dunn vehemently. + +"But it was she who took away poor Charley's body, wasn't it?" asked +Walter. "But for that you would have had evidence enough to act on +at once, wouldn't you?" + +"She did not know what she was doing," Dunn replied. "And now she +is in danger herself. I am convinced Deede Dawson is growing afraid +of her, he dropped hints; I'm sure he is planning something, perhaps +he means to murder her as well. So besides these other arrangements +I want to see that there's a trustworthy man watching here. I don't +anticipate that there's any immediate danger--it's almost certain +that if he means anything he will wait till he sees how this other +business is turning out. But I want some one trustworthy to be at +hand in case of need. You will see to that?" + +"Oh, yes, I can spare Simmonds; I'll send him," answered Walter. +"Though, I must say, my dear chap, I don't think I should trouble +much about that young lady. But it can be easily managed, in fact +everything you want me to do is easy enough; I only wish some of +it was a bit difficult or dangerous." + +"You're a good chap, Walter," said Dunn, putting his hand on the +other's shoulder again. "Well, I think it's all settled now. I +tell you I'm looking forward a good deal to four o'clock tomorrow +afternoon. I feel as if I would give all I possess to know who it +is." + +"Don't make that offer," Waiter said with a smile, "or the fates +may accept it." + +"I feel as though there's only one thing in the world I want one +half so much," Dunn said. "As to know who this--devil is." + +"Devil?" repeated Walter. "Well, yes, devil's a word like any +other." + +"I think it's justified in this case," said Dunn sternly. "Poor +Charley Wright dead! One thing I can't understand about that is +how they got him back here when you saw him in London when you did. +But they're a cunning lot. They must have worked it somehow. Then +Clive. I feel to blame for Clive's death--as if I ought to have +managed better and saved him. Now there's this other devilry they +are planning. I tell you, Walter, I feel the whole world will be +a sweeter place after four o'clock tomorrow afternoon." + +"At any rate," said Walter, "I think we may be sure of one thing +--after four o'clock tomorrow afternoon you will know all--all." +He paused and repeated, slightly varying the phrase: "Yes, after four +o'clock tomorrow afternoon you will know everything--everything." +He added in a brisker tone: "There's nothing else to arrange?" + +"No," said Dunn, "I don't think so, and I had better go now or +Deede Dawson will be suspecting something. He'll want to know what +I've been stopping out so late for. Good-bye, old chap, and good +luck." + +They shook hands. + +"Good-bye and good luck, Rupert, old man," Walter said. "You may +depend on me--you know that." + +"Yes, I do know that," Dunn answered. + +They shook hands again, and Dunn said: "You've hurt your hand. It's +tied up. Is it anything much?" + +"No, no," answered Walter with a little laugh. "A mere scratch. I +scratched it on a bit of wood, a lid that didn't fit properly." + +"Well, good-bye and good luck," Dunn said again, and they parted, +Walter disappearing into the darkness and Dunn returning to the +house. + +Deede Dawson heard him enter, and he came to the door of the room +in which he had been sitting. + +"Oh, there you are," he said. "Been enjoying the night air or +what? You've been a long time." + +"I've been thinking," Dunn muttered in the heavy, sulky manner he +always assumed at Bittermeads. + +"Not weakening, eh?" asked Deede Dawson. + +"No," answered Dunn. "I'm not." + +"Good," Deede Dawson exclaimed. "There's a lot to win, and no +fear of failure. I don't see that failure's possible. Do you?" + +"No," answered Dunn. "I suppose not." + +"The mate's sure this time," Deede Dawson declared. "It's our +turn to move, and whatever reply the other side makes, we're sure +of our mate next move. By the way, did you ever solve that problem +I showed you the other day?" + +"Yes, I think so," answered Dunn. "It was a long time before I +could hit on the right move, but I managed it at last, I think." + +"Come and show me, then," said Deede Dawson, bustling back into +his room and beginning to set up the pieces on his travelling +chess-board. "This was the position, wasn't it? Now, what's your +move?" + +Dunn showed him, and Deede Dawson burst into a laugh that had in +it for once a touch of honest enjoyment. + +"Yes, that would do it, but for one thing you haven't noticed," he +said. "Black can push the pawn at KB7 and make it, not a queen, but +a knight, giving check to your king and no mate for you next move." + +"Yes, that's so," agreed Dunn. "I hadn't thought of that." + +"Unexpected, eh? Making the pawn a knight?" smiled Deede Dawson. +"But in chess, and in life, it's the unexpected you have to look +out for." + +"That's quite an aphorism," said Dunn. "It's true, too." + +He went up to bed, but did not sleep well, and when at last he fell +into a troubled slumber, it seemed to him that Charley Wright and +John Clive were there, one on each side of him, and that they had +come, not because they sought for vengeance, but because they wished +to warn him of a doom like their own that they could see approaching +but he could not. + +Toward's morning he got an hour's sound rest, and he was down stairs +in good time. He did not see Ella, but he heard her moving about, +so knew that she was safe as yet; and Deede Dawson gave him some +elaborate parting instructions, a little money, and a loaded +revolver. + +"I don't know that I want that," said Dunn. "My hands will be all +I need once I'm face to face with Rupert Dunsmore." + +"That's the right spirit," said Deede Dawson approvingly. "But the +pistol may be useful too. You needn't use it if you can manage +without, but you may as well have it. Good-bye, and the best of +luck. Take care of yourself, and don't lose your head or do +anything foolish." + +"Oh, you can trust me," said Dunn. + +"I think I can," smiled Deede Dawson. "I think I can. Good-bye. +Be careful, avoid noise and fuss, don't be seen any more than you +can help, and if you shoot, aim low." + +"There's a vade mecum for the intending assassin," Dunn thought +grimly to himself, but he said nothing, gave the other a sullen +nod, and started off on his strange and weird mission of murdering +himself. He found himself wondering if any one else had ever been +in such a situation. He did not suppose so. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE UNEXPECTED + + +To the very letter Dunn followed the careful and precise +instructions given him by Deede Dawson, for he did not wish to +rouse in any way the slightest suspicion or run the least risk of +frightening off that unknown instigator of these plots who was, it +had been promised him, to be present near Brook Bourne Spring at +four that afternoon. + +Even the thought of Ella was perhaps less clear and vivid to his +mind just now than was his intense and passionate desire to discover +the identity of the strange and sinister personality against whom he +had matched himself. + +"Very likely it's some madman," he thought to himself. "How in the +name of common sense can he expect to inherit the title and estates +quietly after such a series of crimes as he seems to contemplate? +Does he think no one will have any suspicion of him when he comes +forward? Even if he is successful in getting rid of all of us in +this way, how does he expect to be able to reap his reward? Of +course he may think that there will be no direct evidence if he +manages cleverly enough, and that mere suspicion he will be able to +disregard and live down in time, but surely it will be plain enough +that 'who benefits is guilty'? The whole thing is mad, fantastic. +Why, the mere fact of any one making a claim to the title and +estates would be almost enough to justify a jury in returning a +verdict of guilty." + +But though his thoughts ran in this wise all the time he was +journeying to London, and though he repeated them to himself over +and over again, none the less there remained an uneasy consciousness +in his mind that perhaps these people had plans more subtle than he +knew, and that even this difficulty of making their claim without +bringing instant suspicion on themselves they had provided for. + +It was late in the year now, but the day was warm and very calm and +fine. At the London terminus where he alighted he had a strong +feeling that he was watched, and when he took the train back to +Delsby he still had the idea that he was being kept under +observation. + +He felt he had been wise in deciding to carry out Deede Dawson's +instructions so closely, for he was sure that if he had failed to +do so in any respect alarm would have been taken at once, and +warning telegrams gone flying on the instant to all concerned. +Then that self-baited trap at Brook Bourne Spring, wherein he hoped +to see his enemy taken, would remain unapproached, and all his +work and risk would have gone for nothing. + +When he alighted at his destination he was a little before time, +and so he got himself something to eat at a small public-house near +the station before starting on his fifteen-mile walk across country. +Though he was not sure, he did not think any one was observing him +now. Most likely his movements up to the present had appeared +satisfactory, and it had not been thought necessary to watch him +longer. + +But he was careful to do nothing to rouse suspicion if he were +still being spied upon, and after he had eaten and had a smoke he +started off on his long tramp. + +Even yet he was careful, and so long as he was near the village he +made a show of avoiding observation as much as possible. Later on, +when he had made certain he was not being followed, he did not +trouble so much, though he still kept it in mind that any one he +met or passed might well be in fact one of Deede Dawson's agents. + +He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in other +circumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough. It +was a little curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief +preoccupation seemed to shift from his immediate errand and intense +eagerness to discover the identity of his unknown foe, with whom he +hoped to stand face to face so soon, to a troubled and pressing +anxiety about Ella. + +Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least +real danger. He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put +on watch at Bittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy. +None the less, his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile +he traversed, till presently her situation seemed to him the one +weak link in his careful plans. + +That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be +taken in, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt +certain enough. Walter would see to that. Sure was it, too, that +the enterprise Deede Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at +the Abbey must result in their discomfiture and capture. Walter +would see to that also. But concerning Ella's position doubt would +insist on intruding, till at last he decided that the very moment +the Brook Bourne Spring business was satisfactorily finished with +he would hurry at his best speed to Bittermeads and make sure of +her safety. + +Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened +speed, and looking at his watch he saw that it was two o'clock, and +that he was still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles +from his destination. + +He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by +Deede Dawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot +where the path he had to take branched off from the road he had +been following. At this spot a heavy country lad was sitting on +a gate by the wayside, and as Dunn approached he clambered heavily +down and slouched forward to meet him. + +"Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?" he asked. + +Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this +sudden recognition in so lonely a spot. + +"Yes, I am," he said, after a moment's hesitation. "Why?" + +"If you are, there's this as I'm to give you," the lad answered, +drawing a note from his pocket. + +"Oh, who gave you that?" Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note +contained some final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering +if this lad were one of his agents in disguise, or merely some +inhabitant of the district hired for the one purpose of +delivering the letter. + +But the lad's drawled reply disconcerted him greatly. + +"A lady," he said. "A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait +here and give you this. All alone she was, and drove just like a +man." + +He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it was +addressed to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella's writing. +He blinked at it in very great surprise, for there was nothing he +expected less, and he did not understand how she knew so well +where he would be or how she had managed to get away from +Bittermeads uninterfered with by Deede Dawson. + +His first impulse was to suspect some new trap, some new and +cunning trap that, perhaps, the unconscious Ella was being used +to bait. Taking the letter from the boy, he said: + +"How did you know it was for me?" + +"Lady told me," answered the boy grinning. "She said as I was to +look out for a chap answering to the name of Robert Dunn, with his +face so covered with hair you couldn't see nothing of it no more'n +you can see a sheep's back for wool. 'As soon as I set eye on 'ee,' +says I, 'That's him,' I says, and so 'twas." + +He grinned again and slouched away and Dunn stood still, holding +the letter in his hand and not opening it at first. It was almost +as though he feared to do so, and when at last he tore the envelope +open it was with a hand that trembled a little in spite of all +that he could do. For there was something about this strange +communication and the means adopted to deliver it to him that struck +him as ominous in the extreme. Some sudden crisis must have arisen, +he thought, and it appeared to him that Ella's knowledge of where +to find him implied a knowledge of Deede Dawson's plans that meant +she was either his willing and active agent and accomplice, or else +she had somehow acquired a knowledge of her stepfather's proceedings +that must make her position a thousand times more critical and +dangerous than before. + +He flung the envelope aside and began to read the contents. It +opened abruptly, without any form of address, and it was written in +a hand that showed plain signs of great distress and agitation: +"You are in great danger. I don't know what. I heard them talking. +They spoke as though something threatened you, something you could +not escape. Be careful, very careful. You asked me once if I had +ever heard a man with a high, squeaky voice, and I did not answer. +It was to a man with a voice like that I gave the packing-case I +took away from here the night you came. Do you remember? He was +here all last night, I think. I saw him go very early. He is Mr. +Walter Dunsmore. I saw him that day at Wreste Abbey, and I knew I +had seen him before. This morning I recognized him. I am sure +because he hurt his hand on the packing-case lid, and I saw the mark +there still. He and my stepfather were talking all night, I think +I couldn't hear everything. There is a General Dunsmore. Something +is to happen to him at three o'clock and then to you later, and they +both laughed a great deal because they think you will be blamed for +whatever happens to General Dunsmore. He is to be enticed somewhere +to meet you, but you are not to be there till four, too late. I am +afraid, more afraid than ever I have been. What shall I do? I +think they are making plans to do something awful. I don't know +what to do. I think my stepfather suspects I know something, he +keeps looking, looking, smiling all the time. Please come back and +take mother and me away, for I think he means to kill us both." + +There was no signature, but written like an afterthought across one +corner of the note were the scribbled words: + +"You told me something once, I don't know if you meant it." And +then, underneath, was the addition--"He never stops smiling." + +Twice over Dunn read this strange, disturbing message, and then a +third time, and he made a little gesture of annoyance for it did +not seem to him that the words he read made sense, or else it was +that his brain no longer worked normally, and could not interpret +them. + +"Oh, but that's absurd," he said aloud. + +He looked all around him, surprised to see that the face of the +country-side had not changed in any way, but was all just as it had +been before this letter had been put into his hands. + +He began to read a third, but stopped half-way through the first +sentence. + +"Then it's Walter all the time," he muttered. "Walter--Walter!" + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A RACE AGAINST TIME + + +Even when he had said this aloud it was still as though he could not +grasp its full meaning. + +"Walter," he repeated vaguely. "Walter." + +His thoughts, that had seemed as frozen by the sudden shock of the +tremendous revelation so unconsciously made to him by Ella, began +to stir and move again, and almost at once, with an extraordinary +and abnormal rapidity. + +As a drowning man is said to see flash before his eyes the whole +history and record of his life, so now Dunn saw the whole story of +his life-long friendship with Walter pictured before him. + +For when he was very small, Walter had been to him like an elder +brother, and when he was older, it was Walter who had taught him to +ride and to shoot, to hunt and to fish, and when he was at school +it was Walter to whom he looked up as the dashing young man of the +world, who knew all life's secrets, and when he was at college it +was Walter who had helped him out of the inevitable foolish scrapes +into which it is the custom of the undergraduate to fall. + +Then, when he had come to man's estate, Walter had still been his +confidential friend and adviser. In Walter's hand he had been +accustomed to leave everything during his absences on his hunting +and exploring trips; and at what time during this long and kindly +association of good-fellowship had such black hate and poison of +envy bred in Walter's heart? + +"Walter!" he said aloud once more, and he uttered the name as though +it were a cry of anguish. + +Yet, too, even in his utter bewilderment and surprise, it seemed +strange to him that he had never once suspected, never dreamed, +never once had the shadow of a suspicion. + +Little things, trifling things, a word, an accent, a phrase that +had passed at the time for a lest, a thousand such memories came +back to him now with a new and terrible significance. + +For, after all, Walter was in the direct line. Only just a few +lives stood between him and a great inheritance, a great position. +Perhaps long brooding on what might so easily be had made him mad. + +Dunn remembered now, too, that it was Walter who had discovered that +first murderous attempt which had first put them on their guard, but +perhaps he had discovered it only because he knew of it, and when it +failed, saw his safest plan was to be foremost in tracking it out. + +And it was Walter who had last seen poor Charley Wright alone, and +far from Bittermeads. But perhaps that was a lie to confuse the +search for the missing man, and a reason why that search had failed +so utterly up to the moment of Dunn's own grim discovery in the +attic. + +With yet a fresh shock so that he reeled as he stood with the impact +of the thought, Dunn realized that all this implied that every one +of his precautions had been rendered futile that of all his elaborate +plans not one would take effect since all had been entrusted to the +care of the very man against whom they were aimed. + +It was Walter for whom the net had been laid in Ottam's Wood; and +Walter to whom had been entrusted the task of drawing that net tight +at the right moment. + +It was Walter's friends and agents who were to break into Wreste +Abbey, and Walter to whom had been entrusted the task of defeating +and capturing them. It was Walter from whom Ella stood in most +danger if her action that morning had been observed, and it was +Walter to whom he had given the task of protecting her. + +At this thought, he turned and began to run as fast as he could in +the direction of Bittermeads. + +At all costs she must be saved, she who had exposed the whole awful +plot. For a hundred yards or so he fled, swift as the wind, till +on a sudden he stopped dead with the realization of the fact that +every yard he took that way took him further and further from Ottam's +Wood. + +For there was danger there, too--grim and imminent--and sentences +in Ella's hasty letter that bore now to his new knowledge a deep +significance she had not dreamed of. + +As when a flash of lightning lights all the landscape up and shows +the traveller dreadful dangers that beset his path, so a wave of +intuition told Dunn clearly the whole conspiracy; so that he saw +it all, and saw how every detail was to be fitted in together. His +father, General Dunsmore, was to be murdered first at the Brook +Bourne Spring, to which he was being lured; and afterwards, when +Dunn arrived, he was to be murdered, too. And on him, dead and +unable to defend himself, the blame of his father's death would be +laid. It would not be difficult to manage. Walter would arrange +it all as neatly as he had been accustomed to arrange the Dunsmore +business affairs placed in his hands for settlement. + +A forged letter or two, Dunn's own revolver used to shoot the old +man with and then placed in Dunn's dead hand when his own turn had +come, convincing detail like that would be easy to arrange. Why, +the very fact of his disguise, the tangled beard that he had grown +to hide his features with, would appear conclusive. Any coroner's +jury would return a verdict of wilful murder against his memory on +that one fact alone. + +Walter would see to that all right. A little false evidence +apparently reluctantly given would be added, and all would be +kneaded together into the one substance till the whole guilt of +all that happened would appear to lie solely on his shoulders. + +As for motive, it would simply be put forward that he had been in +a hurry to succeed his uncle. And very likely some tale of a +quarrel with his father or something of that sort would be invented, +and would go uncontradicted since there would be no one to +contradict it. + +And most probably what was contemplated at Wreste Abbey was no +ordinary burglary, but the assassination of old Lord Chobham, of +which the guilt would also be set down to him. + +Very clearly now he realized that this tremendous plot was aimed, +not only at life, but at honour--that not only was his life +required, but also that he should be thought a murderer. + +With the realization of the danger that threatened at Wreste Abbey +he turned and began to run back in the direction where it lay, that +he might take timely warning there, but he did not run a dozen +strides when he remembered Ella again, and paused. + +Surely he must think of her first, alone and unprotected. For she +was the woman he loved; and besides, she had summoned him to her +help, and then she was a woman, and at least, the others were men. + +All this flood of thoughts, this intuitive grasping of a situation +terrible beyond conception, almost unparalleled in bloody and +dreadful horror, passed through his mind with extreme rapidity. + +Once more he turned and began to run--to run as he had never run +before, for now he saw that all depended on the speed with which +he could cover the eight miles that lay between him and Ottam's +Wood, whether he could still save his father or not. + +The district was lonely in the extreme, there was no human +habitation near, no place where he could obtain any help or any +swift means of conveyance. His one hope must be in his speed, his +feet must be swift to save, not only his own life and his father's, +but his honour, too, and Ella and his old uncle as well; and all +--all hung upon the speed with which he could cover the eight long +miles that lay between him and Brook Bourne Spring in Ottam's Wood. +Even as he ran, as he thought of Ella, he came abruptly to a pause, +wrung with sudden anguish. For each fleet stride he was making +towards Brook Bourne Spring was taking him further and further away +from Bittermeads just as before each step to Bittermeads had been +taking him further from Ottam's Wood. + +He began to run again, even faster than before, and it was towards +Ottam's Wood that he ran, each step taking him further from +Bittermeads and further from the woman he loved in her bitter need +and peril, who looked to him for the help he could not give. With +pain and anguish he ran on, ran as men have seldom run--as seldom +so much was hung upon their running. + +On and on he sped, fleet as the wind, fleet as the light breeze that +blew lightly by. A solitary villager trudging on some errand in +this lonely place, tells to this day the tale of the bearded, +wild-eyed man who raced so madly by him, raced on and down the long, +straight road till his figure dwindled and vanished in the distance. + +A shepherd boy went home with a tale of a strange thing he had seen +of a man running so fast it seemed he was scarcely in sight before +he was gone again. + +And except for those two and one other none saw him at all and he +ran his race alone beneath the skies, across the bare country side. + +It was at a spot where the path ran between two high hedges that he +came upon a little herd of cows a lad was driving home. + +It seemed impossible to pass through that tangle of horns and tails +and plunging hoofs, and so indeed it was, but Dunn took another way, +and with one leap, cleared the first beast clean and alighted on the +back of the second. + +Before the startled beast could plunge away he leaped again from +the vantage of its back and landed on the open ground beyond and +so on, darting full speed past the staring driver, whose tale that +he told when he got home caused him to go branded for years as a +liar. + +On and on Dunn fled, without stay or pause, at the utmost of his +speed every second of time, every yard of distance. For he knew +he had need of every ounce of power he possessed or could call to +his aid, since he knew well that all, all, might hang upon a second +less or more, and now four miles lay behind him and four in front. + +Still on he raced with labouring lungs and heart near to bursting +--onward still, swift, swift and sure, and now there were six +miles behind and only two in front, and he was beginning to come +to a part of the country that he knew. + +Whether he was soon or late he had no idea or how long it was that +he had raced like this along the lonely country road at the full +extremity and limit of his strength. + +He dared not take time to glance at his watch, for he knew the +fraction of a second he would thus lose might mean the difference +between in time and too late. On he ran still and presently he +left the path and took the fields. + +But he had forgotten that though the distance might be shorter the +going would be harder, and on the rough grass he stumbled, and +across the bare ground damp earth clung to his boots and hindered +him as though each foot had become laden with lead. + +His speed was slower, his effort greater if possible, and when he +came to a hedge he made no effort to leap, but crashed through it +as best he could and broke or clambered or tumbled a path for +himself. + +Now Ottam's Wood was very near, and reeling and staggering like a +man wounded to the death but driven by inexorable fate, he plunged +on still, and there was a little froth gathering at the corners of +his mouth and from one of his nostrils came a thin trickle of blood. + +Yet still he held on, though in truth he hardly knew any longer why +he ran or what his need for haste, and as he came to the wood round +a spur where a cluster of young beeches grew, he saw a tall, upright, +elderly man walking there, well-dressed and of a neat, soldier-like +appearance. + +"Hallo--there you are--father--" he gasped and fell down, prone +unconscious. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +FLIGHT AND PURSUIT + + +When he came to himself he was lying on his back, and bending over +him was his father's familiar face, wearing an expression of great +surprise and wonder, and still greater annoyance. + +"What is the matter?" General Dunsmore asked as soon as he saw that +his son's senses were returning to him. "Have you all gone mad +together? You send me a mysterious note to meet you here at three, +you turn up racing and running like an escaped lunatic, and with a +disgusting growth of hair all over your face, so that I didn't know +you till you spoke, and then there's Walter dodging about in the +wood here like a poacher hiding from the keepers. Are you both +quite mad, Rupert?" + +"Walter," Rupert repeated, lifting himself on one hand, "Walter +--have you seen him?" + +"Over there," said the general, nodding towards the right. "He was +dodging and creeping about for all the world like some poaching +rascal. I waved, but he didn't see me, and when I tried to overtake +him I lost sight of him somehow in the trees, and found I had come +right out of my way for Brook Bourne Spring." + +"Thank God for that," said Rupert fervently as a picture presented +itself to him of his unsuspecting father trying in that lonely wood +to find and overtake the man whose murderous purpose was aimed at +his life. + +"What do you mean?" snapped the general. "And why have you made +such a spectacle of yourself with all that beard? Why, I didn't +know you till you spoke--there's Walter there. What makes him +look like that?" + +For Walter had just come out of the wood about fifty yards to their +right, and when he saw them talking together he understood at once +that in some way or another all his plans had failed. + +He was looking at them through a gap in some undergrowth that hid +most of his body, but showed his head and shoulders plainly, and +as he stood there watching them his face was like a fiend's. + +"Walter," the general shouted, and to his son Rupert he said: "The +boy's ill." + +Walter moved forward from among the trees. He had a gun in his +hand, and he flung it forward as though preparing to fire, and at +the same moment Rupert Dunsmore drew from his pocket the pistol +Deede Dawson had given him and fired himself. + +But at the very moment that he pulled the trigger the general +struck up his arm so that the bullet flew high and harmless through +the tops of the trees. + +Walter stepped back again into the wood, and Rupert said: + +"You don't know what you have done, father." + +"You are mad, mad," the general gasped. + +His face was very pale, and he trembled a little, for though he had +heard many bullets whistle by his ears, that had happened in action +against an enemy, and was altogether different from this. He put +out his hand in an attempt to take the pistol that Rupert easily +evaded. + +"Give it to me," he said. "I saved his life; you might have +killed him." + +"Yes, you saved him, father," Rupert muttered, thinking to himself +that the saving of Walter's life might well mean the loss of Ella's, +since very likely the failure of their plots would be at once +attributed by the conspirators to her. "Father, I never wrote that +letter you say you had. Walter forged it to get you here, where he +meant to kill us both. That's why he looked like that, that's why +he had his gun." + +General Dunsmore only stared blankly at him for a moment. + +"Kill me? Kill you? What for?" he gasped. + +"So that he might become Lord Chobham of Wreste Abbey instead of +Lord Chobham's poor relation," answered Rupert. "The poison attempt +on uncle which Walter discovered was first of all his own doing; it +was through him Charley Wright lost his life. He has committed at +least one other murder. Today he meant to kill both of us. Then +he would have been heir to the title and estates, and when uncle +died he would have been Lord Chobham." + +"Nonsense, absurd, impossible. You're mad, quite mad," the general +stammered. "Why, he would have been hanged at once." + +"Not if he could have fixed the blame elsewhere," Rupert answered. +"That was to have been my part; it was carefully arranged to make +it seem I was responsible for it all. I haven't time to explain now. +I don't think he is coming back. I expect he is only loaded with +small shot, and he doesn't dare try a long range shot or come near +now he knows I'm ready for him." + +"But it's--it's impossible--Walter," stammered the general. +"Impossible." + +"The impossible so often happens," answered Rupert, and handed his +pistol to him. "You must trust me, father, and do what I tell you. +Take this pistol in case you are attacked on the way home. You may +be, but I don't think it's likely. Get the motor out and go straight +to Wreste Abbey. An attempt on uncle's life will be made tonight, +if they still carry out their plans, about dinner-time tonight. See +that every possible precaution is taken. See to that first. Then +send help as soon as you can to Bittermeads, a house on the +outskirts of Ramsdon; any one there will tell you where it is." + +"But what are you going to do?" General Dunsmore asked. + +"I'm going to find Walter, if he's still hiding in the wood here, +as he may be," Rupert answered. "I should like a little chat with +him." For a moment he nearly lost his self-control, and for a +single moment there showed those fiery and tempestuous passions he +was keeping now in such stern repression. "Yes a little talk with +him, just us two," he said. "And if he's cleared out, or I can't +find him I'm going straight on to Bittermeads. There's some one +there who may be in danger, so the sooner I am there the better." + +"But wait a moment," the general cried. "Are you armed?" + +"Yes, with my hands, I shall want no more when Walter and I meet +again," Rupert answered, and, without another word, plunged into +the wood at the spot where Walter had vanished. + +At first the track of Walter's flying footsteps was plain enough +for he had fled full speed, panic having overtaken him when he saw +Rupert and his father together and understood that in some way his +deep conspiracy had failed and his treachery become known. + +For a little distance, therefore, he had crashed through bracken +and undergrowth, heedless of all but the one need that was upon him +to flee away and escape while there was yet time. But, after a +while, his first panic subsiding, he had gone more carefully, and, +as the weather had been very dry of late, when he came to open +ground his footmarks were scarcely visible. + +In such spots Rupert could make but slow progress, and he was +handicapped, too, by the fact, that all the time he had to be on +his guard lest from some unsuspected quarter his enemy should come +upon him unawares. + +For, indeed, this enterprise he had undertaken in the flood tide of +his passion and fierce anger was dangerous enough since he, quite +weaponless, was following up a very desperate armed man who would +know that for him there could be henceforth no question of mercy. + +But there was that burning in Rupert's heart that made him heedless +of all danger, and indeed, he who for mere love of sport and +adventure, had followed a wounded tiger into the jungle and tracked +a buffalo through thick reeds, was not likely to draw back now. + +Once he thought he had succeeded, for he saw a bush move and he +rushed at once upon it. But when he reached it there was nothing +there, and the ground about was hard and bare, showing no marks to +prove any one had lately been near. And once he saw a movement in +the midst of some bracken and caught a glimpse of what seemed like +Walter's coat, so that he was sure he had him at last, and he +shouted and ran forward. + +But again no one was there, though the bracken was all trampled and +beaten down. The tracks Walter had made in going were plain, too, +but Rupert lost them almost at once and could not find them again, +and when he came a little later to the further edge of the wood, he +decided to waste no more time, but to make his way direct to +Bittermeads so as at least to make sure of Ella's safety. + +He told himself that he had failed badly in woodcraft and, indeed, +he had been too fierce and hot in his pursuit to show his wonted +skill. + +The plan that had been in his mind from the moment when he left his +father was to take advantage of the fact that on this edge of the +wood was situated a farm belonging to Lord Chobham, where horses +were bred and where he was well known. + +Some of these horses were sure to be out in the fields, and it would +be easy for him, wasting no time in explanation, to catch one of them, +mount bare-backed and ride through the New Plantation--the New +Plantation was a hundred years old, but still kept that name--over +the brow of the hill beyond, swim the canal in the valley, and so +straight across-country to Ramsdon. + +Riding thus direct he would save time and distance, and arrive more +quickly than by going the necessary distance to secure a motor-car +which would have also to take a much more circuitous route. + +He jumped the hedge, therefore, that lay at the wood's edge and +slid down the steep bank into the sunken road beyond where he found +himself standing in front of Walter, who held in his hands a gun +levelled straight at Rupert's heart. + +"I could have shot you time after time in there you know," he said +quietly. "From behind that bush and from out of the bracken, too. +I don't know why I didn't. I suppose it wasn't worth while, now +I shall never be Lord Chobham." + +He flung down his gun as he spoke and sprang on a bicycle that he +had held leaning against his legs. + +Quickly he sped away, leaving Rupert standing staring after him, +realizing that his life had hung upon the bending of Walter's finger, +and that Walter, with at least two cold-blooded murders to his +account, or little more to hope for in this world or the next, had +now inexplicably spared him for whose destruction, of life and honour +alike, he had a little before been laying such elaborate, hellish +plans. + +With a gesture of his hands that proved he failed to understand, +Rupert ran on and crossed a field to where he saw some horses +grazing. + +One he knew immediately for one of his father's mares, and he knew +her also for an animal of speed and endurance. + +The mare knew him, too, and suffered him to mount her without +difficulty, and without a soul on the farm being aware of what was +happening and without having to waste any precious time on +explanations or declaring his identity, Rupert rode away, sitting +the mare bare-backed, through the New Plantation towards Bittermeads, +where he hoped, arriving unexpectedly, to be able to save Ella +before the danger he was sure threatened her came to a head. + +Of one thing he was certain. Deede Dawson would never do what his +companion in villainy had just done, he would spare no one; fierce, +malignant and evil to the last, his one thought if he knew they had +and vengeance approached would be to do what harm he could before +the end. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BACK AT BITTERMEADS + + +When, riding fast, Rupert Dunsmore came in sight of Bittermeads he +experienced a feeling of extreme relief. Though what he had feared +he did not quite know, for he did not see that any alarm could have +reached here yet or any hint come to Deede Dawson of the failure of +all his plotting. + +Even if Walter had had the idea of returning to give his accomplice +warning, he could not have come by the road on his bicycle as quickly +as Rupert had ridden across country. And that Walter would spend +either time or thought on Deede Dawson did not appear in any way +probable. + +To Rupert, therefore, it seemed certain that Deede Dawson could know +nothing as yet. But all the same it was an immense relief to see +the house again and to know that in a few moments he would be there. + +He tied up the mare to a convenient tree, and with eyes that were +quick and alert and every nerve and muscle ready for all emergencies, +he drew near the house. + +All was still and quiet, no smoke came from the chimneys, there was +no sign of life or movement anywhere. For a moment he hesitated +and then made his way round to the back, hoping to find Mrs. +Barker there and perhaps obtain from her information as to the +whereabouts of Deede Dawson and of Ella and her mother. + +For it seemed to him it would be his best plan to get the two women +quietly out of the way if he could possibly do so before making any +attempt to deal with Deede Dawson or letting him know of his return. + +For the mere fact that he was back again so soon would show at once +that something had gone seriously wrong, and once Deede Dawson knew +that, he would be, Rupert well realized, in a very desperate and +reckless mood and ripe for committing any mischief that he could. + +Cautiously Rupert opened the back door and found himself in the +stone-paved passage that ran between the kitchen and the scullery +and pantry. Everything seemed very quiet and still, and there was +no sign of Mrs. Barker nor any appearance that she had been that +morning busy about her usual tasks. The kitchen fire was not +lighted, a pile of unwashed crockery stood on the table, there had +apparently been no attempt to prepare any meals. + +Frowning uneasily, for all this did not seem to him of good omen, +Rupert Went quickly on to the living rooms. + +They were unoccupied and did not seem to have been much used that +day; and in the small breakfast-room Deede Dawson had been accustomed +to consider his special apartment, his favourite little travelling +chessboard stood on the table with pieces in position on it. + +There was a letter, too, he had begun but not finished, to the +editor of a chess-column in some paper, apparently to the effect +that a certain problem "cooked," and that by such and such a move +"the mate for the first player that appeared certain was unexpectedly +and instantly transferred in this dramatic manner into a mate for +his opponent." + +The words seemed somehow oddly appropriate to Rupert, and he smiled +grimly as he read them and then all at once his expression changed +and his whole attitude became one of intense watchfulness and +readiness. + +For his quick eye had noted that the ink on the nib of the pen that +this letter had been written with, was not yet dry. + +Then Deede Dawson must have been here a moment or two ago and must +have gone in a hurry. That could only mean he was aware of Rupert's +return and was warned and suspicious. It is perhaps characteristic +of Rupert's passionate and eager temperament that only now did it +occur to him that he was quite unarmed and that without a weapon of +any kind he was matching himself against as reckless and as +formidable a criminal as had ever lived. + +For want of anything better he picked up the heavy glass inkpot +standing on the table, emptied the contents in a puddle on the floor, +and held the inkpot itself ready in his hand. + +He listened intently, but heard no sound--no sound at all in the +whole house, and this increased his apprehensions, for he knew well +that Deede Dawson was a man always the most dangerous when most +silent. + +It was possible of course that he had fled, but not likely. He +would not go, Rupert thought, till he had made his preparations +and not without a last effort to take revenge on those who had +defeated him and in this dramatic way turned the mate he had +expected to secure into a win for his opponent. + +Still Rupert listened intently, straining his ears to catch the +least sound to hint to him where his enemy was, for he knew that if +he failed to discover him his first intimation of his proximity +might well come in the shape of the white-hot sting of a bullet, +rending flesh and bone. + +Then, too, where was Ella, and where was her mother? + +There was something inexpressibly sinister in the utter quietness +of the house, a quietness not at all of peace and rest but of a +brooding, angry threat. + +Still he could hear nothing, and he left the room, very quickly and +noiselessly, and he made sure there was no one anywhere in any of +these rooms on the ground floor. + +He locked the front door and the back to make sure no one should +enter or leave too easily, and returned on tiptoe, moving to and +fro like a shadow cast by a changing light, so swift and noiseless +were his movements. + +For a little he remained crouching against the side of the stairway, +listening for any sound that might float down to him from above. + +But none came--and on a sudden, in one movement, as it were, he +ran up the stairs and crouched down on the topmost one so that any +bullet aimed at him as he appeared might perhaps fly overhead. + +But none was fired; there was still no sound at all, no sign that +the house held any living creature beside himself. He began to +think that Deede Dawson must have sent the two women away and now +have gone himself. + +But there was the pen downstairs with ink still wet upon the nib +to prove that he had been here recently, and again very suddenly +Rupert leaped to his feet and ran noiselessly down the corridor +and entered quickly into Ella's room. + +He had not been in it since the night of his arrival at Bittermeads, +but it appeared to him extraordinarily familiar and every little +object in it of ornament or use seemed to speak to him softly of +Ella's gracious presence. + +Of Ella herself there was no sign, but he noticed that the tassel +at the end of the window blind cord was moving as if recently +disturbed. + +The movement was very slight, almost imperceptible, indeed, but it +existed; and it proved that some one must very shortly before have +been standing at the window. He moved to it and looked out. + +The view commanded the road by which he had approached Bittermeads, +and he wondered if Ella had been standing there and had seen his +approach, and then had concealed herself for some reason. + +But, if so, why and where was she hiding? And where was Deede +Dawson? And why was everything so silent and so still? + +He turned from the window, and as he did so he caught a faint sound +in the passage without. + +Instantly he crouched behind the bed, the heavy glass inkpot that +was his one weapon poised in his hand. + +The sound did not come again, but as he waited, he saw the door +begin to open very slowly, very quietly. + +Lower still he crouched, the inkpot ready to throw, every nerve taut +and tense for the leap at his foe's throat with which he meant to +follow it up. The door opened a little more, very slowly, very +carefully. It was wide enough now to admit of entry, and through +the opening there sidled, pale and red-eyed, Ella's mother, looking +so frail and feeble and so ruffled and disturbed she reminded Rupert +irresistibly of a frightened hen. + +She edged her way in as though she dared not open the door too +widely, and Rupert hesitated in great perplexity and vexation, for +he saw that he must show himself, and he feared that she would +announce his presence by flight or screams. + +But he could not possibly get away without her knowledge; and +besides, she might be able to give him useful information. + +He stood up quickly, with his finger to his lips. "Hush!" he said. +"Not a sound--not a sound." The warning seemed unnecessary, for +Mrs. Dawson appeared too paralysed with fear to utter even the +faintest cry as she dropped tremblingly on the nearest chair. + +"Hush! Hush!" he said. "Where is Ella?" + +"I--I don't know," quavered Mrs. Dawson. + +"When did you see her last?" + +"A little while ago," Mrs. Dawson faltered. "She went upstairs. +She didn't come down, so I thought I would try to find her." + +"Where's Deede Dawson?" Rupert asked. + +"I--I don't know," she quavered again. + +"When did you see him last?" + +"I--I--a little while ago," she faltered. "He went upstairs--he +didn't come down again. I thought I would try to find her--him--I +was so frightened when they didn't either of them come down again." + +It was evident she was far too confused and upset to give any useful +information of any nature, even if she knew anything. + +"Deede's been so strange," she said. "And Ella too. I think it's +very hard on me--dreams, too. He said he wanted her to help him +get a packing-case ready he had to send away somewhere. I don't +know where. I don't think Ella wanted to--" + +"A packing-case?" Rupert muttered. "What for?" + +"It's what they came upstairs to do," Mrs. Dawson said. "And--and +--" She began to cry feebly. "It's my nerves," she said. "He's +looked so strange at us all day--and neither of them has come down +again." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ATTIC + + +It was evident that more had occurred to make Mrs. Dawson afraid +that she would, or perhaps could, say. + +"Wait here," Rupert said to her. "Don't stir." The command seemed +superfluous, for she had not at that moment the appearance of still +possessing the power to move. Without speaking again, Rupert left +the room and went quickly to the foot of the narrow stairs that led +to the attics above. + +He listened, crouching there, and heard nothing, and a cold fear +came to him that perhaps Deede Dawson had done up above what he +wished to do and then effected his escape while he himself had been +lingering in Ella's room. + +Adopting his plan of a rapid rush to disconcert the aim of any one +who might be about to fire at him, he made a swift dash up the +stairs and on the topmost one crouched down again and waited. + +But still nothing happened, all was very quiet, and the door of one +attic, the one which had been assigned to him as a bed-chamber, was +wide open so that he could see into it and see that it was unoccupied. + +But the doors of both the others were closed, and as he looked he +made out in the gloom, for this landing by the attic was very +badly-lighted by a small and awkwardly-placed skylight, a scattered +dozen or so of hairpins, and a tortoiseshell comb such as he had +seen sometimes in Ella's hair, lying on the floor near the door of +the larger of the two attics, the one in which he remembered well +he had found Deede Dawson on a certain night busy measuring and +examining and empty packing-case. + +With one quick rush he crossed the landing and flung himself at the +door. + +It opened at once, for it was not locked, and within he saw Deede +Dawson, screw-driver in his hand, standing behind a large +packing-case, the lid of which he had apparently that minute +finished fastening down. + +He looked up as Rupert entered thus precipitately, and he showed no +sign of surprise or alarm. + +"You're back early," he said. "Something gone wrong?" + +"What are you doing? What's in there?" Rupert asked, looking at +the packing-case, his mouth and lips so suddenly dry he found it +difficult to speak at all. + +Deede Dawson began to laugh, a low and dreadful laughter that had +in it no trace of merriment at all, but only of mockery and malice. + +It was such laughter as a devil from the nethermost pit might give +vent to when he saw at last a good man yield to long temptation. + +"What's in there?" Rupert said again, pointing to the packing-case, +and it was as though his soul swooned within him for fear of what +the answer might be. + +"What do the children say?" Deede Dawson returned with his terrible +smile. "I'll give you three guesses, isn't it? See if you can +guess in three tries." + +"What's in there?" Rupert asked the third time, and Deede Dawson +laid down the screw-driver with which he had just driven home the +last screw. + +"Oh, see for yourself, if you want to," he said. "But you ought to +know. You know what was in the other case I sent away from here, +the one I got Ella to take in the car for me? I want you to take +this one away now, the sooner it's away the better." + +"That's it, is it?" Rupert muttered. + +He no longer doubted, and for a moment all things swam together +before him and he felt dizzy and a little sick, and so weak he +staggered and nearly fell, but recovered himself in time. + +The sensation passed and he saw Deede Dawson as it were a long way +off, and between them the packing-case, huge, monstrous, and evil, +like a thing of dread from some other world. Violent shudderings +swept though him one after the other, and he was aware that Deede +Dawson was speaking again. + +"What did you say?" he asked vacantly, when the other paused. + +"You look ill," Deede Dawson answered. "Anything wrong? Why have +you come back so soon? Have you failed?" + +Rupert passed his hand before his eyes to clear away the mist that +hung there and that hampered his sight. + +He perceived that Deede Dawson held his right hand in the pocket +of his coat, grasping something that bulged out curiously. + +He divined that it was a pistol, and that Deede Dawson was ready +to shoot at any moment, but that he wished very greatly to know +first of all what had happened and why Rupert had returned so soon +and whether there was immediate necessity for flight or not. + +That he was uneasy was certain, for his cold eyes showed a +hesitation and a doubt such as Rupert had never seen in them before. + +"I'll tell you what's happened," Rupert heard himself saying +hoarsely. "If you'll tell me what's in there." + +"A bargain, eh?" Deede Dawson said. "It's easy enough. You can +look for yourself if you unscrew the lid, but then, after all, why +should we take all that trouble?" + +As he spoke his pistol showed in his hand, and at once the heavy +glass inkpot Rupert had held all this time flew straight and true, +and with tremendous force, at Deede Dawson's head. + +He avoided it only by the extreme rapidity with which he dropped +behind the packing-case, and it flew over his head and crashed +against the centre panel of a big wardrobe that stood in one +corner of the room, splitting the panel it struck from top to +bottom. + +Following it, Rupert hurled himself forward with one great spring, +but agile as a cat that leaps away from the mastiff's teeth, Deede +Dawson slipped from his grasp to the other side of the room. In +doing so he knocked his arm against the corner of the packing-case, +so that his revolver fell to the ground. + +With a shout Rupert stooped and seized it, and straightened himself +to see that Deede Dawson had already another revolver in his hand +--a second one that he had drawn from an inner pocket. + +They remained very still, watching each other intently, neither +eager to fire, since both wished first to make the other speak. For +Rupert desired very greatly that Deede Dawson should tell him where +Ella was, and Deede Dawson needed that Rupert should explain what +had gone wrong, and how imminent and great was the danger that +therefore most likely threatened him. + +Each knew, too, that the slightest movement he made would set the +other shooting, and each realized that in that close and narrow +space any exchange of shots must almost of necessity mean the death +of both, since both were cool and deadly marksmen, well accustomed +to the use of the revolver. + +Deede Dawson was the first to speak. + +"Well, what next?" he said. "If that inkpot of yours had hit me it +would pretty well have knocked my brains out, and if I hadn't hit +my elbow against the corner of the packing-case I would have had you +shot through with holes like a sieve by now. So far the score's +even. Let's chat a bit, and see if we can't come to some arrangement. +Look, I'll show I trust you." + +As he spoke he laid down, much to Rupert's surprise, and to his +equal suspicion, his revolver on the top of a moth-eaten roll of +old carpet that leaned against the wall near where he was standing. + +"You see, I trust you," he said once more. + +"Take your pistol up again," answered Rupert grimly. "I do not +trust you." + +"Ah, that's a pity." Deede Dawson smiled, making no effort to do as +the other said. "You see, we are both good shots, and if we start +blazing away at each other up here we shall both be leaking pretty +badly before long. That's a prospect that has no attraction for me; +I don't know if it has for you. But there are things I can tell you +that might be interesting, and things you can tell me I want to know. +Why not exchange a little information, and then separate calmly, +rather than indulge in pistol practice that can only mean the death +of us both? For if your first bullet goes though my brain I swear +my first will be in your heart." + +"Likely enough," agreed Rupert, "but worth while perhaps." + +"Oh, that's fanaticism," Deede Dawson answered. "Flattering perhaps +to me, but not quite reasonable, eh?" + +"There's only one thing I want to know from you," Rupert said slowly. + +"Then why not ask it, why not agree to the little arrangement I +suggest, eh? Eh, Rupert Dunsmore?" + +"You know me, then?" + +"Oh, long enough." + +"Where is Ella?" + +Deede Dawson laughed again. + +"That's a thing I know and you don't," he said. "Well, she's safe +away in London by this time." + +"That's a lie, for her mother's here still," answered Rupert, even +though his heart leapt merely to hear the words. + +"Unbelieving Thomas," smiled the other. "Well, then, she is where +she is, and that you can find out for yourself. But I'll make +another suggestion. We are both good shots, and if we start to fire +we shall kill each other. I am certain of killing you, but I shan't +escape myself. Well, then, why not toss for it? Equal chances for +both, and certain safety for one. Will you toss me, the one who +loses to give up his pistol to the other?" + +"It seems to me a good idea," Deede Dawson argued. "Here we are +watching each other like cats, and knowing that the least movement +of either will start the other off, and both of us pulling trigger +as hard as we can. My idea would mean a chance for one. Well, +let's try another way; the best shot to win. You don't trust me, +but I will you." + +Leaving his pistol lying where he had put it down, he crossed the +attic, and with a pencil he took from his pocket drew a circle on +the panel of the wardrobe door that Rupert had split with the +inkpot he had thrown. + +In the centre of the circle he marked a dot, and turned smilingly +to the frowning and suspicious Rupert. + +"There you are," he said, and made another circle near the first +one. "Now you put a bullet into the middle of this circle and I'll +put one afterwards through the second circle, and the one who is +nearest to the dots I've marked, wins. What have you to say to that? +Seems to me better than our killing each other. Isn't it?" + +"I think you're playing the fool for some reason of your own," +answered Rupert. "There's only one thing I want to know from you. +Where is Ella?" + +"Let me know how you can shoot," answered Deede Dawson, "and I'll +tell you, by all that's holy, I will." + +Rupert hesitated. He did not understand all this, he could not +imagine what motive was in Deede Dawson's mind, though it was +certainly true enough that once they began shooting at each other +neither man was at all likely to survive, for Rupert knew he would +not miss and he did not think Deede Dawson would either. + +Above all, there was the one thing he wished to know, the one +consideration that weighed with him above all others--what had +become of Ella? And this time there had been in Deede Dawson's +voice an accent of twisted and malign sincerity that seemed to +say he really would be willing to tell the truth about her if +Rupert would gratify his whim about this sort of shooting-match +that he was suggesting. + +The purpose of it Rupert could not understand, but it did not seem +to him there would be any risk of harm in agreeing, for Deede +Dawson was standing so far away from his own weapon he could not +well be contemplating any immediate mischief or treachery. + +It did occur to him that the pistol he held might be loaded in one +chamber only and that Deede Dawson might be scheming to induce him +to throw away his solitary cartridge. + +But a glance reassured him on that point. + +"Let me see how you can shoot," Deede Dawson repeated, leaning +carelessly with folded arms against the wall a little distance away. +"And I promise you I'll tell you where Ella is." + +Rupert lifted his pistol and was indeed on the very point of firing +when he caught a glimpse of such evil triumph and delight in Deede +Dawson's cold eyes that he hesitated and lowered the weapon, and at +the same time, looking more closely, searching more intently for +some indication of Deede Dawson's hidden purpose, he noticed, caught +in the crack of the wardrobe door, a tiny shred of some blue material +only just visible. + +He remembered that sometimes of an afternoon Ella had been accustomed +to wear a frock made of a material exactly like that of which so tiny +a fragment showed now in the crack of the wardrobe door. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SOME EXPLANATIONS + + +He turned quickly towards Deede Dawson. Their eyes met, and in that +mutual glance Rupert Dunsmore read that his suspicions were correct +and Deede Dawson that his dreadful trap was discovered. + +Neither spoke. For a brief moment they remained impassive, immobile, +their eyes meeting like blows, and then Deede Dawson made one spring +to seize again the revolver he had laid down in the hope of enticing +Rupert into the awful snare prepared for him. + +But quick as he was, Rupert was quicker still, and as Deede Dawson +leaped he lifted his pistol and fired, though his aim was not at +the man, but at the revolver lying on the top of the roll of carpet +where Deede Dawson had placed it. + +The bullet, for Rupert was a man who seldom missed, struck the +weapon fair and whirled it, shattered and useless, to the floor. +Deede Dawson, whose hand had been already outstretched to seize it, +drew back with a snarl that was more like the cry of a trapped wolf +than any sound produced from human lips. + +Still, Rupert did not speak. With the smoking pistol in his hand +he watched silently and steadily his helpless enemy who, for his +part, was silent, too, and very still, for he felt that doom was +close upon him. + +Yet he showed not the least sign of fear, but only a fierce and +sullen defiance. + +"Shoot away, why don't you shoot?" he sneered. "Mind you don't miss. +I trusted you when I put my revolver down and I was a fool, but I +thought you would play fair." + +Without a word Rupert tossed his pistol through the attic window. + +They heard the tinkling fall of the glass, they heard more faintly +the sound of the revolver striking the outhouse roof twenty feet +below and rebounding thence to the paved kitchen yard beneath, and +then all was quiet again. + +"I only need my hands for you," said Rupert softly, as softly as a +mother coos to her drowsy babe. "My hands for you." + +For the first time Deede Dawson seemed to fear, for, indeed, there +was that in Rupert Dunsmore's eyes to rouse fear in any man. With +a sudden swift spring, Rupert leaped forward and Deede Dawson, not +daring to abide that onslaught, turned and ran, screaming shrilly. + +During the space of one brief moment, a dreadful and appalling +moment, there was a wild strange hunting up and down the narrow +space of that upper attic, cumbered with lumber and old, disused +furniture. + +Round and round Deede Dawson fled, screaming still in a high shrill +way, like some wild thing in pain, and hard upon him followed Rupert, +nor had they gone a second time about that room before Rupert had +Deede Dawson in a fast embrace, his arms about the other's middle. + +One last great cry Deede Dawson gave when Rupert seized him, and +then was silent as Rupert lifted him and swung him high at arm's +length. + +As a child in play sports with its doll, so Rupert swung Deede +Dawson twice about his head, round and round and then loosed him +so that he went hurling through the air with awful force, like a +stone shot from a catapult, clean through the window through which +Rupert had the moment before tossed his pistol with but little +more apparent effort. + +Right through the window, bearing panes and sash with him, Deede +Dawson flew with the impetus of that great throw and out beyond +and down, turning over and over the while, down through the empty +air to fall and be shattered like a piece of worthless crockery +on the stone threshold of the outhouse door. + +Surprised to find himself alone, Rupert put his hand to his +forehead and looked vacantly around. + +"My God, what have I done?" he thought. + +He was trembling violently, and the fury of the passion that had +possessed him and had given his mighty muscles a force more than +human, was still upon him. + +Going to the window, he looked out, for he did not quite know what +had happened and from it he looked back at the wardrobe door. + +"Oh, yes," he said. "Yes." + +He ran to it and tore open the door and from within very tenderly +and gently he lifted down the half-swooning Ella who, securely +gagged and tightly bound, had been thrust into its interior to +conceal her from him. + +Hurriedly he freed her from her bonds and from the handkerchief that +was tied over her mouth and holding her in his arms like a child, +pressing her close to his heart, he carried her lightly out of that +dreadful room. + +Only once did she stir, only once did she speak, when lifting her +pale, strained face to him she murmured very faintly something in +which he just caught the words: + +"Deede Dawson." + +"He'll trouble us no more nor any one else, I think," answered +Rupert, and she said no more but snuggled down in his arms as though +with a feeling of perfect security and safety. + +He took her to her own room and left her with her mother, and then +went down to the hall and took a chair and sat at the front door. + +All at once he felt very tired and one of his shoulders hurt him, +for he had strained a muscle there rather badly. + +His one desire was to rest, and he did not even trouble to go round +to the back of the house to see what had happened to Deede Dawson, +though indeed that was not a point on which he entertained much +doubt. + +For a long time he sat there quietly, till at last his father +arrived in a motor-car from Wreste Abbey, together with a +police-inspector from the county town whom he had picked up on +the way. + +Rupert took them into the room where Deede Dawson's chessmen and +the board were still standing and told them as briefly as he could +what had happened since the first day when he had left his home +to try to trace out and defeat the plot hatched by Walter Dunsmore +and Deede Dawson. + +"You people wouldn't act," he said to the inspector. "You said +there was no evidence, no proof, and I daresay you were right +enough from the legal point of view. But it was plain enough to +me that there was some sort of conspiracy against my uncle's life, +I thought against my father's as well, but I was not sure of that +at first. It was through poor Charley Wright I became so certain. +He found out things and told me about them; but for him the first +attempt to poison my uncle would have succeeded. Even then we +had still no evidence to prove the reality of our suspicions, for +Walter destroyed it, by accident, I thought at the time, purposely, +as I know now. It was something Walter said that gave Charley the +idea of coming here. Then he vanished. He must have roused their +suspicions somehow, and they killed him. But again Walter put us +all off the scent by his story of having seen Charley in London, +so that it was there the search for him was made, and no one ever +thought of Bittermeads. I never suspected Walter, such an idea +never entered my head; but luckily I didn't tell him of my idea of +coming to Bittermeads myself to try to find out what was really +going on here. He knew nothing of where I was till I told him that +day at Wreste Abbey, then of course he came over here at once. I +thought it was anxiety for my safety, but I expect really it was +to warn his friends. When I saw him here that night I told him +every single thing, I trusted the carrying-out of everything I had +arranged to him. If it hadn't been for a note Miss Cayley wrote +me to warn me, I should have walked right into the trap and so would +my father too." + +The police-inspector asked a few questions and then made a search +of the room which resulted in the discovery of quite sufficient +proof of the guilt of Deede Dawson and of Walter Dunsmore. + +Among these proofs was also a hastily-scribbled note from Walter +that solved the mystery of John Clive's death. It was not signed, +but both General Dunsmore and Rupert knew his writing and were +prepared to swear to it. Beginning abruptly and scribbled on a +torn scrap of paper, it ran: + +"I found Clive where you said, lucky you got hold of the note and +read it before she sent it, for no doubt she meant to warn him. +Take care she gets no chance of the sort again. I did Clive's +business all right. She saw me and I think recognized me from that +time she saw me over the packing-case business, before I took it +out to sink it at sea. At any rate, she ran off in a great hurry. +If you aren't careful, she'll make trouble yet." + +"Apparently," remarked the inspector when he had read this aloud, +"the young lady was very luckily not watched closely enough and +did make trouble for them. Could I see her, do you think?" + +"I don't know, I'll go and ask," Rupert said. + +Ella was still very shaken, but she consented to see the inspector, +and they all went together to her room where she was lying on her +bed with her mother fussing nervously about her. + +She told them in as few words as possible the story of how she had +always disliked and mistrusted the man whom so unfortunately her +mother had married, and how gradually her suspicions strengthened +till she became certain that he was involved in many unlawful deeds. + +But always her inner certainty had fallen short of absolute proof, +so careful had he been in all he did. + +"I knew I knew," she said. "But there was nothing I really knew. +And he made me do all sorts of things for him. I wouldn't have +cared for myself, but if I tried to refuse he made mother suffer. +She was very, very frightened of him, but she would never leave him. +She didn't dare. There was one night he made me go very late with +a packing-case full of silver things he had, and he wouldn't tell +me where he had got them. I believe he stole them all, but I helped +him pack them, and I took them away the night Mr. Dunsmore came and +gave them to a man wearing a mask. My stepfather said it was just a +secret family matter he was helping some friends in, and later on I +saw the same man in the woods near here one day--the day Mr. Clive +was killed by the poachers--and when he came another time to the +house I thought I must try to find out what he wanted. I listened +while they talked and they said such strange things I made up my +mind to try to warn Mr. Dunsmore, for I was sure there was something +they were plotting." + +"There was indeed," said Rupert grimly. "And but for that warning +you sent me they would have succeeded." + +"Somehow they found out what I had done," Ella continued. "As soon +as I got back he kept looking at me so strangely. I was afraid--I +had been afraid a long time, for that matter--but I tried not to +show it. In the afternoon he told me to go up to the attic. He +said he wanted me to help him pack some silver. It was the same +silver I had packed before; for some reason he had got it back again. +This time I had to pack it in the little boxes, and after I had +finished I waited up there till suddenly he ran in very quickly +and looking very excited. He said I had betrayed them, and should +suffer for it, and he took some rope and he tied me as tightly as +he could, and tied a great handkerchief over my mouth, and pushed +me inside the wardrobe and locked it. I think he would have +killed me then only he was afraid of Mr. Dunsmore, and very anxious +to know what had happened, and why Mr. Dunsmore had come home, and +if there was any danger. And I was a long time there, and I heard +a great noise, and then Mr. Dunsmore opened the door and took me out." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CONCLUSION + + +Three months had passed, and in a quiet little cottage on the +outskirts of a small country town, situated in one of the most +beautiful and peaceful vales of the south-west country, Ella was +slowly recovering from the shock of the dreadful experiences +through which she had passed. + +She had been ill for some weeks, but her mother, fussily +incompetent at most times, was always at her best when sickness +came, and she had nursed her daughter devotedly and successfully. + +As soon as possible they had come to this quiet little place where +people, busy with their own affairs and the important progress of +the town, had scarcely heard of what the newspapers of the day +called "The Great Chobham Sensation." + +But, in fact, very much to Rupert's relief, comparatively little +had been made known publicly, and the whole affair had attracted +wonderfully little attention. + +The one public proceeding had been the inquest of Deede Dawson, and +that the coroner, at the request of the police eagerly searching for +Walter Dunsmore, had made as brief and formal as possible. Under his +direction the jury had returned a verdict of "justifiable homicide," +and Ella's illness had had at least one good result of making it +impossible for her to attend to give her evidence in person. + +At a trial, of course, everything would have had to be told in full, +but both Allen, Deede Dawson's accomplice, and Walter Dunsmore, his +instigator and employer, had vanished utterly. + +For Walter the search was very hot, but so far entirely without +result. Now could Allen be found. He was identified with a fair +degree of certainty as an old criminal well known to the authorities, +and it was thought almost certain that he had had previous dealings +with Deede Dawson, and knew enough about him to be able to force +himself into Bittermeads. + +Of the actual plot in operation there he most likely knew little +or nothing, but probably Deede Dawson thought he might be useful, +and the store of silver found in the attic that Ella had been +employed in packing ready for removal was identified as part of +the plunder from a recent burglary in a northern town. + +It was thought, therefore, that both Allen and Deede Dawson might +have been concerned in that affair, that Deede Dawson had managed +to secure the greater share of the booty, and that Allen, on the +night when Rupert found him breaking into Bittermeads, was +endeavouring to get hold of the silver for himself. + +But the actual facts are not likely now ever to be known, for from +that day to this nothing has been heard of Allen. His old haunts +know him no more, and to his record, carefully preserved at Scotland +Yard, there have been no recent additions. + +One theory is that Deede Dawson, finding him troublesome, took +effectual steps to dispose of him. Another is that Deede Dawson +got him away by either bribes or threats, and that, not knowing +of Deede Dawson's death, he does not venture to return. + +In any case, he was a commonplace criminal, and his fate is of +little interest to any one but himself. + +It was Walter for whom the police hunted with diligence and effort, +but with a total lack of success, so that they began to think at +the end of three months that he must somehow have succeeded in +making his way out of the country. + +During the first portion of this time Rupert had been very busy +with a great many things that needed his attention. And then Lord +Chobham, his health affected by the crimes and treachery of a +kinsman whom he had known and trusted as he had known and trusted +Walter, was attacked by acute bronchitis which affected his heart +and carried him off within the week. The title and estates passed, +therefore, to General Dunsmore, and Rupert became the Honourable +Rupert Dunsmore and the direct heir. All this meant for him a great +deal more to see to and arrange, for the health of the new Lord +Chobham had also been affected and he left practically everything +in his son's hands, so that, except for the letters which came +regularly but had been often written in great haste, Ella knew and +heard little of Rupert. + +But today he was to come, for everything was finally in order, and, +though this she did not know till later, Walter Dunsmore had at +last been discovered, dead from poison self-administered, in a +wretched lodging in an East End slum. Rupert had been called to +identify the body and he had been able to arrange it so that very +little was said at the inquest, where the customary verdict of +"Suicide during temporary insanity" was duly returned by a quite +uninterested jury. + +That the last had been heard of the tragedy that had so nearly +overwhelmed his life, Rupert was able now to feel fairly well +assured, and it was therefore in a mood more cheerful than he had +known of late that he started on his journey to Ella's new residence. + +He had sent a wire to confirm his letter, and it was in a mood that +was more than a little nervous that she busied herself with her +preparations. + +She chose her very simplest gown, and when there was absolutely +nothing more to do she went into their little sitting-room to +wait alone by the fire she had built up there, for it was winter +now and today was cold and inclined to be stormy. + +Rupert had not said exactly when she was to expect him, and she sat +for a long time by the fire, starting at every sound and imagining +at every moment that she heard the front-door bell ring. + +"I shall not let him feel himself bound," she said to herself with +great decision. "I shall tell him I hope we shall always be friends +but that's all; and if he wants anything more, I shall say No. But +most likely he won't say a word about all that nonsense, it would +be silly to take seriously what he said--there." + +To Ella, now, Bittermeads was always "there," and though she told +herself several times that probably Rupert had not the least idea +of repeating what he had said to her--there--and that most likely +he was coming today merely to make a friendly call, and that it +would never do for either of them to think again of what they had +said when they were both so excited and overwrought, yet in her +heart she knew a great deal better than all that. + +But she said to herself very often: + +"Anyhow, I shall certainly refuse him." + +And on this point her mind was irrevocably made up since, after all, +whether Rupert would accept refusal or not would still remain +entirely for him to decide. + +At half-past three she heard the garden-gate creak, and when she +ran to the window to peep, she saw with a kind of chill surprise +that there was a stranger coming through. + +"Some one he's sent," she said to herself. "He doesn't want to +come himself and so he has sent some one else instead. I am glad." + +Having said this and repeated again the last three words, and having +gulped down a sob--presumably of joy--that unexpectedly fluttered +into her throat, she went quickly to open the door. + +The newly-arrived stranger smiled at her as she showed herself but +did not speak. He was a man of middle height, quite young, and +wrapped in a big, loose overcoat that very completely hid his figure. +His face, clean-shaven, showed clear, strongly-marked well-shaped +features with a firm mouth round which at this moment played a very +gentle and winning smile, a square-cut chin, and extremely bright, +clear kindly eyes that were just now smiling too. + +When he took off his hat she saw that his hair was cut rather +closely, and very neatly brushed and combed, and she found his +smile so compelling and so winning that in spite of her +disappointment she found herself returning it. + +It occurred to her that she had some time or another seen some one +like this stranger, but when or where she could not imagine. + +Still he did not speak, but his eyes were very tender and kind as +they rested on her so that she wondered a little. + +"Yes?" she said inquiringly. "Yes?" + +"Don't you know me, Ella?" he said then, very softly, and in a +voice that she recognized instantly. + +"Is it you--you?" she breathed. + +Instinctively she lifted her hands to greet him, and at once she +found herself caught up and held, pressed passionately to his +strongly-beating heart. + + *** + +An hour later, by the fire in the sitting-room, Ella suddenly +remembered tea. + +"Good gracious! You must be starving," she cried, smitten with +remorse. "And there's poor mother waiting upstairs all this time. +Oh, Rupert, are you very hungry?" + +"Starving," he asserted, but held her to him as closely as ever. + +"I must get the tea," she protested. She put one cheek against his +and sighed contentedly. + +"It's nice to see the real you," she murmured. "But oh, Rupert, +I do miss your dear bristly beard." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Bittermeads Mystery, by E. R. 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