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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green God, by Frederic Arnold Kummer
+
+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 Green God
+
+Author: Frederic Arnold Kummer
+
+Illustrator: R. F. Schabelitz
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33019]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sharon Verougstraete and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE GREEN GOD
+
+  [Illustration: "GENTLEMEN," HE SAID IN A FRIGHTENED SORT OF VOICE, "MISS
+  TEMPLE CANNOT BE FOUND."]
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  GREEN
+  GOD
+
+  by
+
+  Frederic Arnold Kummer
+
+  Illustrations by
+  R. F. Schabelitz
+
+  NEW YORK
+  W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY
+  W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+  _Published September_
+
+  PRESS OF
+  BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+  BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
+  BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                               PAGE
+
+     I MR. ASHTON                          1
+
+    II A CRY IN THE MORNING               28
+
+   III A QUEER DISCOVERY                  48
+
+    IV I ADVISE MISS TEMPLE               79
+
+     V MAJOR TEMPLE'S STORY              101
+
+    VI THE ORIENTAL PERFUME              120
+
+   VII IN THE TEMPLE OF BUDDHA           142
+
+  VIII INSPECTOR BURNS' CONCLUSIONS      161
+
+    IX MISS TEMPLE'S DISAPPEARANCE       182
+
+     X MISS TEMPLE'S TESTIMONY           198
+
+    XI THE VENGEANCE OF BUDDHA           228
+
+   XII I ASK MISS TEMPLE A QUESTION      247
+
+  XIII A NIGHT OF HORROR                 267
+
+   XIV THE SECRET OF THE GREEN ROOM      286
+
+
+
+
+THE GREEN GOD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+MR. ASHTON
+
+
+The dull October afternoon was rapidly drawing to a close as I passed
+through the village of Pinhoe, and set my steps rather wearily toward
+Exeter. I had conceived the idea, some time before, of walking from
+London to Torquay, partly because I felt the need of the exercise and
+fresh air, and partly because I wanted to do some sketching in the
+southwest counties. Perhaps had I realized, when I started out, what
+manner of adventure would befall me in the neighborhood of the town of
+Exeter, I should have given that place a wide berth. As matters now
+stood, my chief concern at the moment was to decide whether or not I
+could reach there before the impending storm broke. For a time I had
+thought of spending the night at the inn at Pinhoe, but, after a careful
+examination of the wind-swept sky and the masses of dun colored clouds
+rolling up from the southwest, I decided that I could cover the
+intervening five miles and reach the Half Moon Hotel in High street
+before the coming of the storm. I had left Pinhoe perhaps half a mile to
+the rear, when the strong southwest gale whipped into my face some drops
+of cold, stinging rain which gave me warning that my calculations as to
+the proximity of the storm had been anything but correct. I hesitated,
+uncertain whether to go forward in the face of the gale, or to beat a
+hasty retreat to the village, when I heard behind me the sound of an
+approaching automobile.
+
+The car was proceeding at a moderate speed, and as I stepped to the side
+of the road to allow it to pass, it slowed up, and I heard a gruff, but
+not unpleasant, voice asking me whether I could point out the way to
+Major Temple's place. I glanced up, and saw a tall, heavily built man,
+of perhaps some forty years of age, leaning from the rear seat of the
+motor. He was bronzed and rugged with the mark of the traveler upon him,
+and although his face at first impressed me unpleasantly, the impression
+was dispelled in part at least by his peculiarly attractive smile. I
+informed him that I could not direct him to the place in question, since
+I was myself a comparative stranger to that part of England. He then
+asked me if I was going toward Exeter. Upon my informing him not only
+that I was, but that I was particularly desirous of reaching it before
+the coming of the rain, he at once invited me to get into the car, with
+the remark that he could at least carry me the major part of the way.
+
+I hesitated a moment, but, seeing no reason to refuse the offer, I
+thanked him and got into the car, and we proceeded toward the town at a
+fairly rapid rate. My companion seemed disinclined to talk, and puffed
+nervously at a long cheroot. I lighted my pipe, with some difficulty on
+account of the wind, and fell to studying the face of the man beside me.
+He was a good-looking fellow, of a sort, with a somewhat sensuous face,
+and I felt certain that his short, stubby black mustache concealed a
+rather cruel mouth. Evidently a man to gain his ends, I thought, without
+being over nice as to the means he employed. Presently he turned to me.
+"I understand," he said, "that Major Temple's place is upon the main
+road, about half a mile this side of Exeter. There is a gray-stone
+gateway, with a lodge. I shall try the first entrance answering that
+description. The Major only leased the place recently, so I imagine he
+is not at all well known hereabouts." He leaned forward and spoke to
+his chauffeur.
+
+I explained my presence upon the Exeter road, and suggested that I would
+leave the car as soon as we reached the gateway in question, and
+continue upon foot the balance of my way. My companion nodded, and we
+smoked in silence for a few moments. Suddenly, with a great swirl of
+dead leaves, and a squall of cold rain, the storm broke upon us. The
+force of the gale was terrific, and although the car was provided with a
+leather top, the wind-swept rain poured in and threatened to drench us
+to the skin. My companion drew the heavy lap-robe close about his chin,
+and motioned to me to do likewise, and a moment later we turned quickly
+into a handsome, gray-stone gateway and up a long, straight gravel road,
+bordered on each side by a row of beautiful oaks. I glanced up at my new
+acquaintance in some surprise, but he only smiled and nodded, so I said
+no more, realizing that he could hardly set me down in the face of such
+a storm.
+
+We swirled over the wet gravel for perhaps a quarter of a mile, through
+a fine park, and with a swift turn at the end brought up under the
+porte-cochere of a large, gray-stone house of a peculiar and to me
+somewhat gloomy and unattractive appearance. The rain, however, was now
+coming down so heavily, and the wind swept with such furious strength
+through the moaning trees in the park, that I saw it would be useless to
+attempt to proceed against it, either on foot or in the motor, so I
+followed my companion as he stepped from the machine and rang the bell.
+After a short wait, the door was thrown open by a servant and we
+hurriedly entered, my acquaintance calling to the chauffeur as we did so
+to proceed at once to the stables and wait until the rain had moderated
+before setting out upon his return journey.
+
+We found ourselves in a large, dimly lighted hallway. I inspected the
+man who had admitted us with considerable curiosity as he closed the
+door behind us, not only because of his Oriental appearance--he was a
+Chinaman of the better sort--but also because he was dressed in his
+native garb, his richly embroidered jacket reflecting the faint light of
+the hall with subdued, yet brilliant, effect. He upon his part showed
+not the slightest interest in our coming, as he inspected us with his
+childlike, sleepy eyes. "Tell Major Temple," said my friend to the man,
+as he handed him his dripping coat and hat, "that Mr. Robert Ashton is
+here, and--" He turned to me with a questioning glance. "Owen Morgan," I
+replied, wondering if he would know me by name. If he did, he showed no
+sign. "Just so--Mr. Owen Morgan," he continued, then strode toward a log
+fire which crackled and sputtered cheerily upon the hearth of a huge
+stone fireplace. I gave the man my cap and stick,--I was walking in a
+heavy Norfolk jacket, my portmanteau having been sent ahead by train to
+Exeter--and joined Mr. Ashton before the fire.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm rather presuming upon the situation," I suggested, "to
+make myself so much at home here; but perhaps the storm will slacken up
+presently."
+
+"Major Temple will be glad to see you, I'm sure," rejoined Mr. Ashton,
+unconcernedly. "You can't possibly go on, you know--listen!" He waved
+his hand toward the leaded windows against which the storm was now
+driving with furious force.
+
+"I'm afraid not," I answered, a bit ungraciously. I have a deep-rooted
+dislike to imposing myself upon strangers, and I felt that my
+unceremonious arrival at the house of Major Temple might be less
+appreciated by that gentleman than my companion seemed to think likely.
+
+"The Major is a queer old character," Mr. Ashton remarked, "great
+traveler and collector. I'm here on a matter of business myself--partly
+at least. He'll be glad to meet you. I fancy he's a bit lonely with
+nobody to keep him company but his daughter. Here he comes now." He
+turned toward a tall, spare man with gray hair and drooping gray
+mustache, who entered the hall. His face, like Ashton's, had the dull,
+burnt-in tone of brown which is acquired only by long exposure to the
+sun, and which usually marks its possessor as a traveler in the hot
+countries. "Ah, Ashton," exclaimed the Major, dropping his monocle,
+"delighted to see you. You arrived yesterday?"--He extended his hand,
+which Ashton grasped warmly.
+
+"Late yesterday. You see I lost no time in coming to report the result
+of my quest."
+
+"And you were successful?" demanded the older man, excitedly.
+
+"Entirely so," replied Ashton with a smile of satisfaction.
+
+"Good--good!" The Major rubbed his hands and smiled, then apparently
+observing me for the first time, glanced at Mr. Ashton with a slight
+frown and an interrogative expression.
+
+"Mr. Owen Morgan," said Ashton, lightly, "on his way to Exeter with me.
+I took the liberty of bringing him in, on account of the storm."
+
+"I am ready to go on at once," I interjected stiffly, "as soon as the
+rain lets up a bit."
+
+"Nonsense--nonsense!" The Major's voice was somewhat testy. "You can't
+possibly proceed on a night like this. Make yourself at home, Sir. Any
+friend of Mr. Ashton's is welcome here." He waved aside my protestations
+and turned to one of the servants, who had entered the room to turn on
+the lights. "Show Mr. Ashton and Mr. Morgan to their rooms, Gibson.
+You'll be wanting to fix up a bit before dinner," he announced.
+
+"I'm afraid I can't dress," I said ruefully; "my things have all gone
+on to Exeter by train."
+
+The Major favored me with a sympathetic smile. "I quite understand," he
+said; "traveler's luck. I've been a bit of a traveler myself, in my day,
+Mr. Morgan. My daughter will understand perfectly."
+
+"Which rooms, Sir, shall I show the gentlemen to?" asked the man, a
+trifle uneasily, I thought.
+
+The Major looked at Ashton, and laughed. "Ashton," he said, "you know I
+only took this place a short time ago on my return from my last trip to
+the East, and as we do not have many visitors, it's a bit musty and out
+of shape. Queer old house, I fancy. Been closed, until I let it, for
+years. Supposed to be haunted or something of the sort--tales of
+wandering spirits and all that. I imagine it won't worry you much." He
+glanced from Ashton to myself with a quick smile of interrogation.
+
+"Hardly," replied my companion, lighting a cigarette. "I've outgrown
+ghosts. Lead on to the haunted chamber."
+
+The Major turned to the servant. "Show the gentlemen to the two rooms in
+the west wing, Gibson. The green room will suit Mr. Ashton, I fancy, and
+perhaps Mr. Morgan will find the white and gold room across the hall
+comfortable for the night."
+
+"Very good, Sir." The man turned toward the staircase and we followed
+him.
+
+I found my room a large and fairly comfortable one, containing a great
+maple bed, a chest of drawers and other furniture of an old-fashioned
+sort. The place seemed stuffy with the peculiar dead atmosphere of rooms
+long closed, but I soon dispelled this by throwing open one of the
+windows upon that side of the room away from the force of the storm, and
+busied myself in making such preparations for dinner as I could with the
+few requisites which my small knapsack contained. I heard Ashton across
+the hall, whistling merrily as he got into evening kit, and rather
+grumbled at myself for having been drawn into my present position as an
+unbidden and unprepared guest in the house of persons who were total
+strangers to me.
+
+After a considerable time, I heard the musical notes of a Chinese gong
+which I took to be the signal for dinner, so making my way to the
+staircase with, I fear, a somewhat sheepish expression, I saw Ashton
+ahead of me, just joining at the end of the hallway a strikingly
+beautiful and distinguished-looking girl, of perhaps twenty-two or
+three, dressed in an evening gown of white, the very simplicity of which
+only served to accentuate the splendid lines of her figure. Her face was
+pale with that healthy pallor which is in some women so beautiful--a
+sort of warm ivory tint--and with her splendid eyes and wide brow,
+crowded with a mass of bronze-colored hair, I felt that even my critical
+artistic taste could with difficulty find a flaw. It was evident that
+she and Mr. Ashton knew each other well, yet it seemed to me that Miss
+Temple, for so I supposed the young lady to be, did not respond with
+much cordiality to the effusive greeting which Mr. Ashton bestowed upon
+her. I descended the steps some distance behind them, and observed Major
+Temple standing in the center of the main hall, smiling with much
+apparent satisfaction at the couple ahead of me as they advanced toward
+him. As I joined them, Major Temple presented me to his daughter as a
+friend of Mr. Ashton's, which, it appeared to me, did not predispose
+that young lady particularly in my favor, judging by the coldness with
+which she received me, and then we all proceeded to the dining-room.
+
+The dinner was excellently cooked, and was served by the same
+almond-eyed Chinaman who had admitted us upon our arrival. I learned
+afterwards that the Major was an enthusiastic student of Oriental art,
+and that his collection of porcelains and carved ivory and jewels was
+one of the finest in England. He had, it appeared, spent a great portion
+of his life in the East and had only just returned from a stay of over a
+year in China, during which he had penetrated far into the interior,
+into that portion of the country lying toward Thibet, where Europeans do
+not usually go.
+
+During dinner, Major Temple and Mr. Ashton talked continually of China,
+and referred frequently to "it," and to "the stone," although at the
+time I did not grasp the meaning of their references. I attempted
+without much success to carry on a conversation with Miss Temple, but
+she seemed laboring under intense excitement and unable to give my
+efforts any real attention, so I gradually found myself listening to the
+talk between Major Temple and Mr. Ashton. As near as I could gather, the
+latter had set out from Hong Kong some months before, on a search for a
+certain stone or jewel which Major Temple desired for his collection,
+and after an adventurous trip during which he had been forced at the
+risk of his life to remain disguised as a coolie for some weeks, had
+finally escaped and returned to England. There was also some talk of a
+reward, though of what nature I did not understand, but it seemed to
+give Mr. Ashton great satisfaction, and to cause Major Temple much
+uneasiness every time it was mentioned, and I saw him glance frequently,
+covertly, at the blanched face of his daughter. As Mr. Ashton brought
+his thrilling story to a conclusion, he drew from his waistcoat pocket a
+small, green leather case, evidently of Chinese workmanship, and,
+opening it, turned out upon the white cloth what I at first thought to
+be a small figure of green glass, which on closer inspection proved to
+be a miniature representation of the god Buddha, standing somewhat above
+an inch and a half in height, and wonderfully cut from a single
+flawless emerald. I looked up at Ashton in amazement as he allowed the
+gas light to play upon its marvelous beauty of color and the delicate
+workmanship of its face and figure, then rolled it across the table
+toward Miss Temple. It represented the well-known figure of the god,
+sitting with arms extended upon its knees, its face so exquisitely
+chiseled that the calm, beneficent smile was as perfect, the features as
+exact, as though the figure had been of life size. As the wonderful
+sparkling gem flashed across the white cloth in the direction of Miss
+Temple, the latter started back in dismay and an expression of intense
+horror passed over her face as she looked up and caught the burning eyes
+of Mr. Ashton fixed upon hers. She returned his gaze defiantly for a
+moment, then lowered her eyes and composed her features behind the cold
+and impassive mask she had worn throughout the evening.
+
+Ashton flushed a sullen red, then picked up the jewel and set it
+carelessly upon the top of a cut-glass salt cellar, turning it this way
+and that to catch the light. As he did so, I observed the Chinese
+servant enter the doorway opposite me with cigars, cigarettes and an
+alcohol lamp upon a tray, and I was startled to see his wooden,
+impassive face light up with a glare of sudden anger and alarm as he
+caught sight of the jewel. Major Temple, observing him at the same
+moment, quickly covered the figure with his hand, and the Chinaman,
+resuming almost instantly his customary look of childlike unconcern,
+proceeded to offer us the contents of the tray as Miss Temple rose and
+left the table. I instinctively felt that Mr. Ashton and his host
+desired to be alone, so, after lighting my cigar, I excused myself and
+strolled into the great hall where I stood with my back to the welcome
+fire, listening to the howling of the storm without.
+
+I had been standing there for perhaps fifteen minutes or more, when
+suddenly I observed Miss Temple come quickly into the hall from a door
+on the opposite side of the stairway. She looked about cautiously for a
+moment, then approached me with an eager, nervous smile. I could not
+help observing, as she drew near, how the beauty of her delicate, mobile
+face was marred by her evident suffering. Her large dark eyes were
+swollen and heavy as from much weeping and loss of sleep.
+
+"You are a friend of Mr. Ashton's," she asked earnestly as she came up
+to me. "Have you known him long?"
+
+"Miss Temple, I am afraid I can hardly claim to be a friend of Mr.
+Ashton's at all. As a matter of fact I never met him before this
+afternoon."
+
+She seemed vastly surprised. "But I thought you came with him," she
+said.
+
+I explained my presence, and mentioned my work, and my purpose in making
+a walking tour along the southwest coast.
+
+"Then you are Owen Morgan, the illustrator," she cried, with a
+brilliant smile. "I know your work very well, and I am delighted to meet
+you. I was afraid you, too, were in the conspiracy." Her face darkened,
+and again the expression of suffering fell athwart it like the shadow of
+a cloud.
+
+"The conspiracy?" I asked, much mystified. "What conspiracy?"
+
+Miss Temple looked apprehensively toward the door leading to the
+dining-room, then her eyes sought mine and she gave me a searching look.
+"I am all alone here, Mr. Morgan," she said at last, "and I need a
+friend very badly. I wonder if I can depend upon you--trust you."
+
+It is needless to say that I was surprised at her words, as well as the
+impressive manner in which she spoke them. I assured her that I would be
+only too happy to serve her in any way in my power. "But what is it that
+you fear?" I inquired, soothingly, wondering if after all I was not
+dealing with a somewhat excitable child. Her next words, however,
+showed me that this was far from being the case.
+
+"My father," she said, hurriedly, lowering her voice, "is a madman on
+the subject of jewels. He has spent his whole life in collecting them.
+He would give anything--anything!--to possess some curio upon which he
+had set his desires. Last year, in China, he saw by accident the emerald
+you have just seen. It was the sacred relic of a Buddhist temple in Ping
+Yang, and is said to have come from the holy city of Lhasa in Thibet.
+His offers to purchase it were laughed at, and when he persisted in
+them, he was threatened with violence as being a foreign devil and was
+forced to leave the city to avoid trouble. He has never since ceased to
+covet this jewel, and upon his arrival in Hong Kong, and before setting
+out for England, he made the acquaintance of this man Ashton, who is a
+sort of agent and collector for several of the curio dealers in London.
+We remained in Hong Kong for several weeks before setting sail for
+England, and during this time, Mr. Ashton persecuted me with his
+attentions, and made me an offer of marriage, which, in spite of my
+refusal, he repeated several times. Imagine my amazement, then, when my
+father, on our arrival in England, told me that he had commissioned Mr.
+Ashton to obtain the emerald Buddha for him, and had agreed, in the
+event of his success, to give him my hand in marriage. My prayers, my
+appeals, were all equally useless. He informed me that Mr. Ashton was a
+gentleman, that he had given him his word, and could not break it. I was
+forced into a semi-acquiescence to the arrangement, believing that Mr.
+Ashton could never succeed in his mad attempt, and had almost forgotten
+the matter when suddenly my father received word from Mr. Ashton that he
+had arrived at Southampton yesterday and would reach here this evening.
+I went to my father and asked him to assure me that he would not insist
+upon carrying out his inhuman promise, in the event of Mr. Ashton's
+success, but he only put me off, bidding me wait until the result of his
+trip was known. I learned it at dinner to-night, and realize from Mr.
+Ashton's manner that he intends to assert his claim upon me to the
+fullest extent. Whatever happens, Mr. Morgan, I shall never marry Robert
+Ashton--never! I would do anything before I would consent to that. I do
+not know what my father will ask of me, but if he asks that, I shall
+leave this house to-morrow, and I beg that you will take me with you,
+until I can find some occupation that will enable me to support myself."
+
+Her story filled me with the deepest astonishment. I thrust out my hand
+and grasped hers, carried away by the fervor and impetuosity of her
+words, as well as by her beauty and evident suffering. "You can depend
+upon me absolutely," I exclaimed. "My mother is at Torquay, to which
+place I am bound. She will be glad to welcome you, Miss Temple."
+
+"Thank you--thank you!" she cried in her deep, earnest voice. "Do not
+leave in the morning until I have seen you. Good-night." She hastened
+toward the stairway and as she ascended it, threw back at me a smile of
+such sweet gratitude and relief that I felt repaid for all that I had
+promised.
+
+I stood for a while, smoking and thinking over this queer situation,
+when suddenly my attention was attracted by the sound of loud voices
+coming from the direction of the dining-room, as though Major Temple and
+his guest were engaged in a violent quarrel. I could not make out what
+they were saying, nor indeed did I attempt to do so, when suddenly I was
+startled by the sound of a loud crash and the jingling of glassware, and
+Mr. Ashton burst into the hall, evidently in a state of violent anger,
+followed by Major Temple, equally excited and angry. "I hold you to
+your contract," the former shouted. "By God, you'll live up to it, or
+I'll know the reason why." "I'll pay, damn it, I'll pay," cried Major
+Temple, angrily, "but not a penny to boot." Ashton turned and faced him.
+They neither of them saw me, and in their excitement failed to hear the
+cough with which I attempted to apprise them of my presence. "Don't you
+realize that that emerald is worth a hundred thousand pounds?" cried
+Ashton in a rage. "You promised me your daughter, if I got it for you,
+but you've got to pay me for the stone in addition."
+
+"Not a penny," cried Major Temple.
+
+"Then I'll take it to London and let Crothers have it."
+
+"You wouldn't dare."
+
+"Try me and see."
+
+"Come, now, Ashton." The Major's voice was wheedling, persuasive. "What
+did the stone cost you--merely the cost of the trip, wasn't it? I'll
+pay that, if you like."
+
+"And I risked my life a dozen times, to get you the jewel! You must be
+mad."
+
+"How much do you want?"
+
+"Fifty thousand pounds, and not a penny less."
+
+"I'll not pay it."
+
+"Then you don't get the stone."
+
+"It's mine--I told you of it. Without my help you could have done
+nothing. I demand it. It is my property. You were acting only as my
+agent. Give it to me." Major Temple was beside himself with excitement.
+
+"I'll see you damned first," cried Ashton, now thoroughly angry.
+
+The Major glared at him, pale with fury. "I'll never let you leave the
+house with it," he cried.
+
+By this time my repeated coughing and shuffling of my feet had attracted
+their attention, and they both hastened to conceal their anger. I felt
+however that I had heard too much as it was, so, bidding them a hasty
+good-night, I repaired as quickly as possible to my room and at once
+turned in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A CRY IN THE MORNING
+
+
+I was thoroughly tired out by my long day in the open, and I must have
+gone to sleep at once. It seemed to me that I was disturbed, during the
+night, by the sound of voices without my door, and the movements of
+people in the hallway, but I presume it was merely a dream. Just before
+daybreak, however, I found myself suffering somewhat from the cold, and
+got up to close one of the windows, to shut off the draught. I had just
+turned toward the bed again, when I heard from the room across the hall,
+the one occupied by Mr. Ashton, a sudden and terrible cry as of someone
+in mortal agony, followed by the sound of a heavy body falling upon the
+floor. I also fancied I heard the quick closing of a door or window,
+but of this I could not be sure. With a foreboding of tragedy heavily
+upon me, I hastily threw on some clothes and ran into the hall, calling
+loudly for help. Opposite me was the door of Mr. Ashton's room. I rushed
+to it, and tried the knob, but found it locked. For some time I vainly
+attempted to force open the door, meanwhile repeating my cries.
+Presently Major Temple came running through the hallway, followed by his
+daughter and several of the servants. Miss Temple had thrown on a long
+silk Chinese wrapper and even in the dim light of the hall I could not
+help observing the ghastly pallor of her face.
+
+"What's wrong here?" cried Major Temple, excitedly.
+
+"I do not know, Sir," I replied, gravely enough. "I heard a cry which
+seemed to come from Mr. Ashton's room, but I find his door locked."
+
+[Illustration: "BREAK IT IN," CRIED MAJOR TEMPLE, "BREAK IT IN."]
+
+"Break it in," cried Major Temple; "break it in at once." At his words,
+one of the servants and myself threw our combined weight against the
+door, and after several attempts, the fastening gave way, and we were
+precipitated headlong into the room. It was dark, and it seemed to me
+that the air was heavy and lifeless. We drew back into the hall as one
+of the servants came running up with a candle, and Major Temple, taking
+it, advanced into the room, closely followed by myself. At first our
+eyes did not take in the scene revealed by the flickering candlelight,
+but in a few moments the gruesome sight before us caused both Major
+Temple and myself to recoil sharply toward the doorway. Upon the floor
+lay Robert Ashton in his nightclothes, his head in a pool of blood, his
+hands outstretched before him, his face ghastly with terror. The Major
+at once ordered the servants to keep out of the room, then turned to his
+daughter and in a low voice requested her to retire. She did so at
+once, in a state of terrible excitement. He then closed the door behind
+us, and, after lighting the gas, we proceeded to examine the body.
+Ashton was dead, although death had apparently occurred but a short time
+before as his body was still warm. In the top of his head was found a
+deep circular wound, apparently made by some heavy, sharp-pointed
+instrument, but there were no other marks of violence, no other wounds
+of any sort upon the body. I examined the wound in the head carefully,
+but could not imagine any weapon which would have left such a mark. And
+then the wonder of the situation began to dawn upon me. The room
+contained, besides the door by which we had entered, three windows, two
+facing to the south and one to the west. All three were tightly closed
+and securely fastened with heavy bolts on the inside. There was
+absolutely no other means of entrance to the room whatever, except the
+door which we had broken open and a rapid examination of this showed me
+that it had been bolted upon the inside, and the catch into which the
+bolt slid upon the door-jamb had been torn from its fastenings by the
+effort we had used in forcing it open. I turned to Major Temple in
+amazement, and found that he was engaged in systematically searching Mr.
+Ashton's gladstone bag, which lay upon a chair near the bed. He examined
+each article in detail, heedless of the grim and silent figure upon the
+floor beside him, and, when he had concluded, bent over the prostrate
+form of the dead man and began a hurried search of his person and the
+surrounding floor. I observed him in astonishment. "The police must
+never find it," I heard him mutter; "the police must never find it." He
+rose to his feet with an exclamation of disappointment. "Where can it
+be?" he muttered, half to himself, apparently forgetful of my presence.
+He looked about the room and then with a sudden cry dashed at a table
+near the window. I followed his movements and saw upon the table the
+small, green leather case from which Ashton had produced the emerald at
+dinner the night before. Major Temple took up the case with a sigh of
+relief, and hastily opened it, then dashed it to the floor with an oath.
+The case was empty.
+
+"It's gone!" he fairly screamed. "My God, it's gone!"
+
+"Impossible," I said, gravely. "The windows are all tightly shut and
+bolted. We had to break in the door. No one could have entered or left
+this room since Mr. Ashton came into it."
+
+"Nonsense!" Major Temple snorted, angrily. "Do you suppose Ashton
+smashed in his own skull by way of amusement?"
+
+He turned to the bed and began to search it closely, removing the
+pillows, feeling beneath the mattresses, even taking the candle and
+examining the floor foot by foot. Once more he went over the contents of
+the portmanteau, then again examined the clothing of the dead man, but
+all to no purpose. The emerald Buddha was as clearly and evidently gone
+as though it had vanished into the surrounding ether.
+
+During this search, I had been vainly trying to put together some
+intelligent solution of this remarkable affair. There was clearly no
+possibility that Ashton had inflicted this wound upon himself in
+falling, yet the supposition that someone had entered the room from
+without seemed nullified by the bolted door and windows. I proceeded to
+closer examination of the matter.
+
+The body lay with its head toward the window in the west wall of the
+room, and some six or eight feet from the window, and an even greater
+distance from the walls on either side. There was no piece of furniture,
+no heavy object, anywhere near at hand. I looked again at the queer,
+round conical hole in the top of the dead man's head. It had evidently
+been delivered from above. I glanced up, and saw only the dim, unbroken
+expanse of the ceiling above me, papered in white. I turned, absolutely
+nonplused, to Major Temple, who stood staring with protruding eyes at
+something upon the floor near one of the windows. He picked it up, and
+handed it to me. "What do you make of that?" he asked, in a startled
+voice, handing me what appeared to be a small piece of tough Chinese
+paper. Upon it was inscribed, in black, a single Chinese letter. I
+glanced at it, then handed it back, with the remark that I could make
+nothing of it.
+
+"It is the symbol of the god," he said, "the Buddha. The same sign was
+engraved upon the base of the emerald figure, and I saw it in the temple
+at Ping Yang, upon the temple decorations. What is it doing here?" Then
+his face lighted up with a sudden idea. He rushed to the door, and
+opened it. "Gibson," he called peremptorily, to his man without, "find
+Li Min and bring him here at once. Don't let him out of your sight for a
+moment."
+
+The man was gone ten minutes or more, during which time Major Temple
+walked excitedly up and down the room, muttering continually something
+about the police.
+
+"They must be notified," I said, at last. He turned to me with a queer,
+half-frightened look. "They can do no good, no good, whatever," he
+cried. "This is the work of one of the Chinese secret societies. They
+are the cleverest criminals in the world. I have lived among them, and I
+know."
+
+"Even the cleverest criminals in the world couldn't bolt a door or
+window from the outside," I said.
+
+"Do not be too sure of that. I have known them to do things equally
+strange. By inserting a thin steel wedge between the edge of the door
+and the jamb they might with infinite patience work the bolt to one
+side or the other. This fellow, Li Min, I brought from China with me. He
+is one of the most faithful servants I have ever known. He belongs to
+the higher orders of society--I mean that he is not of the peasant or
+coolie class. He represented to me that he was suspected of belonging to
+the Reform Association, the enemies of the prevailing order of things,
+and was obliged to leave the country to save his head. I do not know, I
+do not know--possibly he may have been sent to watch. They knew in Ping
+Yang that I was after the emerald Buddha. Who knows? They are an amazing
+people--an amazing people." He turned to me suddenly. "Did you hear any
+footsteps or other noises in the hallway during the night?"
+
+I told him that I thought I had, but that I could not be sure, that my
+sleep had been troubled, but that I had only awakened a few minutes
+before I heard Ashton's cry. At this moment Gibson returned, with a
+scared look on his face. Li Min, he reported, had disappeared. No one
+had seen him since the night before. His room had apparently been
+occupied, but the Chinaman was nowhere to be found.
+
+"The police must be notified at once," I urged.
+
+"I will attend to it," said the Major. "First we must have some coffee."
+
+He closed the door of the room carefully, after we left it, and, taking
+the key from the lock--it had evidently not been used by Mr. Ashton the
+night before--locked the door from the outside and ordered Gibson to
+remain in the hallway without and allow no one to approach.
+
+We finished dressing and then had a hurried cup of coffee and some
+muffins in the breakfast-room. It was by now nearly eight o'clock, and I
+suggested to Major Temple that if he wished, I would drive into Exeter
+with one of his men, notify the police and at the same time get my
+luggage.
+
+I assured him that I had no desire to inflict myself upon him further as
+a guest, but that the murder of Ashton and the necessity of my appearing
+as a witness at the forthcoming inquest made it imperative that I should
+remain upon the scene until the police were satisfied to have me depart.
+At my mention of the police the Major showed great uneasiness, as
+before.
+
+"You need not say anything about the--the emerald," he said, slowly; "it
+would only create unnecessary talk and trouble."
+
+"I'm afraid I must," I replied. "It is evidently the sole motive for the
+murder--it has disappeared, and unless the police are apprised of its
+part in the case, I fail to see how they can intelligently proceed in
+their attempts to unravel the mystery."
+
+He shook his head slowly. "What a pity!" he remarked. "What a pity! If
+the stone is ever found now, the authorities will hold it as the
+property of the dead man or his relations, if indeed he has any. And it
+would have been the crowning glory of my collection." It was evident
+that Major Temple was far more concerned over the loss of the emerald
+than over the death of Robert Ashton. "But they will never find
+it--never!" he concluded with a cunning smile, and an assurance that
+startled me. I wondered for a moment whether Major Temple knew more
+about the mysterious death of Robert Ashton than appeared upon the
+surface, but, recollecting his excited search of the dead man's
+belongings, dismissed the idea as absurd. It recurred, however, from
+time to time during my short drive to Exeter, and the thought came to me
+that if Major Temple could in any way have caused or been cognizant of
+the death of Robert Ashton from without the room--without entering
+it--his first act after doing so would naturally have been to search for
+the emerald in the hope of securing it before the police had been
+summoned to take charge of the case. I regretted that I had not
+examined the floor of the attic above, to determine whether any
+carefully fitted trap door, or hidden chimney or other opening to the
+interior of the room below existed. I also felt that it was imperative
+that a careful examination of the walls, as well as of the ground
+outside beneath the three windows, should be made without delay. It was
+even possible, I conjectured, that a clever thief could have in some way
+cut out one of the window panes, making an opening through which the
+window might have been opened and subsequently rebolted, though just how
+the glass could then have been replaced was a problem I was not prepared
+to solve. There was no question, however, that Robert Ashton was dead,
+and that whoever had inflicted that deadly wound upon his head, and made
+away with the emerald Buddha, must have entered the room in some way. I
+was not yet prepared to base any hypotheses upon the supernatural. As I
+concluded these reflections, we entered the town by way of Sidwell
+street and I stopped at the Half Moon and secured my luggage. We then
+drove to the police headquarters and I explained the case hurriedly to
+the Chief Constable, omitting all details except those pertaining
+directly to Mr. Ashton's death. The Chief Constable sent one of his men
+into an inner room, who returned in a moment with a small, keen-looking,
+ferret-faced man of some forty-eight or fifty years of age, with gray
+hair, sharp gray eyes and a smooth-shaven face. He introduced him to me
+as Sergeant McQuade, of Scotland Yard, who it seemed, happened to be in
+the city upon some counterfeiting case or other, and suggested that he
+accompany me back to the house. We had driven in Major Temple's high
+Irish cart, and, putting the man behind, I took the reins and with
+Sergeant McQuade beside me, started back in the direction of The Oaks.
+We had scarcely left the limits of the town behind us, when I noticed a
+figure in blue plodding slowly along the muddy road ahead of us, in the
+same direction as ourselves, and Jones, the groom upon the drag behind
+me said, in a low voice as we drew alongside, that it was Li Min, Major
+Temple's Chinese servant, whose sudden disappearance earlier in the
+morning had caused so much excitement. The Chinaman looked at us with a
+blandly innocent face and, nodding pleasantly, bade us good morning. I
+stopped the cart and ordered Jones to get down and accompany him back to
+the house, and on no account to let him out of his sight. As we drove on
+I explained all the circumstances of the case in detail to Sergeant
+McQuade, and informed him of my reason for placing Jones as guard over
+the Chinaman. No sooner had I done so than the Sergeant, in some
+excitement, requested me to return with him to Exeter at once. I did not
+inquire into his reasons for this step, but turned my horse's head once
+more toward the town, the Sergeant meanwhile plying me with questions,
+many of which I regretted my inability to answer to his satisfaction.
+They related principally to the exact time at which the murder had
+occurred, and how soon the disappearance of Li Min had been discovered.
+I decided at once that the detective had concluded that Li Min had
+committed the murder and had then hurried off to Exeter to place the
+emerald Buddha in the hands of some of his countrymen in the town, and
+was now proceeding leisurely back with some plausible story and a
+carefully arranged alibi to explain his absence from the house. I
+mentioned my conclusions to the Sergeant and saw from his reply that my
+assumption was correct. "I hope we are not too late," he exclaimed as he
+suggested my urging the horse to greater speed. "It is absolutely
+necessary that we prevent any Chinaman from leaving the town until this
+matter is cleared up. I'm afraid however, that they have a good start
+of us. There is a train to London at eight, and, if our man got away on
+that, it will be no easy matter to reach him."
+
+"Of course you can telegraph ahead," I ventured.
+
+"Of course." The detective smiled. "But the train is not an express, and
+there are a dozen stations within fifty miles of here where anyone could
+leave the train before I can get word along the line." He looked at his
+watch. "It is now ten minutes of nine. I am sorry that you did not
+notify the police at once." I made no reply, not wishing to prejudice
+the detective against Major Temple by explaining my desire to do this
+very thing and the latter's disinclination to have it done. We had
+reached police headquarters by this time, and the Sergeant disappeared
+within for perhaps five minutes, then quickly rejoined me and directed
+me to drive to the Queen Street Station. I waited here for him quite a
+long time and at last he came back with a face expressive of much
+dissatisfaction. "Two of them went up on the eight train," he growled.
+"One of them the clerk in the booking office remembers as keeping a
+laundry in Frog Street. The other he had never seen. They took tickets
+for London, third class." He swung himself into the seat beside me and
+sat in silence all the way to the house, evidently thinking deeply.
+
+When we arrived at The Oaks, very soon after, we found the Major waiting
+impatiently for us in the hall. Jones and Li Min had arrived, and the
+Major had subjected the latter, he informed us, to a severe
+cross-examination, with the result that the Chinaman had denied all
+knowledge of Mr. Ashton's death and explained his absence from the house
+by saying that he had gone into town the night before to see his brother
+who had recently arrived from China, and, knowing the habit of the
+household to breakfast very late, had supposed his return at nine
+o'clock would pass unnoticed. I made Major Temple acquainted with
+Sergeant McQuade, and we proceeded at once to the room where lay all
+that now remained of the unfortunate Robert Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A QUEER DISCOVERY
+
+
+We found Gibson guarding the door where we had left him. Miss Temple was
+nowhere to be seen. Major Temple took the key from his pocket, and,
+throwing open the room, allowed McQuade and myself to enter, he
+following us and closing the door behind him.
+
+"Where did you get the key?" asked the detective as Major Temple joined
+us.
+
+"It was in the door--on the inside."
+
+"Had the door been locked?"
+
+"No. It was bolted."
+
+"And you broke it open when you entered?"
+
+"Yes. Mr. Morgan and my man, Gibson, forced it together."
+
+McQuade stepped to the door and examined the bolt carefully. The socket
+into which the bolt shot was an old-fashioned brass affair and had been
+fastened with two heavy screws to the door jamb. These screws had been
+torn from the wood by the united weight of Gibson and myself when we
+broke open the door. The socket, somewhat bent, with the screws still in
+place, was lying upon the floor some distance away. McQuade picked it up
+and examined it carefully, then threw it aside. He next proceeded to
+make a careful and minute examination of the bolt, but I judged from his
+expression that he discovered nothing of importance, for he turned
+impatiently from the door and, crossing the room, bent over the dead man
+and looked long and searchingly at the curious wound in his head. He
+then examined the fastenings of the windows minutely, and, raising one
+of the large windows in the south wall, looked out. Evidently nothing
+attracted his attention outside. He turned from the window, after
+closing it again, and started toward us, then stooped suddenly and
+picked up a small white object which lay near one of the legs of a table
+standing near the window. It was in plain view, and I wondered that I
+had not seen it during my previous examination of the room. McQuade
+handed the object, a small bit of lace, I thought, to Major Temple.
+"What do you make of that?" he asked.
+
+Major Temple took the thing and spread it out, and I at once saw that it
+was a woman's handkerchief. My surprise at this was overbalanced by the
+look of horror which spread over the Major's face. He became deathly
+pale, and his hand shook violently as he looked at the bit of lace
+before him. I stepped to his side and saw, as did he, the initials,
+M. T., in one corner and noticed a strong and most peculiar odor of
+perfume, some curious Oriental scent that rose from the handkerchief.
+McQuade gazed at us, curiously intent. "Do you recognize it?" he
+inquired.
+
+"Yes," said Major Temple, recovering himself with an effort. "It is my
+daughter's."
+
+"How do you explain its presence here?" asked the detective.
+
+"I do not attempt to do so, any more than I can undertake to explain any
+of the other strange events connected with this horrible affair," said
+the Major, pathetically. He seemed to me to have aged perceptibly since
+the evening before; he looked broken, old.
+
+McQuade took the handkerchief and placed it carefully in his pocket, and
+continued his examination of the room. As he did so, I stood aside, a
+prey to strange thoughts. I felt ready to swear that the handkerchief
+had not been upon the floor during my previous examination of the room,
+yet how could its presence there now be explained, with the door locked,
+the key in Major Temple's pocket, and Gibson on guard in the hall. I
+thought of Muriel Temple, young, beautiful, innocent in every outward
+appearance, yet remembered with a qualm of misgiving her flashing eyes
+and determined manner as she spoke of Robert Ashton, her aversion to
+him, and her determination never to marry him under any circumstances. I
+felt that there was more beneath this strange tragedy than had yet
+appeared upon the surface, yet, believing thoroughly in the innocence of
+Miss Temple of any part in the affair, I mentally resolved to do all in
+my power to sift it to the bottom. I had no illusions as to any special
+skill upon my part as an amateur detective, and I did not propose to
+come forth equipped with magnifying glass and tape measure and solve the
+problem in the usual half-hour which sufficed for the superhuman sleuth
+of fiction, but I felt that I did possess common sense and a reasonably
+acute brain, and I believed that, with sufficient time and effort, I
+could find out how and why Robert Ashton had come to his sudden and
+tragic end. My thoughts were interrupted by Sergeant McQuade, who,
+having brought his examination to a sudden close, announced to Major
+Temple that the police and the divisional surgeon would arrive shortly
+and that meanwhile he would have a look at the grounds beneath the
+windows of the room. I decided to accompany him, but, before doing so, I
+suggested to the Major that it might be well to show Sergeant McQuade
+the scrap of paper, containing the single Chinese character, which we
+had found upon the floor. Major Temple took it from his pocket and
+handed it to the detective without a word. I could see that the latter
+was puzzled. "What does it mean?" he inquired. "Do you know?" He turned
+to Major Temple.
+
+"Only that it is a religious symbol used by the Buddhist priests in
+China," said the latter. "It is found in their temples, and is supposed
+to ward off evil influences."
+
+"Is there any reason to suppose," inquired McQuade, "that its presence
+here indicates that the room has been entered by Li Min or any of his
+countrymen, in an attempt to recover the emerald which I understand Mr.
+Ashton had with him? Might it not equally well have belonged to the dead
+man himself--a copy, perhaps, made by him of the character--a curiosity
+in other words, which he might have desired to preserve?"
+
+I followed his line of reasoning. I had told him nothing of the
+relations between Miss Temple and Ashton, but it was evident that the
+finding of her handkerchief in the murdered man's room had started him
+off on another tack.
+
+"None whatever," the Major responded. "Yet since the jewel has
+disappeared, its recovery was in my opinion beyond question the reason
+for the murder, and but four persons knew of the presence of the jewel
+in this house."
+
+"And they were--?" The detective paused.
+
+"My daughter, Mr. Morgan, Li Min, and myself."
+
+"How did Li Min come to know of it?"
+
+"He saw us examining it at dinner last night, while waiting on the
+table."
+
+The detective pondered. "Was the stone of such value that its recovery
+would have been sought at so great a cost?" He glanced gravely at the
+silent figure upon the floor.
+
+"Intrinsically it was worth perhaps a hundred thousand pounds--as a
+curio, or as an object of religious veneration among the Buddhist
+priests and their followers, it was priceless." Major Temple spoke with
+the fervor and enthusiasm of the collector.
+
+Sergeant McQuade's eyes widened at this statement. "A hundred thousand
+pounds!" he exclaimed. "And you intended to buy it from Mr. Ashton?"
+
+The Major hesitated. "Yes," he stammered, "yes, I did."
+
+"At what price?" came the question, cold and incisive.
+
+"I--I--Mr. Ashton secured the jewel for me as my agent."
+
+"But surely you were to give him some commission, some reward for his
+trouble. What was that reward, Major Temple?"
+
+"I had promised him the hand of my daughter in marriage."
+
+"And was he satisfied with that settlement?" continued the detective,
+ruthlessly.
+
+"We had a slight disagreement. He--he wanted a cash payment in
+addition."
+
+"Which you refused?"
+
+"The matter had not been settled."
+
+"And how did your daughter regard the bargain?" asked McQuade, coldly.
+
+Major Temple drew himself up stiffly. "I fail to see the purpose of
+these questions," he said with some heat. "My daughter was ready to meet
+my wishes, Sergeant McQuade. Mr. Ashton was a gentleman and was much
+attached to her. They met in China."
+
+The detective said no more, but ordered the door locked as we passed
+out, and put the key in his pocket. I asked his permission to accompany
+him in his explorations outside, to which he readily consented, and,
+with a parting injunction to Major Temple to see that Li Min was not
+allowed to leave the house, we passed out into the gardens by a rear
+entrance.
+
+The storm of the night before had completely passed away and the morning
+was crisp and clear, with a suggestion of frost in the air. The wind,
+which had not yet died down, had done much to dry up the rain, but the
+gravel walks were still somewhat soft and muddy. The rain however had
+stopped some time during the night, and as the tragedy had occurred
+later, and not long before daybreak, there was every reason to believe
+that traces of anyone approaching the house beneath the windows of Mr.
+Ashton's room would be clearly visible. It was equally certain that any
+traces of steps made before or during the rain must have been thereby
+completely obliterated. The soft graveled path encircled the rear of the
+house and turned to the front at the end of each wing. We walked along
+it and presently found ourselves beneath the two windows upon the south
+wall, which opened from the green room. There were no evidences of
+anyone having walked upon the pathway since the rain, nor was it
+apparent that anyone could have gained access to the windows high above
+without the aid of a ladder, which, had one been used, must inevitably
+have left its telltale marks behind. Sergeant McQuade looked down, then
+up, grunted to himself and passed on. There was nothing of interest
+here. At the end of the pathway we came to the termination of the wing
+and I saw the detective look about keenly. Here certainly the
+conditions were more favorable. A covered porch encircled the end of
+the building and extended along its front. There were three windows in
+the west face of the wing, one in the room which I had occupied, one in
+the end of the hallway and one in Mr. Ashton's room. The roof of the
+porch was directly beneath them. How easy, I thought at once, for anyone
+inside the house to have reached the porch roof from the window at the
+end of the hall, and to have gained, in half a dozen steps, the window
+of Mr. Ashton's room. I thought of the handkerchief, of the footsteps I
+fancied I had heard during the night, and shuddered. Here again the
+Sergeant first examined the graveled walk with elaborate care, but, as
+before, with no immediate results. Presently, however, he stepped toward
+the front of the house. There, in the soft gravel, were the prints of a
+woman's feet, leading from the corner of the path to the front entrance.
+I bent down and examined them with curious eyes, then recoiled with a
+cry of dismay. The footprints led in one direction only, and that was
+toward the front door. In a flash I realized what theory McQuade would
+at once construct in his mind. The murderer, reaching the porch roof
+from the hallway, and obtaining access to the murdered man's room
+through the window, upon escaping from the room to the roof, would be
+unable to again enter the house from the roof because of my presence in
+the hall. What more natural than to descend from the porch to the ground
+by means of the heavy vines growing about the stone pillar supporting
+the porch roof at the corner, and, after walking quickly along the path
+a few steps, reach and re-enter the house through the front door, and
+appear almost at once among the others who had gathered in the upper
+hall as soon as the tragedy was known? I remembered at once that Miss
+Temple had appeared in a loose dressing gown. Would she, then, have had
+time to throw off her dress so quickly, wet and muddy as it must have
+been, and to change her shoes for slippers? Where were these shoes, I
+wondered, if this train of reasoning was correct, and would their
+condition prove that she had been out of the house during the night? As
+these thoughts crowded tumultuously through my brain, I saw McQuade
+examining the heavy mass of ivy which grew at the corner of the porch
+with a puzzled expression. Following his glance, I realized that the
+theory had at least a temporary setback. The vine was not broken or torn
+in any way as would inevitably have been the case had anyone used it as
+a means of descent from the roof. But I myself observed, though I felt
+sure that McQuade did not, a lightning rod which extended from the roof
+of the wing, down to the porch roof, across it, and thence to the ground
+about midway along the west side of the porch, and, had anyone descended
+in this way, he would have walked along the border between the side of
+the porch and the path until he arrived at the corner. Here, however, he
+would have been obliged to step off the border and on to the gravel,
+owing to the heavy vine, mentioned above, growing at this point. His
+footsteps upon the grass would of course have left no mark. I did not
+call McQuade's attention to this at the time, but waited for his next
+move. It did not surprise me. He strode along the path at the front of
+the house to the steps leading to the large porch and porte-cochere at
+the front of the main building, tracing the muddy footprints up to the
+porch and upon its floor until they were no longer perceptible. He then
+entered the house and at once made for the upper hall in the west wing,
+I following him closely. His first move, as I expected, was to examine
+and open the window at the end of the hall, which, I was not surprised
+to find, was unfastened. His second was to step out upon the roof. No
+sooner had I joined him here than he crossed to the window of the green
+room and peered in. The interior of the room was clearly visible, but
+the window was tightly bolted within, and resisted all his efforts to
+open it. The Sergeant looked distinctly disappointed. He stepped to the
+corner of the roof, made a further examination of the vines, came back
+to the window and again tried to open it, then, with a low whistle, he
+pointed to a mark upon the white window sill which had at first escaped
+both his and my attention. It was the faint print of a hand--a bloody
+hand--small and delicate in structure, yet, mysterious as seemed to be
+all the clues in this weird case, it pointed, not outward from the room,
+as though made by someone leaving it, but inward, as by a person
+standing on the roof and resting his or her hand upon the window sill
+while attempting to open the window.
+
+"What do you make of that, Sir?" inquired the detective.
+
+"It looks as though it had been made by someone entering instead of
+leaving the room," I replied. "It could not have been made by anyone
+leaving the room. No one would get out of a window that way."
+
+"Except a woman," said McQuade dryly. "A man would swing his legs over
+the sill and drop to the roof. It's barely three feet. But a woman would
+sit upon the sill, turn on her stomach, rest her hands on the sill with
+her fingers pointing toward the room, and slide gently down until her
+feet touched the roof beneath." He smiled with a quiet look of triumph.
+
+"The whole thing is impossible," I retorted, with some heat. "There's no
+sense in talking about how anyone may or may not have got out of the
+room, when the bolted window proves that no one got either in or out at
+all."
+
+"Perhaps you think that poor devil in there killed himself," said the
+detective, grimly. "Somebody must have got in. There is only one
+explanation possible. The window was bolted after the murder."
+
+"By the murdered man, I suppose," I retorted ironically, nettled by his
+previous remark.
+
+"Not necessarily," he replied coldly, "but possibly by someone who
+desired to shield the murderer." He looked at me squarely, but I was
+able to meet his gaze without any misgivings. "I was the first person
+who entered the room," I said, earnestly, "and I am prepared to make
+oath that the window was bolted when I entered."
+
+"Was the room dark?" he inquired.
+
+"It was," I answered, not perceiving the drift of his remarks. "One of
+the servants brought a candle."
+
+"Did you examine the windows at once?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I knelt down and examined the body."
+
+"What was Major Temple doing?"
+
+"I--I did not notice. I think he began to examine the things in Mr.
+Ashton's portmanteau."
+
+"Then, Mr. Morgan, if, occupied as you were in the most natural duty of
+determining whether or not you could render any aid to Mr. Ashton, you
+did not notice Major Temple's movements, I fail to see how you are in a
+position to swear to anything regarding the condition of the window at
+the time you entered the room."
+
+"Your suggestion is impossible, Sergeant McQuade. Had Major Temple
+bolted the window, I should certainly have noticed it. I realize fully
+the train of reasoning you are following and I am convinced that you are
+wrong."
+
+The Sergeant smiled slightly. "I do not follow any one train of
+reasoning," he retorted, "nor do I intend to neglect any one. I want the
+truth, and I intend to have it." He left the roof hurriedly, and,
+entering the house we descended to the library, where Major Temple sat
+awaiting the conclusion of our investigations.
+
+"Well, Mr. Morgan," he inquired excitedly as we came in, "what have you
+discovered?"
+
+I nodded toward the Sergeant. "Mr. McQuade can perhaps tell you," I
+replied.
+
+"I can tell you more, Major Temple," said the detective, gravely, "if
+you will first let me have a few words with Miss Temple."
+
+"With my daughter?" exclaimed the Major, evidently much surprised.
+
+"Yes," answered the detective, with gravity.
+
+"I'll go and get her," said the Major, rising excitedly.
+
+"If you do not mind, Major Temple, I should much prefer to have you send
+one of the servants for her. I have a particular reason for desiring you
+to remain here."
+
+I thought at first that Major Temple was going to resent this, but,
+although he flushed hotly, he evidently thought better of it, for he
+strode to a call bell and pressed it, then, facing the detective,
+exclaimed:
+
+"I think you would do better to question Li Min."
+
+"I do not intend to omit doing that, as well," replied McQuade,
+imperturbably.
+
+We remained in uneasy silence until the maid, who had answered the bell,
+returned with Miss Temple, who, dismissing her at the door, faced us
+with a look upon her face of unfeigned surprise. She appeared pale and
+greatly agitated. I felt that she had not slept, and the dark circles
+under her eyes confirmed my belief. She looked about, saw our grave
+faces, then turned to her father. "You sent for me, Father?" she
+inquired, nervously.
+
+"Sergeant McQuade here"--he indicated the detective whom Miss Temple
+recognized by a slight inclination of her head--"wishes to ask you a few
+questions."
+
+"Me?" Her voice had in it a note of alarm which was not lost upon the
+man from Scotland Yard, who regarded her with closest scrutiny.
+
+"I'll not be long, Miss. I think you may be able to clear up a few
+points that at present I cannot quite understand."
+
+"I'm afraid I cannot help you much," she said, gravely.
+
+"Possibly more than you think, Miss. In the first place I understand
+that your father had promised your hand in marriage to Mr. Ashton."
+
+Miss Temple favored me with a quick and bitter glance of reproach. I
+knew that she felt that this information had come from me.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "that is true."
+
+"Did you desire to marry him?"
+
+The girl looked at her father in evident uncertainty.
+
+"I--I--Why should I answer such a question?" She turned to the
+detective with scornful eyes. "It is purely my own affair, and of no
+consequence--now."
+
+"That is true, Miss," replied the Sergeant, with deeper gravity. "Still,
+I do not see that the truth can do anyone any harm."
+
+Miss Temple flushed and hesitated a moment, then turned upon her
+questioner with a look of anger. "I did not wish to marry Mr. Ashton,"
+she cried. "I would rather have died, than have married him."
+
+McQuade had made her lose her temper, for which I inwardly hated him.
+His next question left her cold with fear.
+
+"When did you last see Mr. Ashton alive?" he demanded.
+
+The girl hesitated, turned suddenly pale, then threw back her head with
+a look of proud determination. "I refuse to answer that question," she
+said defiantly.
+
+Her father had been regarding her with amazed surprise. "Muriel," he
+said, in a trembling voice--"what do you mean? You left Mr. Ashton and
+myself in the dining-room at a little after nine." She made no reply.
+
+Sergeant McQuade slowly took from his pocket the handkerchief he had
+found in Mr. Ashton's room, and, handing it to her, said simply: "Is
+this yours, Miss?"
+
+Miss Temple took it, mechanically.
+
+"Yes," she said.
+
+"It was found beside the murdered man's body," said the detective as he
+took the handkerchief from her and replaced it in his pocket.
+
+For a moment, I thought Miss Temple was going to faint, and I
+instinctively moved toward her. She recovered herself at once. "What are
+you aiming at?" she exclaimed. "Is it possible that you suppose _I_ had
+anything to do with Mr. Ashton's death?"
+
+"I have not said so, Miss. This handkerchief was found in Mr. Ashton's
+room. It is possible that he had it himself, that he kept it, as a
+souvenir of some former meeting, although in that case it would hardly
+have retained the strong scent of perfume which I notice upon it. But
+you might have dropped it at table--he may have picked it up that very
+night. It is for these reasons, Miss, that I asked you when you last saw
+Mr. Ashton alive, and you refuse to answer me. I desire only the truth,
+Miss Temple. I have no desire to accuse anyone unjustly. Tell us, if you
+can, how the handkerchief came in Mr. Ashton's room."
+
+At these words, delivered in an earnest and convincing manner, I saw
+Miss Temple's face change. She felt that the detective was right, as
+indeed, did I, and I waited anxiously for her next words.
+
+"I last saw Mr. Ashton," she answered, with a faint blush, "last night
+about midnight."
+
+Her answer was as much of a surprise to me as it evidently was to both
+Major Temple and the detective.
+
+"Muriel," exclaimed the former, in horrified tones.
+
+"I went to his room immediately after he retired," continued Miss
+Temple, with evident effort. "I wished to tell him something--something
+important--before the morning, when it might have been too late. I was
+afraid to stand in the hallway and talk to him through the open door for
+fear I should be seen. I went inside. I must have dropped the
+handkerchief at that time."
+
+"Will you tell us what you wished to say to Mr. Ashton that you regarded
+as so important as to take you to his room at midnight?"
+
+Again Miss Temple hesitated, then evidently decided to tell all. "I went
+to tell him," she said, gravely, "that, no matter what my father might
+promise him, I would refuse to marry him under any circumstances. I told
+him that, if he turned over the emerald to my father under any such
+promise, he would do so at his own risk. I begged him to release me from
+the engagement which my father had made, and to give me back a letter
+in which, at my father's demand, I had in a moment of weakness consented
+to it."
+
+"And he refused?" asked the detective.
+
+"He refused." Miss Temple bowed her head, and I saw from the tears in
+her eyes that her endurance and spirit under this cross-questioning were
+fast deserting her.
+
+"Then what did you do?"
+
+"I went back to my room."
+
+"Did you retire?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did you remove your clothing?"
+
+"I did not. I threw myself upon the bed until--" She hesitated, and I
+suddenly saw the snare into which she had been led. When she appeared
+in the hallway at the time of the murder she wore a long embroidered
+Chinese dressing gown. Yet she had just stated that she had not
+undressed. McQuade, who seemed to have the mind of a hawk, seized upon
+it at once.
+
+"Until what?" he asked bluntly.
+
+"Until--this morning," she concluded, and I instinctively felt that she
+was not telling the truth.
+
+"Until you heard the commotion in the hall?" inquired McQuade,
+insinuatingly. I felt that I could have strangled him where he stood,
+but I knew in my heart that he was only doing his duty.
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+"Then, Miss Temple, how do you explain the fact that you appeared
+immediately in the hall--as soon as the house was aroused--in your
+slippers and a dressing gown?"
+
+She saw that she had been trapped, and still her presence of mind did
+not entirely desert her. "I had begun to change," she cried, nervously.
+
+"Were you out of the house this morning, Miss Temple, at or about the
+time of the murder? Were you at the corner of the porch under Mr.
+Ashton's room?" The detective's manner was brutal in its cruel
+insistence.
+
+Miss Temple gasped faintly, then looked at her father. Her eyes were
+filled with tears. "I--I refuse to answer any more questions," she
+cried, and, sobbing violently, turned and left the room.
+
+McQuade strode quickly toward Major Temple, who had observed the scene
+in amazed and horrified silence. "Major Temple," he said, sternly, "much
+as I regret it, I am obliged to ask you to allow me to go at once to
+Miss Temple's room."
+
+"To her room," gasped the Major.
+
+"Yes. I will be but a moment. It is imperative that I make some
+investigations there immediately."
+
+"Sir," thundered the Major, "do you mean for a moment to imply that my
+daughter had any hand in this business? By God, Sir--I warn you--" he
+towered over the detective, his face flushed, his clenched fist raised
+in anger.
+
+McQuade held up his hand. "Major Temple, the truth can harm no one who
+is innocent. Miss Temple has, I fear, not been entirely frank with me.
+It is my duty to search her room at once--and I trust that you will not
+attempt to interpose any obstacles to my doing so." He started toward
+the door, and Major Temple and I followed reluctantly enough. With a
+growl of suppressed rage the girl's father led the way to her room to
+which she had not herself returned. As though by instinct, the detective
+went to a large closet between the dressing-room and bedroom, threw it
+open, and after a search of but a few moments drew forth a pair of boots
+damp and covered with mud, and a brown tweed walking skirt, the lower
+edge of which was still damp and mud stained. He looked at the Major
+significantly. "Major Temple," he said, "your daughter left the house,
+in these shoes and this skirt, some time close to daybreak. The murder
+occurred about that time. If you will induce her to tell fully and
+frankly why she did so, and why she seems so anxious to conceal the
+fact, I am sure that it will spare her and all of us a great deal of
+annoyance and trouble, and assist us materially in arriving at the
+truth." As he concluded, sounds below announced the arrival of the
+police and the divisional surgeon from the town, and, with a curt nod,
+he left us and descended to the hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+I ADVISE MISS TEMPLE
+
+
+I left the room and went down to the main hall. The divisional surgeon,
+with McQuade and his men had already proceeded to the scene of the
+tragedy, and as I did not suppose that I would be wanted there, I left
+the house and started out across the beautiful lawns, now partially
+covered with the fallen leaves of oak and elm, my mind filled with
+conflicting thoughts and emotions. As I passed out, I met Miss Temple
+coming along the porch, wearing a long cloak, and evidently prepared for
+a walk, so I suggested, rather awkwardly, remembering her look of
+annoyance during the examination by Sergeant McQuade, that I should be
+happy to accompany her. Somewhat to my surprise she accepted my offer
+at once, and we started briskly off along the main driveway leading to
+the highroad. Miss Temple, of lithe and slender build, was, I soon
+found, an enthusiastic walker, and set the pace with a free and swinging
+stride that rejoiced my heart. I dislike walking with most women, whose
+short and halting steps make accompanying them but an irritation. I did
+not say anything as we walked along, except to comment upon the change
+of weather and the beauty of the day, for I felt sure that she would
+prefer to be left to her own thoughts after the trying ordeal through
+which she had just passed. She was silent all the way down to the
+entrance to the grounds, and seemed to feel oppressed by the house and
+its proximity, but as soon as we set out along the main road toward
+Pinhoe over which Ashton and I had traveled the evening before, she
+seemed to brighten up, and, turning to me, said, with surprising
+suddenness: "Do you believe, Mr. Morgan, that I had any part in this
+terrible affair? The questions the detective asked me indicated that he
+had."
+
+"Certainly not," I said. "And, if you will permit me to say so, Miss
+Temple, I think you would have been wiser had you been entirely frank
+with him."
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked, indignantly.
+
+I felt disappointed, somehow, at her manner.
+
+"Miss Temple," I said, gently, "you at first refused to admit that you
+had sought an interview with Mr. Ashton at midnight. I fully understood
+your reasons for your refusal. It was an unconventional thing to do, and
+you feared the misjudgment of persons at large, although to me it
+appeared, in the light of my knowledge of the case, a most natural
+action. Mr. Ashton still retained the jewel, and, if he gave it up after
+your warning, he could not have complained of the consequences. But I
+am sorry, Miss Temple, that you were not as frank about your leaving
+the house, as he believes you did, early this morning."
+
+"Why does he believe that?" she asked, spiritedly.
+
+"Because, in the first place, he found footprints--the footprints of a
+woman's shoe, in the gravel walk, from the west corner of the porch to
+the main entrance. They led only one way. After questioning you, he
+searched your room, and found the skirt and shoes which you wore, both
+wet and covered with mud. The rain did not stop until three or four this
+morning. The footprints were made after the rain, or they would have
+been washed away and obliterated by it. For these reasons, he fully
+believes you were out of the house close to daybreak, which was the time
+of the murder."
+
+"The brute," said Miss Temple, indignantly, "to enter my rooms!"
+
+"It is after all only his duty, Miss Temple," I replied.
+
+"Well, perhaps you are right. But suppose I did go outside at that
+time--suppose I had decided to run away from Mr. Ashton, and my father,
+and their wretched conspiracy against my happiness, what guilt is there
+in that? I came back, did I not?"
+
+"Why," I inquired, "did you come back?"
+
+She glanced quickly at me, with a look of fear.
+
+"I--I--that I refuse to explain to anyone. After all, Mr. Morgan, I
+certainly am not obliged to tell the police my very thoughts."
+
+Her persistency in evading any explanation of her actions of the morning
+surprised and annoyed me. "You will remember, Miss Temple, that I said
+the footprints led in one direction only, and that was toward the
+house. Mr. McQuade does not believe that you left the house in the same
+way that you returned to it."
+
+"What on earth does he believe then?" she inquired with a slight laugh,
+which was the first sign of brightness I had seen in her since she left
+me with a smile the night before. I could not help admiring her
+beautiful mouth and her white, even teeth as she turned inquiringly to
+me. Yet my answer was such as to drive that smile from her face for a
+long time to come.
+
+"He believes this, Miss Temple, or at least he thinks of it as a
+possibility: Whoever committed the murder reached the porch roof by
+means of the window at the end of the upper hall, and, after entering
+and leaving Mr. Ashton's room, descended in some way from the porch to
+the pathway, and re-entered the house by the main entrance. Your
+footsteps are the only ones so far that fit in with this theory."
+
+"It is absurd!" said my companion, with a look of terror. "How could
+the window have been rebolted? Why should the murderer not have
+re-entered the house in the same way he left it? How does he know that
+there was anyone upon the roof at all?"
+
+"In answer to the first objection, he claims that someone interested in
+the murderer's welfare might have rebolted the window upon entering the
+room. That would of course mean either your father or myself. To the
+second, that whoever committed the crime feared to enter the hall by the
+window after the house had been aroused. To the third, there is positive
+evidence of the presence of someone having been upon the roof, at Mr.
+Ashton's window."
+
+"What evidence?" She seemed greatly alarmed; her clenched hands and
+rapid breathing indicated some intense inward emotion.
+
+"The faint print of a hand--in blood, upon the window sill. With these
+things to face, Miss Temple, you will, I'm sure, see the advisability
+of explaining fully your departure from the house, and your return, in
+order that the investigations of the police may be turned in other
+directions, where the guilt lies, instead of in yours, where, I am sure,
+it does not." I fully expected, after telling her this, that she would
+insist upon returning to the house at once and clearing herself fully,
+but what was my amazement as I observed her pallor, her agitation, the
+nervous clenching of her hands, increase momentarily as I laid the
+Sergeant's theory before her! She seemed suddenly stricken with terror.
+"I can say nothing, nothing whatever," she answered, pathetically, her
+face a picture of anguish.
+
+I felt alarmed, and indeed greatly disappointed at her manner. Limiting
+the crime to three persons, one of whom must have been upon the porch
+roof a little before daybreak, I saw at once that suspicion must
+inevitably fall upon either Miss Temple or her father. In the first
+instance--McQuade's theory that Miss Temple herself committed the
+gruesome deed seemed borne out by all the circumstances, but, if not,
+there could be but one plausible explanation of her unwillingness to
+speak: she must have seen the murderer upon the roof, and for that
+reason rushed back into the house. In this event, however, she would
+certainly have no desire to shield anyone but her father--and he, in
+turn might have re-entered the hallway through the window before I had
+thrown on my clothes and left my room after hearing the cry. He, also,
+to cover up his crime, had he indeed committed it, might have rebolted
+the window from within while I was examining the body of the murdered
+man, as McQuade had suggested. I remembered now that Major Temple had
+excluded everyone from the room but ourselves, and shut the door as soon
+as the murder was discovered. To suppose that Miss Temple was the
+guilty person was to me out of the question. Had she committed the
+crime, her father would necessarily have been an accomplice, otherwise
+he would not have bolted the window, and this seemed unbelievable to me.
+Yet there was the print of the bloody hand, upon the window sill--small,
+delicately formed, certainly not that of her father. My brain whirled. I
+could apparently arrive at nothing tangible, nothing logical. There yet
+remained the one possibility--the Chinaman, Li Min. His hands, small and
+delicate, might possibly have made the telltale print upon the window
+sill, but, in that event, why should Miss Temple hesitate to tell of it,
+had she seen him. The only possible solution filled me with horror. I
+could not for a moment believe it, yet it insisted upon forcing itself
+upon my mind: that Miss Temple and Li Min were acting together; that her
+father, too, was in the plot, as he must have been if he rebolted the
+window. The thing was clearly impossible, yet if not explained in this
+way, the Chinaman was clearly innocent, for I believed without question
+that, had he entered the room and committed the murder, he could in no
+possible way have bolted the window himself, from without, after leaving
+it. I walked along in silence, my mind confused, uncertain what to
+believe and what not, yet, as I looked at the strong, beautiful face of
+the girl beside me, I could not think that, whatever she might be led
+to do for the sake of someone else, she could ever have committed such a
+crime herself. I also remembered suddenly Major Temple's angry remark,
+made to Robert Ashton as they stood in the hall after dinner the night
+before, that he would never allow Ashton to leave the house with the
+emerald in his possession. Was she shielding her father? Was it he,
+then, that she had seen upon the roof? We walked along for a time in
+silence, then, through some subtle intuition dropping the subject of the
+tragedy completely, we fell to talking of my work, my life in London,
+and so began to feel more at ease with each other. By the time we had
+returned to the house, it was close to the luncheon hour, and as I went
+to my room, I met Sergeant McQuade, in the hall. From him I learned that
+the divisional surgeon had completed his examination and returned to the
+town, that the body had been removed to a large unused billiard-room on
+the ground floor, and that the inquest was set for the following morning
+at eleven. The detective also said, in response to a question from me,
+that the two Chinamen who had left Exeter on the morning train had been
+apprehended in London, upon their arrival, and were being held there
+pending his coming. He proposed to run up to town the next day, as soon
+as the inquest was over. A careful and detailed search of Mr. Ashton's
+room and belongings had failed to reveal either any further evidence
+tending to throw light upon the murder, or any traces of the missing
+emerald Buddha.
+
+After luncheon, Sergeant McQuade asked Major Temple to meet him in the
+library, accompanied by Li Min, and at the Major's request I joined
+them. The Chinaman was stolidly indifferent and perfectly collected and
+calm. His wooden face, round and expressionless, betrayed no feeling or
+emotion of any nature whatsoever. I observed, as did the detective, that
+his right hand was bound up with a strip of white cloth. He spoke
+English brokenly, but seemed to understand quite well all that was said
+to him.
+
+"Li Min," said Major Temple, addressing the man, "this gentleman wishes
+to ask you some questions." He indicated Sergeant McQuade.
+
+"All light." The Chinaman faced McQuade with a look of bland inquiry.
+
+"Where did you spend last night?" asked the detective suddenly.
+
+"Me spend him with blother at Exeter."
+
+"Where, in Exeter?"
+
+"Flog Stleet."
+
+"What time did you leave this house?"
+
+"P'laps 'leven o'clock, sometime."
+
+"Was it raining?"
+
+"Yes, velly much lain."
+
+"You did not go to bed, then?"
+
+"No, no go to bed, go Exeter."
+
+The Sergeant looked at him sternly. "Your bed was not made this morning.
+You are lying to me."
+
+"No, no lie. Bed not made flom day before. I make him myself."
+
+The detective turned to Major Temple. "Is this fellow telling the
+truth?" he asked. "Does he make his own bed?"
+
+"Yes," replied the Major. "The other servants refused to have anything
+to do with him. They are afraid to enter his room. He cares for it
+himself."
+
+"What did you do in Exeter?" asked McQuade.
+
+"P'laps talkee some, smokee some, eatee some--play fantan--bimby sleep."
+
+"What's the matter with your hand?" asked the detective suddenly.
+
+"Me cuttee hand, bloken bottle--Exeter."
+
+"What kind of a bottle?"
+
+"Whiskey bottle," answered Li Min, with a childlike smile.
+
+McQuade turned away with a gesture of impatience. "There's no use
+questioning this fellow any further," he growled. "He knows a great deal
+more about this affair than he lets on, but there's no way to get it out
+of him, short of the rack and thumb-screw. Do any of the other servants
+sleep near him? Perhaps they may know whether or not he left the house
+last night. Who attends to locking the house up?"
+
+"I have always trusted Li Min," said Major Temple. "He sleeps in a small
+room on the third floor of the east wing, which has a back stairway to
+the ground floor. The other house servants sleep on the second floor of
+the rear extension, over the kitchen and pantries. My daughter generally
+sees to the locking up of the house."
+
+"Did she do so last night?"
+
+"No. I did so myself. I locked the rear entrance before I retired
+shortly before midnight."
+
+"After Mr. Ashton had left you to retire?"
+
+"Immediately after."
+
+"Then, if Li Min had left the house by that time, you would not have
+known it?"
+
+"No, I should not. I heard no sounds in the servants' quarters and
+presumed they had retired. I sat up with Mr. Ashton, discussing various
+matters until quite late--perhaps for two hours or more after dinner."
+
+"You were alone?"
+
+"Yes, both my daughter and Mr. Morgan had retired some time before."
+
+"Did you have any quarrel with Mr. Ashton before he left you?"
+
+Major Temple glanced at me with a slight frown. "We had some words," he
+said, hesitating slightly, "but they were not of any serious
+consequence. We had a slight disagreement about the price he was to be
+paid for his services in procuring for me the emerald in addition to the
+other arrangement, of which I have already told you."
+
+"And the matter was not settled before he left you?"
+
+"No--" the Major hesitated perceptibly and seemed to be choosing his
+words with the utmost care--"it was not--but we agreed to leave it until
+the morning."
+
+"You were displeased with Mr. Ashton, were you not? You quarreled
+violently?"
+
+"I--we did not agree," stammered the Major.
+
+"Did Mr. Ashton threaten to take the stone elsewhere, in case you would
+not agree to pay his price?"
+
+"He mentioned something of the sort, I believe," said the Major.
+
+"To which you objected strongly?"
+
+"I protested, most certainly. I regarded the stone as my property. He
+acted as my agent only."
+
+McQuade remained silent for some moments, then turned to Major Temple.
+
+"Major Temple," he said, "I am obliged to go into the town for the
+remainder of the afternoon, but I shall be back here this evening. I
+shall leave one of my men on the premises. When I return, I should like
+very much to have you tell me the complete history of this jewel, this
+emerald Buddha, which has evidently been the cause of all this trouble.
+No doubt Mr. Ashton told you the story of his efforts to obtain it,
+while in China, and of the way in which he succeeded. Possibly, when we
+have a better understanding of what this jewel may mean to the real
+owners of it, we may the better understand how far they would go in
+their efforts to recover it."
+
+"I shall be very happy indeed to do so," said Major Temple. "It is a
+most interesting and remarkable story, I can assure you."
+
+After McQuade had gone, I strolled about the grounds for the larger part
+of the afternoon, trying to get my mind off the gloomy events which had
+filled it all the morning to the exclusion of everything else. I said to
+Major Temple before I left him that I regretted the necessity of
+remaining as an uninvited guest at his house pending the inquest, and
+suggested that I might remove myself and my belongings to Exeter, but he
+would not hear of it. I strolled into the town, however, later in the
+afternoon, after trying vainly to make some sketches, and dispatched a
+telegram to my mother, in Torquay, advising her that I would be delayed
+in joining her. On my way back I took a short cut over the fields, and
+found myself approaching The Oaks from the rear, through a bit of
+woodland, which through neglect had become filled with underbrush. The
+sun had already set, or else the gloom of the autumn afternoon obscured
+its later rays, for the wood was shadowy and dark, and as I emerged from
+it, near a line of hedge which separated it from the kitchen gardens of
+The Oaks, I observed two figures standing near a gateway in the hedge,
+talking together earnestly. I came upon them suddenly, and, as I did so,
+they separated and one of them disappeared swiftly into the shadows of
+the wood while the other advanced rapidly toward the house. I quickened
+my steps, and, as the figure ahead of me reached the higher ground in
+the rear of the house, I saw that it was Li Min. He appeared unconscious
+of my presence and vanished rapidly into the house. The circumstance
+filled me with vague suspicions, though I could not tell just why.
+Instinctively, as I approached the house, I turned toward the west wing,
+and, as I reached the rear corner of the building, I stepped back on the
+grass, beyond the gravel walk, to obtain a view of the windows above. As
+I moved backward over the turf, until I could reach a point where I
+could see over the edge of the porch roof, I suddenly tripped over an
+object in the grass and nearly fell. As I recovered myself, I looked to
+see what it was, and picked up a short, thick iron poker with a heavy
+octagonal brass knob at one end of it. As I held it in my hand, I
+realized at once that with such a weapon as this the strange wound in
+Ashton's head could readily have been made. I examined the pointed
+prismatic knob carefully, but, beyond being somewhat stained from lying
+in the wet grass, it showed no other marks of the gruesome use to which
+I instinctively felt it had been put. Wrapping it carefully in my
+handkerchief, I carried it to my room, and took the precaution to lock
+it safely in one of the drawers of the dresser, pending an opportunity
+to show it privately to Sergeant McQuade upon his return from Exeter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MAJOR TEMPLE'S STORY
+
+
+We sat in the dimly lighted library after dinner, having been joined by
+Sergeant McQuade who returned from Exeter about nine. I had not seen
+Miss Temple alone, since dinner, as she had retired to her room as soon
+as our silent meal was over. The Major, after furnishing us with some
+excellent cigars, and some specially fine liqueur brandy, settled
+himself in his easy chair and proceeded to tell us of his experiences,
+and those of Robert Ashton, in the pursuit of the emerald Buddha. He
+seemed anxious to do this, to show to the detective the probability of
+the murder of Ashton having occurred in an attempt upon the part of some
+Chinese secret or religious society to recover the jewel. He showed no
+feeling of animosity toward the man from Scotland Yard whether he felt
+it or not, and had either concluded that the latter's sharp questioning
+of his daughter was justified by the curious and inexplicable
+circumstances which surrounded the tragedy, or else was desirous of
+covering up his own knowledge of the matter by assuming a manner at once
+frank and ingenuous.
+
+"I spent almost all of last year," said the Major, "in traveling through
+the interior of China. I was for a long time stationed in India, and
+although I was placed upon the retired list nearly ten years ago, the
+spirit of the East has called me, its fascination has drawn me toward
+the rising sun, ever since. I had traveled extensively in India, Siam,
+Persia and even Japan, and was familiar with most of the Chinese cities
+upon and near the coast, but the interior was to me until last year
+almost a sealed book. My daughter and I arrived at Pekin early last
+spring, and, after spending nearly a month in that city, we began an
+extensive trip toward the West. I had made somewhat of a study of
+Chinese, while in India, having always been attracted by the art and
+history of that remarkable country, and during our stay in Pekin, and
+later, while traveling inland, I managed to pick up enough of the local
+dialects to make myself understood. We traveled on horseback, and had a
+considerable retinue of native servants which we took along with us from
+Pekin. The expedition was safe enough, barring the usual attempts of
+sneak thieves upon our stores, and while to persons not accustomed to
+traveling in such countries the journey would no doubt have been full of
+hardships, to us, familiar with such work, it was fairly comfortable. We
+paid good prices for what we bought en route, had no religious views to
+promulgate, and, by minding our own business strictly, we had no trouble
+with the natives of any serious moment. I had managed to pick up a few
+samples of old porcelain and one or two excellent ivories of great age
+and beauty, but, beyond these, the trip had not yielded much in the way
+of curios for my collection, when in June we reached the city of Ping
+Yang. We found this place peculiarly interesting to us, with a
+population noticeably different from the inhabitants of the seaport
+towns, and we remained there perhaps a month. I spent a good deal of
+time wandering about the town, looking at such examples of old bronzes,
+embroideries, curious bits of jewelry, etc., as I could find in the
+shops and bazaars, and I frequently had occasion to pass a small temple,
+maintained by the Buddhists in one of the lower quarters of the town.
+Not over half of the Chinese are Buddhists, as perhaps you may know, the
+number of devotees of that religion being considerably greater in the
+western and northwestern part of the empire, toward Thibet, from which
+country the religion originally passed into China. This temple, of
+which I speak, was a small one, but was notable because of the fact that
+a portion of the bone of the little finger of Buddha was preserved, or
+said to be preserved, among the relics of the shrine. I had frequently
+observed the priest, who had charge of the temple, sitting sunning
+himself outside its doorway as I passed, and on several occasions I had
+dropped some coins into his hand with a salutation which would be
+equivalent to our English good luck. One day when I was passing, I
+remarked to one of my servants who was with me and who understood
+English fairly well, that I was curious to see the interior of the
+shrine, and he, after a conversation with the temple priest, informed me
+that, if I wished it, there would be no objection to my doing so. I
+thereupon entered and found myself in a gloomy chamber dimly illuminated
+by several oil lamps hanging from the low ceiling. Around the walls of
+the room hung some wonderful embroideries, which represented, so the
+priest informed me, incidents in the life of Buddha. There were no
+seats, of course, and the floor was of hard-packed clay. At the center
+of the rear end of the room was a high wooden screen, elaborately
+carved, and lacquered in dull red and gold. Through an opening in this
+screen I perceived a large bronze figure of the Buddha, before which was
+arranged, upon the low altar, a profusion of flowers and food, offerings
+of the faithful to the deity. There were a number of small candles
+burning before the bronze figure, and behind and beyond it I saw a small
+room which evidently served as the living or sleeping chamber of the
+temple priest. After he had shown me everything in the room with much
+pride--he seemed a simple and earnest old fellow--I made ready to depart
+and, before doing so, drew from my pocket a handful of the brass coins,
+called cash, with which you are no doubt familiar, and thrust them into
+the old fellow's outstretched hands. He seemed deeply grateful and said
+a few words in his native tongue to my servant, who turned to me with
+the information that the priest was about to accord me an especial honor
+by showing me the sacred relic of the Buddha. He approached the altar,
+and, taking a key from his girdle, opened a small gold box covered with
+wonderful repousse work, which stood directly in front of the sitting
+figure of the god, and rested between his knees. Upon opening this box,
+he drew forth a small ivory shrine, also elaborately carved, which he
+set upon the top of the first box, and arranged so that the light from
+the candles fell upon it. He then opened the ivory box with a small gold
+key, and I looked in. The relic of the Buddha, a small and insignificant
+looking piece of dirty brown bone, I paid slight attention to, for in
+that box, glistening and glowing with the most wonderful color in the
+light of the candles, stood the emerald Buddha. The relic lay upon a
+piece of white silk, at the bottom of the box. There was a shelf in the
+box, of ivory, half-way up its height, and upon this shelf, occupying
+the upper half of the ivory casket, stood the emerald, its brilliant
+color and marvelous workmanship rendered the more noticeable by the
+white background of the ivory. I inquired as to its history, through my
+servant, and was informed that it had been brought to Ping Yang many
+centuries before, by the priest who brought the relic from Thibet and
+founded the temple. He told me that it was an emerald, but neither the
+fact of its enormous size and value as a jewel nor its priceless beauty
+as an example of the most exquisite workmanship in the carving and
+cutting of gems that I had ever seen seemed to appeal to him. To him its
+value was solely of a religious nature: it was a statue of the great
+teacher, carved by some devoted worshiper or patient monk centuries
+before, and had always been venerated, next to the relic, as the most
+precious of all the temple's possessions. I told my servant to ask the
+priest if they would sell it, but he seemed disinclined to make the
+request until I repeated my injunction rather sharply. When the message
+had been translated to the old man, he scowled darkly, his face lighting
+up with a look of sullen anger, and, hastily locking his treasures in
+their double box, he turned without making any reply and began to usher
+us from the room. I repeated the request, this time using my own store
+of Chinese, and drew forth a large roll of gold, but the priest waved me
+aside with an angry word, which sounded like a curse, and pointed to the
+door. There was nothing left but to go, and I did so, though with the
+bitterest regret at leaving what I considered the most remarkable and
+unique of all the curios which I have ever seen in the whole course of
+my life and the one which I would have given most to possess. In the
+course of the next week I haunted the neighborhood of the temple, and
+several times, finding the old priest sitting beside the door, attempted
+to repeat my offer, but he invariably drew back with a look of intense
+hatred, and refused to listen to me. Upon my fourth or fifth attempt I
+found him in company with several other Chinamen, evidently members of
+his sect, who regarded me with dark looks and muttered imprecations, and
+the next time I appeared in the street I found myself surrounded by
+quite a mob of excited Chinamen who assailed me with fierce curses and
+cries, and even made as though to offer me personal violence. After this
+I felt that it would be unsafe for me to venture into that quarter of
+the town again, and a few days later, finding that even in other
+sections of the city I was regarded with evident suspicion and dislike,
+I decided to leave the place and return to Pekin. We left Pekin early
+in August, and, after stopping at several of the seaport cities,
+arrived early in October in Hong Kong where we made a stay of several
+weeks. It was here that I met Robert Ashton who, like myself, was
+traveling in China for the purpose of collecting rare examples of
+Chinese art, and who, I soon found, possessed an extraordinary knowledge
+of the subject. This knowledge, which is not common among us in the
+West, formed a bond of sympathy between us, especially in that country
+so remote from home, where the sight of an English face and the sound of
+one's native language are always so welcome. During our stay there we
+saw a great deal of Mr. Ashton, and he soon became very attentive to my
+daughter. She, like myself, has always felt a deep interest in Eastern
+art, and seemed rather to welcome Mr. Ashton's attentions, and I was
+gratified to think that in him I might find a son-in-law who would
+appreciate the collection, which has been my life work. I told him the
+story of my experiences in Ping Yang, in which he seemed deeply
+interested. He informed me that, although he had been in the city, he
+had never heard of the emerald Buddha. He intended going on to Pekin
+later in the autumn, and proposed to me that he should attempt to secure
+the jewel for me. I told him that I regarded its purchase as impossible,
+but he only laughed and said that he felt sure he could secure it. I
+made light of his claims, and, when he said in all seriousness one night
+that he would obtain it for me provided I would consent to his marriage
+to my daughter, I agreed at once, both because I felt his quest was an
+absolutely hopeless one and because I saw no objections to him as a
+son-in-law in any event. I did not mention my agreement to my daughter
+at the time, not wishing it to appear to her that I was bartering her in
+return for a mere jewel. In fact I felt so certain that she would
+welcome Mr. Ashton's advances that I preferred that she should remain
+in ignorance of my compact with him. A few days later he departed for
+Pekin, and we returned home by way of India and Suez. On account of both
+my daughter's health and my own, we decided to take a house on the
+southwest coast for a time, my house in London being under lease for a
+term of years, expiring this coming spring. Upon my return I questioned
+my daughter with relation to Mr. Ashton, and was amazed and horrified to
+learn that, far from regarding him with sentiments of esteem, she bore
+toward him a feeling almost of aversion. I explained to her the promise
+that I had made which it was now too late for me to recall, and at my
+earnest request and almost at my command she wrote to Mr. Ashton,
+agreeing to abide by my wishes in the matter. That was six or eight
+months ago, and I heard nothing from him until two days ago when he
+telegraphed me from Southampton that he had arrived in England and
+would come to see me at once.
+
+"His story, as he related it to me at dinner last night, was like an
+adventure from the Arabian Nights. After completing his business in
+Pekin, he had set out upon his long journey to Ping Yang with only a
+single native servant, a Chinaman from the south, a Confucian, who was
+devoted to him, and owed him a debt of gratitude for saving his life on
+one occasion. Accompanied only by this man, he penetrated slowly to
+within about fifteen miles of the city of Ping Yang, and there, in a
+small village, he lived for over a month, in an inconspicuous way. He
+spoke Chinese well, and, with the assistance of his servant, got hold of
+a dress such as is worn by the Buddhist pilgrim monks in China, who,
+casting aside the things of this World, spend their life in wandering
+about from shrine to shrine, living on the alms of the faithful and
+preaching the doctrines of their religion as they go. In this dress,
+with shaven head and staff in hand, he had arrived, alone, in Ping Yang
+one evening at dusk and at once proceeded to the temple, the location of
+which I had carefully described to him. Arriving at the door, with an
+offering of flowers, he entered, and, prostrating himself before the
+shrine, seemed lost in prayer. There were a number of other worshipers
+in the temple at the time, and still others came and went as the evening
+wore on, but Ashton continued in his place, muttering his prayers and
+pretending to be in great agony of spirit. Presently the hour grew late
+and one by one the worshipers departed, until only Ashton and the old
+temple priest were left. The latter, in some impatience, came up to him,
+and informed him that the hour was late and that he had better continue
+his devotions upon the morrow. Ashton pretended to be suffering from
+some sudden illness, and lay upon the floor moaning pitifully. As the
+old monk bent over him to see whether he could hear his muttered words
+Ashton suddenly seized him by the throat, and with his powerful hands
+choked him into silence. He then gagged him with a piece of cloth which
+he had brought for the purpose, and, taking from his girdle the keys of
+the small shrine, proceeded to quickly open it and abstract the coveted
+emerald Buddha. Escape was easy. The old priest, unable to utter a sound
+would be unable to give the alarm until the next morning, and by that
+time Ashton, who had left his servant with their horses at a retired
+spot outside the town, would be miles away, journeying peaceably toward
+Pekin as an English traveler. His escape, however, was not to be so
+easily effected. Whether the old priest penetrated his disguise as he
+sprang upon him, or whether the uproar into which the town was thrown
+reached the house at which the disguise had been assumed, he of course
+never knew, but it is certain that, after progressing toward Pekin for
+two days, they became aware that they were being followed by a numerous
+party of Chinese upon horseback, armed with pikes, bows and arrows, and
+some muskets. They got wind of the pursuing party before they themselves
+were seen, and, swerving from the main road, abandoned their horses in a
+lonely bit of wood, and while Ashton hid in the underbrush, his servant,
+after waiting until their pursuers had passed, went out and procured at
+a near-by village a set of Chinese clothing similar to his own, which
+Ashton donned after burying his own belongings in a swampy pond in the
+wood. From here on his adventures were exciting and varied, but as they
+progressed in a southeasterly direction they got beyond the zone which
+had been affected by the robbery of the temple, and at last succeeded in
+reaching the coast. From here they went north to Pekin, where the
+pseudo-Chinamen disappeared one night into the house where Ashton
+maintained his headquarters while in Pekin, and the next morning Ashton
+appeared in European clothing, and began making arrangements to leave
+for his long trip to England. The rest of the story you know. He arrived
+here last night, and this morning he was found murdered and the emerald
+Buddha has disappeared. God knows what influences have been at work in
+his taking off. As for me, I know no more about it than you do."
+
+As Major Temple concluded his story, he gazed at Sergeant McQuade and
+myself in turn, then passed his hand nervously over his forehead, as
+though the strain of the tragedy had begun to tell upon him severely.
+
+McQuade rose, and I did likewise, and, bidding the Major good-night we
+left the room, leaving him sitting dejectedly enough, I thought, in his
+easy chair, patting the head of his great mastiff, Boris. It was past
+midnight when I left McQuade at the foot of the staircase, and, in
+spite of all the excitement of the day, I found myself so worn out that
+I was asleep almost as soon as I had placed my head upon the pillow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE ORIENTAL PERFUME
+
+
+The inquest into Robert Ashton's strange death, which was held the
+following day in the billiard-room at The Oaks, was a brief affair. A
+jury had been impaneled in the town, and Major Temple, Miss Temple and
+myself, as well as Li Min and the other servants, were duly examined and
+we told our respective stories as we had already told them to Sergeant
+McQuade. No new light was thrown upon the affair by our testimony. Miss
+Temple, when questioned, admitted that she had left the house early in
+the morning, with the intention of running away, but had changed her
+mind suddenly and returned. Beyond this nothing could be got out of her.
+The divisional surgeon testified that his examination of the deceased
+showed a simple fracture of the skull, not necessarily sufficient to
+produce death, although capable of doing so when combined with nervous
+shock or a weakened condition of the heart. That one or both of the
+latter agencies had combined with the result of the blow was evidenced
+by Ashton's almost instantaneous death and the look of horror which was
+upon his face. There was nothing for the jury to do but render a verdict
+stating that Robert Ashton had come to his death through a blow upon the
+head, delivered with some sharp instrument by a person or persons
+unknown. Said verdict having accordingly been rendered, and the body
+removed to an undertaking establishment in Exeter, there seemed nothing
+further for me to do but pack up my few belongings and go my way,
+knowing no more of the cause of Robert Ashton's death than before. I
+knew that Sergeant McQuade was working eagerly upon the case, and I
+felt sure that, if the discovery of the murderer were possible, he
+would accomplish it, but I had very grave doubts as to his success. I
+spoke a few words to him at the close of the inquest, and he informed me
+that he intended going up to London early that afternoon to interrogate
+the two Chinamen detained there since the preceding day, and, upon my
+volunteering to accompany him, he evinced no objection, but on the
+contrary seemed rather to welcome my suggestion. I knew perfectly well
+that, until the mystery was solved, not only myself, but Major and Miss
+Temple and Li Min, as well as the other servants in the house would all
+be more or less under police surveillance, and my sudden determination
+to go up to London arose from a feeling that I wanted if possible to
+stay with this case to the end--a feeling that became intensified
+whenever I thought of Muriel Temple and the unfortunate position in
+which this affair had placed her. Her exquisitely lovely face, drawn
+with suffering, appeared to me constantly, as she had looked at the
+coroner's inquest, and I felt with all my heart that, if I could do
+anything to help her, I would, cost what it might. I had no very clear
+idea as to just what I could accomplish by going up to London, but I
+felt sure that I should be more likely to find opportunities for helping
+her there, with the detective, than would be the case should I continue
+my walking trip to Torquay.
+
+I hastened to my room, therefore, intending to pack my belongings before
+luncheon, so as to be ready for a start as soon thereafter as the
+detective was ready. I left the door of my room partially open upon
+entering, and for a time busied myself in arranging my luggage. As I did
+so, I thought I heard a slight sound in the green room across the
+hall--the one in which the tragedy had occurred--and, glancing up, saw
+that, by looking into the mirror of my dresser, I could see most of the
+interior of the room opposite. The room was not empty--for in a moment
+I observed Li Min, the Chinese servant, engaged apparently in arranging
+it, now that its unfortunate occupant and his belongings had been
+removed. His actions struck me as being decidedly peculiar, and I
+watched him carefully as he moved about. He was evidently searching for
+something, and examined with the most minute care every object in the
+room--the carpet, the pictures, the furniture, even the wall paper, as
+though looking for some place of concealment. I tried to figure this out
+to myself, but I could see no reasonable explanation of his conduct. If
+he, or any of his confederates had killed Ashton, they certainly must
+have secured the emerald Buddha, and taken it with them--the empty case,
+I remembered, lay upon the table. What then, could this Chinaman be
+searching for with such evident eagerness and anxiety? I determined to
+surprise him, and with a few rapid steps crossed the intervening hall
+and appeared in the doorway. He at once seemed confused, and made a
+quick pretense of being busily occupied in the business of setting the
+room to rights. I stood looking at him questioningly for a few moments,
+when I presently became aware of a curiously pungent, yet sweet,
+aromatic odor, which had something vaguely familiar to me about it. I
+could not, at first, place this perfume, which was noticeably different
+from those of our own country, when suddenly it flashed into my mind
+that this was the curious scent which I had noticed upon Miss Temple's
+handkerchief--the one dropped by her in Ashton's room on the occasion of
+her visit to him shortly before midnight on the evening preceding the
+tragedy. I glanced about, thinking to discover the source of this
+perfume, but for a time had difficulty in doing so. At last, however, I
+found that it came from a small cake of soap, of a dull-green color,
+which lay upon the washstand where it had evidently been left by
+Ashton. I picked up the soap and examined it, and at once recognized the
+pungent odor of which I have spoken. The coincidence struck me as being
+queer--the presence of this same perfume upon Miss Temple's
+handkerchief--and I was at a loss to account for it. I picked up the
+cake of soap, observing its perfume closely, then, noticing that the
+Chinaman was regarding me with a particularly malevolent gaze, I retired
+to my room, taking the soap with me. I had no definite purpose in this
+except to keep it in order to identify the perfume, and, upon returning
+to my room threw it into my satchel and completed the arrangements for
+my departure.
+
+I was soon ready to go, and, after leaving my bag with one of McQuade's
+men, who was to accompany us to the railway station, I sought Miss
+Temple in the hope of saying good-by to her before my departure. I
+was lucky enough to find her in the library, sewing, and looking
+unusually pale and distressed. She greeted me with rising color, and I
+confess that I, too, felt a trifle of embarrassment. I could not forget
+her agitation of the day before when I had questioned her as to her
+movements upon the morning of the tragedy and her flat refusal to
+continue the conversation when I had pressed her to explain her reasons
+for her early morning expedition as well as her sudden return. I stood
+gazing at her in perplexity, but, as I did so, the beauty of her face,
+the clear, honest expression of her eyes once more convinced me that
+whatever were her reasons for silence they did not in any way implicate
+_her_ in this tangled affair.
+
+[Illustration: "I HAVE COME TO SAY GOOD-BY," I SAID.]
+
+"I have come to say good-by," I said.
+
+"Oh, are you going--I did not know." She half rose; her face filled with
+lively concern.
+
+"I'm afraid I've already overstayed my time," I replied. "After all,
+Miss Temple, I came as a stranger and must thank you and your father for
+making me as welcome as you have under the existing painful
+circumstances."
+
+"I have not thought of you as a stranger, Mr. Morgan," she answered
+simply. "You have been a great help during this trying ordeal, and I am
+sorry that you must go--very sorry." There was a ring of sincerity in
+her voice that thrilled me; my heart gave a leap, and, as I met her
+eyes, I realized all of a sudden that, go where I might, I could not yet
+go very far away from Muriel Temple. "I do not go because I desire it,"
+I replied, in a voice from which I could not eliminate the depth and
+intensity of my feelings. "I am no longer needed here, and it is in the
+hope that I may perhaps be of some service to you in London that I have
+asked Sergeant McQuade's permission to accompany him there to-day. I
+have taken the deepest interest in this terrible affair, Miss Temple,
+and, if it lies in my power, I intend to find the solution of it. My
+reward, if I can do so, will be the knowledge that I have served you."
+
+"You are very good, Mr. Morgan. I shall never forget it, never." She
+rose and placed her hand in mine, and allowed it to remain there for a
+moment--a moment which seemed far too short to me, since I had suddenly
+realized that I should be madly happy could I know that I would have the
+right to keep it there always. "And, when you have good news, you will
+come to The Oaks and tell us about it, will you not?" she concluded,
+with a smile that went to my heart.
+
+"Indeed I shall, Miss Temple--you may be sure of that--and I hope it may
+be soon."
+
+"So do I," she said, and I turned to leave her. Then I suddenly
+bethought myself of the strange Oriental perfume that had clung so
+strongly to the handkerchief which the detective had found in the green
+room. I turned to her once more. "Miss Temple," I said, with some
+hesitation, "you will pardon me, I know, but you may remember that the
+handkerchief which was found in Mr. Ashton's room upon the morning of
+the--the tragedy, and which you thought you might have dropped there,
+was strongly scented with a powerful Oriental perfume. May I ask what
+that perfume is, and where you procured it?"
+
+"Perfume?" she ejaculated, in surprise. "Why, Mr. Morgan, I never use
+any--never."
+
+"You never use any?" I stammered. "But it was upon your handkerchief. I
+thought that perhaps you might have gotten it during your travels in
+China."
+
+"The handkerchief was mine, Mr. Morgan--that is true. But of the perfume
+I know absolutely nothing. Why do you ask?"
+
+I hardly knew what reply to make. The whole affair seemed absurdly
+trivial; the identity of the perfume of the soap, and of the
+handkerchief meant nothing, pointed to nothing, and yet I could not
+shake off the idea that there was some intimate connection between the
+perfume of the handkerchief and that of the soap which would go far
+toward solving the mystery of Robert Ashton's death. I bade her good-by
+with some simple explanation of my question, and hurried out to find
+McQuade. I understood that he intended going in to Exeter before
+luncheon, getting a bite to eat there, and taking the early afternoon
+express for London. I found him with one of his men upon the porch roof,
+busily engaged in making photographs of the bloody hand print upon the
+window sill of the green room. He came down presently and joined me.
+
+"Is it not a curious fact, Mr. Morgan," he remarked, as he reached the
+foot of the short ladder he had used to ascend to the roof, "that,
+although Li Min had not only the motive for the murder, namely, the
+securing of the emerald Buddha, but also the opportunity, inasmuch as
+he could readily have reached the porch roof from within the house by
+means of the hall window, and while the hand print which I have been
+photographing is small and delicate, like that of a woman, or indeed
+like that of Li Min himself, yet I have tested every possible human
+means whereby the windows and doors of that room could have been
+bolted after the crime was committed, and I can see no possible way in
+which it could have been done, unless either Major Temple or yourself
+did it upon entering the room, which you certainly would neither of
+you have any reason to do were Li Min the guilty person? In spite of
+many of the peculiarities of Miss Temple's conduct, in spite of Major
+Temple's altercation with Mr. Ashton, I have been prepared to believe
+all along that Li Min was on this roof at or near daybreak yesterday
+morning and I do not mind telling you that I have discovered certain
+evidence--evidence which had before escaped me, that to my mind proves
+it conclusively--yet how he could have entered that room, murdered Mr.
+Ashton, secured the jewel, climbed out of the window and shut and
+bolted it behind him on the inside is beyond my comprehension. It is
+not humanly possible--it simply cannot be." He shook his head and
+looked at me in a state of evident perplexity.
+
+I felt unable to offer any suggestions of value, but I hazarded a
+question. "Have you searched the attic above the room?" I asked.
+
+"Thoroughly," he replied. "The rafters have never been floored over. The
+lath and plaster of the ceiling are absolutely unbroken. As for the four
+walls, two of them are exterior walls, without openings, except the
+windows. One is the solid partition between the room and the hallway.
+The fourth is equally solid, and of brick, between the green room and a
+large closet adjoining it to the east, which has evidently been used as
+a sort of lumber room, and contains a collection of old furniture,
+carpets, etc., covered with dust half an inch deep. The dust-covered
+floor and the rusty lock both show that it has not been entered for a
+long time. The furniture belongs to the owners of the property, and was
+evidently placed there years ago when the property was offered for
+leasing."
+
+"Then it would seem that we have exhausted all possible clews," I
+observed. I did not think it worth while to take him into my confidence
+regarding Li Min, or the perfumed soap; and the brass-headed poker which
+I had found, and which I had placed in the drawer in my room, I had for
+the moment completely forgotten.
+
+"So it seems," he remarked, thoughtfully. "This is by long odds the
+strangest case I have ever worked on. Possibly the two Chinamen we have
+in London may be able to throw some light upon it."
+
+As we rounded the corner of the house, on our way to the front door, we
+suddenly saw Li Min dart out of the main entrance, closely pursued by
+the officer to whom I had entrusted my luggage. The Chinaman carried in
+his hand my Gladstone bag, and was running with incredible swiftness
+toward the road. Before I had time to make a move, McQuade darted
+forward and intercepted him, knocking from his hand with lightning-like
+quickness a long knife which he drew from his blouse. The two of them
+tumbled over upon the turf, McQuade rising first with my satchel in his
+hand. He looked at it, and seeing my name upon it handed it to me with a
+grim smile. "You must have a valuable kit here, Sir," he said, "or else
+this fellow has taken leave of his senses." He nodded to his assistant,
+who promptly stepped forward and snapped a pair of handcuffs upon the
+sullen-looking Oriental.
+
+"The whole outfit isn't worth five pounds," I said, laughing, and picked
+up the satchel. As I did so the catch came open and my small collection
+of flannel shirts, toilet articles, sketching materials, etc., tumbled
+upon the grass. McQuade joined in my laugh, and assisted me in replacing
+my effects. "Nothing much here, Sir," he said, but I did not fail to
+notice that he observed each article closely as we repacked the satchel.
+
+We drove back to town in the high cart, with one of Major Temple's
+grooms at the reins beside me, and Li Min and the Sergeant upon the rear
+seat. After depositing the Chinaman at the jail, we took a hurried lunch
+at the Half Moon, and left for London on the early afternoon express,
+arriving at Waterloo station about dusk. I gave McQuade the address of
+my lodgings and studio in Tottenham Court Road, and, as he intended
+reporting at once at Scotland Yard, I left him with the understanding
+that, if anything significant developed during his examination of the
+two Chinamen, he would advise me and call upon me if I could assist him
+in any way. I realized of course that I was purely an outsider, and in
+no position to expect the police to take me into their confidence, but
+on the other hand I was not only the most important witness in the case,
+but my keen interest in the solution of the mystery, for the purpose of
+clearing the names of both Miss Temple and her father from any vestige
+of suspicion, was not lost upon the Sergeant, and I think he realized
+that I might be of considerable assistance to him should the case take
+some unexpected turn. He hurried off in a hansom and I followed,
+stopping on my way at the Vienna Cafe for dinner. It was past eight when
+I arrived at my studio, and, throwing my bag into a corner I sat down
+and wrote a letter to my mother at Torquay, explaining to her my change
+of plans, although making no mention of the reasons which caused the
+change. I must have been unusually tired, owing to my early rise and the
+varied excitements of the day, for I dozed in my chair, and was not
+aroused until after eleven, when I heard a loud knock at the studio
+door. I sprang up, somewhat confused, and, opening the door, found under
+it an envelope containing a note, written on plain, rather cheap paper,
+in a somewhat irregular but legible hand. It was from McQuade, and
+requested me to meet him at once at Number 30, Kingsgate Street. There
+was nothing else in the note, so without further delay I threw on a warm
+coat and soft hat, and, hurrying to the street, summoned a cab. The
+driver looked a bit surprised at the address, and asked me to repeat it,
+which I did a bit sharply, then threw myself into the rear seat and
+lighted a cigarette. Events were moving quickly it seemed. McQuade, I
+felt sure would not have sent for me at this hour of the night unless
+some developments of importance had occurred. I rejoiced in the hope
+that the examination of the two Exeter Chinamen had resulted in the
+discovery of both the missing jewel and the murderer, and thought with
+pleasure of the expedition I should make on the morrow to The Oaks and
+the happy tidings I should bring to Muriel. I had thought of her so
+continuously, since leaving there, and felt so keenly the loss of her
+companionship, slight as it had so far been, that I knew that hereafter
+all roads, for me, would led to Exeter until the day came when I might
+led her from it as my wife. It was while occupied in these dreams that
+I felt my cab draw up alongside the curb, just as the hour of midnight
+was striking from Old St. Paul's. I dismissed my man with a shilling for
+his pains, and ascended the steps of Number 30.
+
+The house was an old one, and its exterior was gloomy and forbidding.
+Not a light shone in its closely shuttered windows, and only over the
+transom of the door was there any visible sign of occupants within. Here
+a faintly burning oil lamp shone behind a cobwebby glass, with the
+number of the house painted upon it in black. The whole atmosphere of
+the place was depressing in the extreme, and I pulled the bell with
+feelings of inward trepidation. Without, all was silent and deserted,
+and the starless sky and the sighing of wind through the gloomy streets,
+from which my cab had long since departed, but added to my presentiments
+of evil. I had heard the faint jangle of a bell in the interior of the
+house when I pulled the knob, but so long an interval elapsed before any
+response came that I was on the point of ringing it again, when I
+suddenly heard soft footsteps in the hallway, and the door was silently
+opened. I stepped within, mechanically, unable to observe the person who
+had admitted me, owing to the fact that he or she, I knew not which,
+stood partially behind the door as it swung open and was therefore
+concealed by it. I had taken but a single step into the passage, when
+the door was swiftly closed behind me, and at the same instant a bag of
+heavy cloth was thrust over my head, and my arms were pinioned from
+behind in a vise-like grip. I attempted an outcry, and struggled
+violently, but the bag was drawn closely about my throat by a noose in
+the edge of it, and I felt myself being slowly, but surely, strangled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN THE TEMPLE OF BUDDHA
+
+
+It was but a few moments after midnight, when I entered the house in
+Kingsgate Street, and it must have been nearly or quite an hour before I
+finally removed the bag from my head and realized the nature of my
+surroundings. Immediately after the attack upon me, I was lifted bodily
+by two or three silent figures, and carried a considerable distance,
+part of the way down a steep flight of stairs, and through what from its
+damp and musty smell might have been a tunnel or cellar. Presently I
+heard the opening of a heavy door, and in a moment I was thrown roughly
+upon a bench, and my pockets were systematically searched. My captors
+evidently were not looking for money for the only things they took from
+me were my keys. After this they left me, huddled up in a corner of the
+bench, afraid to cry out or make a move in any direction.
+
+The room in which I now found myself was as silent as the tomb, and yet,
+from some subtle instinct, I felt that it was lighted brightly, and that
+there were others in it besides myself. I could feel that it was warm,
+and through the folds of the bag about my head came the acrid,
+half-sweet smell of opium or Chinese incense, or both. I realized at
+once that I was in the hands of some of Li Min's friends, and no doubt
+the note which purported to come from McQuade had been merely a decoy.
+How, I wondered, did they know my address? Possibly they had followed my
+cab from the station. I recollected now with vividness the interview I
+had witnessed, the afternoon before, between Li Min and some fellow
+countryman of his at the gateway in the hedge back of The Oaks. No doubt
+the crafty Oriental had in some way kept his confederates in London
+fully posted as to both my movements and those of Sergeant McQuade. What
+on earth they could want with me I was unable to imagine. I reached out
+softly with my right hand--I had not been bound--and touched a wall,
+hung with heavy embroidered satin. The bench upon which I sat was of
+hard polished wood. I reached up quickly, loosed the cord which held the
+bag tightly about my neck, and, with a swift motion, lifted it from my
+head.
+
+The sight I beheld astounded me. I was in a long, low room, the bench
+upon which I sat being at the extreme end of it. The walls were hung
+from end to end with bright-colored satin, wonderfully embroidered with
+birds, flowers, dragons and strange Chinese characters. The floor was of
+wood, dark, and polished with the walking of many soft-shod feet. Facing
+me at the far end of the room was a great red-and-gold wooden screen,
+carved and lacquered, and representing some mysterious Chinese figures,
+whether gods or demons I could not tell. In the center of this screen
+was an opening, a sort of altar, brightly lighted by a large number of
+wax candles within which hung a representation of the god Buddha,
+marvelously embroidered upon dull red satin, with gold and silver
+threads. Behind the candles stood a small gold casket, or shrine, the
+door of which was standing open, disclosing an empty interior. The altar
+in front of the candles was covered with a profusion of dishes
+containing flowers, rice and other foods. Before the altar knelt a tall,
+gaunt figure, his back turned toward me, bowed in prayer. He wore a
+long, dark-brown robe, girdled loosely about the waist with a leather
+belt, and his gray hair was confined in a long queue which hung below
+his waist. He took no notice whatever of my movements, and remained in
+silent contemplation of the picture of the god before him. A number of
+sticks of incense were burning in a brass jar upon the altar, and the
+room was filled with a thin, waving blue haze, which circled softly
+around the great painted silk lanterns which hung from the ceiling. I
+felt as though I had been suddenly and mysteriously transported from a
+dark and gloomy London street to some wonderful temple in the far-off
+city of Pekin. I rubbed my eyes, and moved uneasily upon my hard bench,
+but no movement upon the part of the silent worshiper indicated that he
+so much as knew of my presence.
+
+I endured the tension of the situation for several minutes in silence,
+and had about made up my mind to speak to the kneeling figure before me,
+when suddenly a door at my left was opened, and I observed two dark and
+forbidding-looking Chinamen enter, carrying between them a limp and
+apparently lifeless figure, which they placed upon the bench beside me.
+The figure was that of a man, and he was not blindfolded as I had been,
+and, as I bent over and glanced at his bloodless face, I recoiled, sick
+and trembling. It was Sergeant McQuade.
+
+The Chinamen paid no attention to me, and quietly withdrew. I placed my
+hand upon the detective's heart, and was overjoyed to find that it still
+beat. I dragged him to a sitting position, and shook him, hoping to
+arouse him from his lethargy. In a few moments I saw his eyes slowly
+open, and he clutched feebly at his throat. I followed his movements and
+found a heavy cord about his neck, so tightly drawn as almost to prevent
+him from breathing. This I quickly removed, and in a few moments he was
+able to speak. His first words, after a glance of intense surprise at
+our surroundings, were to ask me why I had sent for him. I told him that
+I had not done so.
+
+"But you sent me a note, asking me to come to this address at once, that
+you had important news. I have two men outside, but these devils got me
+before I could blow my whistle. Not much use to try it now," he
+observed, looking about grimly.
+
+"I sent you no note," I replied. "On the contrary, I got one from you.
+That is why I am here."
+
+"We are both nicely trapped, it seems," he growled. "I wonder what these
+fellows are up to. They have searched me, but they took nothing, so far
+as I can see. I can't figure the thing out at all. What have you
+learned--anything?" He turned to me with a quick look of interrogation.
+
+"Nothing. They took my bunch of keys, and left me here about an hour
+ago. I am as much in the dark as you are."
+
+"Your keys," he muttered, softly; "your keys. What could they have
+wanted with them?" He seemed lost in thought.
+
+Our further conversation was interrupted by the sudden opening of the
+door on our left. Some score or more of Chinamen crowded in, and were at
+once joined by the figure of the priest, who rose to his feet and
+advanced toward the center of the room. He was a terrible-looking old
+man, his face drawn and leathery, his eyes like burning coals, his mouth
+cruel and thin-lipped. All the others seemed to pay him deep respect.
+One of their number advanced and handed him a large object which he
+eagerly grasped. It was my Gladstone bag. McQuade and I glanced at each
+other in sudden comprehension. "It's my bag," I whispered to him. Now I
+knew at least why they had taken from me my keys.
+
+The old priest placed the bag upon the floor and, kneeling beside it,
+proceeded to open it with eager, trembling hands. The others crowded
+about, every face tense and full of expectation. The kneeling figure
+proceeded slowly to remove and examine every article of clothing,
+throwing each one impatiently aside as he apparently failed to find that
+for which he sought. Presently his eye fell upon the small, green cake
+of soap which I had thrown loosely into the bag upon my departure from
+The Oaks. He seized it with a cry of triumph, and, taking a knife from
+his girdle, proceeded with extreme care to cut the cake of soap in two.
+The crowding figures about him hung upon his movements with intense
+anxiety. The room was as silent as death. I heard McQuade's muffled
+breathing as he watched the old man's every move, but I could see from
+the expression of his face that the scene meant no more to him than it
+did to me. Suddenly, with a loud cry, the priest broke the cake of soap
+in two, and there, within it, in a cavity about two inches long, lay the
+lost emerald Buddha, its wonderful color flashing and glowing in the
+light from the lantern above. I was absolutely dumb with amazement.
+Undeniably there before me lay the cause of Mr. Ashton's death, yet how
+it came to be in that cake of soap, and what light its presence there
+threw upon the manner of his sudden and tragic end, was beyond my
+comprehension. At least, however, I understood why Li Min had tried to
+make away with my satchel, but the fact that the presence of the jewel
+among my belongings might cause suspicion to point in my direction did
+not for the moment occur to me. It evidently did, however, to McQuade,
+as I before long had reason to know.
+
+The kneeling priest rose to his feet with a glad cry, and, holding the
+image reverently in the hollow of his two hands, advanced toward the
+altar, the others crowding closely about him. Arrived at the shrine, he
+placed the figure carefully upon its pedestal within the golden casket,
+and, as the light of many candles fell full upon it, the whole crowd
+knelt down and began a weird sing-song prayer, that must have been a
+chant of joy, or some service of purification, now that their long-lost
+deity had been returned to them. Presently the strange sounds died away,
+and the various Chinamen placed offerings of fruit, flowers and food
+upon the altar. At length the priest rose, and faced us. The service was
+over. I had a feeling that our turn was now to come.
+
+The tall, gaunt figure came close to us, and examined both our faces
+minutely. I fancy he was the same priest that Ashton had all but done
+for in Ping Yang, and, from his look of intense hatred and ferocity, I
+feel sure that, had he recognized McQuade or myself as either his
+assailant, or Major Temple, our moments in this life would have been
+numbered. He must of course have heard of Ashton's death, but no doubt
+he wanted to make sure that Ashton was actually the man who had so
+nearly strangled him. After completing his scrutiny of our far from
+happy faces, he drew back, and in answer apparently to the questions of
+his followers shook his head vigorously. Then ensued a heated
+altercation between himself and part of the Chinamen on the one hand
+and the remainder of the crowd on the other, the subject of which, I
+could plainly see, was the fate of the detective and myself. At last
+they all turned back to the altar, and the priest took from it two
+pieces of wood, slightly curved, some four or five inches long, and
+shaped not unlike the half of a banana, if it were cut in two
+lengthwise: that is, round on one side and flat upon the other. I saw
+that they were the Chinese luck sticks, which the petitioner casts
+before the altar, wishing as he does so, for that prayer which he
+desires the god to grant him. If the sticks fall with the flat sides of
+both upward, he is lucky--his prayer is granted; if with the flat sides
+of both downward, his prayer is refused. If one stick falls each way,
+there is no decision and the trial is made again. As the priest took up
+these sticks from the altar, a gleam of comprehension passed over the
+faces of the crowd about him. Several of their number sprang forward
+and, seizing us by the arms, dragged us before the altar. It was
+evidently their intention to leave the matter of our fate in the hands
+of the Buddha, and, as I glanced at the peaceful and beneficent face of
+the image before me, I wondered whether he, or blind luck, would control
+our destinies.
+
+McQuade they took first. He was led directly in front of the altar, and
+the two sticks, placed with the flat sides, together, were put into his
+hands. He was then directed, by signs and a few muttered English words,
+to cast them upon the slab before the altar. He did so, not in the least
+understanding, I felt sure, what it was all about, and in a moment the
+hardwood sticks clattered before the altar. I leaned forward anxiously
+and looked at them. The flat sides of both were upward. McQuade was
+safe. The Chinamen thrust him aside angrily, and bent upon me their
+angry glances. I was pushed forward by many hands, and the luck sticks
+forced into my unwilling fingers. I had never thought much about death,
+and now it approached me in all its grisly terrors. McQuade had been
+spared my agony, for I felt sure he did not know the meaning of the
+ceremony through which he had just passed. He had thrown dice with
+death, and won, and yet he did not know it. But, to me, the trial came
+in all its horrible reality. I knew that upon the fall of those bits of
+wood depended my life, that within a few seconds of time I would either
+be free, or condemned to die by one of those unspeakably horrible means
+that only the Chinese understand and delight in. Their deity had been
+profaned and they wanted a victim, and, if his down-turned thumb claimed
+me as a sacrifice, I knew that no power on earth could save me. I shook
+with nervous dread--not so much through fear of death itself as of the
+manner of dying. My hands trembled; I could scarcely keep the sticks
+from falling to the floor. Presently I pulled myself together and
+determined to put a brave face upon the matter. The Chinamen about me
+were evidently enjoying my sufferings keenly as I could see from the
+diabolic grins upon their dark faces. I threw the sticks from me with a
+quick nervous movement, and then almost feared to look upon them. At
+last I did so, and what I saw was almost as bad as what I feared to see.
+Instead of the two flat sides of the sticks being uppermost, they lay
+one each way, and I was forced to throw again. The Chinese were
+evidently delighted. Any method of torture which is prolonged seems to
+please them beyond measure. I have heard that one of the most terrible
+they have invented is that of keeping a prisoner awake. For days and
+days sleep is prevented--the victim ultimately goes raving mad.
+
+I determined to end the matter at once. My nerves were too much shaken
+to prolong the agony. I cast the sticks again upon the altar slab and
+bent over them with a prayer to God. One stick fell at once with its
+flat side uppermost. The other rolled over and over until it rested
+almost at the Buddha's feet. At last it trembled, half turned over, then
+stopped. It, like the other, gave the favorable sign. I was saved. In
+the sudden relief from the nervous tension I almost fell, but the
+Chinamen, cheated of their revenge, gave me no time for any such
+exhibitions of emotion. McQuade and I were seized, and in a few moments
+our arms were tightly bound behind us, and heavy bags similar to the one
+I had worn were placed over our heads. We were then roughly hurried
+through a series of rooms, once crossing what seemed to be a brick-paved
+court, which was undoubtedly in the open air, from the sudden change of
+temperature I experienced; then for an interminable distance through
+what seemed to be dark, narrow lanes and muddy streets, until at last
+our hoods were removed, our feet bound, and we were thrown into a
+narrow area way, some cotton waste being jammed into each of our mouths
+to prevent our making any outcry. Here we were discovered at daybreak,
+some four or five hours later, nearly frozen to death, by a watchman,
+who released us from our bonds and, upon hearing from Sergeant McQuade
+who he was, hastened to find us a cab.
+
+Our first step after it came was to drive to the nearest public house
+and get each a steaming drink of hot brandy, after which we ate a hasty
+breakfast. The detective, who seemed thoughtful and little inclined to
+talk, then drove at once to Number 30, Kingsgate Street, and, finding
+his two men still on duty, ordered them to enter the house. The bell was
+first rung several times without any response, and then McQuade and his
+men burst in the door. There were no lights within, and, when the
+long-closed shutters were at last forced open, it was seen at once that
+the house was completely unfurnished. We descended into the cellar, but
+found no signs of occupancy anywhere. The place had evidently been long
+closed. McQuade looked about in perplexity. Evidently there was a tunnel
+somewhere, leading from this house to some other in the neighborhood, or
+else the Chinamen had boldly carried us out through the backyard and
+into some house adjoining. The Sergeant explained the case to his men,
+ordered them to return to Scotland Yard, obtain a relief and investigate
+every house in the block, and even those on the opposite side of the
+street, since a tunnel might as well have led in that direction as any
+other. Personally I felt no great interest in the capture of the
+Chinamen. They had the emerald Buddha, it is true, but they had a better
+right to it than ever Ashton had, I fancy, and, now that he was dead, it
+seemed useless to bring trouble upon his relatives, in case he had any,
+by placing in their hands so dangerous an article. I was infinitely
+more concerned in determining who was responsible for Robert Ashton's
+death, and I could not see that the events of the evening had thrown
+much light upon it. I left McQuade and returned to my studio, agreeing
+to meet him there at three the same afternoon, and return to The Oaks
+with him. Just why he intended returning there, or why he wished me to
+accompany him, I did not then see, but I was only too glad of an
+opportunity again to see Miss Temple. The detective seemed especially
+serious and taciturn, and, in reply to my questions as to the two
+Chinamen from Exeter, he informed me that they knew nothing of the
+matter and had been discharged. I went back to my studio in rather an
+unpleasant frame of mind, took a hot bath, and slept until luncheon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+INSPECTOR BURNS' CONCLUSIONS
+
+
+I was sitting in my studio, at about half-past two that afternoon,
+awaiting McQuade's arrival, when a messenger boy dashed up to my door
+and handed me a telegram. I examined the pink slip with some curiosity,
+but no great interest, when, glancing, as is my habit, at the signature
+first, I was astounded to see that it was from Miss Temple. It was as
+follows:
+
+     "Police have discovered weapon in your room wrapped in your
+     handkerchief.
+
+                                          "MURIEL TEMPLE."
+
+So strong is the consciousness of innocence that even after reading this
+telegram I had no thought of what this new discovery might portend to
+me. It was strange, I thought, that I had forgotten the thing. But I
+remembered now that, when I first found it, Sergeant McQuade was in
+Exeter, and, when he returned, the entire evening until a late hour was
+taken up with Major Temple's account of his and Ashton's adventures in
+China. The next morning the coroner's inquest occupied all my thoughts,
+and then came Li Min's arrest and our hurried departure for London.
+Since then, I had had no opportunity to converse at any length with the
+detective. I laid the telegram open upon the table, thinking that, if
+the Scotland Yard man did not already know of the discovery, I would be
+able to inform him of it on his arrival.
+
+He came on the stroke of three, and with him was a burly, deep-chested,
+ruddy-faced man, with twinkling eyes and iron-gray whiskers, whom he
+introduced to me as Inspector Burns, of Scotland Yard. I bade them be
+seated, and offered cigars, which they refused. Both seemed a trifle
+constrained, I thought. The Sergeant began the conversation.
+
+"I have brought Inspector Burns with me," he said, slowly; "he wants to
+ask you a few questions."
+
+I turned to the Inspector and smiled. I was quite ready to answer any
+questions that he might care to ask, and I so informed him.
+
+"Mr. Morgan," he began, "about that cake of soap which, as the events of
+last night showed, contained the missing jewel cleverly hidden within
+it. Will you be so good as to tell Sergeant McQuade and myself how it
+happened to be in your possession?"
+
+"Certainly," I replied, without hesitation. "I was in my room at Major
+Temple's house yesterday morning, and I heard someone moving about in
+the green room in which Mr. Ashton was killed. You are no doubt aware
+that the doors of the two rooms are directly opposite each other?"
+
+"I know that," he replied, gravely.
+
+"I saw, by looking into the mirror on my dresser, that the person in the
+other room was Major Temple's Chinese servant, Li Min. He seemed to me
+to be acting very suspiciously."
+
+"What was he doing?" inquired the Inspector, with a look at Sergeant
+McQuade.
+
+"Apparently he was searching the room for something--I could not, of
+course, tell what. I left my room and came upon him suddenly, whereupon
+he pretended to be busily engaged in setting the room to rights. I had
+noticed, immediately upon entering the room, a strong odor of perfume, a
+queer, Oriental perfume that at once attracted my attention, because--"
+I hesitated.
+
+"Because of what?" asked the Inspector shortly.
+
+"Because it was the same as that upon the handkerchief which Miss Temple
+had left in the room upon her visit there the night before, and which
+was found there by Sergeant McQuade the next day."
+
+"What importance did you attach to that fact?"
+
+"I do not know--I cannot say. There seems no explanation of the matter.
+But, at the time of which I speak, it struck me as being peculiar--I
+looked about and found that the perfume came from a cake of soap upon
+the washstand, near which I stood. It had evidently been left there by
+Mr. Ashton, and, being so natural and usual an object, must have been
+overlooked by the police when the room was searched."
+
+"Why did you remove it?"
+
+"Because I wished a means of identifying the perfume. I felt then, and
+still feel, that there was some intimate and unusual reason for the
+presence of that perfume upon Miss Temple's handkerchief."
+
+"Mr. Morgan, why, since you were pretending to assist Sergeant McQuade
+by every means in your power to secure the missing jewel, and apprehend
+Mr. Ashton's murderer, did you fail to disclose to him the facts that
+you have just related?" The Inspector's manner was increasingly
+uncompromising. "Did you have any reason to suspect that the jewel was
+hidden in the cake of soap?"
+
+"None whatever. I did not mention the matter to the Sergeant because it
+seemed too vague and unimportant--it indicated nothing."
+
+The Inspector frowned. "Of that you were perhaps not the best judge. You
+committed a grave error. I dislike to imply that it might have been
+anything worse." He glanced at a notebook he held in his hand. I began
+to feel indignant at the tone and manner in which he was conducting his
+cross-questioning.
+
+"Is it not true, Mr. Morgan," he asked suddenly, "that Miss Temple was
+violently opposed to any marriage with Mr. Ashton, and that either his
+death, or the abstracting of the jewel which was to have been the price
+paid by him for her hand, would have been of great benefit to her?"
+
+"Miss Temple could have no hand in such an affair. It is preposterous!"
+I cried angrily.
+
+"I do not imply that she could, or would." The Inspector was
+irritatingly calm. "I merely asked you if such an event or events would
+not have been to her benefit?"
+
+"I suppose they would," I answered, sulkily, "if you put it that way."
+
+"Did not Miss Temple ask you to assist her in preventing this marriage,
+Mr. Morgan, the night before the tragedy, and did you not promise to
+help her in every way in your power?"
+
+"This is absurd," I cried, now thoroughly angry. "You will be accusing
+me of murdering Mr. Ashton next."
+
+"So long as we have not done so, Mr. Morgan, you need not accuse
+yourself. We only know, so far, that the jewel for which Mr. Ashton was
+murdered has been found in your possession."
+
+The significant way in which he uttered these words thrilled me with a
+vague sense of alarm. There upon the table, before Sergeant McQuade, lay
+Miss Temple's telegram. It was open, and I felt sure he had already read
+it. My mind seemed confused--my brain on fire. The Inspector turned to
+McQuade. "Sergeant," he said, "you have the handkerchief in question
+with you, I believe?"
+
+McQuade nodded, then drew from his pocket a leather wallet, and,
+extracting the folded handkerchief from its recesses, spread it
+carefully upon the table. He then produced a magnifying glass from one
+of his pockets and requested me to examine the surface of the bit of
+cambric and lace. I did so, and observed that it was covered with minute
+particles of some green substances, some very small, others of
+considerable size. I did not at first realize what they were.
+
+"Do you see anything?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "The handkerchief is full of fine green specks, but I
+cannot imagine what they are."
+
+"They are bits of soap, Mr. Morgan," said the detective, as he folded up
+the handkerchief and replaced it in his wallet.
+
+"Soap," I cried, more than ever mystified.
+
+"Exactly!" The Inspector looked at me keenly. "Has it not occurred to
+you, Mr. Morgan, that in order to place the jewel inside the cake of
+soap, it was first necessary to cut it in two, and hollow out a space in
+the interior? Is it not also quite evident that anyone so hiding the
+jewel would perform this operation very carefully, so as to leave behind
+no traces, and that the bits of soap removed from the interior of the
+cake must have been carefully collected upon some object, this
+handkerchief, for instance, and subsequently thrown away, leaving the
+minute particles that you see still clinging to its surface?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, dazed. "But who?"
+
+"That, Mr. Morgan, is just what we are trying to find out. It hardly
+seems likely that Mr. Ashton would have gone to all this trouble,
+although it is possible, since he had reason, after his quarrel with
+Major Temple, to fear an attempt to gain possession of the jewel. If he
+did, how does it happen that he used Miss Temple's handkerchief for the
+purpose? He may of course have found it upon the floor and so utilized
+it, but it seems unlikely."
+
+"What, then, seems more likely?" I asked, hotly. "Would the murderer
+have gone to all that trouble to get the stone, and then have left it
+behind?"
+
+"Possibly, Mr. Morgan, to have been recovered at leisure--as you,
+indeed, happened to recover it. Such a jewel would not be a good thing
+to have in one's possession, immediately after the murder."
+
+"But the operation of hiding the stone in the soap would have taken
+fifteen or twenty minutes at least," I objected, "and we burst in the
+door within less than ten minutes from the time Mr. Ashton's cry was
+heard."
+
+"The alarm was given by you, Mr. Morgan. You alone heard Mr. Ashton's
+cry. Whether you heard it at six o'clock, or five, or four, rests upon
+your word alone. We do not accuse you, remember, we are trying to arrive
+at the truth. We do not imply that you hid the jewel any more than we
+imply that Miss Temple did so herself, and left her handkerchief behind
+as a mute witness of the fact. We do know that somebody did so, and the
+facts we have just stated, coupled with Miss Temple's refusal to explain
+her early expedition from the house that morning, all point to something
+we do not yet understand. With Miss Temple and yourself working
+together, much seems explainable that before seemed dark and
+mysterious. Even the closing of the window from within the green room
+may be explained, upon this hypothesis, for you had ample time to close
+it while Major Temple was examining Mr. Ashton's belongings in his
+frenzied search for the lost emerald. We are convinced of one thing:
+that the Chinaman did not commit the murder, for, had he done so, he
+would have taken the stone along with him, since that was the sole
+purpose he had in view."
+
+"I do not agree with you there," I said. "Mr. Ashton may have hidden the
+jewel himself, and then the Chinaman, after committing the murder, may
+have been unable to find it. That would account for Li Min's subsequent
+search of the room, and his confederates' actions when they began to
+suspect, as Li Min no doubt did when he saw me remove the cake of soap,
+that the emerald was hidden within it."
+
+"You are right in what you say, Mr. Morgan, if Mr. Ashton hid the jewel
+himself. But the subsequent actions of Li Min and his confederates are
+equally explainable upon the theory that they had nothing to do with the
+murder whatever, and were merely attempting to steal the jewel at the
+first opportunity."
+
+I made no reply. They seemed to be weaving a net of circumstantial
+evidence about me that, try as I would, I did not seem able to break
+through.
+
+"We have alluded," continued the Inspector, "to your sympathy with Miss
+Temple, to the use of her handkerchief to hold the bits of soap, to the
+fact that you alone heard Mr. Ashton's cry and alarmed the house, to
+your presence in the murdered man's room at a time when you could
+readily have bolted the window from within, to your strange failure to
+mention the matter of the cake of soap to Sergeant McQuade, and to the
+fact that the jewel was found in your possession. We now come to another
+curious fact, which we trust you may be able to explain satisfactorily.
+The weapon with which this murder was apparently committed was found
+this morning, locked in a drawer in the room you occupied at Major
+Temple's house. It was wrapped in a handkerchief marked with your
+initials. Can you tell us how it came to be there?"
+
+I turned to the Inspector with a bitter laugh. "I can tell you," I
+replied, "but, I presume, you will not believe me. I put the weapon,
+which was a brass-headed poker, there myself. I found it on the lawn
+outside of Mr. Ashton's window, the day before yesterday."
+
+"Why did you also conceal this important piece of evidence from Sergeant
+McQuade?" demanded the Inspector in a stern voice.
+
+I felt like a fool, and looked like one, as well, I fear. "I forgot it,"
+I mumbled in confusion.
+
+"You forgot it!" The Inspector believed that I was lying, and showed
+it. "Can you expect a sane man to believe any such folly as that?"
+
+"Folly, or not," I replied, "it is the truth. I found the poker the day
+before yesterday, late in the afternoon. I intended to show it privately
+to Sergeant McQuade. He was in Exeter at the time and I placed it in the
+drawer for safe keeping. When he returned that evening, it was just in
+time to listen to Major Temple's story of his experiences in China, and,
+when he had finished, it was close to midnight and the matter had
+completely slipped my mind. The inquest the following morning took my
+entire attention and, after that, the sudden arrest of Li Min, and our
+departure for London. You know what has occurred since. I had forgotten
+the matter completely until I received this telegram from Miss Temple
+not half an hour before you came." I took the dispatch from the table
+and handed it to the Inspector, who read it with interest.
+
+"Why did Miss Temple send you this?" he inquired suddenly.
+
+"I do not know--I suppose she thought it would be of interest to me."
+
+"Did it not occur to you that it might be in the nature of a warning?"
+
+Again I saw a chasm yawning before me. Every step in this miserable
+affair seemed to make matters look blacker and more sinister as far as I
+was concerned.
+
+"Miss Temple has no reason to suspect me of any part in the matter," I
+replied. "Do you think it at all likely that, if I had committed the
+murder, I could have left such damning evidence as the weapon where the
+police would have been certain to discover it, and wrapped in my own
+handkerchief, to render my detection the easier? What is your theory of
+the crime, Inspector Burns, upon the present evidence? Reconstruct the
+events of that night as you think they might have occurred. I will not
+take it to heart if you do me any injustice, for I am as innocent of
+any complicity in Mr. Ashton's murder as you are."
+
+The Inspector seemed impressed by my words and manner. He looked at
+Sergeant McQuade, who nodded slightly. Then he transferred his gaze to
+me. "I have no objection, Mr. Morgan, to outlining a theory of the
+murder which seems to me to fit the facts as we know them. It may or may
+not be correct, but it is my plan to work out whatever theory will most
+nearly fit all the facts in my possession, and then test it from every
+standpoint until it either fails, or is proven true. I shall be obliged
+to you if you will indicate, when I have finished, any points which seem
+to you not to coincide with such evidence as we now have before us.
+
+"Miss Temple," began the Inspector, "knew that Ashton had her letter in
+which she agreed to marry him in his possession, and she also knew that,
+if Ashton delivered the emerald to her father in the morning, she would
+be compelled to keep her word. She detested Ashton--the thought of
+marriage with him was unbearable to her. She retired to her room, but
+could not sleep. At some hour later, possibly shortly after midnight, as
+she says, she went to Mr. Ashton's room, and was admitted by him. She
+begged for the letter--he refused--a violent altercation ensued--in her
+rage she grasped the poker, and struck him with it. He fell, but she
+found, by feeling his heart, that he was not dead. She believed that she
+had only stunned him, and set to work to secure the jewel. After
+removing it from the case, she feared to take it from the room. She had
+no wish to steal it, but only to prevent Mr. Ashton from making use of
+it. She hit upon the plan of hiding it in the cake of soap. In half an
+hour the thing was done, and the pieces, collected upon her
+handkerchief, thrown out of the window. She then set about leaving the
+room, but, on again feeling Mr. Ashton's heart, she found it very weak.
+She feared the result of her blow. To destroy the evidence of what she
+had done, she threw the poker out of the window into the grass, and
+hurriedly left the room, forgetting the handkerchief in her agitation as
+she did so. She returned to her room, but was doubtless unable to sleep,
+in terror at her act. Toward morning she decided to leave the house and
+flee, and, with this object in view, changed her clothes and shoes, but
+once more went to Mr. Ashton's room, to assure herself that he no longer
+lived. In doing this, she awoke you, either by accident or design. You
+heard her story, she threw herself upon your mercy, and you agreed to
+stand by her; you advised her against running away, but suggested that
+she go down and get the poker, which she had thrown from the window, in
+order that it might be replaced in the room, or otherwise disposed of.
+This she did. You meanwhile entered the room, bolted the door on the
+inside, and left by the window. It is probable that you examined the
+body while in the room, and, unknown to yourself, your hand became
+stained with blood. On reaching the roof, you rested it upon the sill
+while closing the window with the other hand. You then re-entered the
+house by the hall window, meeting Miss Temple, who had secured the
+poker, and taking it from her. You placed it in your room, meanwhile
+urging her to retire to hers and change her dress and shoes. A little
+later you aroused the house with your cries and, upon entering the room,
+rebolted the window while Major Temple was not observing you. You later
+secured the cake of soap containing the jewel, as we know. You no doubt
+intended to replace the poker in the room at the first opportunity. None
+had occurred up to the time of your leaving the house, for the room was
+kept locked by the police until after the inquest. You entered it once,
+just before your departure, and secured the jewel, but Li Min's
+presence prevented you from replacing the poker."
+
+As the Inspector concluded, he glanced at me triumphantly, as who should
+say--dispute it, if you can.
+
+I laughed, though with little mirth. The Inspector seemed so
+convincingly right, and was so hopelessly wrong. "Why don't you simply
+say that I killed Ashton, and put the weapon in my dresser, and leave
+Miss Temple out of it entirely?" I said. "It's equally plausible."
+
+"Possibly so, although that would account for neither the handkerchief,
+nor Miss Temple's leaving the house that morning."
+
+"She has already accounted for the one: she can readily do so for the
+other," I replied.
+
+"That we shall see," said the Inspector, rising from his chair. "We will
+go to Exeter at once, and question Miss Temple."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MISS TEMPLE'S DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+We arrived at Exeter at some time after eight in the evening, and it was
+close to nine before we made our appearance at The Oaks. Inspector Burns
+and his companion had left me to myself on the trip down, and I occupied
+my time with smoking and turning over in my mind the curious events of
+the past forty-eight hours. I had no serious apprehension of any trouble
+coming out of the matter to either Miss Temple or myself. I knew that
+the Inspector's theory was a tissue of errors, although the facts, as he
+stated them, did seem to fit in with his conclusions to an almost
+uncanny extent. It was true I had agreed to stand by Miss Temple and
+help her in her trouble. Our conversation on the night of the murder
+had, I presumed, been overheard by one of the servants, from whom it had
+been wormed by McQuade's men during my absence. I began to believe that
+his willingness to have me accompany him to London was not entirely
+disinterested. But the thought that Muriel Temple could have delivered
+the blow that sent Robert Ashton to his death was preposterous. I knew
+that I was prejudiced in her favor, for her lovely face had scarce been
+out of my thoughts for a moment, since our first meeting. I knew that I
+had come to love her, that nothing could ever change it, and I realized
+that but two real bits of evidence connected her with Ashton's
+death--one, the presence of her handkerchief in the room and the curious
+use to which it had been put; the other, her early morning expedition
+from the house and her sudden return. The former she had explained, at
+least to my satisfaction, but the latter was still a mystery. If she
+would but explain that, I felt sure that Inspector Burns' theory would
+fall to the ground like a house of cards. Why she refused to do so, I
+could not imagine--that she had some strong compelling reason, I felt
+sure. She had told me that she went out that morning, with the intention
+of going away and thus escaping the inevitable promise, which she knew
+her father would insist upon her ratifying, to Ashton. She got only as
+far as the end of the west wing, and hastily returned. Why?--that was
+the question. Did she see anyone on the roof--and, if so, whom? Someone
+she felt she must shield at any cost--there could be but one--her
+father. Had she then seen him there? Did she think for a moment that he
+had anything to do with Mr. Ashton's death? I could not believe that
+even for her father's sake she would allow an innocent person to be
+accused.
+
+We drove up to Major Temple's door at about nine o'clock. It was quite
+dark, and very cold. The house showed few lights, and it was some time
+before we were admitted by Gibson, the man who, with myself, had broken
+in Mr. Ashton's door. He ushered us into the library, where Major Temple
+sat smoking. I could see that he was suffering deeply. The affair of Mr.
+Ashton's death had told upon him, and he seemed nervous and constrained.
+He greeted us pleasantly enough, however, shook hands with the
+Inspector, and requested us to be seated. Sergeant McQuade, however,
+announced that we had come on business of importance, and that Inspector
+Burns desired to ask Miss Temple a few questions. Before doing so,
+however, he requested the Major to conduct us to the scene of the
+murder, which Inspector Burns had, of course, not had an opportunity, as
+yet, to examine. The Major rose. "My daughter has retired, I fancy," he
+said. "I have not seen her since dinner, but I will send her word." He
+summoned one of the maids and requested her to inform Miss Temple of
+our wishes, and then led the way to the green room. We were quite a
+party. The Major led the way with Inspector Burns, and I followed with
+McQuade, Major Temple's powerful mastiff, Boris, bringing up the rear.
+We first entered the room which I had occupied, McQuade using the key
+which he had obtained from the officer who had discovered the supposed
+weapon in my dresser drawer. The drawer was soon unlocked, and there lay
+the wretched poker wrapped in my handkerchief, just as I had left it.
+Inspector Burns took it up, examined it carefully then brandished it as
+though in the act of delivering a heavy blow. "Hardly heavy enough, I
+should think, to fracture a man's skull," he muttered, as he replaced it
+in the drawer. "It is evidently the upper half of a long poker which has
+been broken off." He turned to Major Temple. "What do you know about
+this thing?" he inquired.
+
+The Major looked puzzled. He had not seen the weapon before. I imagine
+the police had guarded its discovery carefully, and I wondered how Miss
+Temple came to know of it, in order to notify me.
+
+"It is, as you say, half of an old poker," he replied. "It was used
+originally in the lower hall, and the lower end was burnt through, owing
+to its having been carelessly left in the fire one night. I gave it to
+the gardener. He wanted it to use as a stake in laying out his flower
+beds, and running the edges of the paths and roads while trimming the
+turf. He had a long cord, and a wooden stake for the other end. It has
+been roughly ground to a point, as you see, so that it might be readily
+thrust into the earth. The last time I saw it, he was using it upon the
+pathways about the house."
+
+"Then it was not in the green room?" asked the Inspector in an
+aggrieved tone. He saw that his theory would already require some
+readjustments.
+
+"Never, to my knowledge," said Major Temple. "There is no fireplace in
+that room, and it would have been of no use there."
+
+The Inspector closed the drawer with a slam. "Then, if this was the
+weapon the murderer used," he said, rather lamely, "he must have taken
+it along with him. Let us have a look at the room."
+
+We all adjourned to the green room, which the detective unlocked, and
+the Inspector went over the ground, as McQuade and I had done before
+him, without discovering anything new. The dark-brown spot upon the
+green carpet, which marked the place where the murdered man's head had
+rested, was still plainly visible, a grewsome reminder of the terrible
+tragedy which had been enacted there, but all else seemed ordinary and
+commonplace enough. The dog seemed strangely oppressed by the
+surroundings and, after sniffing about nervously with a low whine,
+crawled under the bed and lay quiet. We spent but a few minutes in the
+room and were just on the point of leaving, when the maid rushed in and,
+calling Major Temple aside, addressed a few low words to him, apparently
+in great agitation, at the same time handing him a sealed envelope. The
+Major took it from her, passed his hand nervously over his forehead, and
+turned to us. "Gentlemen," he said, in a frightened sort of a voice,
+"Miss Temple cannot be found."
+
+We all turned toward him in intense surprise. "What does this mean?"
+asked the Inspector. "Where is she?"
+
+"She has disappeared," replied the Major, as we hurriedly left the room,
+McQuade locking the door carefully after him. "Her maid tells me that
+she has searched everywhere for her, and she cannot be found. This
+note, addressed to me, was lying upon her writing desk."
+
+"Read it," commanded the Inspector, as we all hastily adjourned to the
+library.
+
+Major Temple opened the letter with trembling fingers. My own agitation
+at this new development was equally great.
+
+He glanced hurriedly through its contents, his face ashen, his lips
+blue, then read aloud as follows:
+
+     "_My Dear Father:_
+
+     "I am going to London to see Mr. Morgan. They suspect him of the
+     murder. I overheard the police talking about it this morning. I do
+     not know what to do. I cannot let an innocent person suffer. It may
+     be better for me to remain away altogether. If I must speak I can
+     only ask for forgiveness.
+
+                                                      "MURIEL."
+
+If the earth had opened up and engulfed me, I could not have been more
+astounded than I was when Major Temple finished reading this strange
+letter. What on earth had she gone to London to see me for? The poor
+girl, I felt sure, was laboring under some terrible misapprehension. I,
+for one, had no fear of anything she could say. I glanced at her father.
+He seemed shrunken and old, his head bowed upon his breast. Could he--?
+I refused to think. Yet he either feared for himself, or--God help
+me!--for her. No other emotion, no consideration for anyone else, could
+have so terribly affected him. The note plainly enough meant that Miss
+Temple knew who had murdered Mr. Ashton, and she knew that it was not I.
+But would the police so regard it? I looked at the cold, accusing faces
+of the two Scotland Yard men and groaned inwardly. In a moment the
+Inspector spoke. "Have you a telephone in the house, Major Temple?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes," answered the Major, rousing himself from his lethargy. "In the
+hall, near the foot of the staircase."
+
+The Inspector nodded to McQuade, who arose without a word and left the
+room. I knew that Muriel had not yet had time to reach London, that,
+when she did so, it would be to step into the arms of an officer. The
+net was fast closing about someone, but about whom I could not yet see.
+I was lost in a maze of conflicting thoughts.
+
+"Mr. Morgan, have you anything to say in explanation of this letter?" I
+heard Major Temple asking me. His voice came to me as from afar off. I
+looked up and shook off my growing fears.
+
+"Miss Temple writes as though she believed you would understand what she
+means," I replied. "I certainly do not."
+
+"I!" cried the Major. "It's absolute nonsense to me. Why should she want
+to see you, unless you understood something between you? What does she
+know, that she should speak, and for what does she seek for
+forgiveness?" He threw up his hands in absolute dismay. If this were
+acting, I thought, it could not be better done by the most renowned
+actor on the boards.
+
+"You remember, Major Temple, that your daughter refused to tell what it
+was she saw, or what happened, that caused her to return to the house so
+suddenly that morning. I advised her to speak--she refused. Had she come
+to me to-night, I should have given her the same advice as before.
+Nothing that she can say would harm me."
+
+"Nor me," retorted Major Temple.
+
+"Then whom, in Heaven's name?" I cried, speaking my thoughts aloud.
+
+"You have heard my theory of the murder, Mr. Morgan," said the
+Inspector, coldly. "Why not herself? The note is plain enough. She will
+speak--she will confess and accuse herself before she will allow you to
+bear the penalty of her crime."
+
+"Her crime!" Major Temple was on his feet in an instant, his eyes
+blazing. "Your words are ill chosen, sir." Poor man, he did not know of
+the damning circumstances which the Inspector had so cleverly woven into
+his accusing theory.
+
+"Not at all, Major Temple," replied the imperturbable Inspector.
+"Sergeant McQuade is at present ordering the arrest of your daughter.
+She will be apprehended as soon as she arrives in London, and we will
+hear her story at the Magistrate's hearing to-morrow."
+
+"But," I cried, in consternation, "this is ridiculous. Don't you see
+that--?"
+
+"Mr. Morgan, the time has come for the truth. It is my painful duty to
+place you under arrest."
+
+"On what charge?" I demanded hotly.
+
+"For complicity in Robert Ashton's murder," he replied, and placed his
+hand upon my shoulder.
+
+I spent a dreary enough night, nor was I able to close my eyes in sleep.
+I sat up in the library through the long hours, sometimes talking with
+McQuade, who dozed upon a couch, but for the most part engaged in
+interminably revolving in my mind the maddening problem of Robert
+Ashton's death. I had begun to regard it as almost supernatural in its
+mysterious and devious phases. I thought of all the detective stories I
+had ever read and tried to piece out some points of resemblance, some
+similar events, which would serve as a starting point for a solution,
+but I could find none. In all these cases, the various clews led
+somewhere, but here they led to nothingness. There remained but Miss
+Temple's story, and that, like all the rest, I feared would fail to
+prove a solution of the mystery. That she herself was guilty and that
+her story would be in the nature of a confession, I refused to consider.
+I loved her and I could no more believe her guilty than I could have
+believed myself so; yet I could not help remembering the advice of the
+witty Frenchman: _cherchez la femme_--seek the woman. The thing seemed
+monstrous, yet it persisted all through the long night.
+
+I must have dozed, toward morning, for I dreamed that I was alone upon a
+wide field of ice, running madly forward toward a dim light that
+constantly receded as I approached it, and followed by a pack of hungry
+wolves. Their yelps and cries filled me with dread. I awoke trembling,
+and listened. Far off I heard the mournful howling of a dog, a series of
+low, unearthly howls, that would die slowly away only to be once more
+repeated. It seemed like the moaning of an animal in great pain.
+Presently, as I listened, there came a great yelp, and thereafter
+silence. After this I slept. About seven o'clock coffee was brought to
+us, and a little later we set out for the town.
+
+We walked in, and did the short distance in less than twenty minutes. On
+arrival, we went at once to the headquarters of the police, where I
+made my first acquaintance with the interior of a cell. McQuade informed
+me that I would be taken before the Magistrate for a hearing at ten
+o'clock, and suggested that I had better employ counsel, but this I
+refused to do. I had made up my mind to tell the whole story as simply
+and exactly as I could and trust to the plain, unvarnished truth to see
+me out of my difficulties. I asked the detective upon our arrival if he
+had received any word regarding Miss Temple, and he told me that she
+would arrive during the forenoon. Major Temple and the servants were to
+come into the town a little later, in time for the hearing, at which
+they would be wanted as witnesses. I secured a morning paper and
+resigned myself to a tedious wait of somewhat over two hours. I was
+strangely calm and self-possessed. The ordeal through which I was about
+to pass seemed to give me but slight concern. But for Miss Temple I
+feared greatly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MISS TEMPLE'S TESTIMONY
+
+
+The police court at Exeter was situated in an old building, and the
+Magistrate's room was small and cold. When I was led forth and placed in
+the dock, I felt at first confused and gazed at the crowded benches
+before me with a dull sense of annoyance. Presently I made out the
+troubled, white face of Major Temple, sitting near the rear of the room,
+and behind him Gibson and two of the other servants. The remainder of
+the persons in the room were strangers to me, drawn thither, no doubt,
+by the merest curiosity. I looked up at the Magistrate and found him to
+be a little, red-faced man, with a stern, but not unkind, face--a man,
+evidently, who had seen so much of human guilt and suffering that the
+edge of his sympathies had been worn off and replaced with a patient
+cynicism. The usual questions as to my name, age, residence and
+occupation were asked, and then the real business of the hearing began.
+The finding of the coroner's inquest was first read, and then Major
+Temple was placed upon the witness stand. The old gentleman looked more
+shrunken and old than ever. His face was yellow, his eyes hollow and
+heavy from want of sleep, his hands trembling with excitement. I could
+well understand his agitation. His daughter, even now under arrest, was
+hurrying to Exeter to undergo that most terrible of all ordeals, a
+hearing on a charge of murder. Whether or not her story would end in a
+confession, no one knew; that she had something of the greatest import
+to tell, her letter indicated. All these thoughts must have crowded
+through her poor father's mind as he took his seat and made oath to tell
+the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Magistrate
+began his examination with characteristic incisiveness.
+
+"Major Temple," he said, "you are here as a witness in the case of Mr.
+Owen Morgan, charged with complicity in the murder of Robert Ashton."
+
+The Major bowed, but remained silent.
+
+"When did you first meet Mr. Morgan?"
+
+"The night he first came to my house, five days ago."
+
+"Never saw him before?"
+
+"Never. Mr. Ashton offered him a place in his motor, on his way to my
+house. On account of the storm, he stopped there and remained over
+night."
+
+"It is supposed that this murder had as a motive the securing of a
+valuable emerald in Mr. Ashton's possession. When Mr. Ashton first
+exhibited it to you, was Mr. Morgan present?"
+
+"He was."
+
+"Did he know the value of the jewel?"
+
+"I do not know. I think the matter was mentioned at the table."
+
+"You had agreed to give your daughter's hand in marriage to Mr. Ashton,
+in return for obtaining for you this jewel. Is that true?"
+
+"Yes," the Major faltered.
+
+"Was your daughter opposed to this arrangement?"
+
+"She was."
+
+"And you insisted upon it?"
+
+"I had given my word as a gentleman."
+
+"The securing of the jewel, then, from Mr. Ashton would have released
+her from the arrangement?"
+
+"If Mr. Ashton had not had it, he could not have carried out his
+agreement, of course."
+
+"At what time did you retire on the night of the murder?"
+
+"Shortly before midnight."
+
+"After Mr. Ashton?"
+
+"Yes--I saw him to his room."
+
+"After that you retired at once?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you wake during the night?"
+
+"Not until I was aroused by Mr. Morgan's cries--about daybreak, or a
+little before."
+
+"Was it light?"
+
+"Hardly--it was just before sunrise."
+
+"You did not leave your room, from the time you retired, until you heard
+Mr. Morgan's cries?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What did you do then?"
+
+"I threw on some clothing and ran along the hall into the west wing. I
+sleep at the other end of the house in the east wing. When I arrived at
+Mr. Ashton's door, Mr. Morgan was trying to open it. My man, Gibson, who
+also heard the cries, came along, followed by one of the maids."
+
+"Did your daughter join you?"
+
+"Yes, almost immediately."
+
+"How was she dressed?"
+
+"She wore a dressing gown and slippers."
+
+"You heard no other cries but Mr. Morgan's?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What happened then?"
+
+"Mr. Morgan and Gibson broke open the door, which was bolted. The maid
+brought a candle. I ordered my daughter to retire. Mr. Morgan and I
+entered the room with the candle and closed the door. We found Mr.
+Ashton on the floor dead."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I began to search for the emerald Buddha."
+
+"What did Mr. Morgan do?"
+
+"He first examined the body of the dead man, and then went to the
+windows and examined the fastenings."
+
+"Did he close or open the windows or fastenings?"
+
+"I do not know. I paid little attention to him. I was greatly excited
+about the loss of the jewel."
+
+"Could he have fastened the window without your knowing it?"
+
+"I suppose he could--I paid little attention to him."
+
+"What happened then?"
+
+"After our examination of the room we closed and locked the door. We
+then had some coffee, after which Mr. Morgan went into Exeter and
+notified the police."
+
+"Major Temple, there is a window at the end of the hallway in the west
+wing, which opens on to the roof over the porch. Is this window usually
+bolted?"
+
+"Always. I generally see to it myself. I have a valuable collection and
+am afraid of thieves."
+
+"Did you do so that night?"
+
+"I did. I saw that it was bolted after seeing Mr. Ashton to his room and
+before retiring to my own."
+
+This comprised the bulk of Major Temple's testimony. There were some
+other questions, but they were of little or no importance so far as
+throwing any light upon the case was concerned.
+
+Major Temple was followed by Gibson, who corroborated all that his
+master had said, and similar testimony was given by the maid. There
+was a feature of the latter's testimony, however, which bore more
+directly upon the case and my supposed connection with it. She had
+been, it seems, on the landing of the main stairway, sitting upon a
+window seat, after dinner, waiting for Miss Temple to come upstairs.
+It was her habit to sit there, she said, while waiting for Miss
+Temple. In this position she was almost directly above the latter and
+myself during the conversation we had had immediately after dinner on
+the night of the tragedy. She testified that she could not hear all
+our conversation--that she made no attempt to do so, as she was not an
+eavesdropper--but that she had heard Miss Temple say in a loud and
+agitated voice that she would "never marry Robert Ashton, never," and
+ask me to help her, and that I had replied that she could depend upon
+me absolutely. Immediately after this her mistress had come upstairs
+and gone to her room.
+
+"Did you accompany her to her room?" asked the Magistrate.
+
+"No, sir. She told me as how she intended to read until quite late, Sir,
+and that I could go to bed at once, as she would not require my
+assistance."
+
+"Was this unusual?"
+
+"It was, a bit, Sir. I 'most always helped her to undress, Sir."
+
+"And you went to your room at once?"
+
+"Yes, Sir. I did, Sir, and to sleep, Sir."
+
+"How were you awakened?"
+
+"I heard someone crying 'Help! Help!' I threw on some clothes as quick
+as I could, Sir, and ran out into the hall. Then I seen the Master run
+into the hallway of the west wing, and Gibson after him, and I follows
+them. After that, Sir, I went for a candle."
+
+The testimony of the other servants was similar to that of Gibson and
+the maid. They had heard someone crying for help, and had rushed into
+the hall.
+
+Sergeant McQuade's testimony was in some ways the most interesting of
+all. I began to see that this astute gentleman had by no means been as
+frank with me as I had been with him, and had made a number of little
+discoveries of which I had no knowledge up to now. He testified to
+finding Miss Temple's handkerchief in Mr. Ashton's room on the morning
+of the murder. He testified to finding the window at the end of the
+hallway unbolted. He produced photographs and measurements of the bloody
+handprint found upon Mr. Ashton's window sill and compared them with
+measurements made of my own hands earlier in the day. It appeared that,
+while the handprint was small, it could readily have been made by my
+hand, which, like that of most artists, is rather below medium size. He
+testified that he found similar marks of blood upon the window sill of
+the hall window, pointing inward, also scratches in the paint evidently
+made by someone climbing through the window from without. He testified
+to finding footprints upon the porch roof, made by someone either
+wearing soft slippers or in their stocking feet. These prints were made
+in the thin wet mold which covered the surface of the roof. He found
+traces of this mold on the white window sill of the hall window, and
+traced prints of it upon the polished floor of the hallway, from the
+window as far as the doorway of my room. He could not find any prints of
+this nature within my room, nor could he say that the person making them
+did not go beyond my room, but only that the footprints could not be
+traced beyond my door. The walking of many feet in the hallway between
+Mr. Ashton's door and mine had obliterated the marks and prevented his
+tracing them beyond that point, if they had indeed gone beyond it. They
+were small footprints, and somewhat indistinct, yet showing clearly as
+faint, dull patches upon the polished floor. They were clearly a man's
+footprints, although smaller than the average man's foot. Measurements
+which he had made of footprints which I had made in the gravel paths
+upon the morning of the tragedy proved conclusively that these foot
+marks in the hall could readily have been made by me. He exhibited
+drawings, photographs and measurements as he gave his testimony. I sat
+in the dock, amazed, wondering if by any chance I had suddenly developed
+somnambulistic tendencies and had performed these various acts while
+walking in my sleep. I felt that both the Magistrate and the crowd in
+the court-room were already coming to regard me as an extremely
+dangerous character.
+
+The Sergeant's testimony was extremely thorough and exact. He showed
+conclusively that no one had descended from the porch roof to the ground
+either by the vines, or by the lightning rod which I had foolishly
+supposed he had not observed, the day we made our first investigation.
+He spoke of the woman's footprints in the gravel path, from the corner
+of the porch to the main entrance. He then took up our trip to London,
+put in evidence the letter he had received, supposedly from me,
+summoning him to meet me at the house in Kingsgate street, explaining
+that the Chinamen had no doubt been uncertain whether I had the stone or
+had turned it over to him, and to avoid taking chances had decoyed us
+both. He referred to my offers of assistance in unraveling the case, and
+my failure to mention to him my suspicions regarding the Oriental
+perfume, or my taking of the cake of soap from the green room. He
+described Li Min's attempt to steal my satchel, and my facetious remark
+that possibly the Chinaman thought I had the emerald in my bag, which
+was indeed the case. Finally he spoke of the finding of the emerald in
+the cake of soap in my satchel and the weapon in the drawer of the
+dresser in my room, by his assistants, and the latter was produced and
+placed along with the other exhibits in the case. When McQuade had got
+through it was perfectly clear to the court that someone within the
+house had left the telltale marks on the roof and window sills and it
+seemed pretty conclusively shown that that someone was myself. I arose
+to be examined with a sinking heart. I knew that before now, in the
+history of criminal trials, many an innocent man had gone protesting to
+the gallows, and already I felt sure that, unless Miss Temple's
+testimony was decidedly convincing, I was certain of being held for
+trial as either an accomplice or the principal in Robert Ashton's
+murder.
+
+My own examination was short. I told my story as the reader already
+knows it, and I told it without any hitch or hesitation. If my reasons
+for taking the cake of soap from Ashton's room seemed weak, I could only
+inform the magistrate that they were nevertheless the ones which had
+actuated me. If my failure to speak of the matter to McQuade seemed
+suspicious, I could only say in reply that I had not thought it of
+sufficient importance to mention to him. I testified that I had last
+seen Miss Temple, on that fatal night, when she bade me good-night in
+the lower hall, and that I did not see her again until the next morning
+when she came into the hall in answer to my cries. I described minutely
+the manner in which I was awakened by the short, sharp cry of the
+murdered man, and the sound of his heavy fall, and fixed the time as not
+later than half-past five, as I had looked at my watch, mechanically,
+while hurriedly throwing on my clothes. I felt that I had made a
+favorable impression, but I realized that the stern facts brought out
+by McQuade would need more than a favorable impression to overcome them.
+At the conclusion of my testimony I requested that the Chinaman, Li Min,
+be called to corroborate me as to the removal of the cake of soap from
+the green room. The Chinaman was already in the witness room, but, when
+brought into court, maintained a stolid silence, and even the most
+strenuous efforts of an interpreter failed to elicit from him a single
+syllable. It was at this point that the court adjourned for luncheon,
+after which the examination was to be resumed, with the hearing of Miss
+Temple's testimony.
+
+As may well be imagined, I had no desire for food. Nor were my concern
+and inward fear of the afternoon's proceedings a result of any fear that
+I may have had upon my own account. I realized fully that the testimony
+of the morning had been heavily against me, but I would have gladly
+endured that and much more, could I have spared Muriel the coming
+ordeal. The thought that she might be coming to Exeter to confess, and
+thus free me from all suspicion, distressed rather than cheered me. That
+she had evidence of importance to put before the court I well knew. Yet
+whom could it possibly involve but herself? The Chinaman, Li Min, she
+could have no possible motive, I felt, for screening, and the only other
+person for whom she could possibly have such a feeling, her father, had
+been in no way connected with the crime, and clearly could not have
+committed it. The more I thought, the more I realized that logic pointed
+its cold and inexorable fingers at her; yet the more strongly did the
+love I felt for her tell me the impossibility of such a conclusion. I
+cannot express the tenderness, the love, with which this girl, in our
+few brief meetings, had inspired me. I longed to take her into my arms
+and comfort her, and tell her that the whole thing was but a wretched,
+miserable dream. Yet it needed but a glance at the stone walls about me,
+the steel grating of my door, and the untasted food which stood upon the
+cot at my side, to assure me that this was indeed no dream, but a very
+cold and stern reality. It was close on to two o'clock when I was once
+more taken back to the court-room, and, as I entered, I glanced about
+with an eager and expectant look, hoping to see Miss Temple. She was
+nowhere to be seen. I took my seat and waited patiently, watching the
+court attendants as they performed their routine duties, or the
+Magistrate, deep in the business of reading and signing a number of
+papers--warrants, I presumed, for other unfortunates--which were handed
+to him by a clerk. Major Temple sat in his former seat, so pale and
+still that I felt he had not left it since the morning, yet I knew he
+must have done so, if only to catch a glimpse of his daughter as she
+arrived in the custody of the officers. Presently there was a stir in
+the room, the Magistrate left off signing his papers, and, as I turned
+toward the door leading from the witness room, I saw Muriel entering,
+with Sergeant McQuade at her side, and Inspector Burns following them.
+My heart sank, as I saw how terribly pale and distressed she looked and
+with what shrinking she met the gaze of the many eyes now focused upon
+her. Her own sought the face of her father. He half-rose, as though to
+speak, then sank back into his seat and covered his eyes with his hand.
+She did not see me at all--probably because I was so close to her.
+
+The Magistrate rapped upon the desk to still the rising buzz of
+conversation among the spectators, then, turning to the witness, for
+whom McQuade had placed a chair, began his interrogations. After she had
+taken the oath, and answered the usual formal questions as to her name,
+age, etc., he began.
+
+"Miss Temple, you have been arrested in connection with the murder of
+one Robert Ashton, which occurred at your father's house on the morning
+of Tuesday last. The object of this hearing is to fix the responsibility
+for that crime, so far as we can, pending a trial by jury. Tell the
+Court, if you please, where you first met the deceased."
+
+"In Hong Kong," replied Miss Temple, in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+"Speak a little louder, please. When was this?"
+
+"Last year--in October."
+
+"He addressed you at that time, did he not, upon the subject of
+marriage?"
+
+"He did, several times."
+
+"What was your reply?"
+
+"I refused his advances."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I did not care for him, in fact, I disliked him."
+
+"You had a strong aversion to him?"
+
+"I had. He seemed to me cruel and unscrupulous."
+
+"Did your father know of this feeling on your part?"
+
+"No. I did not say anything to him about it. He evidently liked Mr.
+Ashton, probably because of their common interest in Oriental art. I had
+no wish to prejudice him."
+
+"When did you first learn that your father had consented to your
+marriage with Mr. Ashton?"
+
+"Shortly after our return to England. He told me that Mr. Ashton had
+asked for my hand in marriage, and offered to secure the emerald Buddha
+for him as an evidence of his love and sincerity. My father, supposing
+that I would have no objections, foolishly consented to the
+arrangement."
+
+"But you objected?"
+
+"Violently at first. Later on, when I saw how deeply my father felt
+about the matter, and when he told me he had given Mr. Ashton his word
+of honor, and that the latter had set out upon a life-and-death quest as
+a result of it, I gave an unwilling consent and agreed to write to Mr.
+Ashton at Pekin, withdrawing my objections to his suit."
+
+"You wrote this letter?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"When did you first learn that Mr. Ashton had succeeded in his quest?"
+
+"At dinner, the night of his arrival. I had not been alone with him,
+since he came but a short time before the dinner hour. He suddenly
+rolled the emerald out upon the tablecloth, and looked at me with a
+glance of triumph."
+
+"After dinner you had some conversation with Mr. Morgan. What was it?"
+
+"I told Mr. Morgan my story. He was a stranger to me, but I knew his
+name and his work, and I had no one upon whom I could rely. I told him I
+would never marry Mr. Ashton, that rather than do so I would leave the
+house, and earn my own living. I asked him to help me in any way that he
+could."
+
+"And he agreed?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What did you do then?"
+
+"I retired to my room, dismissed my maid, and threw myself fully dressed
+upon the bed."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"Close to ten o'clock. I heard the hall clock strike the hour shortly
+after I reached my room."
+
+"Did you go to sleep?"
+
+"No. I thought and thought about the terrible situation I was in. I did
+not want to leave home. I am very fond of my father--he is all I have in
+the world. Yet I could not make him listen to reason, in regard to this
+marriage. He was mad to possess this miserable jewel. At last I heard my
+father and Mr. Ashton come up stairs, and, shortly after, heard my
+father retire to his own room. I made up my mind to make a last appeal
+to Mr. Ashton, to tell him under no circumstances to deliver the jewel
+to my father under the impression that I would marry him, that I would
+refuse to do so. I wanted also to ask him to give me back my letter and
+to release me from my unwilling promise. I sprang from the bed, ran out
+into the hall, and, without thinking of the consequences, went at once
+to the door of Mr. Ashton's room and knocked. He opened it at once, and,
+fearing lest I might be seen or heard, by someone if I remained standing
+in the hall, I entered. Mr. Ashton had evidently been examining the
+emerald, as I saw it standing upon a table. He had a pen in his hand,
+and was making a copy of the curious symbol engraved on the base of the
+image, upon a small piece of paper. He received me with protestations of
+joy and evidently thought that I had come to him as his accepted wife,
+but I soon undeceived him, and, after stating my case in a few words,
+demanded the return of my letter. He was very angry, and at first
+refused to believe that I was in earnest. He soon saw that I was,
+however, and became very brutal and refused to release me. He even went
+so far as to attempt to embrace me, and only by threatening to rouse the
+house with my screams did I succeed in making him desist. I warned him
+that I was in absolute earnest, that under no circumstances would I
+marry him, and then, seeing that nothing further was to be gained, I
+hurriedly left the room."
+
+"Did you drop your handkerchief?"
+
+"I must have done so. The one found in the room belonged to me."
+
+"Did you by any chance observe whether or not any of the windows in the
+room were open?"
+
+"I did. They were all closed. I noticed it instinctively, because, when
+I first entered the room, I was conscious of the heavy, oppressive
+atmosphere of the place and, knowing that the room had been long closed,
+wondered that Mr. Ashton had not opened the windows. I suppose it was
+because his long stay in the East had rendered him sensitive to our cold
+English weather."
+
+"After you left Mr. Ashton's room, what did you do?"
+
+"I retired to my own room, partially undressed, and again threw myself
+upon the bed."
+
+"Did you sleep?"
+
+"No. I could not."
+
+"When did you again leave your room?"
+
+"About five o'clock. I had been thinking all night about leaving the
+house. I felt that, after the scene the night before with Mr. Ashton, I
+could not endure another meeting with him. I got up, put on a walking
+suit and boots, and, throwing a few things into a satchel, stole quietly
+down stairs, opened the front door and went out."
+
+"Where did you go?"
+
+"I--I left the porch, and set out across the lawns, taking a short cut
+to the main road to the town."
+
+I observed that Miss Temple was showing a greater and greater appearance
+of distress as the magistrate pursued inexorably the line of questioning
+that would led her to the disclosures which I knew she feared to make.
+Her face, white and drawn, twitched pathetically under the stress of her
+emotions. She spoke in a low, penetrating voice, little more than a
+whisper, yet so silent was the court-room that what she said was audible
+to its furthermost corner. As I gazed at her in silent pity, I heard the
+Magistrate ask the next question.
+
+"How far did you go?"
+
+"I went--I--I think it must have been about thirty yards--as far as the
+corner of the house."
+
+"The corner of the west wing?"
+
+"Yes." Her voice was growing more and more faint.
+
+"Why did you not go further? What caused you to stop?"
+
+"I--I saw somebody upon the roof of the porch."
+
+"Was it light?"
+
+"There was a faint light in the sky, of early dawn. I walked over toward
+the path, and looked up at the porch roof."
+
+"What did you see?"
+
+"I saw someone get out of the window from the hall, on to the roof.
+I--I--They walked over to Mr. Ashton's window and seemed to be trying to
+open it."
+
+"Who was it?" The crucial question of all that had been asked her came
+like the snapping of a lash, and, as she comprehended it, her face
+became flushed, then ghastly pale.
+
+"I--I--must I answer that question?"
+
+"You must."
+
+"But--I--I cannot!" she burst into sobs, and buried her face in her
+hands. I feared that she was going to faint.
+
+The Magistrate looked at her sternly.
+
+"Miss Temple," he said, "evidence has been given here this morning which
+points strongly toward a prisoner in this court as the person guilty of
+Mr. Ashton's death. Your answer to my question may confirm or disprove
+his guilt. I direct you to answer my question at once. Whom did you see
+upon the porch roof?"
+
+Miss Temple looked despairingly about her, rose with a ghastly look from
+her chair, and, facing the magistrate said: "It--it--oh, my God!--it was
+my father!" Then she collapsed limply against the rail.
+
+Major Temple rose from his seat and stood white and trembling. "Muriel!"
+he cried, in a voice filled with incredulous amazement and horror,
+which rang throughout the whole room.
+
+I sprang forward with outstretched arms, but Inspector Burns was before
+me. He placed Miss Temple tenderly in her chair: she was unconscious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE VENGEANCE OF BUDDHA
+
+
+When Miss Temple launched her terrible and unwilling accusation against
+her father, and was carried unconscious from the room, I realized that I
+was, to all intents and purposes, a free man. Whatever the
+circumstantial evidence which had been so cleverly brought against me by
+the Scotland Yard men, I knew that it could have no weight against
+actual testimony to the effect that it was Major Temple, and not myself,
+who had, early that morning, crept out upon the roof of the porch and
+entered Ashton's room by way of his window. Miss Temple, it is true, had
+testified that the window was closed, but she could not know whether or
+not it was bolted, or whether Ashton had opened it later, before
+retiring, to secure fresh air in his room during the night. To me it
+seemed probable that he had. How to account for its subsequent rebolting
+from the inside I could not imagine, unless Major Temple had done it,
+unknown to me, when we first entered the room on the morning of the
+tragedy. I looked to see all these matters cleared up when he was placed
+upon the stand, and I was not surprised to see one of the officers in
+the court approach the figure sitting bowed and silent among the buzzing
+spectators and, laying a hand upon his shoulder, bend down and whisper a
+few low words into his unheeding ear. That Major Temple's arrest must
+inevitably follow his daughter's testimony was apparent to everyone. He
+arose and was about to accompany the officer to the dock, when there was
+a murmur of voices about the door, and I saw Sergeant McQuade enter with
+the ugly figure of Li Min beside him, followed by the interpreter, while
+Inspector Burns, stepping quickly to the Magistrate's desk, said a few
+hurried words to him in a low voice.
+
+The Magistrate, apparently very much surprised, turned to the
+court-room, rapped loudly for order and motioned to the officer in
+charge of Major Temple to release him. Sergeant McQuade, meanwhile, with
+his prisoner, had advanced to the dock, and without further ceremony I
+saw the court attendants administer the oath, the import of this being
+explained to the Chinaman by the interpreter.
+
+I learned afterward that Li Min, upon his first appearance as a witness,
+had been under the impression that he was being tried for his attempt to
+steal my satchel, and, as he did not then know that his compatriots in
+London had secured the emerald, feared to make disclosures regarding his
+attempt to secure it which would inform the police of its whereabouts.
+The interpreter, a Chinaman of the better class, who was in the habit
+of acting in this capacity for the police, had argued with him during
+the noon hour, had convinced him that he was not charged with any crime,
+that the emerald Buddha had been secured by his friends in London, and
+was, ere now, no doubt, on its way back to China. Under these
+circumstances he was at last persuaded to tell his story and, after an
+interminable amount of questioning, it was at last dragged from him. I
+have placed his testimony together into the form of a narrative, which
+will enable the reader to understand its purport, without being under
+the necessity of going through the laborious cross-questioning by the
+Magistrate and the interpreter which was necessary in order to drag it
+forth.
+
+It seems that Li Min, a native of South China, and by religion a
+follower of Buddha, had associated himself with the reform movement in
+China, which has drawn into its ranks many of the most intelligent of
+the Chinese. Like many of his countrymen, he was under suspicion, and,
+knowing the enmity of the Dowager Empress and her advisers toward the
+movement, had come to Hong Kong with the intention of leaving the
+country. His engagement as a servant by Major Temple was for him a piece
+of excellent luck, as it enabled him to leave China without being under
+any suspicion as to his motives for doing so. It was during the voyage
+to England, and his subsequent stay in Major Temple's service, that he
+first learned the story of the emerald Buddha. Piece by piece he
+gathered the details of the story, and from frequent conversations
+between Major Temple and his daughter, which they carried on without
+regard for his presence, he came to know of Ashton's determination to
+secure the sacred relic. His religious feelings were outraged by what he
+heard, and he promptly communicated the whole matter by letter to a
+Buddhist priest in Hong Kong, with the suggestion that he send word to
+the followers of Buddha in Ping Yang. This was done, but much time had
+elapsed, and, when the word at last reached Ping Yang, Ashton had
+already escaped with the jewel. The priest in charge of the shrine, upon
+receiving the information as to the stone's destination, set out at once
+for London with two of his followers, determined upon the recovery of
+the emerald at any cost. They made such speed that they got to Pekin a
+considerable time before Ashton arrived there, owing to his wanderings
+in the interior after his escape from his pursuers. They set out at once
+for England and arrived in London some weeks before Ashton's coming.
+They at once communicated not only with Li Min but with their followers
+in London, and a plan was worked out which would inevitably have
+resulted in the recovery of the jewel, had it been peaceably turned over
+to Major Temple as they supposed would be the case. Li Min was to
+notify them as soon as Ashton arrived at Major Temple's, and, after
+that, both he and the Major's house were to be carefully watched and the
+stone recovered at the first opportunity. They naturally supposed that
+the bargain between Major Temple and Ashton would be carried out, and
+the stone left in Major Temple's possession. It would then be Li Min's
+part to admit his confederates to the house and with their assistance
+steal the jewel and make away with it. When Li Min, in waiting on the
+table that night, first saw the emerald Buddha his impulse was to seize
+it at once and remove it from the impious hands of the foreign devils.
+This he was of course unable to do. He then planned to go into Exeter
+that night and send word to his confederates in London, as arranged,
+but, owing to the furious storm, and the impossibility of accomplishing
+anything at that late hour of the night, he determined to wait until
+early the next morning. He overheard the quarrel between Ashton and
+Major Temple after dinner, and the fear that the former might leave the
+house the next day, taking the jewel with him, had left him awake
+throughout the night, devising plans for the coming day. He arose about
+half-past four o'clock, but, as it was still raining heavily, he crept
+silently through the hallway of the west wing to Ashton's door, hoping
+to find it unfastened. Upon finding it bolted, he had gone to the window
+at the end of the hall, unfastened it, raised the sash and looked out.
+It was still raining, although not so heavily, and the light of early
+dawn was beginning to show in the sky. He made a quick decision to climb
+out upon the roof, enter Ashton's room by means of the window, secure
+the emerald and make his way as quickly as possible to the town, where
+he could place the jewel in safe hands. But, fearing lest, in the early
+morning light, he might be recognized by some chance early riser among
+the stablemen or gardeners, he descended swiftly to the main hall, threw
+on a long tan rain-coat and tweed cap belonging to Major Temple and, so
+disguised, returned once more to the upper floor and thence by way of
+the window to the porch roof. He was making his way quietly along to the
+window of Mr. Ashton's room when seen by Miss Temple, but he was so
+absorbed in his work that he did not observe her. Arriving at Mr.
+Ashton's window, he had tried it, only to find it bolted on the inside.
+The increasing light showed him dimly the interior of the room, with
+Ashton lying asleep in the bed. In trying to force the window he had cut
+his hand badly upon a projecting nail or bit of glass, but in his
+excitement he failed to realize it, and had rested his palm, covered
+with blood upon the window sill, his fingers pointing inward. His
+efforts to open the window had also resulted in some noise, which awoke
+the sleeping man within. What followed I will try to tell in Li Min's
+own words as rendered into English by the interpreter. "I saw the man
+(Mr. Ashton) rolling about in his bed. He seemed to be suffering, and I
+heard him groan and once cry out in his sleep. I pushed the window
+again, and it made a loud noise. The man jumped up quickly, and started
+toward the window. His face was white, and terrible. And, as he jumped
+from the bed, the hand of Buddha, the mighty, the wonderful one, who
+knows all things, smote him like a flash of fire. He fell upon the
+floor, uttering a loud cry. I was frightened, and ran along the roof and
+climbed into the house through the hall window. I heard sounds of
+someone moving about in the room of the young man (Mr. Morgan). I closed
+the window, but forgot to bolt it in my hurry. I ran quickly along the
+hall and went down the stairs. I put the coat and cap in the closet in
+the hall, where I had found them, and went out through the servant's
+entrance. I walked into Exeter and sent word to my brothers in London
+that the sacred relic had come. Then I had some breakfast and came back.
+Afterward I learned that the jewel was gone. I did not know whether The
+Great Buddha had taken it away or not. I tried to get into the room, but
+it was always locked. At last the dead man was taken away and I was sent
+to fix the room. I searched everywhere--under the carpets, behind the
+pictures, in the mattress of the bed--but I could not find the stone. At
+last the young man (Mr. Morgan) came into the room suddenly, and I
+watched him. He, too, I knew, was seeking for the jewel. After a time,
+he took the piece of soap and went away. I was a fool--I had not thought
+of the soap, which lay there in front of my eyes. It was the only thing
+I had not searched. I knew that, if Buddha had not taken away the stone,
+it must be concealed there. I watched the young man. I saw him put it
+in his bag. I went downstairs, and, after a while, when the satchel was
+left unguarded for a moment, I took it. The young man and the officer
+were outside and stopped me. When I was taken into the jail at Exeter,
+my friend, Chuen Moy came to see me. I told him through the bars what
+had happened. I did not know whether the young man would keep the stone
+or give it to the officer. I told Chuen Moy that they were both going to
+London in the afternoon. I told Chuen Moy to go to London and to inform
+our brothers that they might get the stone. I have done nothing wrong.
+The man who died had offended the great Buddha. He committed a sacrilege
+in the shrine and he deserved to die. The mighty hand of the
+all-powerful one was stretched out, and he fell dead. I myself have seen
+the miracle. It is the vengeance of Buddha."
+
+I do not know what the effect of this weird story was upon the others
+in the court-room, but to me it rang with all the accents of sincerity
+and truth. Not that I believed in the vengeance of Buddha, although even
+that I was not in the face of the evidence prepared to deny, but the
+actual events of his story, as he related them, explained everything,
+and nothing. There were no clues which had not been unraveled and made
+clear, yet we were as far from the solution of the mystery as ever. My
+heart gave a great leap of joy when I heard the Chinaman's simple,
+sincere confession, and knew that, because of his disguise, his tan coat
+and cap, Muriel had been mistaken in supposing the figure on the roof to
+have been her father. For I knew that this terrible thing about her
+father, which she so firmly believed, and which she had for days kept
+locked in the recesses of her heart, must have almost broken it during
+those many hours of uncertainty and fear. Yet for my sake, she had told
+the terrible truth, as she believed it, and to save me she had gone all
+the way to London, to ask my advice as to the proper course for her to
+pursue. I realized what it must have meant to her to launch that fearful
+accusation against her own father and I began to hope that she might
+have for me a feeling not dissimilar to that which I so strongly felt
+for her.
+
+There was some confusion in the court-room when Li Min finished his
+story, several of the spectators began to laugh at what they considered
+a remarkably ingenious, yet ridiculous, defense on the Chinaman's part.
+As they glanced at the Magistrate, however, they saw nothing approaching
+amusement upon his grim face. On the contrary it was very evident, when
+Li Min had been taken back to his cell, that he not only believed the
+Chinaman's story, but had been very deeply impressed by it.
+
+Major Temple was put upon the stand again, but his examination resulted
+only in a repetition of his former statements and a forcible denial
+that he had left his room from the moment he retired the evening
+preceding Mr. Ashton's death until he heard my cries for help the next
+morning. There was no evidence now to connect either Miss Temple, her
+father or myself with the death of the collector. Li Min had borne out
+my story regarding the taking of the cake of soap in every particular. I
+was discharged, along with Major Temple and Miss Temple, and only Li Min
+remained in custody. He was, of course, held upon the technical charge
+of assaulting McQuade and threatening him with a deadly weapon.
+Inspector Burns and Sergeant McQuade both signified their intention of
+going to London at once. The latter, however, arranged to come down to
+The Oaks the following day to make a final examination into the mystery.
+He did not believe for a moment that part of Li Min's story which
+referred to the sudden death of Mr. Ashton, and was already working on
+some theory, which he did not elaborate to me, whereby Li Min might have
+been able to open the window of the dead man's room, enter, commit the
+murder and rebolt the window behind him after he had left. If he could
+establish this, he felt sure that he could send Li Min to the gallows. I
+was requested by Major Temple, who seemed much broken in health and
+spirits by the events of the past few days, to accompany him and his
+daughter back to The Oaks, an invitation of which I was by no means slow
+to avail myself. The poor girl was greatly upset, and very much tired
+out, and we made haste to get her home as quickly as possible. I was too
+sick of the whole matter of Mr. Ashton's death to discuss it, although
+the Major broached the subject several times on our way back. I wanted
+to get Miss Temple home, where I hoped for an opportunity to have a talk
+with her, and to show in some way my appreciation of her efforts in my
+behalf, and her trip to London to see me. I had wired the caretaker at
+my studio in town early that morning to send me down some clothes, and I
+hoped to be able to appear at dinner in a more presentable costume than
+the walking suit which I had been forced to wear, throughout my
+remarkable series of adventures, for the past five days.
+
+It was close to five o'clock when we arrived home, and I found my
+belongings awaiting me. I was given the same room that I had previously
+occupied and, when I appeared at dinner at eight, I felt like a human
+being for the first time since I had entered Major Temple's door. I was
+glad to see that both the Major and his daughter were much rested, and
+we sat down to dinner with some show of cheerfulness, Miss Temple
+looking especially charming in a green silk evening gown which to my
+artist's eyes made her a picture that I longed to put on canvas. I told
+her so, and we were soon discussing pictures, and art generally, at a
+lively rate. Only the Major seemed depressed, and I imagine this came
+from his regret at the loss of the wonderful emerald Buddha. He did not
+refer to it in any way, but I was conscious of a far-away look in his
+eyes which spoke volumes. What had become of the jewel, I did not know,
+but I fancied that McQuade's hurried trip to London had something to do
+with the search his men were making for the lost underground temple of
+Buddha and thought it more than likely that I would know more about it
+when he returned the next day.
+
+We passed an hour very pleasantly at table, and after dinner Major
+Temple excused himself upon the plea that he wanted to write some
+letters and retired to his den, while Miss Temple and I sat down before
+the fire in the library for our first real tete-a-tete. It had begun to
+rain heavily outside, with a stiff breeze blowing from the southwest,
+and it seemed wonderfully fine and warm and altogether delightful,
+sitting here in the firelight with the woman I loved beside me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+I ASK MISS TEMPLE A QUESTION
+
+
+"Miss Temple," I said, as we sat beside each other on the big
+leather-covered settle facing the fire, "I want to thank you with all my
+heart for going up to London to see me. I know why you went and can
+never tell you how deeply I appreciate it."
+
+She looked at me with her bewitching smile, which somehow made me feel
+both delightfully happy and yet vaguely uncertain of myself. "I had to
+come, Mr. Morgan," she said. "As soon as I knew the police were
+fastening their suspicions upon you, I knew I should be obliged to tell
+what I had seen. Yet I felt horrified at the thought of accusing my
+father. I could not understand his being where I imagined I saw him. I
+knew his mad desire for the jewel and was filled with dismay at the
+thought that he would attempt to secure it by such means. Of course I
+had no thought then of Mr. Ashton's death. I ran to my room, threw off
+my wet clothes, and appeared in the hall just as your cries aroused the
+house. Li Min must have re-entered the house just after I retired to my
+room. I did not look into the hallway of the west wing. I avoided doing
+so purposely, as I did not wish to humiliate my father by letting him
+know that I had seen him on the roof. Of course I was deceived by the
+long coat and cap. My father is of about the same height as Li Min, and
+I had been so accustomed to seeing him in that particular coat and
+cap--he invariably wore them when walking about the grounds--that I felt
+no doubt whatever as to his identity. Had I found you in London, Mr.
+Morgan, I should have told you everything and been guided by your
+advice."
+
+"I wish you had found me there," I said, "but, as it is, everything has
+turned out well. Only I am sorry that you should have had to undergo
+such a terrible experience."
+
+"Oh, it wasn't so bad. They gave me a very comfortable room at the
+police station in London, and the matron was extremely kind. I might
+have enjoyed the experience thoroughly, had I not been so terribly
+worried about my father." The dark shadow which fell across her face
+reminded me forcibly of the suffering she had undergone. I hastened to
+change the subject.
+
+"Sometime I hope to show you London and my studio under different
+circumstances," I said. "I've got a lot of interesting old things there
+that I've picked up. You must surely come."
+
+"Oh, I should love to. And your pictures! You must show me those, too."
+
+"I'll be glad to. We will get up a party, some time. I've lots of
+delightful friends among the painters and musical people. You'd like
+them, I know."
+
+"It's the life I've always dreamed of," she said, her cheeks flushing
+with excitement. "I've been to so many places, Rome and Paris, and
+Vienna and Cairo, and the East, you know, but I really know very little
+about them. The outside I have seen, of course, but the real life--that
+I have missed. And now we are stuck down here, where we don't know
+anybody, because father fancies it is good for his health. I suppose it
+is, but it isn't real, joyous living. I hardly feel alive."
+
+"But you go to London, don't you? Your father spoke of his house there."
+
+"Oh, yes, we are there a great deal, but father's friends are mostly
+professors of Assyriology and Egyptology, and people of that sort, and
+they come and stay for hours and talk about scarabs and hieroglyphics
+and mummies, and all that sort of thing. Sometimes I feel almost as
+though I were about to become a mummy myself."
+
+She certainly did not look it, with her wonderful color, heightened by
+the firelight and her large and brilliant eyes. I could not help looking
+deep into them as I replied.
+
+"We must prevent that, at all costs. Let me show you what it is to
+really live."
+
+"Isn't that rather a large order? And we have known each other for so
+short a time, too." She laughed nervously, but did not seem displeased
+at my remark.
+
+"I think the experiences of the past week have caused us to know each
+other very well," I said, gravely, "and I hope you may think as much of
+the friendship which has come to us as I do."
+
+"Are we then really friends?" she said slowly. "I never had a man
+friend--nor very many of any sort, I fear. We have always moved about so
+much from place to place."
+
+I regretted my choice of words. I could readily believe that she would
+not find it easy to have a man friend, for he would at once proceed to
+fall head over heels in love with her, as I had done. "Perhaps not
+friends," I said, and, as I did so, I placed my hand over hers, which
+lay beside me upon the leather seat of the settle. "At least not friends
+only. I suppose, Miss Temple, that you will be very much surprised, when
+I tell you that I have never thought of you in that way. I have always
+dreamed, all my life, of a woman like you, who would be close beside me,
+and share all my hopes and dreams, and be the cause of them all as well,
+and be glad of my successes and not think the less of me because of my
+failures. But a woman to be all that must be more than a man's friend,
+Miss Temple--she must be his wife."
+
+The color flooded her cheeks as I said this, but she did not draw away
+her hand. "A woman would have to be very greatly loved by a man, and
+love him very greatly in return, to be all that to him," she said.
+
+"I can only speak for myself, Miss Temple--Muriel. I love you very
+greatly, so much indeed, that I am telling you of it now--when I have
+the opportunity--instead of waiting, as no doubt you think I should.
+But, were I to wait, I do not know what trick of fate might intervene to
+prevent me. Your father might suddenly be seized with the idea of going
+to India, or Japan, or somewhere else, and I should be unable to tell
+you what has been singing in my heart ever since the first moment I saw
+you. We have passed through much trouble, you and I, and that has
+brought us closer to each other than years of formal acquaintanceship
+might ever have done. I want you--I need you--I love you, and I shall
+always love you." I drew her to me, unresisting. "Do you love me, dear?"
+I said, and, when she put her arms about my neck and her head upon my
+breast I knew what her answer was, and that I had found my heart's
+desire.
+
+It must have been half an hour later when Major Temple burst into the
+library, in a great state of excitement. We heard him coming along the
+hall, and I had made up my mind to ask his consent to our marriage as
+soon as he came in. I failed to do so, because he seemed much excited,
+and asked us at once if we had seen anything of Boris, his favorite
+mastiff. He had missed the dog that morning, before setting out for
+Exeter he said, but his mind was so troubled by the prospect of the
+hearing, and his daughter's arrest, that he gave the matter but scant
+thought. He had suddenly realized, a few moments ago, while writing some
+letters in his study, that the dog was not in his favorite place upon
+the hearthrug and that in fact he had not seen him since his return from
+Exeter. He made inquiries at once, but none of the servants had seen the
+dog since the day before. I remembered at once the howling that I had
+heard during the night and spoke of it. The Major thought for a moment,
+then raised his head with a sudden look of comprehension. "Don't you
+remember, Mr. Morgan, that Boris was with us when we made our
+examination of the green room last night? I do not recollect seeing him
+after that. We all left the room very hurriedly, you will remember,
+having just learned that my daughter could not be found. The poor fellow
+has no doubt been locked in there ever since, and it was his howls that
+you heard. Wait until I see if I can find another key--there are two
+about the house somewhere. Sergeant McQuade has the one usually left in
+the door."
+
+He disappeared for a few moments, then returned with several keys upon a
+wire ring. "One of these will open it, I think," he said, and led the
+way to the green room, Muriel and I following him. "Poor dog," he said
+as we hastily ascended the stairs, "he must be dying for food, or a
+drink of water."
+
+Upon our arrival at the door, Major Temple tried several of the keys
+before finding one that would open it. At last the lock turned, however,
+and he attempted to push open the door. It refused to open, and felt, he
+said, as though some heavy object had been placed against it, upon the
+inside of the room. I went to his assistance and by pushing with our
+united strength forced the door inward sufficiently to allow us to
+enter. The Major took a candle from the room occupied by myself, across
+the hall, and we squeezed our way into the room with some difficulty,
+Muriel remaining outside. What was our astonishment to see lying upon
+the floor, his head close to the door, as though struck down in an
+effort to escape, the Major's mastiff, Boris, stone dead, his eyes wide
+open and staring, his mouth distended and still covered with foam, his
+face wearing an expression of intense fear. It was a horrible sight,
+and we looked at each other in alarm. "My God," said the Major--"this
+room is accursed. Let us go." He started for the door.
+
+"Shall I come in?" we heard Muriel asking from the hall without.
+
+"No--no!" the Major commanded. "We will be with you in a moment." He
+motioned to me to go ahead, and he followed me and closed the door.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked his daughter as she saw our startled faces.
+"Isn't Boris there?"
+
+"Yes, he is there." The Major's tone was grave and solemn. "He is there,
+Muriel, and he is dead. I do not know what is the secret of that room,
+but I shall never enter it again." He turned from us, and led the way
+down the hall.
+
+"Dead!" said Muriel, turning to me. "Is it really true?"
+
+I assured her that it was.
+
+She glanced at me with a scared sort of a look. "Do you think," she
+said, slowly, "that Li Min's story of the vengeance of Buddha could
+really be true, after all?"
+
+"No, I do not," I said, though I was not so absolutely sure as I
+pretended to be. "It is hardly likely that Buddha would turn his
+vengeance upon an inoffensive dog, who had certainly done nothing to
+incur it. It is a curious and unfortunate coincidence, that is all. The
+dog has no doubt died of fright, caused by his unusual situation,
+coupled perhaps with lack of food, water and air. Or he may have dashed
+himself against the door in his struggles and died of apoplexy. I've
+frequently heard of dogs dying from some such cause, especially old
+ones. How old was Boris?"
+
+"About four years," said Muriel, and I knew from the way in which she
+spoke that she did not believe my explanation of the affair in the
+least.
+
+When we reached the floor below, the Major directed Gibson and one of
+the other servants to remove the dog's body from the room, and we all
+retired to the library, where we discussed the matter for a long time.
+Major Temple, on sober thought, was inclined to agree with my view of
+the matter, but in spite of our attempts to regard the event in a
+common-sense light, we could not shake off a mysterious feeling of dread
+at the thought of these two creatures, a man and a dog having so
+inexplicably come to their ends in this room. In Ashton's case, at
+least, there was a tangible enough evidence of the cause of death, but
+in the case of Boris there was none. Major Temple stepped out and
+examined the dog's body when the men brought it down from above, and
+upon his return reported that there was no wound or mark of any sort
+upon the animal that could account for its death.
+
+Miss Temple essayed a few airs upon the piano, but our thoughts were not
+attuned to music, and presently, as it was close to eleven o'clock, she
+said good-night to us both and left us. As she passed me on her way from
+the room, she leaned over and kissed me upon the forehead, and I turned
+to find the Major staring at me in perplexity. Poor man, so many strange
+things had happened during the course of this eventful day that I fear
+he would not have been greatly surprised had I suddenly stood upon my
+head and attempted to recite the Jabberwock backward. I at once told him
+of my love for Muriel, and of her feelings toward me, and asked his
+consent to our marriage. "It is a bit sudden, I'll admit, Sir," I
+concluded, "but none the less real and true for all that."
+
+"But, my dear Sir," gasped the Major, evidently very much taken aback by
+my flow of words, and my earnest and somewhat excited manner, "I hardly
+know you. How can you expect me to reply to such a question, to give my
+consent to your marriage with my daughter, when I know absolutely
+nothing of your position, your prospects, or your income?"
+
+I expected his objections and answered them at once. "You are quite
+right, Sir, of course," I answered. "As for my income, I am making close
+to a thousand pounds a year from my profession, which, as you may know,
+is that of an illustrator for books and for the magazines. In addition
+to that, I have an income from my father's estate of 800 pounds a year.
+At my mother's death I shall have as much more. My father was Edward
+Morgan, of whom you may perhaps have heard. He was a well-known civil
+engineer, and railway constructor, and distinguished himself in India,
+in the construction of the great sea-wall at Calcutta. My mother is
+still living, and I know she would be most happy to welcome Muriel as a
+daughter, for I have no brothers or sisters, and she is very lonely."
+
+At the mention of my profession and my income I noticed that Major
+Temple's frown relaxed somewhat, but when I mentioned my father's name
+and the fact of his having spent a part of his life in India, he fairly
+beamed.
+
+"Are you really the son of Edward Morgan?" he cried, rising. "Why, my
+boy, I knew him well. I was in the Indian service for fifteen years, and
+who did not know him, who has spent much time in that benighted country?
+Many's the time I've dined with him at our club in Calcutta. He was a
+fine man, and, if I remember rightly, he refused a knighthood for his
+services." He came up to me and took my hand. "It's all very sudden, I
+must say, but I should be very glad to see Muriel happily married, and,
+if she believes you to be the right man, I shall interpose no
+objections. But I should advise that you both wait a reasonable time,
+until you are certain that you have not made any mistake. As for me, I
+am an old man, and I have traveled all over the world, but the only
+real happiness I have ever found was in the love of my wife. She went
+out to India with me, and she never came back." He turned and gazed into
+the fire to hide his emotions. "I have become half-mad over this
+business of collecting antiquities and curios," he resumed, presently,
+"but it isn't real, it's only an insane hobby after all, and I have only
+just realized how selfish it all is, and how selfish I have been as
+well, to consider for a moment bartering my daughter's happiness for a
+miserable Chinese idol to which I never had any right in the first
+place." He drew a cigar from his pocket and lighted it hurriedly.
+
+I thanked him for his attitude toward my suit, and agreed to leave the
+setting of our marriage day entirely in the hands of himself and Muriel.
+Then, seeing that he was tired out after the long strain of the day, I
+bade him good-night and retired to my room.
+
+As I stopped at my doorway, I noticed that the door of the green room
+stood partly open, and, filled with a curious fascination, I once more
+peered into its dark and silent interior. I could see only the faint
+outlines of the tall, old-fashioned bed, against the dim night light of
+the sky without the windows. I stepped inside, acting upon the impulse
+of the moment, and striking a wax taper lit one of the gas jets in the
+heavy, old-fashioned bronze chandelier. The room seemed comfortable
+enough, although I felt that peculiar stifling sensation which I had
+noticed upon my first entering it. I looked about, and wondered for the
+thousandth time what strange secret lay concealed within its walls, what
+mysterious influence existed which was potent to strike down man or
+beast alike without warning, as though by the hand of death itself. I
+longed to penetrate to the heart of this mystery, to satisfy myself, at
+least, that what had occurred herein had not been supernatural, the
+action of unknown forces, but merely some working of well-known natural
+laws, obscure perhaps, but none the less understandable, if but the
+secret could once be grasped. Suddenly I was seized with an idea. Why
+should I not spend the night here, instead of in the room across the
+hall, and possibly thus determine the grim secret, which had set our
+reason and common sense at naught. The idea grew upon me, and so
+strongly was I possessed with it that I at once returned to my own room,
+undressed, put on my pajamas, and, taking from my dressing-case, which
+had been sent down from London, a small pocket revolver that I always
+carried with me and had never yet used, I crossed the hall into the room
+opposite, carrying with me some extra coverings for my bed. I did not
+feel at all sleepy, so, after closing the door and climbing, not without
+difficulty, into the high poster bed, I lay back comfortably upon the
+pillows and proceeded to occupy myself in reading a magazine which I had
+found lying upon the table in my own room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A NIGHT OF HORROR
+
+
+The night that I spent in the green room was in many ways like the one
+which Robert Ashton spent there. A heavy rain had set in, and the wind
+from the southwest was driving it against the windows of the room, just
+as it had done that other night. I had attempted to raise one of the
+windows before turning in, but it was impossible to keep it open for any
+length of time as the rain drove in fiercely and threatened to flood the
+room. As I lay in bed, unable to concentrate my thoughts upon the
+magazine I had picked up, I began to reconstruct in my mind the scene
+which had been enacted in this room but a few nights before. I pictured
+Robert Ashton, sitting at the small, marble-topped table, laboriously
+copying the inscription upon the base of the emerald figure, for what
+purpose I could not imagine. I saw him as he opened the door for Miss
+Temple, his painful interview with her, and his anger at its conclusion.
+Then, no doubt, he sat down and thought the whole thing over. He
+remembered Major Temple's threat that he should never leave the house
+and take the emerald with him. Possibly he may have supposed that Muriel
+and her father were in league in some way to obtain possession of the
+jewel and thus defraud him, he felt, of the fruits of his labors. No
+doubt the question of where to place the stone, during the night, to
+insure its absolute safety, became in his mind an important one. He
+determined to hide it, and cast about for a place of concealment. To
+secrete it about the room would be impracticable: it must be so situated
+that he could instantly remove it if necessary. Yet to place it in his
+bag among his other belongings would be no concealment at all. Probably
+he gave a quick glance about the room, and then the cake of soap, green
+like the emerald itself, lying upon the washstand, suggested a
+hiding-place which, because of its very conspicuousness, would be
+thought of by no one. To cut the cake in half, lengthways, with a knife
+or more probably a piece of thread, was the work of but a moment. The
+hollowing out of the chamber within, no doubt, took longer. A glance
+about for a scrap of paper or other material, to hold the bits of soap
+as he slowly dug them out with his penknife, revealed the handkerchief
+lying close at hand upon the floor where Miss Temple had dropped it.
+Soon the thing was done--the great emerald snugly placed in its
+improvised case, and the edges of the two halves of the soap softened
+with water and pressed tightly together until they were once more
+united. Then it was only necessary to use the soap once to wash his
+hands, and the telltale line between the two halves would disappear.
+That his plan had indeed been an ingenious one, subsequent events
+proved, for the room was searched, twice by the police, once by myself
+and Major Temple, and once by Li Min, yet of all the people bent upon
+discovering the jewel, not one had given the cake of soap, lying so
+obviously and properly in its china dish, more than a cursory glance.
+
+Then I thought, what next? No doubt Ashton had turned off the gas and
+climbed into bed. I say climbed advisedly, for the bed, one of those
+old-fashioned four posters with a feather mattress under the hair one,
+was far higher from the floor than are our modern beds, and to
+facilitate getting into it, there stood beside it a little, low, wooden
+stool, by which one ascended to its snowy heights.
+
+Presently, over my imaginings, I felt myself growing unaccountably
+sleepy and tired. I realized that the strain of the long day had been a
+heavy one. In spite of the feelings of horror with which the room had at
+first inspired me, I could see no reason for going without a good
+night's rest. There was no priceless jewel concealed upon the premises,
+to bring down upon me either the vengeance of Buddha or the murderous
+attacks of my fellow men. I laughed a little at my earlier fears as I
+rose in bed, reached over to the chandelier and turned out the light.
+The sighing and moaning of the wind, and the dashing of the rain against
+the window panes were the last sound I heard as I passed into a heavy
+and restless sleep.
+
+I must have slept for several hours, during which I tossed about, a prey
+to broken and tortured dreams. At one time I seemed to be again in the
+underground temple of Buddha, and the glittering green figure of the
+deity seemed to grow and swell until it filled the whole room, forcing
+me down and ever down until I seemed to be choking under its enormous
+weight. Again I thought myself imprisoned in a huge cake of soap, which
+closed about me slowly and with irresistible force while I vainly tried
+to force it back with my hands to keep from smothering. For a long time
+I seemed to be beneath a dark cloud which dissolved into glittering
+points of light, only to be swallowed up in darkness again. After a time
+I seemed to be struggling to free myself from a huge, soft object which
+lay upon my chest and threatened to strangle me. I discovered at last
+that it was the dead body of Boris, the great mastiff, which, try as I
+would, I could not free myself from. Presently the dog seemed to become
+suddenly alive and its huge, dripping jaws opened and closed tightly
+upon my throat. I struggled madly to extricate myself from his grasp,
+but I seemed to be slowly, but surely, choking to death. In a madness of
+fear I half awoke, trembling and weak, and, with a cry, thrust the
+imaginary body of the animal from me and sprang to my feet in the bed.
+I saw nothing but the faint light of the window opposite me, and with a
+mad desire for air I sprang violently toward it, my right foot, as I
+lurched heavily outward, coming down upon the wooden stool by the side
+of the bed. And, as I thus dashed headlong in the direction of the
+window, gasping desperately for breath, I suddenly felt a violent
+glancing blow upon the side of my head, that shook me to the very
+marrow, and stretched me stunned and unconscious upon the floor.
+
+I must have remained in this position for several moments, although I
+had no means of knowing, when I slowly awoke to consciousness, how long
+a time my insensibility had lasted. Slowly my mind began to grasp the
+fact that something strange, almost unbelievable, had happened to me,
+although what it was I did not then understand. I seemed to be swimming
+in a vast limitless space, filled with light, which gradually
+contracted until it became a single glowing spark which seemed to be
+myself, my intelligence. This process of coming back, as it were, seemed
+to take an age, yet I know now that it could not have been more than a
+few brief moments. When at last I opened my eyes, and realized my
+situation, I was intensely weak, and still gasping madly for air. I
+seemed unable to breathe--my lungs, my heart seemed oppressed as though
+by heavy weights. I slowly and painfully struggled to my knees and
+raised my hand to my head, which seemed ready to burst with pain. It
+came away dripping with blood. The sudden shock of the realization that
+I was wounded, together with the sharp pain which the touching of the
+wound gave me, roused me to the necessity of quick and sudden action. I
+tried to rise, but my legs seemed made of stone. I fell over upon my
+side and then began to crawl laboriously and painfully toward the door.
+The choking sensation increased every moment. For a time I thought I
+should never be able to reach it, and then with a rush I thought of
+Muriel, and all that the future held for us, and I made a last terrible
+effort, dragged myself across the few feet remaining between myself and
+the door, and, with barely enough strength left to reach up and turn the
+knob, managed somehow to fall across the threshold and into the hall.
+
+I fell with my head and most of my body in the passageway, and, as a
+result of my almost superhuman efforts, must have again become
+unconscious. When I once more revived, I no longer felt the horrible
+sensation of choking which had before oppressed me, and I attributed
+this to the cold air of the hall. I felt very weak, and my head was
+lying in a pool of blood, but my senses were fairly clear, and I knew
+that I must regain my room and attempt in some way to stop the flow of
+blood from my wound. After some difficulty I managed to rise, and
+staggered into my room. My first thought was of a flask of whiskey which
+I usually carried in my bag. I prayed that in sending down my things
+from London it had not been removed. After groping about for a few
+moments I came upon it, and lost no time in swallowing the bulk of its
+contents. Under this sudden and violent stimulation I began to feel
+better, my strength began to return, and I managed to find a wax taper
+and light the gas. A look into the mirror caused me to shudder. My face
+and the entire right side of my head was a gory mass of blood, which,
+even as I stood there, dripped in heavy drops upon the white cloth on
+the top of the dresser. I hastily seized a towel and managed to bring my
+face to some appearance of the human, after which I soaked a couple of
+handkerchiefs in cold water and bound them upon the wound. It proved to
+be a long, irregular gash, extending from the side of my head some two
+or more inches back of the temple down nearly or quite to my right
+ear. It was still bleeding profusely, but the blood matting with my
+hair, had begun to coagulate and in the course of an hour or more,
+during which I constantly renewed the application of the cold water, had
+practically ceased to flow. I bound my head up, removed the remaining
+traces of blood from my face and then, returning cautiously to the green
+room, entered and looked about me. The light from my own room, and the
+gray signs of dawn without enabled me to see that it was empty. There
+was no silent figure crouching within, waiting to deal me another deadly
+blow, nor had I expected to find any. I took one look about, seized my
+watch from the table and fled. But, when I left that chamber of horrors,
+and closed the door behind me, I knew how Robert Ashton had come to his
+death.
+
+[Illustration: I BOUND MY HEAD UP AND THEN, RETURNING CAUTIOUSLY TO THE
+GREEN ROOM, ENTERED AND LOOKED ABOUT ME.]
+
+On returning again to my own room I glanced hurriedly at my watch. It
+was nearly six o'clock.
+
+The stimulation of the whiskey had by this time begun to wear off, and I
+lay down upon the bed to rest. Presently I fell asleep, from pure
+exhaustion, and did not awake until I was aroused by a tapping at the
+door. I looked at my watch. It was after ten o'clock, and the bright
+morning sun was glistening upon the bare ground and the trees without,
+brilliant in their coats of frozen rain. One of the maids had brought up
+my breakfast upon a tray, and I managed to take it from her without
+exhibiting my bound-up head and generally gory appearance. The whole
+right shoulder and side of the pajamas which I still wore were caked
+with blood. I sent word to Major Temple that I would join him shortly,
+and requested the maid to inform him that, should Sergeant McQuade
+arrive, he be asked to postpone his final examination of the green room
+until I had seen him. In somewhat less than an hour I had managed to get
+myself into fairly presentable condition, and with my head bound up in
+towels that looked for all the world like an Eastern turban, I slowly
+descended to the main hall and entered the library.
+
+Major Temple was standing with his back to the fire, talking earnestly
+with the detective, who stood facing him. As the former caught sight of
+my pale face and bandaged head, he stopped speaking suddenly, sprang
+forward and took my hand.
+
+"Good God, Mr. Morgan!" he cried, "What's wrong with you?"
+
+I tottered unsteadily to a seat, and laughed. "Nothing much, Sir," I
+replied. "I had a bit of an accident last night and got a nasty cut in
+the head. It's nothing serious, however."
+
+"You look rather done up, Sir," said McQuade as he examined me
+searchingly. "Has Buddha been at work again? Major Temple has just been
+telling me about his dog. The thing is too deep for me. I've handled
+many cases, but this one beats them all for uncanniness, and downright
+mystery. I wonder if the truth of the affair will ever be known."
+
+"Yes," said I, shortly. "I know it."
+
+"You!" Both Major Temple and the detective turned and looked at me as
+though they could scarcely believe their ears.
+
+"I know how Robert Ashton was killed, and I'm pretty sure I can explain
+the death of the dog as well. In fact, you came very near having a third
+mystery on your hands this morning, Sergeant." I smiled grimly.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the both of them, together.
+
+"I slept in the green room last night," I replied, "and the thing that
+did for poor Ashton came very near doing for me as well." As I spoke, I
+felt my wounded head gently. "As it is, I fancy I will be all right,
+after the doctor has put a few stitches in my head, but it was a close
+call, I can tell you."
+
+"You slept in the green room?" asked Major Temple in amazement. "What
+in the name of Heaven did you do that for?"
+
+"To find out what happened to Ashton, and by the merest chance I did so.
+A little more one way, and you would never have known. And a little more
+the other," I added, "and I probably never should."
+
+"Explain yourself, man," said the Major, somewhat testily. "What
+happened? Tell us about it, can't you?"
+
+"I can and will," I said, slowly, "but not here. We must go there,
+before you can fully understand."
+
+"Come on, then," said McQuade, and they both started toward the door.
+
+At that moment Muriel came in, glancing about, I felt, for me. She came
+toward me, as I rose from my chair, with a happy smile, which slowly
+faded away and was replaced by a look of deepest concern as she saw my
+bandaged head. "Why, Owen!" It was almost the first time she had called
+me by my Christian name and it made me feel wildly happy in spite of
+the racking pains in my head. "What on earth is the matter? Are you
+hurt?" She came up and took my hand, unmindful of the presence of her
+father and the man from Scotland Yard.
+
+"Not much," I managed to reply; "just a nasty bit of a cut about the
+head. I slept in the green room last night, and, as I was just telling
+your father, I managed to find out the secret of Mr. Ashton's death, but
+I had rather a bad quarter of an hour doing so." I smiled ruefully and
+felt my turban to see if it was on straight.
+
+"You--you slept in that room!" she cried, turning a bit white.
+"Why--you--what could you have been thinking of?"
+
+"Don't think about it," I said, patting the hand she had placed upon my
+arm. My realization of her concern, her love, her fears, because of my
+possible danger, filled me with joy. "We are just going there now, and
+I hope to explain to all of you just what happened. But I would not
+advise you to use it as a guest chamber, in future," I concluded with a
+slight laugh.
+
+The Major led the way, with Sergeant McQuade at his heels. The little
+man from Scotland Yard was all professional eagerness. He felt, no
+doubt, that his reputation as a detective had been brought into
+question. He had worked on the case for nearly a week and had succeeded
+only in arresting a number of innocent persons, while it was left for
+myself, a rank outsider, to discover the solution of the mystery which
+had so completely baffled himself and his men. I could not help feeling
+a secret sensation of satisfaction. The Sergeant had acted very decently
+all through, I had to admit, but I had not quite forgiven Inspector
+Burns and himself for the famous theory they had so carefully
+constructed, which resulted in so much suffering on Muriel's part, as
+well as a great deal of discomfort and unhappiness upon my own.
+
+As we followed the others up the stairway, she took my arm and pressed
+it gently, and the look she gave me repaid me many times over for all
+the horrors of the night just past.
+
+McQuade took out his key as we reached the door of the room, but I
+explained that it was not locked, and that Major Temple had opened it
+the night before with a duplicate key. The pool of blood on the floor of
+the hall, which had collected while I lay there earlier in the morning,
+still gave mute evidence of the experience through which I had passed.
+Muriel shuddered as she looked at it, but I hurriedly pushed open the
+door, and bade the others enter. I had no desire for further sympathy
+nor did I wish to bring about any dramatic climax. We all entered, the
+Major and Muriel looking about fearsomely as though they momentarily
+expected some unseen figure to rise and confront them, weapon in hand.
+When they had all got inside, I closed the door and said: "The weapon
+that fractured Mr. Ashton's skull has been in plain view to everyone,
+ever since the morning his death was discovered. There it is," I
+continued, quietly, and pointed to the heavy bronze chandelier which
+hung from the ceiling close to the side of the bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SECRET OF THE GREEN ROOM
+
+
+I do not know just what my auditors expected in the way of an
+explanation of the mystery when they followed me to the green
+room--possibly some well-constructed or finely drawn theory. When I
+pointed to the chandelier, they all looked a bit nonplused, and nobody
+said anything for several moments. Then McQuade remarked, in his quiet
+voice, with a shade of comprehension in his tone and expression: "How do
+you make that out, Sir?"
+
+The chandelier to which I had pointed was an old-fashioned one, of the
+kind in general use in the early fifties. It was, I fancied, originally
+made for a room with a somewhat higher ceiling. The ceilings in the
+wings of The Oaks were unusually low, and the extreme lower end of the
+chandelier extended to a point not much over six feet from the floor. I
+judged this, because I am myself five feet eleven, and I could just pass
+beneath it without striking it. It hung in the center of the room, and
+about three feet from the side of the bed, which, on account of its
+great size, extended far out from the wall against which it was placed.
+The chandelier was of dark bronze or bronzed iron, and consisted of a
+heavy central stem, from the lower end of which extended four
+elaborately carved branches, supported by heavy and useless chains
+reaching to a large ball about midway up the stem. Below the point from
+which these four arms sprung was a sort of circular bronze shield, or
+target, and from the lower face of this, in the center, projected an
+octagonal ornamental spike, about two and a half inches long,
+terminating in a sharp point. The whole thing was ugly and heavy, and
+seemed in design more suitable to a hall or library than a bedroom.
+Almost directly beneath it, but somewhat nearer to the side of the bed,
+stood the low bench or stool, not over five inches high, the use of
+which I have already mentioned. I explained the tragedy to the detective
+and the others as I knew it must have happened.
+
+"Last night," I said, "I was unable to open either the window in the
+south or that in the west wall, because of the driving rain. The same
+conditions, as you will remember, existed upon the fatal night which Mr.
+Ashton spent here. For some reason, which I hope to explain presently,
+we were both nearly suffocated while asleep, and rose suddenly in bed,
+with but one thought, one desire, to get a breath of fresh air. The
+window in the west wall, directly opposite the bed, attracted us. In Mr.
+Ashton's case, no doubt, the face of Li Min, peering in from without,
+increased his terror. Like myself, he sprang up and dashed toward the
+window, placing his right foot, as I did, upon the low stool beside the
+bed. His first dash forward and upward, to a standing position, like my
+own, brought his head, elevated by the height of the stool, in contact
+with the spike upon the lower end of the chandelier with great force.
+The spike entered his head, fracturing the skull. He was a taller and
+heavier man than myself, and the force of the contact as he sprang
+forward and upward must have been terrific. In my case, owing to my
+having jumped from the bed at a slightly different point, I struck the
+spike only a glancing blow, which was sufficient however to render me
+unconscious for several minutes. I fell to the floor, senseless, but in
+a short time I struggled to my knees and managed, by crawling painfully
+to the door, to escape from the room. The interval, from the time I
+first fell to the time I reached the hall and again became unconscious,
+must have been very short."
+
+"Why?" asked McQuade, who, like the others, followed my every word with
+intense interest.
+
+"Because, had the time been very long, I, like Mr. Ashton, should never
+have risen at all. You would have found me here this morning, as he was
+found."
+
+"But why?" asked Major Temple.
+
+For answer I took a box of wax tapers from my pocket and lighted one.
+"Have you ever heard of the Cave of Dogs, near Naples?" I inquired.
+
+"Carbon dioxide," gasped the Major with a look of comprehension.
+
+Sergeant McQuade looked blank, and I saw that to him neither my question
+nor the Major's answer had conveyed any definite meaning. "Look," I
+cried, as I held the match out before me, where it burned with a bright,
+clear flame.
+
+McQuade's mystification increased. I think he wondered if I were trying
+to play some practical joke upon him. But, when I slowly lowered the
+taper until it reached a point a few inches above my knee, and its
+flame faded away and then suddenly went out, as though the match had
+been plunged into a basin of water, his expression slowly cleared, and
+he gave a significant grunt. "Carbonic-acid gas," he said. "I
+understand. But where does it come from?"
+
+"That I do not know, at the moment," I said, "but I think there should
+be no great difficulty in finding out. This room has been closed for a
+long time. Even when Mr. Ashton came here, it was opened for only a few
+moments. Neither he nor I opened the windows, because of the rain, as
+you know. Somehow, just how I cannot say, a slow stream of carbonic-acid
+gas finds its way into this room. It is the product of combustion, as
+you of course know, and is produced in large quantities by burning coal.
+It may come through the register from the furnace, or from some peculiar
+action of partially slacked lime in the plaster of the walls. Wherever
+it comes from, being heavier than air, it slowly settles to the floor,
+where it collects, becoming deeper and deeper, just as water collects
+and rises in a tank. Look." I tore a few sheets from the magazine I had
+been reading the night before, which still lay upon the bed, and
+lighting them with another match, extinguished the flame, but allowed
+the smoke from the smoldering paper to spread about the room. It slowly
+sank until it rested upon the surface of the heavy gas, like a layer of
+ice upon the surface of a body of water. It showed the carbon dioxide to
+be considerably over two feet deep, and some six or eight inches below
+the level of the top of the bed. I knew it must have risen higher during
+the night, as it was its deadly fumes, closing about my pillow and
+beginning to enter my lungs, that caused my troubled dreams, as well as,
+ultimately, the feeling of suffocation which had caused me to awake so
+suddenly. A considerable portion of the gas had evidently flowed out
+through the open door, as I lay across the threshold, after my escape
+from the room.
+
+"And that is what killed poor Boris," said the Major, as he watched the
+eddying whirls of smoke which settled and rested upon the surface of the
+gas. "Exactly," I said, "and probably Ashton as well. His skull was
+fractured, it is true, but the divisional surgeon at the inquest
+reported, you may remember, that the fracture was not sufficient of
+itself to have caused instant death. It was ten minutes or more, I
+should say, from the time I was first awakened by Ashton's cry, until we
+finally broke in the door and reached his side. By that time he had
+suffocated. The gas, as no doubt you know, is not a poisonous one, but
+containing no oxygen which the lungs can take up, acts very much the
+same as water would if breathed into the lungs."
+
+Muriel looked at me with admiring eyes. I did not tell her that my
+father had intended me to be, like himself, an engineer, and that I had
+taken a pretty thorough technical course before adopting art as a
+profession. And, after all, the simple explanations I had made were
+known to almost every schoolboy with a little knowledge of chemistry or
+physics.
+
+"I believe your explanation of Mr. Ashton's death is the correct one,
+Mr. Morgan," said McQuade, and he said it ungrudgingly. "But how, after
+all, did the missing emerald come to be found in the cake of soap?"
+
+"Undoubtedly Ashton put it there," I replied. "He realized the enormous
+value of the thing and feared that some attempt might be made to take it
+from him. His hiding place for the jewel was certainly an ingenious one,
+and you will remember that you and your men searched the room thoroughly
+on more than one occasion without finding it."
+
+McQuade looked a bit sheepish at this. He walked over to the chandelier
+and examined its ugly-looking spike with deep interest. It was stained
+with dried blood and a few bits of hair still clung to it, but whether
+Ashton's or my own, we could of course not tell. There seemed nothing
+further that we could do, and, as McQuade said he intended going into
+Exeter immediately after luncheon to make his report, and have the
+authorities make an examination into the cause of the collection of the
+carbonic-acid gas in the room, as well as the stains of blood, etc.,
+upon the point of the chandelier, I suggested that I accompany him, as I
+wanted to get my wound dressed without delay.
+
+We set out, about an hour later, with Gibson and the high cart, and on
+the way McQuade told me about his attempts to locate the much sought
+emerald. It seems that after two days of effort his men had located the
+underground temple of Buddha, but, when they found it, it had been
+stripped of all its decorations and was merely an old cellar floored
+over. It appears that the Chinamen, in taking us from the house in
+Kingsgate street, had passed through an areaway back of the house, and
+thence through a gateway in the rear wall, into a narrow court, along
+which they had proceeded some distance. From here they had entered the
+rear of a house facing upon the adjoining street, to which the cellar
+belonged. The house had been taken, but a short time before, by a couple
+of Chinamen who wished to use it as a dwelling. They were seldom seen by
+the neighbors, and visitors came and went at night, unnoticed by the
+occupants of the neighboring houses. They had all, however, completely
+disappeared, and left hardly a trace of their presence. No doubt by now
+the emerald Buddha was far on its way toward the little shrine in Ping
+Yang, carefully secreted among the belongings of the old temple priest.
+I felt a sort of secret satisfaction at learning this, and I think
+Sergeant McQuade did as well. Certainly it did not belong in this part
+of the world, and its possession could have brought nothing but trouble
+and danger to all of us. I think Major Temple was glad, as well,
+although I never heard him mention the subject of the jewel again. I
+fancy he felt to some extent responsible for Ashton's death, or at least
+for having sent him upon the quest which ultimately resulted in it.
+
+I had six stitches taken in my head by an excellent old doctor in town,
+who tried his best to find out how I had come by such a severe wound,
+but I refused to satisfy his curiosity, and drove back with Gibson an
+hour later, after saying good-by to the man from Scotland Yard. He
+never, to my knowledge visited The Oaks again, although I received a
+letter from him later, with reference to the investigation which the
+authorities had made into the cause of the accumulation of the
+carbonic-acid gas in the room which Ashton and myself had successively
+occupied with such disastrous results. It seems that the heating system
+in the house had been installed by its former occupant and owner, a
+native of Brazil, unused to our cold English winters. It consisted of a
+series of sheet iron pipes, leading from a large furnace in the cellar.
+The pipe which supplied the heat for the green room, whether by accident
+or design, led directly from the combustion chamber of the furnace
+instead of from a hot-air chamber, as was the case with the other pipes.
+The consequence was that while the hot air taken to the other rooms was
+pure air, drawn from without and heated, that which supplied the green
+room carried away from the furnace great quantities of carbon dioxide,
+produced in the combustion of the coal. An old valve in the pipe showed
+that this source of supply could be shut off when so desired, and from
+this I judged that the owner of the house may have had the piping
+intentionally so constructed, with the idea of putting out of the way
+some undesirable friends or relatives. That such was actually the case
+seemed borne out by the rumors of at least two sudden and mysterious
+deaths which were known to have occurred in the house. Major Temple,
+owing to his long residence in India and the East could not endure a
+cold house, and the presence of this heating plant had been one of the
+reasons which had governed him in leasing the house for the winter. As
+far as I was concerned, I had not noticed the register in the wall at
+all, during the night I slept in the room, having forgotten its
+existence. I presume it had been turned on by Mr. Ashton. Had I noticed
+it, I should certainly have turned it off, as I particularly dislike to
+sleep in a heated room.
+
+I reached the house about four o'clock and found Muriel awaiting my
+return in the library. Her father, she told me, had gone off for a
+walk. We had a great deal to say to each other, and it took us till
+dinner to say it, but I have an idea that it would not interest the
+reader particularly. We had a lively party at dinner, and the Major got
+out some special vintage champagne to celebrate our engagement and drink
+to our future happiness. It was late before I turned in, and I did not,
+you may be sure, sleep in the green room. The next day, I set out for
+Torquay by rail, to explain to my mother my long delay in arriving, and
+to tell her about Muriel. With my departure from The Oaks the story of
+the emerald Buddha, and the memorable week it caused me, is ended, but
+the blessings that came to me through it I had only begun to appreciate.
+I have not become a Buddhist, yet I confess that I never see a statue of
+that deity but I bend my head before his benign and inscrutable face,
+and render up thanks for the great blessings he has showered upon me. It
+has now been three years since Muriel and I were married, and they have
+been three years of almost perfect happiness. We think of making a trip
+to China, some of these days, and, if we do, we have concluded to make a
+special pilgrimage to Ping Yang, and place upon the altar of Buddha the
+most beautiful bunch of flowers that money can buy, as a little offering
+and testimonial of our appreciation of what he has done for us.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation has been standardised.
+
+Page 54, "it's" changed to "its" (that its presence)
+
+Page 58, "Sergean" changed to "Sergeant" (Sergeant McQuade looked)
+
+Illustration following Page 276, "GREEN-ROOM" changed to "GREEN ROOM"
+(TO THE GREEN ROOM)
+
+The "s" in "street" following a proper noun is sometimes with an
+initial capital and sometimes with lower case.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green God, by Frederic Arnold Kummer
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