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diff --git a/33019.txt b/33019.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de11cee --- /dev/null +++ b/33019.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5277 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN GOD *** + +***** This file should be named 33019.txt or 33019.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/1/33019/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sharon Verougstraete and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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