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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33279-8.txt b/33279-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39b6200 --- /dev/null +++ b/33279-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8194 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. Hanshew + +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 Riddle of the Spinning Wheel + +Author: Mary E. Hanshew + Thomas W. Hanshew + +Release Date: July 28, 2010 [EBook #33279] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIDDLE OF THE SPINNING WHEEL *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire + + + + + + + + +THE RIDDLE OF THE +SPINNING WHEEL + + * * * * * + +By MARY E. and THOMAS W. +HANSHEW + + * * * * * + +AUTHORS OF + +"Cleek, the Man of Forty Faces," "Cleek's Government +Cases," "The Riddle of the Frozen Flame," "The +Riddle of the Night," "The Riddle of the +Purple Emperor," "The Riddle of +the Mysterious Light," etc. + +[Illustration] + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers +New York +Published by arrangement with Doubleday, Page & Company + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Girl from Scotland 1 + II. Cleek to the Rescue 13 + III. The Castle o' Dreams 21 + IV. The Morning Call 38 + V. A Startling Discovery 57 + VI. When the Sword Fell 65 + VII. The Summons 76 + VIII. When the Blow Fell 85 + IX. A Double Tragedy 95 + X. The Woman in the Case 108 + XI. A New Clue 117 + XII. Cleek Makes a Startling Assertion 128 + XIII. Mr. Narkom Voices an Opinion 142 + XIV. In Which Rhea Takes a Hand 149 + XV. Another Fly in the Web 159 + XVI. "Tens!" 170 + XVII. A Pair of Boots 180 + XVIII. Enter Cyril 192 + XIX. Dollops Makes a Discovery 202 + XX. "Pins and Needles" 212 + XXI. "A Lunnon Gentleman" 221 + XXII. Damning Evidence 226 + XXIII. A Startling Dénouement 233 + XXIV. Hare and Hounds 239 + XXV. The Man in the Black Mask 247 + XXVI. The End in Sight 265 + XXVII. What Happened in the Library 278 + XXVIII. The Secret of the Singing Wheel 284 + XXIX. "As a Tale That Was Told" 297 + + + + +THE RIDDLE OF THE +SPINNING WHEEL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GIRL FROM SCOTLAND + + +Mr. Maverick Narkom, Superintendent of Scotland Yard, looked up from the +letter he was perusing, a wrinkle in his brow and one hand spread out +over the sheet to keep it open, as the sound of a soft knock broke +through the stillness, and with an exasperation born of the knotty +problem upon which he was at work, called out an irritable "Come in." + +Inspector Petrie's head appeared in the aperture, stiff hand at the +salute. + +"I know you wasn't to be disturbed, sir," he began apologetically, "but +there's a leddy come to see you. Seemed distressed, and said it was +urgent, and begged me for the love of 'even to let her in." + +"And, being a religious man, you succumbed, of course," rapped out Mr. +Narkom in a tone of exasperation. "Oh, well, where's her card? What with +one thing and another, this morning's work has practically gone to +blazes. Not a minute's peace, by James! What's the lady's name, Petrie?" + +Inspector Petrie came forward, a strip of pasteboard in his hand upon +which was engraved a name and something written in a woman's hand +underneath. + +"_Miss Maud Duggan._ H'm. Scotch, I take it. And what's this! _School +friend of Miss Ailsa Lorne._--Ailsa Lorne, eh? Haven't heard from her in +a month of Sundays. Said her business was important--eh, Petrie?" + +"Very important, sir." + +"Oh, well, then, show her up. This cipher business requires entire +quiet, and so long as I can't seem to enforce that, I might as well +attend to the matter in hand." + +"Very good, sir." Bowing, Petrie withdrew. Meanwhile Mr. Narkom slipped +his arms into his coat--it was June, and the heat-wave had London in its +grip, and allied with an equally warm problem he had thought himself +fully justified in shedding it--and sat at his desk, drumming his +fingers upon the top of it to the tune of "God Save the King." + +A moment later "Miss Maud Duggan" was standing before him--a slim, +pale-faced woman with dark-ringed eyes and a twitching, nervous mouth. +She came toward him, hands clasped over heaving breast, entire body +aflame with the intensity of her quest. Mr. Narkom, waving her to a seat +with none too much cordiality, mentally labelled her "highly strung," +and seated himself with an effort to interest himself in what she had to +say. + +"Miss Duggan, I believe?" he began, with a creditable attempt at +cordiality. "Friend of Miss Lorne's?" + +"That's right," she said in a hesitating voice, with just a trace of +Scotch accent that told of the part of the British Isles which gave her +birth. "I _am_ a friend of Ailsa's--an old school friend--although we +haven't seen each other for a matter of five years. But I wrote to +her--when the trouble began--and she told me to come to you. Here is her +letter, if you care to see it." + +"I prefer to listen to your version of the story first, my dear young +lady," returned Mr. Narkom, with a reassuring smile. She was palpably +nervous. "You are in trouble, of course? No one ever visits these +offices for any other reason. Now just set yourself at ease and tell me +all about it. Is it a family matter, or what?" + +"Yes, it is a family matter. And a very serious one at that, Mr. +Narkom," returned Miss Duggan in her rapid voice. "And I am so worried I +don't know which way to turn--and so, in desperation, I came down--all +the way from Scotland--to consult you. You will help me, I know. It is +about my father. His life is in danger, in very grave danger, and I am +afraid that even now, while I am away, something may happen to him, and +that woman practise her cunning successfully at last." + +"In danger?" Mr. Narkom sat forward in his chair, his professional +instincts awake at the word. "Who is the woman of whom you speak, Miss +Duggan, and why should she have designs on your father's life? Begin at +the beginning and tell me where you live, and all about it. There's +plenty of time, you know. Things don't happen so rapidly as a lot of you +young people imagine. You are Scotch, are you not?" + +"I am. And my father is Sir Andrew Duggan, of whom you have no doubt +heard. He--he has large possessions in Scotland. A big landowner, you +know----" + +"And a hard one," said Mr. Narkom mentally recalling certain paragraphs +about the gentleman which appeared from time to time in the Scotch +papers. + +"Our home is at Aygon--Aygon Castle, in Argyllshire. And there are two +of us by our father's first marriage--my brother Ross and me. Ross, as +you know, is heir to the estates, of course, as eldest son of the line +(that part of them which is entailed); but some seventeen years ago my +father married again, an Italian woman whom he met upon one of his +periodical journeys abroad." + +"And this is the woman in question?" + +"It is!" Her voice ran up a tiny scale of excitement. She shut her +hands together and breathed hard, and leaning forward in her seat, let +her big dark eyes dwell a moment upon his face. "That woman is a +would-be murderer, a fiend incarnate, prompted to heaven knows what +awful action by her ambitions for her son Cyril!" + +"Your father's child?" + +"My father's child. Cyril is sixteen this birthday--a nice lad, but with +all the Latin traits of his mother's race--those traits which mix so +badly with our Scotch character, Mr. Narkom. Paula has planned this +thing from the beginning--slowly, secretly, steadily. She has planned to +wrest the estates from Ross, to turn his own father against him, so that +at the last he will remake his will and leave all that he possesses to +Cyril--and rob Ross of his rightful inheritance!" + +"My dear lady, have you any foundation for believing this?" put in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture, as she paused. "An ambitious woman is not +necessarily a potential murderess, you know." + +"But this one is. One can see it in her eyes when she looks at Ross, and +one can read it in every gesture--every thought that passes across her +face. She is a dangerous woman, Mr. Narkom, who will stop at nothing. +Her own father, I believe, had a career that was shrouded in mystery, so +far as we can trace, but there was theft in it, and crime, too--that +much I have ascertained. His daughter is the fitting descendant of the +family. I repeat, there is nothing she will stop at--nothing!--and now +that Ross has taken up with this electricity installation--he has been +mad on engineering ever since he was big enough to toddle, but Father +would not permit him to go in for it--Lady Paula has used it to her own +desperate plans, and has practically succeeded in turning Father against +Ross, so that the two hardly speak when they meet, and avoid each other +as much as possible in the daily round of life." + +"And what, my dear young lady, makes you think that--er--Lady Paula +would wish to murder your father?" + +"My eyes--and my ears, too. Both of which are sharper than one might +imagine. When Paula mixes my father's food--he is an old man and full of +whims and cranks, Mr. Narkom, and he has been much attached to his +second wife and trusts her absolutely--and at night he takes +bread-and-milk for supper, nothing else. And no one but Paula must make +it. She has a little sitting-room of her own just off my father's study, +where there is a little gas-stove and all the necessary paraphernalia +for mixing an invalid's food, and last week I made a point of going in +to watch her--found an excuse to get some note-paper and stepped into +the room quietly. She was stirring the milk in the saucepan, and in her +hand was a little phial of some whitish powder which she was just about +to empty into it when the sound of my step startled her. Instantly she +swung round, went as pale as death, and clapped her hand to her heart. +'How you startled me!' she exclaimed. 'You should not enter the room so +softly, Maud. It is dangerous.' 'Not more dangerous than what you are at +present doing,' I wanted to answer, but I dared not. I had no proof, and +to accuse her without it might only make Father turn entirely from Ross +and me in his quick-tempered, irascible fashion. But she slipped the +phial into her pocket and finished making the bread-and-milk while I +fumbled in the stand where the house paper is kept, all the time +watching her from the tail of my eye. And I could see how her hands +trembled, Mr. Narkom, so that she slopped the milk over into the saucer +from the cup. It's poisoning she is practising upon him-- I know it, +intuitively!" She clenched her hand, and sent an agonized look into the +Superintendent's face. "And all because she is determined to get the +estates for Cyril, and then kill poor Father, and take _everything_, and +turn us all out of our rightful home!" + +Mr. Narkom took out his handkerchief and wiped the beads of perspiration +from his brow. The day was warm, and this excitable and evidently very +much upset young woman only made matters warmer. + +"Come, come," he said in his paternal way. "Isn't that going a little +too far--to accuse a woman of poisoning upon such slight evidence? How +is your father's health?" + +"Failing every day. Every day he grows weaker, but he will see no +doctor--does not believe in them and will never let one enter his house +if it can be avoided. But he is weakening steadily. And it is not +because of his seventy-six years, either, for a haler and heartier man +never lived--until Paula started this wicked thing upon him, and began +making him bread-and-milk for supper. She says he eats too heavily; that +it is not good for him. And Father takes every word as law." + +"A somewhat unwise course with any woman--begging your pardon," put in +Mr. Narkom with a smile. "And now tell me what arrangements your father +has made for the future of his second wife and her son. Or don't you +know?" + +"As it happens, I do. Father is a great stickler for inheritance--or was +until Paula got hold of him--and upon his marriage with her, when my +brother and I were only children (I am twenty-seven and Ross is +twenty-nine), he made this point quite clear to her, I understood, +assuring her upon the birth of Cyril of a sufficient income for her own +and Cyril's needs when death should claim him for its own. + +"Paula, however, has always wanted Aygon Castle; always envied us as its +rightful owners; always said what _she_ would do with it if it belonged +to _her_. And now that Ross has taken up with this electrical hobby (an +extravagant one, as you no doubt know), he has installed a complete +lighting plant in the Castle instead of the musty old lamps which we +used to use, and has thereby frightened all the old tenants of the place +nearly out of their wits. For they have never seen such a thing before!" + +"And yet we live in modern times, and in the year of grace +Nineteen-Twenty-Two," said Mr. Narkom quietly. + +"But you must remember that our village is miles away from anywhere," +she returned quickly. "It is a sort of rock-bound fortress which is +almost as impenetrable as the fortresses of old. Miles of +heather-covered hills and crags surround us, and the nearest +town--Cragnorth--is a three hours' journey away. Many of the villagers +have never even seen a train, so that this modern installation of +electricity into the old castle is like some witchcraft that terrifies +them. Paula has made a tremendous fuss, too, saying that the place is +ruined, that it is vandalism, and has so inflamed Father that quarrels +take place all the time between him and Ross, and he has threatened to +disinherit him if he continues in such mad practices." + +Mr. Narkom nodded vigorously several times. + +"Aha! now we have come to the root of the affair altogether," he said +with some satisfaction. "That was the point I was waiting for. Your +father has actually volunteered that statement, Miss Duggan?" + +"He has. And in my presence." + +"And how does your brother Ross take it?" + +"Ross has the family temper, Mr. Narkom. Ross said hot words which he +should never have uttered, and then dashed off to his fiancée's house, +three miles distant--a sweet girl, whom we all love--and did not come +back until the next afternoon." + +"I see, I see. A very unpleasant affair altogether. And you, naturally +loving your brother, Miss Duggan, have pieced things together, and have +now come to me to see what I can do for you? I must have a few minutes +to think this over." A finger touched the bell at his side. Almost +immediately a head appeared and Mr. Narkom gave his orders. "Tell Mr. +Deland to come here, Petrie. I want to speak to him." + +"Very good, sir." + +"And now, to look the thing straight in the face. You can bring me no +actual proof of guilt upon your stepmother's part but your own love for +your brother and your woman's intuition, added to what you have seen. +One can bank upon a woman's intuition very often--but not in a case of +this sort. That you will readily understand. However, something is +obviously wrong and wants looking into. So I've sent for one of my best +men, Miss Duggan, and if he thinks enough of the case to take it up, I +will entrust the matter entirely to him. He happens to have looked in +this morning, luckily, and--here he is!" + +Even as he spoke, the door opened, and Mr. Deland came in. He was a +tallish, well-set-up man, with eyes neither green nor gray, but with +that something in the bearing of him which mutely stands sponsor for the +thing called Birth. And he was dressed in the trappings of the average +young-man-about-town. Anything more unlike a police officer or a private +detective would be difficult to imagine. + +Mr. Narkom crossed over to him and, drawing him aside, with a muttered +apology to the anxious-faced girl who watched him, spoke a few words in +a low tone into his ear. Mr. Deland's expression changed from feigned +interest to the real thing. The two men spoke again for a few moments in +the same low-toned voices, and then Mr. Narkom addressed her. + +"Miss Duggan," he said, rather pompously, she thought--"Mr. Deland has +promised his interest in the case. I have given him but the barest +outlines. It is for you to fill in the story in the manner that you have +filled it in for me. Sit down, Mr. Deland. Now, Miss Duggan, please +begin all over again." + +She looked into this strange man's eyes with her own anguished ones, and +bit her lip a moment to keep back the tears that had been impending +since the beginning of her story. Her lips trembled. But the eyes were +kind--and understanding. Something in the face spoke to her as lips can +never do. She leaned forward in her seat, shutting her hands together +one upon another in her distress. + +"Mr. Deland," she said brokenly, "help me, please--_please_! I am in +despair; every moment that passes! I am terribly afraid for Father's +life, even as I have told Mr. Narkom here. But there are some things +which a woman cannot tell. Those things which she feels in her +heart--and has no concrete facts with which to explain them. Father will +die if you do not come to my rescue immediately. He will die, and by no +natural means. I tell you, my father is being poisoned slowly, and +because of his very taciturnity none of us can save him! Even now, as I +sit here, something tells me that things are not right with him, or with +Ross, my brother! All my life long I have had these premonitions. There +must be gipsy blood in me, I think. But there it is. Oh, help me to save +him, to save my brother Ross's inheritance. And my blessing will go with +you to the end of your days!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CLEEK TO THE RESCUE + + +She stopped speaking suddenly and choked back a sob, covering her face +with her gloved hands, and for a moment Deland sat looking at her, eyes +narrowed, and the curious little one-sided smile so characteristic of +the man travelling up his face. Here was very evident distress indeed. +And real, too, if he knew anything of women. And yet--where was the +evidence, the intention to murder, as she had suggested? There was +absolutely nothing to go upon but a woman's intuition--and that, +strangely enough, very rarely went wrong. He'd bank a good deal upon a +woman's intuition every time, and feel he'd get good credit. + +"Listen, Miss Duggan," he said, leaning forward in his seat and +surveying her with keen, critical eyes. "You are very grieved, I know, +but, as Mr. Narkom has just told me, you have nothing to go upon +but--_actually_--your own intuition. My friend here does not always bank +on that. I do. A woman's intuition is often a great deal safer than a +whole chain of circumstantial evidence. That is where Mr. Narkom and I +differ--eh, old friend? At any rate, as there is another case besides +yours up in Argyllshire awaiting my investigation, I'll tell you what +I'll do. I'll come up to Scotland to-morrow--to-night, in fact, by the +midnight train--and look into both cases at once. And if I can find +anything requiring my assistance I'll gladly give it. How will that do?" + +Mr. Narkom stifled an exclamation of surprise. Here was an interest +which he had never dreamed of awakening. Cleek (for such was the +admirable gentleman in his admirably cut clothes) rarely, if ever, +showed such immediate interest unless there was more in the thing than +met the eye in the first place. And although this Miss Duggan was +obviously in earnest, he himself would be inclined to put the thing down +to a woman's natural jealousy for her rightful possessions, and a +natural love for the man who was beloved to her by all the ties of flesh +and blood and for whom she would fight, if necessary, to the bitter end. +He had seen this sort of thing before--and paid very little attention to +it. The poison story was weak--undeniably weak--though no doubt Miss +Duggan firmly believed in it. A thousand things might have been +contained in the phial other than the poison to which her jealous mind +had instantly leapt. Powdered aspirin, perhaps, or whatnot. And for +Cleek to take such an immediate interest--_Cleek_! + +He sucked in his breath noiselessly. + +"Gad!" thought he, "there _is_ more in this than meets the eye; of that +I'm sure, or he'd never take such an interest in it. Of course, there's +those illicit stills in the same county, but ... well, anyhow, I was +right in sending for him, by James! It was worth taking a chance over." + +Then he turned his eyes to where Miss Duggan had leaned forward +suddenly, her wet eyes alight with gratitude and face instantly +transfigured. + +"Oh, will you?--will you? How good of you, how very, very good!" she +ejaculated with a little half-sigh of utter relief. "That is all I ask, +Mr. Deland. Someone will come and _see_--see for themselves how things +stand at Aygon Castle. I tell you my intuition is very rarely wrong, and +if harm does not come to my poor father before this week is out, then I +have made the first mistake in all my life. But I'm not mistaken. Of +that I am positively, absolutely _sure_!" + +"Well, let's hope you are, my dear young lady," said Mr. Narkom, in his +practical fashion, getting to his feet at a sign from Cleek, to show +that the interview was over at last. "You are lucky to have the help of +Mr. Deland, I must say. Personally I never thought for an instant that +your case would interest him, but as it _has_, you'll no doubt meet on +the midnight express--eh, Deland?--and travel up together? And now, as I +have a lot of business on hand, I'll wish you a very good morning and +good luck." + +"Thank you." She got to her feet and put her gloved hand into his. "You +have been very, very kind. And I hope, too, that you are right +concerning my intuition. But I am afraid not. Thank you so much +for--everything. And you, too, Mr. Deland. Shall I expect you to-night, +then, by the midnight express, or would you prefer to travel alone?" + +Cleek bowed. + +"Certainly not. I shall be glad of your company, if you will permit me +to travel with you, Miss Duggan," he responded gallantly--feeling, +however that he would have preferred to travel alone, if politeness +permitted him to say so. "There will be a good deal of reading that I +shall have to do, but if you'll pardon that.... To-night, then, by the +midnight express. I shall look for you outside the Third booking-office, +at 11:40. And I shall already have secured two corner seats. Back to the +engine, or not?" + +"Back, please," she made answer, giving his hand a grateful squeeze on +parting. "How kind you are! I feel hopeful already! Somehow, you inspire +me with confidence, Mr. Deland. In your hands I know things will not go +amiss. If we can only get there in time----" + +She shrugged her shoulders, and let the rest of the sentence go by +default, and then, bowing slightly to each in turn, took her departure, +a graceful, elegant figure, bearing in every line and look the mark of +the noble ancestors of one of Scotland's noblest families. + +As the door closed behind her, Cleek wheeled round, and striding over to +Mr. Narkom set a hand upon each of his podgy shoulders, and stood a +moment looking down into his face. Then he gave a short, sharp laugh, +and let his hands drop. + +"A dollar to a ducat but there's more in that than meets the eye," he +said, with a lift of the shoulders and a twitch of the lip. "There's a +woman who has sincerity written upon her soul, but hasn't a jot or +tittle of actual evidence to offer us. Your method would be to send her +home again, until she brought you the poison bottle or the cork of it, +or the bread-and-milk into which the stuff had been poured--eh, old +chap?... And mine--what?" He spread out his hands, and shrugged his +shoulders, and swung upon his heel with a laugh for the rueful +expression upon Mr. Narkom's face. + +"Oh, I say, old fellow----" began the Superintendent excitedly; but +Cleek's uplifted hand silenced him. + +"Familiarity breeds--the best of comradeship!--my friend. And a little +dig in the ribs now and then should never be read amiss. I owe all I +have to you, Mr. Narkom. You know the deeps of my gratitude. And if I +am not permitted sometimes to tease.... Oh, you silly old booby! You'll +never be a policeman to the end of your days. There are too many +sensitive nerves running round underneath that plump and portly exterior +of yours. And your heart's too soft! But don't let us stray from our +business in this ridiculous fashion, for time slips by and the hour +isn't half long enough for what must be done in it. Tell me briefly what +she told _you_, and in as near her own words as you can remember, and +then I'll be off and away to make arrangements for to-night's journey. +If there's nothing in this thing, I'll send you a wire: 'Empty.' + +"You'll understand. If there _is_, then the word 'Full' will answer +quite satisfactorily, without giving away our plans to any interested +persons. As for the whisky-still business, what more perfect harbour for +it than those craggy, heather-covered hills of Scotland? I'll have news +for you, my friend, never fear; and immediately I hit upon anything, +Dollops shall send it travelling over the wire in our own special code +to you." + +"What a man you are, Cleek! What a fund of restlessness, untiring +interest and intelligence!" said Mr. Narkom, as he laid a fond hand upon +Cleek's sleeve and looked up into his smiling face. "Gad! The Yard would +go to pieces without you nowadays. You saved us from collapse in the old +days of that Maurevanian business, when the whole country seemed to +have run amuck--and blamed the police for it! And you're saving us every +time now. What we'd do without your brains and your pluck and your +wonderful birthright, which disguises you so successfully that even I, +your best friend, don't know you, when you choose--well, I can't say. +But my blessing with you, Cleek, and the best of luck! You'll find what +you're looking for, I haven't a doubt." + +"Yes, I'll find what I'm looking for, Mr. Narkom; I'm certain of that," +said Cleek quietly, the queer little one-sided smile travelling up his +cheek once more. "I don't wish to sound egotistical, but there are few +things can beat your humble when his mind's made up. Else how would I +have travelled back from the underworld into such a position of trust +and uniqueness as this? Only that a woman's eyes lit the way for me, and +a man's great heart opened the door--and the crook determined to become +the gentleman, and pitched into it forthwith all he was worth. +Cussed--that's me!" + +"And _clean_! And with those two attributes Hercules was enabled to +clean out the Augean Stables and prove himself ready for anything that +came," supplemented Mr. Narkom, with a noisy sigh. "Cussed and clean! +That's your motto. I'll back it every time.... Now, then, to business. +We've thrown enough bouquets at each other to last for a lifetime! +There's a dickens of a cipher case which is tying me into knots at +present, so I need all my faculties to untie myself again! Here are the +facts, Cleek. Nothing much, but you will make more than I can of them; +so here goes." + +And so it came about that when Cleek left the offices in Scotland Yard +that afternoon, and strolled leisurely down toward his diggings in +Clarges Street, he was in possession of the full story, just as Maud +Duggan had told it to Mr. Narkom, and had gleaned therewith one or two +incidental conclusions upon his own account. + +The journey to Scotland was likely to prove a fruitful one. And he was +to see the gaunt crags of that most majestic and rugged country under +more interesting conditions than he had at first bargained for. + +But _how_ interesting and how tragically enthralling, even Cleek himself +was not able to foresee. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASTLE O' DREAMS + + +To say that Cragnorth--that little unknown village of the Highlands +which lies like an eagle's aerie upon the crest of the hills, scattering +its few dwelling-places like seed over the hillside and down into the +valley below--stood half-an-hour's distance from the station was to +underestimate the fact. For it took Cleek and Dollops and Miss Duggan +two mortal hours of driving in the station hack before they came in +sight of it. + +And it was just as they reached a bend in the hill-road and came out +upon a deep ravine, moss-covered and still wreathed with the mists of +the morning, that Cleek saw Aygon Castle for the first time, and felt +the whole true meaning of what it meant to these lairds of the Highlands +to live here, generation after generation, giving to their children the +right of ownership in the ancestral homes; it was just then that Miss +Duggan turned in her seat and pointed with one arm out-thrown toward it. + +"That's the Castle. Isn't it too magnificently beautiful for words, Mr. +Deland?" she said, with a suggestion of a catch in her voice at sight +of it. "With those mists wreathing it about, and all its dear, gaunt, +worn turrets piercing the top of the world like that! Now you can +imagine how I feel toward the--the woman who would wrest all this from +Ross, take what is his rightful inheritance from him and give it to a +boy who is only half a Scotsman, and with the blood of another country +running in his veins! Now you can understand why I came all the way to +London to see Mr. Narkom. Look on it, Mr. Deland, and drink in its +beauty. The sight of it is like heaven itself to me." + +Cleek did look on it to his heart's fill, and drank so deep of its +majestic beauty as to be well-nigh intoxicated with it. The artist's +soul of the man was afire with the chill grandeur of the place. From +turreted towers rising through the gray mists, like the towers and the +turrets of the Holy City itself, Aygon Castle was like some enchanter's +palace, like some figment of the mind's weaving in those hours of +day-dreams which lie between the dark and the day. + +To the left of it a huge watch-tower reared its monstrous head to the +blue-flecked Highland sky, set atop of which stood the figure of a man, +gigantic and wrought in bronze, with the plaid of the Duggans sweeping +across his shoulder and eddying out into a marvellous real billow behind +him, one huge forearm raised in the hand of which was a battle-axe, +standing out black and menacing against the early morning sky. + +Cleek swept a hand out to it, while Dollops, silent up to the present, +gave forth the feeling of his Cockney soul in one long-drawn "S'welp +me!" of utter enthusiasm. + +"Who is the gentleman of the axe, Miss Duggan?" said Cleek, turning +toward her, his face alight with interest. "What a magnificent thing it +is! And how he stands out against this Highland sky of yours--menacing, +victorious, utterly sublime! Some ancestor, no doubt?" + +"_The_ ancestor. The greatest of all that great line of Duggans, or +_Mac_duggans, as it was then," she responded in a hushed, exultant +voice. "Chief of the greatest and most powerful clan of all Scotland, in +those days when Scotland was a country apart, and the Scottish chiefs +were little kings in their own dominion, ruling in absolute monarchy +over their subjects. Rhea du Macduggan. That was his name, Mr. Deland. A +great and powerful and just man. And when this Castle was built over the +spot where his camp had been in those by-gone glorious days, the +Macduggan who had it built caused that statue to be erected, and had it +wrought in finest bronze, to endure throughout the centuries. You can +see for yourself how well Rhea has withstood the bludgeoning of time. +And, too, you may understand a little, at sight of him, what this place +means to my brother and me, and how loath we are even to entertain the +thought of letting it get out of the family." + +"And is the estate not entailed?" + +"Unfortunately not this portion of it. That part which follows the +entail comprises a couple of the adjacent villages and a lot of +farmsteads out there across the valley. But the Castle--no. In olden +days each son of the family fought for it against the surviving holder +of it, fought a personal battle of strength to prove himself worthy of +it, and then, upon victory--or proved worthiness--the will was made. The +line has never been broken, Mr. Deland. And to-day my brother and I are +as willing to fight for it as were our ancestors of old." + +"And I don't blame you, either," said Cleek with alacrity, sighing a +little, as though some thought of all this magnificence awakened an echo +in his heart that would not immediately be stilled. "I know a little of +that feeling, too. When a man loves his ancestral home, and his country, +he will fight for it and die for it rather than that an alien hand shall +take possession of either. That is the gift of Race, the inherent +something that Family breeds in us. The clanship which belongs to an old +and unbroken line. I know--I know.... Heigho! But it is an inheritance +indeed. I am more in sympathy with you than ever before, Miss Duggan, +for I, too, would fight for this against the hand of an enemy, and die +fighting rather than that it should slip out of my reach.... And you +mean to tell me that your brother Ross has installed electric lighting +_here_?" + +She smiled a little, and nodded her head as one might smile at thought +of some child's deliciously childish and foolish action. One could see +that she worshipped her brother. + +"Yes, Mr. Deland. A complete installation, which is both the envy and +the desire of every other landowner for miles around." + +"And why the envy, may I ask?" + +"Because the fortunes of many are lower than ours. The Duggans were +always the wealthiest clan in this part of the country. The other clans +were poor. They are still poor. And we, too, are poorer than we were. +The land takes nearly all our income to wrest something from its +wildness besides the heather and the stretches of gorse-covered moor. We +herd the flocks on those parts, Mr. Deland, but cultivation of the rest +is very difficult. It is too wild, too barren. And the other big houses +are indeed envious of our wonderful lighting arrangements. It has been +the root of much friendly quarrelling among us. But the villagers are +_terrified_!" + +"I can well understand that--in this uncivilized quarter," put in Cleek +with a smile. "Many, I have no doubt, still use the old rushlight of +former days.... Ah, here is the village. My man and I had better put up +at the local hotel, Miss Duggan, as a couple of fishermen-- I'll be +bound your salmon is wonderful in these parts, and I for one love the +sport--and then we can effect an introduction by the aid of our mutual +friend, Miss Lorne, and perhaps to-morrow I might be permitted to call +upon you. How does that satisfy your mind?" + +She put out a hand to him with an impetuosity that was foreign to her. + +"It satisfies me splendidly. You are more than kind to take such an +interest. Put up at the Three Fishers, by all means, Mr. Deland. The +landlord is a kindly soul, and will give you every attention, I know. +And then, if you will be good enough, call to-morrow morning--unless I +have to send for you before then. And if so, how shall I do that?" + +The hack drew up in front of the Inn of the Three Fishers and Cleek and +Dollops dismounted, the latter entering the inn with their baggage, +while Cleek stood at the side of the carriage, leaning over the edge of +it to speak to its sole occupant. Beyond him, directly opposite to them, +the village street broke off into a slope that led down into the valley, +rock-bound and lichened over with heather-bells and the outstretched +arms of prickly gorse-bushes. While on an adjacent hill directly in +front and rising out of the valley itself up a steep mountainside stood +Aygon Castle, its many windows commanding a distant view of the village, +and practically upon a level with it, so that some of those same +windows faced upon those of the inn, with the street and then the valley +and the hillside on which it stood between. + +Cleek waved a hand toward it now. + +"Which is your own window?" he asked softly. + +She pointed. "Fourth from the left. That tall, narrowish slit-like one. +It has mullioned panes--see? There are only three others like that on +this side. The fourth from the left is mine. Why?" + +"Because," said Cleek meaningly, "if you want me, put a light in that +window--a red light, for preference, as at this distance it would be +easier to see. And light and re-light it three times. I shall be on the +watch. And if not I, my man Dollops. Until to-morrow morning, when I +shall call. Remember--three times, if you want me, and I shall come +immediately--in my professional guise or not, as you like. And keep up +your heart, Miss Duggan. Things may not be as black as you think. Fourth +from the left, isn't it?" + +"Fourth from the left. How kind you are! I shall never be able to thank +you for all your interest. And I have a little disused bicycle lamp in +my cupboard. It has a red slide. I will flash that--if I need you. +Good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Cleek, smiling, and standing bareheaded in the early +morning sunshine. + +The carriage drove on up the hill, turning at the corner and winding +down again into the valley, and from the outer wall of the street upon +the opposite side one could watch its progress as one watched the +movements of a fly upon an adjacent bank. Cleek crossed the road and +stopped there, head bent, arms folded upon the low stone top of the +wall. Round along the tortuous hill road it went creeping along, at an +incredibly slow pace it seemed from his position above it, on and on and +on into the valley, and then up, up, up, the opposite hillside, through +bushes and shrubs that screened it now and again from view, and betwixt +immense boulders, until eventually it came abreast of the huge +wrought-iron gates of the place and passed between them out of sight. + +And as it disappeared Cleek turned upon his heel with a deep-drawn sigh. + +"Gad! what an inheritance!" he mentally commented as he crossed the road +and entered the portals of the inn itself. "Enough to fight for, indeed! +Mr. Narkom, old friend, this is one of those subtle things which your +middle-class upbringing could never understand. One of those things +which belong to the few and the chosen. Heigho! And Esau bartered his +birthright for a mess of pottage. She'd fight for it--and so would I! A +nice girl--hysterical, high-strung, but full of the pride of race. The +fourth window from the left, she said. I'll put Dollops on the job, +while I snoop around a bit for myself, and see how the land lies. Mine +host might possibly put me wise to a good deal, as our American cousins +say." + +So he strolled into the bar-parlour, and ordered a tankard of ale, and +over it made the acquaintance of that particular specimen of rugged +Scotch manhood who was for the time being to be his host. + +"Fine views in these parts," said he, conversationally, and in the +man-of-the-world-tourist-idiot voice which he affected upon occasions. +"My man and myself want to put up here for the fishin', doncherknow. You +can fix us in all right, I suppose?" + +"Cairtainly, sair. Therre's plainty of rume in th' Three Fishairs," +responded Mr. Fairnish, with a smile of welcome, and in that inimitable +accent which is Scotland's own, and which rings like rugged music upon +the ear of the stranger to those parts. "We've a nice bedroom facin' th' +Castle. It'll be a grrand view in the mornin' wi' yer tea. And yer +man--we'll find him a shake-down nearr-by, if ye so wish ut." + +Cleek liked on sight this genial host with his mellow accent. + +"Well, I'd prefer for him to be within reachin' distance of me, +doncherknow," he said, with an inane grin into the red-whiskered +countenance, blue-eyed and lined with exposure to wind and weather, that +glowed above him. + +"Cairtainly. If ye weesh it; Mrs. Fairnish will show ye yer rume, and +anything ye may want----" + +Cleek raised a detaining hand. + +"Please don't be in any hurry," he said pleasantly. "I've all day here +before me. Come down to do a bit of fishin', doncherknow. Fine sport in +these parts, they tell me. And that's Aygon Castle, is it? I know the +young lady, Miss Duggan, slightly. Grand place it looks, to be sure." + +Mr. Fairnish raised his eyes ceilingwards. His hands followed them. + +"It's a heavenly spot indeed," he said piously, as one might speak of +some religious place of worship. "One of the grrandest in our whole +country, sair. You'll be visitin' there, no doubt?" + +"Oh, possibly. A friendly call, doncherknow. What's the old chap like +who owns it?" + +Mr. Fairnish cast a hurried look on either side of him. The canny Scot +showed uppermost in his visage. But the coast was clear. Only a boy of +ten or twelve played at the other end of the bar with a roughly made +engine of wood, dragging it to and fro over the tiled floor. + +"Sair Andrew's a harrd mon--a dour, harrd mon is Sair Andrew," he said +in a low, harsh voice, and with a wrinkling of face muscles which spoke +volumes. "I wudner cross his path unless I could help it. Harrd, sair, +harrd as nails. And wi' a grrasp on him for every penny!" + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones. "Mean, is he?" + +"Mean wi' ye call it? Mean? There's no worrd ter expraiss what Sair +Andrew is at all. Not in the language, sair. But he's got a fine bailiff +ter manage th' land, and 'tis wi' him the people deal. Not wi' Sair +Andrew. Mistair Tavish, now--he's a fine chap, wi' a greeat hearrt an' a +helpin' hand for aiverybody. Mistair Tavish, now, he's a gentleman, +sair. Not a block er grranite, like th' old landlorrd!" + +Cleek smiled. So even in these rocky fastnesses of the silent Highlands +a man liked his bit of gossip, and loosened his tongue to pass the time +of day with every stranger. + +"Very interesting, Mr.----" + +"Fairnish, Robairt Fairnish." + +"Mr. Fairnish. And what about the rest of the family? Mean also?" + +"Aw no, sair. Not Mistair Ross, at any rate, nor Miss Duggan, either," +supplemented Mr. Fairnish, lighting his pipe with one horny hand and +leaning out over the bar the better to address Cleek. "Another ale, +sair?--cairtainly. Mr. Ross, now. A fine fellow, in spite of his +strrange ways and his wonderful apparatus. He's lit th' whole Castle +with electricity, sair; and Sair Andrew has no got ovair the effect o' +it yet. He does nought but grrumble and growl at Mistair Ross for th' +expainse and th' noosence of it, until, so I haird, th' Castle be no +pleasant spot to live in. And his wife, Lady Paula Duggan----" + +Mr. Fairnish raised his hands and eyes in a very expressive gesture. + +"You don't like the lady of the Castle, then, Mr. Fairnish?" interposed +Cleek, tossing off his ale and setting the empty tankard down upon the +bar in front of him. + +"Like her, do ye say, sair? Like her! Show me th' pairson in th' whole +deestrict that does, and I'll tell him he's a liarr--if ye'll pardon my +language. There's nought in the countryside that does like her--a +black-haired, weecked foreigner like hersai'f--though ye'll no repeat my +worrds, I pray, or 'twould go harrd with Robairt Fairnish when next +rrent-day comes round. But never a bairnie that has ought to say that's +plaisant o' her--th' black-eyed witch-wummun! An' that's a fact. She +speaks a heathen tongue, sair, an' I never trusts a foreigner. They're +suspeeshus characters, the best o' them." + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed--laughed heartily. + +"Well," said he, with a shake of the head, "perhaps you're right. Though +I won't say that my experience has always been just that. However, the +lady does not seem to find favour in your eyes. Mr. Ross Duggan I +haven't met." + +"A fine upstanding gentleman, sair, wi' ne'er a mean bone in his body." + +"And Miss Duggan?" + +"A gentle, kind creature wi' a hearrt o' gold. She'd do nought to harrm +anny one, sair, and I've proof o' that--bless her! Nor Miss McCall, +either." + +"Miss McCall?" + +"Lady Paula's companion and handy maid, sair. A leddy, if I knaws one. +Engaged to Mistair Tavish, I unnerstand--though 'tis not yet given out +to the gran' folk. But the' have th' saft look in their e'e for one +anaither. And 'tis juist that it means. A puir freeted creatur' wi' an +e'e fer the ghost o' the Castle. She'll have a fine mon in Mistair +Tavish, I assure ye. And now 'tis time ye saw yer rume, sair, or I'm no +a guid host ye'll ken." + +So saying, Mr. Fairnish moved away from the bar reluctantly, as one +stung by duty into doing something for which he had no relish, for bar +and Fairnish were as synonymous as the Dawn and the Day--and almost as +inseparable. + +Cleek watched him with upflung eyebrow and keen eye. Then he followed, +and set a hand upon the garrulous fellow's sleeve. + +"Mr. Fairnish," he said quietly, "you've interested me immensely. My own +fellow-folk, you know--what is it that Pope says?--'The proper study of +mankind is man.' Well, it's like that with me. Perhaps I'm +over-curious--there are a lot of us like that in this world. But you +mentioned a ghostly visitant of the Castle just now. You were speaking +in jest, of course?" + +An imperceptible something passed like a shadow over Mr. Fairnish's +rugged face. He gave a shiver. + +"In jest ye tak eet?" he said a trifle huskily. "Weel, 'tis in airnest +that I spoke. For nevair a step near the grounds will ought o' th' +countryside go at night. 'Tis a lang story, and I've no time to be +tellin' it thee noo, sair, but here's a leetle. 'Tis a peasant-gairl +that a Sair Andrew of the sixteenth century, I ken, abducted from her +propair parents (they lived in the Lowlands, so I've heard tell), and +brought to th' castle and locked up--for his ain pleasure! 'Tis a sorry +tale, for the puir maid deed o' a broken hearrt an' a broken speerit, +too, I tak' it, nigh on to twelve months latair, wi' a leetle one juist +come ter gladden her sore hearrt." + +"Indeed? And what became of the child, then?" + +"No one knaws. 'Twas said 'twas stealed at night by the granfer and +speerited awa'. And 'twas said th' de'il himsaif cam' an' claimed eet. +No one knaws that parrt o' th' story, but there's a mony who says they +du. Only the peasant-gairl hersaif haunts the Castle tu this day, sair, +and stalks th' whole place over from top tu bottom, an' inside and out, +a-lukin' fer her sheel." + +"Poor girl!" There was genuine sympathy in Cleek's low-toned voice, and +at sound of it Mr. Fairnish spun round and looked at him, his own face +brightening. + +"Then ye believe in eet?" he said. "Fer yer voice tells me so. And so +du I--an' aiverybody in these parrts. And wi' a mon so harrd as Sair +Andrew as laird, ye ken what a puir time the gel must have had long +ago--wi' another of 'em th' same. You're a sympathetic gentleman at +hearrt, sair, I knew it on sight uf ye, so ye'll be takin' a worrd of +advice from me, and no be out in the grounds at nicht, when there's no +mune. 'Tis said she twists the neck of every man she sees at nicht-time +in the grounds after dark, as a revenge for what she suffered at the +hands of one. Ugh! but it's a sorry tale and no prettier fer the +telling, I ken.... If ye come this way, sair, I'll introduce ye to my +ain leddy, and she'll tak' unco' care o' ye." + +"Thanks." + +Cleek swung into step behind him and mounted the wide shallow oak stairs +of the place to the tune of Mr. Fairnish's deep-pitched voice calling +for "Mary! Mary!" In the fullness of time "Mary" appeared, and resolved +herself into a buxom, high-bosomed, rosy-cheeked Highland lass, whom Mr. +Fairnish had taken to wife (the second for him) last January. She +appeared almost as garrulous as her husband, and while she showed Cleek +his room--a long, low-ceiled bedroom overlooking the Castle and with +windows across one end of it--she regaled him with tid-bits of gossip of +neighbouring parts, and incidentally added to his already plentifully +filled store of knowledge of the "Castle-folk" the fact that Miss +Duggan herself was secretly engaged to a Captain Macdonald--one of the +poorest land-owners of those parts--who, because of his poverty, was +forbidden the house by Sir Andrew, and promptly sent about his business. + +"A harrd mon," she said, as her husband had done, standing in the frame +of the open doorway with arms akimbo, and looking the true Scots lassie +she undoubtedly was. "And sich a nice gentleman, tu--that Captain +Macdonald. Reel gentry, Mr. Deland, sair. I've often thocht what a peety +it was tu see 'em pulled apart like thaat. Ye'll be wanting some hot +water, sair, I ken." + +"Thanks. I'd like some, certainly. And my man----" + +"He's made himself at home already," she responded, beaming at him. "And +he's in my keetchen th' noo, eatin' an airly lunch. He towld me ye'd +come fer the fishin', sair. We've a-mony come fer that to these parrts. +That'll be all, I tak' it?" + +"That'll be all." + +At which the good woman withdrew her tongue and herself, and left Cleek +a trifle dazed by the positive fount of garrulity at which he had been +drinking this past half-hour, and a good deal interested in the +Castle-folk to boot. + +He walked to the window and stood looking out of it at the magnificence +of Aygon Castle that rose like some dream-palace before his admiring +eyes. And as he looked he counted the windows across that part of the +building which faced upon the village. + +The fourth from the left. Well, she'd possibly never need to signal, and +yet--one never knew. And there was a ghost, too, and a horny-fisted and +hard-hearted landlord, just as the penny novelettes would have had it. +Quite interesting; quite. But the arrival of hot water set every other +thought but that of cleanliness out of his head, and he gave himself up +to his ablutions like a schoolboy on holiday. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MORNING CALL + + +No red light showed itself at Miss Duggan's window that night--though +Cleek sat up until the soft fingers of the dawn were wreathing the sky +with lavender veils and the face of the morning peeped through, like +some goddess stepped down from Olympus to smile upon her lesser fellows. +And it was then, and then only, that he sought his bed and the comfort +of cool sheets at last. + +Dollops, knowing his plan, did not disturb him. And so it came about +that the clock upon the mantel had chimed out ten before he opened an +eye and looked about him, sleep still dimming his vision and making the +unfamiliar room doubly strange. + +"What the--how the--Gad! if it isn't ten o'clock, and I've been sleeping +like a noodle ever since dawn," he said, springing out of bed and +donning dressing-gown and slippers to have a first glimpse out of the +window at that "fairy sight" which Mr. Fairnish had promised him with +his cup of tea. "Well, she _is_ a beauty and no mistake! Good morning to +you, fair Palace of the Mists. What secrets are locked away in your +breast this morning, I wonder? Well, the night has passed tranquilly +enough to be sure, and that poor girl's terrors are stilled for the +present twelve hours, at any rate. I'll call there after breakfast and +scrape acquaintance with the lot of 'em, and judge if Mr. Robert +Fairnish is as good an observer as he is a talker." + +And directly after breakfast that was exactly what he did do. Dollops, +armed with fishing-tackle and rods, received his marching orders in full +sight and sound of the inn's proprietor, knowing full well that within +five minutes of that time all that he had said and done would be ablaze +over the village, if he knew aught of that garrulous tongue of his. + +"Be off with you, Dollops, and have a look at the river," said Cleek +from the shelter of the open doorway, as Dollops wended his way slowly +down the path to the wicket-gate which led out on to the road. "And see +what fish be in those waters. And if you don't come home with a +twenty-pounder, you're no angler, my lad!" + +Dollops nodded and winked. + +"Right you are, sir. As Mr. Asquith says, better 'wait and see.' And if +I don't bring 'ome a twenty-pounder, I'll bring 'ome a twenty-yarder, at +any rate. Fer I'm a fair dabster for eels every time." + +"Sounds more like boa constrictors and the jungle than Highland rivers +and modest eels," retorted Cleek, laughing heartily. "And I'm paying a +call at the Castle and making my respects to Miss Duggan. So if I'm not +back for lunch, Dollops, don't fancy dreadful things and imagine I've +been consumed by the ghost-lady who haunts those lovely turrets and +towers, but come home and wait for me." + +Dollops stopped in his tracks and sucked in his breath hard, and the +freckled brown of his Cockney countenance took on a queer drabbish +shade. He came back again along the path and stopped in front of his +master, mouth hanging open, eyes wide. + +"Ghosts, sir! Did I 'ear you use the word _ghosts_?" he ejaculated with +a perceptible shiver. "Br-r-rh. I doesn't mind dealin' wiv any kind of +_'uman_--but wiv them in'uman species I'm a reg'lar goner! You ain't +arskin' me ter meet the lidy, are yer, sir?" + +"Not yet, my boy," returned Cleek, with a laugh and a shake of the head. +"So you needn't worry yourself about that. And if I do ask, you may be +sure I'll be asking nothing that I would not--and will not--partake of +myself. Get along with you, and don't bother your head. When I want you +to call, I'll come, too. You can count upon that." + +"Well, so long as I don't 'ave to call alone I doesn't mind so much," +retorted Dollops. Then, swinging round in his tracks, he went off down +the pathway, whistling that very hackneyed but popular tune, "Pack Up +Your Troubles in Your Ole Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!" While +Cleek, watching him for a moment, felt a sudden warmth of feeling +toward the rough-mannered but warm-hearted youth who had followed +him--willy-nilly--ever since they two had met upon that memorable +far-off day when Cleek had made himself responsible for the boy's +safety. + +A leisurely cigarette smoked in company with the worthy host, and then +Cleek took up his soft "squash" hat, seized hold of his blackthorn +stick, and with a nod and a smile to Mr. Fairnish, swung out into the +roadway, monocle screwed into left eye, well-cut tweeds setting off the +splendid figure of him, and looking for all the world like the leisured, +perfectly turned-out exquisite who journeys so far out of his beaten +track only in pursuit of a sport which vastly amuses him, and to whom +Bond Street and the very outer edge of the Western Highlands are all one +and the same thing, so long as he can get a day's amusement out of them. + +The walk to the Castle was not as long as he expected. It was, in fact, +but a brief fifteen minutes over a rough, hilly road which in parts was +little more than a track, and which swung up and down so unevenly over +the moor that walking was at times difficult. Halfway there, as Cleek +turned the corner of a little ravine and came out upon a full view of +the valley, with the Inn of the Three Fishers to the left of him and +the Castle to the right, he heard the _thud-thud_ of a horse's hoofs, +and in a moment more, drawing up against the bank to allow whoever was +coming to pass, he saw a rider approach from the right and go through a +gate which led apparently to the Castle grounds. As the rider passed, +Cleek stepped out into the path with a sudden impulse and raised his +hat. + +"I say," said he in his London drawl, as the rider dismounted and, +removing his hat, stood before him--a fine figure of a man in Scotch +tweeds, measuring a good six-feet-two of staunch muscle and bone, with +the shoulders of a giant and a big-featured, kindly face, and the blue +eyes and high hooked nose of the typical Scotsman; the all-observing eye +of Cleek noticed that one of the stranger's fingers was bandaged, as if +it had recently been cut. Cleek instinctively liked him. "Can you tell +me," he said--"awfully sorry to stop you and all that--but can you +possibly tell me if this is Aygon Castle? Looks like it from the +pictures, b' Jove, but photography's frightfully deceptive--what? Friend +of mine--a Miss Duggan--Miss Maud Duggan, I think the name is--lives +there, doesn't she? I happened to come up here yesterday for the +fishin'--awfully fond of it and that sort of thing--and promised to call +whenever I was out this way. I'm right, am I not?" + +"Perfectly right." Cleek liked the deep, ringing voice which answered +him, as he liked the shrewd blue eyes that travelled so rapidly over his +tweeds. Liked, too, the hard, grim mouth which broke into such a +charming smile, transfiguring the whole face as though a light had been +set behind it. "And Miss Duggan does live here. You're keen on fishing, +I take it. Well, so am I. It's a man's sport, and there's few Scotsmen +who don't like it. My name's Tavish--James Tavish--and I'm agent for Sir +Andrew Duggan's estates. We'll possibly meet each other up the river +some time, for I spend most of my spare time there." + +"Thanks. I'd like it immensely. Fishin's a lonesome game alone. And +though I've brought my man with me, and he's a dab hand with the tackle, +one gets a bit bored sometimes. I'll probably see you up at the Castle, +Mr. Tavish, and we'll improve our acquaintance. Many thanks for your +courtesy." + +So saying, Cleek passed on up the rough road, while his new friend +remounted the little chestnut mare he rode so magnificently, and went +galloping off up the incline, making a fine picture against the rugged +scenery of which he seemed such an inseparable part. + +Cleek reached the Castle gates at last, rang the huge bell, and waited +while the lodge-keeper unfastened them for him and inquired his name, +went with him up the long sweep of gravelled driveway with its +bordering of yews and young pine trees lending an air of picturesque +gloom to the place even upon that bright morning. And having reached the +great oaken front door--a monstrous affair scarred by the ruthless hand +of Time as much as by the mailed fists which must have thudded upon it +in far-off days, or by the spears and battle-axes of past Duggans who in +this fashion had left something more definite than a memory for their +ancestors to cherish--pulled the chain of the bell, and waited while the +jangling echoes of its noise died away into silence before his summons +was answered. + +At length the door opened. He caught a glimpse of a dim interior, lofty +as a church and dark with the panellings of old oak which flanked it +upon all four sides, and then gave his name to the pompous old butler, +and was taken into a little ante-room redolent of age--that mothy, +curtained odour as of a room but rarely opened and still more rarely +used--and within a moment or two Miss Duggan was standing there before +him. + +"Mr. Deland! How good of you to have come so soon--how very good!" she +said warmly, extending a hand to him in greeting. "You must surely stay +and lunch with us, now that you have come all this distance. And I want +you to meet my father." Her voice dropped a tone or two. "Paula is with +him now, going over the housekeeping accounts--it is a daily matter upon +which he is very insistent. Ross is in the laboratory, tinkering over +something to do with the lights, but he'll be out in a minute. I told +him I had met you on the train, and that we had got into conversation +and found we were congenial friends through Ailsa Lorne. You know her +well, don't you, Mr. Deland?" + +He smiled, and for a moment his eyes softened. + +"Rather well, I fancy, as she has consented some day to throw in her lot +with me and marry me," he returned in a happy, low-pitched voice. "And +that is why any friend of hers, you know, must be a friend of mine as +well. I'd like very much to have a look at the Castle, if I might be so +permitted. Architecture interests me immensely. It's a hobby of mine. +And this is surely one of the grandest old stately homes that Scotland +possesses!" + +"Isn't it?--isn't it? I can see you have the love of Home and Race in +you, too, Mr. Deland, just as I have it in me," she responded, with a +little happy sigh. "And if only I had not this other trouble which hangs +over me like the sword of Damocles itself, life would be a very happy +thing, indeed. For when one loves and is loved----" Her voice trailed +off into silence, and she stood a moment looking out of the window, eyes +alight, face aglow. + +"Oho!" thought Cleek, with upflung brows. "So Love finds its way even +into these Highland fastnesses. First James Tavish and Lady Paula's +companion (if what Mr. Fairnish said was true), and now Miss Duggan +herself." + +"Who is the happy man?" he said smilingly, as she sighed and turned +toward him. + +"How did you know there was one?" + +"How does any one know that any one loves any one else--when oneself +loves?" he returned enigmatically. "Remember I, too, belong to the happy +band. He lives close here, Miss Duggan?" + +"Yes. Only a couple of miles away. But, alas! my father will hear +nothing of him, and has even forbidden him the house." + +"And may I ask why?" + +"Certainly. Because he is poor. Father's god is Mammon, Mr. Deland. He +knows and acknowledges no other. And Angus Macdonald has received very +little at the hands of that god." + +"But a good deal at the hands of the only God that matters, I take it," +put in Cleek softly, with a smile at her. "Well, they say that Love +laughs at locksmiths, and always finds a way. Time will give you your +chance, Miss Duggan, and you'll have to be brave enough to take it.... +There's someone coming, I think." + +There _was_ someone coming, for even as Cleek spoke the door swung open +and a tall, gaunt, white-haired old man, with a back like a ramrod and a +face of granite, and with eyes that shone like pin-points of steel in +the smooth pallor of it, came into the room, followed by a dark-eyed, +dark-haired, sallow-complexioned woman with the long nose of the Italian +and the brand of the true coquette stamped all over her. + +Cleek recognized them at once. Here were the chief actors in the little +comedy of what was at present a girl's imaginings, and which he +sincerely hoped would never become anything else. What a hard face the +man had! What a trap-like mouth! What a merciless, seeking eye! And the +woman with him--all soft curves and roundness, with those luminous eyes +of southern Italy looking out at him from the frame of her pale, +ivory-tinted face, with already a hint of coquetry in their velvet +depths for any well-dressed, well-apportioned specimen of mankind. +Beside the something rugged and clear-cut in Maud Duggan's +personality--the something Scotch and enduring which is the birthright +of those born beyond the boundary-line of England--this woman's pale +suavity fell into a kittenish foolishness, became instantly trivial and +beyond recognizance. + +At sound of their approach Maud Duggan turned hurriedly and waved a hand +toward Cleek. + +"Father," said she in her low, level-toned voice, "this is Mr. Deland of +whom I told you last night. Mr. Deland is engaged to Ailsa Lorne, my old +school friend at the convent in Paris--and he has come down for the +fishing, and did me the honour to call upon me the very first thing. I +have asked him to stay and lunch with us." + +Sir Andrew bowed stiffly and then extended a blue-veined and tremulous +hand. Cleek took it and bent over it like a courtier. + +"Very pleased indeed to see you, Mr. Deland," said Sir Andrew, in a +deep, full-throated voice that spoke more of the man he had been than of +the man he was now. "You are welcome to our hospitality now and at any +other time." + +"I am deeply grateful, sir, and during my short stay in these parts I +shall hope to make fuller acquaintance of you and your family--your +wife? How do you do, Lady Paula? I am enamoured of your charming +surroundings and your glorious home. May I be permitted to congratulate +you upon both?" + +A fleet look flashed from her eyes, a swift warmth of friendship for +this stranger who made her so much _one_ of them who had never yet been +made one by the family themselves. + +"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Smooth as velvet her voice, warm, subtle, +alluring as the country that gave her birth. "I love it--_how_ I love +it! Even though I am not of the Scotch blood, yet have I that birthright +of my nation--home-love. Maud, dear, take Mr. Deland round, won't you? I +have still some matters to arrange with your father, so you must do the +honours in my stead. And when Sir Andrew and I have finished with our +little _personal_ matters"--she smiled suddenly, showing a flash of +snowy teeth between the warm red lips which Time had not yet cooled to +the more even tenor of England's blood--"then we will join you upon the +terrace. And be sure and show Mr. Deland the electric-lighting plant, +dear. He will be interested." + +Maud Duggan flashed her a look of absolute hatred at this, for she saw +the darkening shade upon her father's face, and noted the sudden +clenching of the hand upon his stick. + +"Cursed modernism and all its extravagant ways!" said the old gentleman +in a bitter voice. "Spending that which he should have saved, sir, upon +a ridiculous experiment which has ruined the atmosphere of the place +entirely. Wayward fool!" + +"But it has improved your reading faculties, anyhow, Father," put in +Miss Duggan in a quiet, resolute voice. "Paula is not nearly so busy +nowadays, when you can read your own papers----" + +"As though I _ever_ wanted to do anything but wait upon him--dear man!" +struck in Lady Paula reproachfully, and with an arch glance at Cleek +which did not go unrewarded. "Your father is not so old a man as to be +in his dotage. And if there _is_ twenty years between us, Maud, it is +hardly kind of you to bring the matter up like this. Perfect love should +have no age nor yet youth. It should be as ageless as Eternity, as +boundless as the sea, as high as Heaven itself.... Are you ready, +Andrew dear?" + +She bent toward the flattered and fluttered old man with that something +in her gesture which has been the gift of every woman of her type all +down the long ages since Scylla tempted Ulysses and Charybdis sent his +head whirling with her lure. + +Maud Duggan led Cleek from the room at that, and once out of earshot of +this ill-assorted pair, whirled round upon him, a spot of anger showing +in each cheek. + +"You see, Mr. Deland, you see?" she rapped out excitedly, "how she +misleads everything we say, and turns it all to her own ends? Oh, how I +hate her--hate her! and have done so ever since she first set foot in +this dear old home of ours. And Father--did you notice how worn and ill +he looks? How his hand shakes so that he cannot steady it? Three months +ago his hand was like a rock; his colour was as healthy as yours or +mine. And yet your Mr. Narkom would say that a woman's intuition leads +to nothing but her own foolish imaginings!" + +"Hush, my dear young lady--have a care!" threw in Cleek quickly, at the +sound of footsteps hurrying toward them, his lips tightening in a way +that suggested that he, too, thought there might be "something in it." +"We don't want the whole place to suspect my mission. That is our +secret, if you please. Now, show me the Castle, if you will--and +whatever of interest which you think has bearing upon the case. Where is +Lady Paula's son? Does he live here, or is he away at school just now?" + +Miss Duggan shook her head. + +"No--Cyril is a delicate boy, and the doctor has advised Father to let +him stay home for a year and just run wild. He is generally with Ross." + +"With _Ross_?" + +"Yes, the two are sworn friends. Cyril's heart is wrapped up in Ross, +Mr. Deland. He never for one moment suspects what his mother is trying +to do--wrest Ross's inheritance from him so that he, Cyril, should have +it instead. It would break his heart, I think. Wherever Ross is to be +found you may be sure Cyril will be there also." + +"Damon and Pythias, eh? Strange that the son loves what the mother +hates, isn't it? I should like to meet this boy." + +"You shall--when we reach the laboratory. He's sure to be there helping +Ross. He is like his shadow, that child." + +"And he is sixteen, you say?" + +"Next October. And a firm believer in our ghost, Mr. Deland." + +"Then you have a ghost and all complete?" + +"Of course. Hasn't Mr. Fairnish of the Three Fishers told you the story +yet? He is usually to be relied upon to impart every bit of village +gossip within the first five minutes of one's acquaintance!" + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed. They had entered a long, +low-ceilinged room, panelled in Spanish leather, with casement windows +which gave upon a little walled-in enclosure surrounded by flowering +shrubs and white-starred syringa-bushes that sent their pungent odour +upon the air in one long waft of perfume. + +"He's told me a good deal, it is true, but----What a delightful room! A +library, I take it? And what a curious old instrument that is! I haven't +seen a spinning wheel like that since I was in Wales and one stood in +the corner of the room where I slept at the village inn. A sort of +heirloom, I suppose?" + +She nodded, and Cleek crossed over to the thing to examine it, touching +a part here and a part there with reverent fingers. + +"Yes, I suppose you _would_ call it that," she responded, crossing over +to him and looking down at the thing in question. "Though, really, why +Father has it here I cannot imagine. Its history is certainly not a +credit to the line. For it belonged to the very girl I was going to tell +you about. It belonged to the Family Ghost. Here is the story. The +villagers believe it to this day, and couldn't be persuaded to enter the +Castle grounds at night upon any pretext whatever. But of course the +educated folk don't. Early in the sixteenth century a wild head of the +Macduggan clan abducted a young--and I imagine beautiful--peasant-girl +when she was sitting at her wheel, spinning, and ran away with +her--wheel and all--and brought her here, so legend says, to this very +room. The girl, whose name, I believe, was Dhurea, or something like +that, stabbed herself with the sharp-pointed spindle of the wheel, and +in doing so laid a curse upon the Macduggan clan. She--she was going to +have a child, Mr. Deland, and as she was dying, she swore that in every +generation a Duggan should die a violent death, and that the sound of +her spinning wheel should predict the moment when death was near." + +"Oho!" said Cleek, in two different tones. "That differs a good deal +from the story Mr. Fairnish tells. There was a child, I understood, and +this child was stolen by the grandparents. That's not correct, then?" + +"There are various interpretations of the legend. No one knows the +truth--only that she killed herself and cursed the family in that +unpleasant manner." + +"And has the curse come true?" + +For a moment Miss Duggan hesitated. Then she sent startled eyes up into +his face. There was the look of a dog at bay in them. + +"I don't believe the story, Mr. Deland! I don't believe a _word_ of it, +for such things cannot possibly be, in this civilized country," she +answered in a scared tone. "And yet--ever since that day, one at least +of each generation has died unnaturally. And now--in _this_ generation +there is only Father and Ross.... This peasant-girl is supposed to haunt +our dear Castle, and after midnight to stalk the place over, looking for +the man who dishonoured her and who has been dead these many generations +past." + +"H'm! I see. And so, naturally, she cannot find him. A weird story, and +more pleasant in the daylight than in the dark. And this is the lady's +spinning wheel, I take it? Your father has it by his writing-table, I +see. Rather in the way, isn't it?" + +"It used to stand over there, in the corner, but Paula declared that it +was too dark there, and that it did not show to its full beauty. So she +moved it. Father lets her do whatever she wishes. And of course it does +show better there, by the window, doesn't it? And as it's Father's +_left_ hand that comes beside it, Mr. Deland, I don't really see that it +much matters." + +"No, I suppose not.... Hello! we've been a long time here, haven't we? +And I haven't seen the half of the place yet. Isn't that the luncheon +gong? Or is it just your tangy Highland air that makes me hungry enough +to imagine it?" + +"Neither," said she, laughing. "That's Rhea's bell. It hangs just under +the bronze statue of Rhea--you remember the one I showed you yesterday +as we came home together?--and it rings upon the entrance of any one +through the great gate. A clumsy contraption, which has never been +altered in all these years." + +"But quite useful--with unwanted visitors," he replied, stooping +suddenly and picking up something off the carpet. "Hello, what's this? +Looks like a bit of flexible electric wire. Something of your brother's +hobby, no doubt." + +He held it out to her in the open palm of his hand. It was just a little +scrap of crimson-covered flexible wire, and she barely noticed it. + +"And ... hello, hello! No electricity used in here, either. I suppose +that's because your father doesn't approve?" + +"Yes. Ross wired the room--or had it wired with the aid of an +electrician--and then installed the light. But Father was so angry that +he would rarely ever use it. Sticks to the musty old lamp over there, +for most things." + +"And is the room still wired?" + +"Yes. There's a wall plug over there by the door. Why, Mr. Deland?" + +"Oh, nothing. Then that would account for this fragment of flexible +wire, wouldn't it? H'm. Yes. I see. I see." + +But what he saw he did not at that moment mention, and Miss Duggan had +to guess at his meaning. + +"But it was done ten days ago-- I must really speak to the servants and +tell them to keep the place cleaner than they do. Fancy leaving odd +pieces about like that!" she ejaculated, sensitive to any suggestion of +poor management upon the part of Castle authorities. But Cleek did not +hear. He was standing over by the wall-plug, looking down at it, and +then kneeling, began to examine it minutely. She watched him in +amazement, unused to his methods. + +"Why, Mr. Deland--" + +"Oh, just looking at how your brother does his work. Quite a good +workman, isn't he?" said Cleek, rising slowly to his feet, and pocketing +the bit of flexible wire forthwith. + +And that was the last word she could get out of him upon the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A STARTLING DISCOVERY + + +Within one short hour Cleek had explored the Castle from end to end, in +company with a tireless girl for whom every stick and stone of the grand +old place held a memory that was as sacred to her as the church is to +the priest who has passed all his days in the service of it. But they +met no other members of the family just then. Only, as they passed +through the left wing, where the servants' quarters lay beyond, Cleek +was introduced to Johanna McCall--paid hireling and companion of Lady +Paula, and not too pleased with her job, either, if all he read in that +frightened face of hers was true. + +He found her a little pale slip of a thing, with wide, anxious eyes set +in an ivory-tinted, utterly colourless face, and with hair that was +"mousey" and straight, and a mouth that might tremble at an unkind word +as a child's does. + +She bowed to him timidly and extended a slender hand. + +"How do you do," she said, in a soft, toneless sort of voice which +matched her poor, toneless, utterly downtrodden personality. "Your +stepmother, Miss Duggan? She is in the study, I suppose? I have her +embroidery silks, and she wanted them immediately. But it took such a +time to get them disentangled. Master Cyril was playing with them last +night. I--oh, I do hope she won't be angry!" + +"Don't worry, Miss McCall. Rome won't fall, you know, even if she does +speak an unkind word to you in her hasty fashion," gave back Maud +Duggan, with a kindly pressure of one hand upon the frail girl's arm. +"And she's busy just now with Sir Andrew. Looking over some accounts, I +believe. I should wait for her in her boudoir, if I were you. She's +bound to ring if she wants you." + +"Yes, perhaps that would be better." + +Miss McCall hurried down the corridor, silent-footed, as a paid +companion should always be, and Cleek shook his head as she vanished +through an open door at the end of the passage. + +"Poor little frightened thing!" he said softly. "And all for a pittance +which, in her sort of profession, must necessarily be small!" + +"Yes, and she works like a black for it, too," gave back Maud Duggan +heatedly. "Slogs away all the day long, running errands +for--_her_--sewing, darning, mending, writing interminable letters which +Paula tears up afterward and decides not to send. And gets not a crumb +of comfort for her pains. Paula is terribly hard upon her, Mr. Deland. +I wonder the girl stands it; only--there's an attraction." + +"And you women are endurance personified--in those circumstances!" he +responded with a little significant laugh. "When your hearts are +involved, your common sense vanishes to make room for it. I've seen it a +thousand times before.... Really, Miss Duggan, you have been an +indefatigable guide. I don't believe there's a nook or cranny of this +place which I haven't seen, is there?" + +"Only the cellars--or, properly speaking, the dungeons. And they're of +no interest to anybody. Father keeps the wines down there, of course, +and anything that does not require too much storage. But, excepting for +the cellar, the place is never entered from one year's end to another. +Not a servant would go down into them for double wages. The peasant-girl +is supposed to stay there when she is not out on her nightly prowl for +the man who abducted her!" + +"Indeed? That's interesting. I suppose I couldn't go down? Dungeons are +a perfect passion with me, for I've an insatiable curiosity, and always +want to go poking my nose where no one else does. Sort of brand of my +profession, I suppose. Do you think you could find energy enough to take +me down?" + +"Certainly." + +She led the way down an L-shaped passage, which led past the kitchens +and the servants' hall, and gave out upon a little stone courtyard set +apart from the house and bounded about with a high wall through which +arrow-slits gave the true mediæval touch, and then down to the right of +this through a huge oaken door which opened noiselessly, showing a +flight of steep, uneven stone steps leading down into a dark, +damp-smelling interior. + +At the top of the steps she paused and looked back at him over the curve +of her shoulder, making a wry face. + +"You still want to go?" she asked jestingly. "I'm a brave woman, Mr. +Deland, but I wouldn't undertake this journey alone for anything! +There's--_rats_!" + +"As well as ghosts? But this is morning, and Scotland, and the twentieth +century--so lead on, Macduff," he answered her in the same jesting +spirit. "Or would you like me to go first?" + +She shivered and twitched up her shoulders. + +"No; I'll do the honours properly. This way. If you've a torch on you, +you'll need it at the bottom of these stairs. It's as dark as pitch." + +"I have." + +Cleek produced it, and they proceeded upon the uncanny journey. The +steps led down, down, into what seemed the very bowels of the earth +(which indeed they were), until they reached a little square opening +from which iron-grilled doorways looked out upon them from every side, +saving for one oak door on the left, which Miss Duggan pointed out as +the wine-cellar. + +"H'm! And smells like it, too," put in Cleek, with a sniff--"What's +behind that door is worth a fortune, I'll be bound. Hello! here's a +candle-end stuck in a bottle! Now, who the dickens uses that, I wonder?" + +"The servants, I suppose. They come down through their own stairs, Mr. +Deland--over there on the left--you can see them if you look hard +enough. They're wooden ones, and were put in by my father's grandsire, +for the convenience of the house. The servants don't like this way at +all. They prefer to come through the butler's pantry." + +"And those stairs lead up there? I see. Hello! Here's a chain attached +to this iron post. What's that?" + +"The prisoner's chain. This room here"--she pointed to the grilled door +opening next to the cellar "was kept for political prisoners, I believe. +And those two across the way were for personal enemies of the family." + +"And are there any others?" + +"Yes--through that first door on the right--but you won't get _me_ to go +into them," she responded with a laugh. "It's horrible in there. There's +a rack and one or two thumbscrews and other articles which belong to the +Spanish Inquisition period; as well as rats innumerable. My bravery +vanishes at this point. I'll not go a step farther!" + +"But you don't mind if I do?" + +"Not a bit. I'll wait here. But there's nothing to see--really. And it's +getting perilously near lunch-time." + +Cleek cocked his head persuasively at her. + +"I won't be a minute--really. But that thumbscrew has got me guessing, +as our American cousins say. I suppose there's no lock on the door? Gad! +but it opens easily enough. Been fairly recently oiled, I take it?" + +"Not that I know of. In fact, I don't believe any one's been in the +place since Ross came down here, three months ago, to show a friend +round. Perhaps he oiled it then." + +"Perhaps. I won't be a minute, really. And I've another torch, if you'd +like it. Here." He tossed it to her, and, keeping his spotlight ahead +of him, entered the dark, dank, evil-smelling place, his footsteps +ringing upon the stone flooring and sending the echoes scampering into +the corners, together with more tangible--and verminous--things. There +was nothing in the first room, but beyond it he came upon the Torture +Chamber and all those instruments of cruelty which marked a less kindly +period of the world's history. And this Chamber was larger than the +other cell. Rusty hooks hung from the ceiling, of incredible size and +suggesting unthinkable horrors, and over all hung the odour of damp and +decay, mingled with something more modern, which caused Cleek to stop +suddenly and sniff like a terrier scenting a rat. + +"Strange!" he said to the silence and the solitude of that awful place, +"but she said the cellars were over there! But if someone hasn't been +drinking spirits here a short time ago, I miss my guess! And, what's +more, someone _has_! A solitary debauch, I suppose. Now, who the dickens +would have thought it?" + +His torch caught a glimmer of something that shone like glass--which +_was_ glass, in fact, and resolved itself into a cracked tumbler beside +which stood a syphon of soda and an empty bottle smelling strongly of +whisky. + +"Whew! Nice little place for a quiet read and a smoke--I _don't_ think!" +he apostrophized it. "With rats in the corners and ghosts all +around--brrh! He's a strange fellow who likes this sort of company, I +must say. But there's nothing to be nosed out here in this pleasant +little den. I'll just take a glimpse through the next one, and then get +back to Miss Duggan, or she'll be getting the creeps and run." + +He had started back, and had just swung his torch through the doorway +beyond, when of a sudden he stopped, sucked in his breath, and fairly +ran into the place, head down, nose to the ground, like a dog, every +faculty alert. + +What he saw there is not recorded, for just at that moment he heard +Miss Duggan's clear voice calling him, and he had perforce to answer. +But he had time to stoop suddenly and swoop down upon something white +but slightly bloodstained which lay on the ground before him, dart a +hasty glance at it, and cram it into his pocket, before swinging round +upon his heel and answering her summons; and all the time saying to +himself: "Who'd have thought it? Now who the dickens would have thought +it?" + +Meanwhile he fingered the slightly bloodstained handkerchief which he +had picked up, and upon which by the light of his torch he had remarked +the initials "R. D." embroidered in one corner. And he laughed softly +and joyfully clapped his hands together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHEN THE SWORD FELL + + +Luncheon at Aygon Castle resolved itself into a somewhat dull and +ceremonious affair, and although there were a good many of them round +the festive board, conversation languished and laughter was noticeable +by its absence. + +"What a devil of a family to live with!--sitting as though there were a +cold-water poultice on top of 'em," mentally registered Cleek as he +surveyed the company and tried his best to add to the general interest +by anecdotes of a recent tour in Ireland; but his conversational efforts +evoked only an occasional "Indeed?" from Sir Andrew. Entertaining these +people ought to be a paid task in itself, he decided. They hadn't got +any further with civilization than the hired-jester period. Gloom was +glory to the atmosphere of that room during the interminable meal. He +looked from one to another keenly. + +First the old laird, solemn as a judge, and concerned only with what was +put before him, with the strange greed of the very old; and at the foot +of the table, his lady, offering a contrast that was as darkness to +day. Cleek sat on the right of his host with Maud Duggan beside him, and +opposite her brother Ross--a big, broad-shouldered, hawk-nosed chap with +the small blue eye of the Scot, keen as a knife-blade, and showing in +the winged flare of nostril the blood that ran in his veins. A likable, +clever fellow. Cleek warmed to him on sight. And yet--his eye swung on +him again. Next to Ross sat Miss McCall, eyes downcast, speaking only +when spoken to, very patiently the servant of a mistress who would +instantly quell any attempt at familiarity or breach of position upon +her part; and next to Miss McCall, little Cyril, black-haired, +brown-eyed, wide-lipped as any other Italian boy, with the soft olive +bloom upon his cheeks that is youth's own birthright. + +"And they called him Cyril!--a wishy-washy name like that!" thought +Cleek disgustedly, looking long at him. "What a perfectly beautiful boy! +And looks delicate, too. No wonder the mother loves him. There's +something appealing in those pansy eyes of his that would lure blood +from a stone. I must have a chat with him later on. He'll tell me much +of this strange family, if I get the right side of him to begin with." + +He commenced tactics right away, and caught Cyril's boyish fancy in a +wonderful story of a heroic and marvellous engine-driver whom he had +known. + +"And I'll tell you some more about him, too--after lunch is over--if +you'll take me out and show me the grounds of this beautiful place," he +promised, with a nod and a smile which won Cyril's hero-worshipping soul +instantly and gained for Cleek an ally who, if handled in the right way, +might prove more useful than he had at first imagined. "There's one +story I remember about the Calais express, and how that chap got the +better of a pack of Apaches who were after the mail-bags. +Gospel-truth!--it's wonderful! We're goin' to be good pals, Cyril, I can +see." + +"Only, please, _please_ do not fill his mind up with any more +imaginings, Mr. Deland, than he has already got for himself," threw in +Lady Paula, with an arch glance at Cleek and a little self-conscious +laugh. "He is already filled to the brim with his stepbrother's +electrical madnesses. Ross has woven a spell over him, I think, in +which--what do you call it?--flex and tungsten and short-circuits and +all the rest of that impossible jargon of these light-fiends are +inextricably mixed. I sometimes fear for Cyril's sanity! He talks in his +sleep all night long of these things, and then wakes in the morning, +pale as death. But I cannot make him do other than spend all these +beautiful, long summer days in that stuffy laboratory with Ross, +watching him at what he calls his experiments." + +She flashed a smile into Ross Duggan's suddenly flushed face, as though +the words she spoke bore no intended sting and innocence alone had +prompted her to speak her mind thus freely. But the timed shaft had its +desired effect, for Cyril turned quickly upon his mother with darkening +brows. + +"So silly of you, Mater, not wanting me to learn all about that ripping +electricity. And Ross knows such a lot, too, and I love to sit and watch +him. And he lets me help sometimes--don't you, Ross?" + +"Yes, old chap." + +"Well, then, I can't see what all the fuss is about, Mater. I really +can't. Why, that light in my room's ripping for reading at night, +instead of the fuggy old lamp we used to have there, and----" + +An agonized look from Maud Duggan sent his brave words trailing off into +nothingness. But already the mischief was done. The black cloud had +settled upon Sir Andrew's face, and the sluggish blood was clotting in +temple veins and cheeks, telling of the anger within. The pin-point eyes +under their beetling brows were more steel-like than ever. He rose to +his feet suddenly, and brought one shaking fist down upon the table-top +with a force that sent the glasses jangling and the table silver +rattling to the tune of it. + +"Have done!" he thundered furiously, trembling in a rage that had become +an old man's obsession, and which responded to the constant playing upon +it like a deep-throated viola in the hands of a musician who understood +it; "have done with all this extravagant nonsense! Haven't I threatened +Ross enough as it is, to take his time-wasting, money-eating experiments +out of my house?--and now he not only disobeys my spoken word, but +actually causes the illness of my youngest son himself. Pale?--of course +the boy is pale! Hanging about indoors in a stuffy room, watching his +father's money poured out like water to tickle the fancy of a fool who +is old enough to know better! I'll have none of him--none of him! He may +sing for his bread and butter in future!--go out into the streets and +beg for it, as better beggers than he have done! But he'll leave the +house--he----" + +"Father!" + +It was Maud Duggan who spoke, rising quickly and hurrying round to him, +to put an arm about his shaking shoulders. "We have a guest--a +stranger----" + +"This is no time for guests or strangers! The moment has come, and I'll +have done with it once and for all!" he thundered back at her, with an +old man's persistence, and the single-mindedness of the ill and aged. +"Mr. Deland will pardon what must seem an extraordinary outburst, but +Mr. Deland will not stop it. I am master here, and my will is law. I +mean to enforce it. My mind is made up. Shall I watch my boy Cyril grow +up into just another such maniac, think you? Until he has not rested +content but that the whole Highlands be lit with his precious +electricity--at the price of his father's fortune?... Paula, my +dear--m-my medicine----" He shook slightly, and then an ague took him +and he trembled. He dropped back into his chair, a huddled, shivering +old man in whom the power of his anger had burnt the frail spirit into a +mere husk of its former strength; and in an instant Lady Paula was upon +her feet, running round to him, and fumbling as she ran with her fingers +in her bodice. + +"My dear!--my dear! You must not so excite yourself. It is not good for +you. Not right," she said soothingly, taking his head in her arms and +pillowing it against her breast; meanwhile with her other hand she +deftly unscrewed the top of a little bottle she had drawn from her +blouse, and shook out one tiny pellet, which she placed between his +trembling lips. "Take this, dearest, and you will feel better.... A +light drug, Mr. Deland, which the doctor orders at such times. Poor +dear!--poor dear! it is such a constant worry to him, this continuous +quarrel with his own flesh-and-blood. If you had really loved your +father, Ross----" + +"As _you_ love him, no doubt I should be able to emulate your methods of +attack better," he returned, stung suddenly out of his bitter silence by +the reproach. "But I have been brought up in another school, Paula, +where we deal square blows that do not strike below the belt, and where +we do not let our ambitions play upon a flattered old man's affections +quite so cleverly or so perceptibly as you do!" + +"Stop!" + +The mischief was out, the damage was done, and in one moment that dull +and insignificant luncheon-table had been transformed into something +that was more like a third-rate melodrama than a family quarrel among +people of the better class. But the thing had been thrashed out so many +times before that politeness had worn thin, and each one spoke his mind +with a bitterness which left nothing to the imagination. Here was the +actual canker of a family's innermost heart, with all the outer covering +worn thin by constant bickerings and the whole ugly reality of the thing +starkly revealed. + +Cleek's face went grim as he watched the blanched faces about the table. +The stammering, broken voice of Sir Andrew tore into the sudden silence. +The old man was struggling up out of his chair, and from the detaining +arms of wife and daughter, face livid, lips twitching, the vein in his +transparent temple standing out like a piece of blue whip-cord. His +clenched hand shook in the air, trembling with the force that he put +into it. + +"Stop it! How dare you say such words to my wife--how dare you! You +shall pay for this, Ross Duggan, and pay dearly! To-night I alter my +will--to-night I strike your name from it forever and make the estates +over to someone else. But your name goes out of it--as you +do--_to-night_!... Paula, your arm." + +He swung toward his wife with all the dignity of his years and his +inheritance, and took the arm she held out to him, clinging to it as a +child to its mother's skirts, and falteringly left the room, where his +words had fallen upon those remaining like the sword of Damocles itself. +Ross had gone white--deathly white, as had Maud Duggan herself--and all +the indignity of this thing before a stranger to their household showed +itself in his tense countenance. + +"Gad! I'll go--and go _now_!" he rapped out, in a very fever of fury and +outraged pride. "And glad to get away, too! Such an infernal hell-nest +of a place as _she_ has made out of a decent British home!" + +"Ross! She's my mater, you know." + +"Sorry, old chap! I forgot for a moment. But it shan't occur again. I'll +be off, Maud, and get along to Cynthia's. She'll have something to say +about this, I daresay, and her Guv'nor will probably give me a leg-up in +finding a job. I'm better out of this. Mr. Deland, you've been the +unwilling victim of an unpleasant scene--and a family scene, which is +most unpleasant of all. I must apologize to you. Had I foreseen anything +of the sort, we would have postponed your luncheon until a later date. +It might have been more agreeable for you. Good-bye, and I'm sorry I +shan't see more of you. I'm clearing off now, Maud--you can send along +my things later." + +Maud Duggan's eyes searched his face, a look in them of agonized +question, as if she was unable to believe the evidence of her own ears. +Then she ran to him and caught him suddenly by the arm. + +"Ross, dear, you mustn't be so hasty! You mustn't!" she entreated, +squeezing his arm in her two hands as he looked down at her with his +set, angry face. "You know Father, dear. He'll wish in half an hour, +he'd bitten his tongue out sooner than spoken to you like that. You know +he will. You're his first-born and his favourite--as you have always +been. Try and see this thing clearly. Don't act in a hurry, dear. Just +wait--wait until this evening, for my sake if not for your own. Don't +leave me here to stick the thing out by myself. It isn't fair to me." + +That last plea seemed to strike home better than all the others had +done, for the anger faded suddenly from his countenance, and he laid a +hand against her cheek before swinging upon his heel. + +"Well, I'll think about it, and see what Cynthia says, anyhow," he +replied, after a pause. "Only, I've reached the end of my tether, and +human nature won't stand too much. Sorry, Miss McCall. Did I tread upon +your foot? I'm so blithering angry I don't really know what I'm doing, +so you must forgive me." + +And for the first time the company seemed aware that Johanna McCall had +been a silent spectator of this family scene. For she had kept, as +usual, as quiet as a mouse, only, Cleek observed as he looked at her, +her eyes had blazed with that one light which no fire can quench, and +she had shut them for a moment, as though to hide the secret they +revealed from Ross Duggan's troubled face. + +"It's all right, really. And I'm so--awfully sorry, Mr. Duggan," she +said in her soft, monotonous voice. "It is so unfair, so unjust! And +please don't go--without saying good-bye--to me." + +Then she, too, turned upon her heel and fled out of the room. And +suddenly Cleek saw one thing startlingly clear. Miss Duggan had +mentioned "an attraction" in Johanna McCall's eyes. That was why she +stayed on here at the Castle and endured so much. But she had given him +to understand that it was Tavish. + +But it was _not_ Tavish who had inspired that unquenching fire in those +pale eyes; it was _not_ Tavish who had set that hero-worshipping +expression upon the plain, unattractive face. + +It was the disinherited heir to the estates himself! + + * * * * * + +That afternoon, after he had left the Castle and its inhabitants behind, +he wired Mr. Narkom, as he had said he would. The enigmatic words which +flew across the wire to Scotland Yard, in their own particular code, and +made Mr. Narkom fairly jump in excitement, were these: "_Full up right +to the brim. Come along. Cleek._" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SUMMONS + + +Cleek left that house of anger in a strange frame of mind, rather glad +to be back again in his own sunny room at the Three Fishers, and away +from an influence which seemed somehow horribly malign. The pitched +battle that had taken place between father and son--egged on by a +designing woman who did not mind to what depths she stooped so that her +ends were eventually reached, gave him an eery feeling. There was +something venomous about the whole affair, something that reminded him +of an asp about to strike. He could not shake that feeling from him. The +premonition held firm hold of his faculties. + +A walk with Dollops over the moors certainly acted as a refresher, for +the lad's ready humour had the true Cockney bite in it and he had seen, +with his keen eyes, how the master he loved and reverenced was brooding +under the shadow of something he sensed although he could not see. And +so his comical faculties were put to good work. Until--tea-time at +length reached--Cleek returned to the Inn of the Three Fishers, a little +less clouded in heart and brain, and with some of the moody depression +shaken from him. + +He spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening reading and +thinking by the open window of his room, looking out now and then at the +whole massive structure of Aygon Castle, with its great gateway, above +which Rhea du Macduggan stood everlasting guard. Gad! anything might +happen there--and the world be no wiser! It was an appalling thought at +best. What secrets had that place held in the past and never revealed to +the light of day? What secrets might it not hold in the future? + +And those dungeons. The thing he had seen there.... And that +handkerchief--so obviously belonging to Ross Duggan, and which now lay +in his inner pocket. He fumbled for it and brought it out to the light, +examining it minutely. Fine linen, finely monogrammed. Very obviously +the handkerchief of an extravagant gentleman. But what on earth _he_ +should be doing down there, amidst _that_, was something which sent the +grim lines fleeting about Cleek's mouth and eyes. It couldn't be he--the +son of a proud old house like this one! The thing seemed impossible. And +yet--there was the handkerchief to prove that fact; and then this +electricity business, which obviously ate up a good many private funds. +H'm. It would want close looking into, if nothing further proceeded with +Miss Duggan's part of the affair. + +For an hour or two he sat pondering and dreaming there, the book he had +caught up absent-mindedly from the billiard-room book-case lying open in +his lap. + +The dinner-gong sounding through that quiet house brought him quickly to +his feet, a sense of sharpened appetite lending pleasing colour to the +thought of what the dining-hall afforded, for mine host believed in +setting a good table, and his hospitality was by no means frugal. + +Dollops was already standing by his table, expectant eye upon the trim +maid who waited upon them, for during this little sojourn in the +Highlands Cleek had expressed a wish for the lad's company during meals, +and old Fairnish had told his spouse that "Misthair Deland were an unco' +queer pairrson tu wish the company of his mon wi' 'im at meal-time, but +so lang as he paid his bill prampt, 'twere nought of hees business." + +And that was why Dollops was waiting now with that hungry eye of his +upon the plate of steaming soup which the maid was bringing to the +table. Only his respect for the man who had raised him to his present +status kept him from dropping into his seat and gulping the stuff down +straightaway. + +Cleek smiled as he saw the lad's eager eye. + +"Sit down, sit down, Dollops, and set to," he said with a laugh, laying +a hand upon the boy's sleeve with something of tenderness in the +gesture. "Your eyes are like hard-boiled eggs, they're popping out of +your head so. Hungry, I'll be bound." + +"'Ungry--I means hungry, sir? ... starved's more like it!" gave back +Dollops between mouthfuls of hot soup. "Why, I'm that 'ungry me +backbone's well-nigh come rahnd to me front! Nuffink since tea--although +I must say as I nabbed a roll from the kitchen table when the cook +wasn't lookin', and there was a cold sossidge fairly talkin' ter me from +the plate in the larder. And so, as there weren't no one around, I just +whistled to 'im, and he 'opped off his platter quite tame-like. But fer +anything else!..." The last spoonful went down with a gulp. + +"Dollops, Dollops! You'll be eating the wake up at your own funeral, you +young gourmand!" threw in Cleek laughingly. "You've a constitution like +an ostrich. I'm sure, if you were actually starving, you'd manage to +gnaw an umbrella--spokes and all!... Heigho! This is a queer world, +isn't it? Here's me sitting here in this little inn-place, on the top of +the Highlands, with the heart of me wandering away in other places, and +the soul of me sometimes hungry for the sight of other worlds across the +sea--to which I've closed the door of my own accord and shut the sight +of their dear blessedness forever from me! And there's those people up +at Aygon Castle. Bitter, cruel, hard to each other. Pulling this way and +that, until their hearts must break with the strain of the fray--and +with the whole structure of their dear inheritance forever with them, so +that they need never hunger and thirst for a sight of it as--as others +do. Heigho! but it's a topsy-turvy, crazy sort of a world we live in, +isn't it?" + +Something in the tone of Cleek's voice caused Dollops instantly to +pause. Eyes wide, mouth open, face gone suddenly pale, he set down his +knife and fork and reaching a shaking hand across the table laid it upon +Cleek's. + +"Guv'nor," he said, in a scared, hushed sort of voice, "you ain't +a-wishin' ter go back--to all them Maurevanian royalties, are yer? Wiv a +throne an' a crahn and a bloomin' spectur in yer 'and? You ain't +a-pinin' fer the Crash Pots, I 'opes? For as sure as I know anyfink of +anybody, they'd never let sich folks as Mr. Narkom an'--an'--me come +within twenty miles of yer. And you ain't--ain't wishin' ter l-lose us, +are yer, sir? It would fair break my 'eart if I thought _that_." + +Cleek put back his head and laughed, laughed heartily, with his eyes +wet. There was a sob in the boy's voice as he spoke, and the look of +injured worship in his eyes would have wrung tears from a stone. Cleek +stopped laughing suddenly, and sat forward and looked straight at the +boy. + +"Dollops," he said quietly, "I wouldn't barter _this_ inheritance--of +Love--which the good Lord has given me, for all the thrones and +'specturs' and 'crash-pots' that the world could hold. For true +friendship is the best inheritance of all. But there are times when a +man must be allowed to go down into the deeps of his memory and take a +maudlin joy in counting over the hidden pearls there. I've no doubt you +do it yourself, lad--and shed a tear in solitude for the days when you +had a mother to care for you, and you weren't just a frightened little +sinner of an orphan boy." + +"An' that's where you're dead wrong, sir," gave back Dollops with a +vigorous nod of the head. "Fer I never does anyfink of the sort. Me +muvver--Gawd 'elp 'er!--were a bruiser an' a footballer in one, an' +there weren't an inch o' me poor little body which didn't 'ave a score +of bruises upon it. As for me farver--well, I doesn't remember 'im, and +no doubt it's a good fing, too.... No, sir, you've bin and gone and +missed the bull's eye this time. I ain't no Wistful Willie, I ain't. +You've been Muvver and Farver and Big Bruvver and all the whole darn +Fambly ter me, an' if ever I finks o' the blinkin' parst, it's just that +I didn't live clean and strite an'--an' _decent_, so's I could be a bit +more worvy uv yer precious kindness.... Lord! listen ter me a-torkin' +like a bloomin' sermonizer! But them's my sentiments--strite! An' so +long as yer ain't wishin ter go back to--_them_----" + +"No, I'm not wishing that at all, boy," said Cleek quietly, with an odd +little smile. "So don't you worry your ginger head over such fool +notions as that. The day I want to get rid of you all--Miss Lorne, +yourself, and Mr. Narkom--is the day that sees me in my grave. And then +I'll only be waiting to wring your hands across the Big Beyond. And if +you ever mention royalties and 'specturs' and 'crash-pots' to me again, +Dollops, I'll--I'll cut you out of my will.... Finished?" + +"Yessir." + +"Well, then, come along upstairs and smoke a weed with me. Unless you've +something better to do. I've need of a man's company to-night, for my +mood's maudlin, and a chat over old times will straighten things out for +me." + +"_Rar_ver!" Then to himself: "Missin' Miss Ailsa, like any uvver +bloomin' lovesick strain," thought Dollops to himself, with a shake of +the head. "Well, orl I kin s'y is, Dollops me lad, it's a good thing you +ain't in love yerself. You love yer tummy better'n the gels--and a +fairer deal it is, too. Fer yer _can_ tell when you're proper fed up, +and starve a bit in consequence. But the lydies!--well, they never lets +yer leave 'em alone! 'E ain't 'ad no letter this mornin'--that's wot the +trouble is, bless 'is 'eart!" + +So Dollops followed Cleek upstairs to his room, and in the short +twilight of the summer evening sat with him, curled up on a cushion at +his feet, and smoked and talked and gazed at the great Castle in front +of them, almost lost in the twilight mists, like the true little +_gamin_ he was, until the lonesomeness had gone from Cleek's soul, and +the night had thrown her mantle over the sky. + +Then: + +"Time for you to be getting into your little 'downy', old chap," he +said, with a stretch and a yawn and a smile down into the eager young +face that rested against his knee, as a dog might do, faithfulness in +the attitude. "Or we'll be having no salmon-fishing to-morrow, for +you'll be over-sleeping yourself, and the fish will have swum to other +waters, getting tired of waiting for you. Cut along now, there's a good +boy." + +"Orl right, Guv'nor. Thank yer, sir, for this--this rippin' fine +evenin'. And fer lettin' me pertend I was for the moment, like, a real +pal to yer. I shan't never ferget that. Good-night, sir, and pleasant +dreams." + +"Good-night, Dollops. Close the door softly behind you. There's an old +lady in the room beyond, and I fancy she's just gone off to bed. I'll +sit here a few minutes longer, and then nip in between the sheets +myself." + +But the few minutes lengthened into an hour before Cleek, about to rise +from his chair by the open window to knock out the ashes of his pipe +upon the sill, happened to glance up and out of it. Then he stopped of a +sudden, sucked in his breath, and stood stock-still, staring out in +front of him as though he had gone suddenly mad. + +For the darkness of that dark night had been cut suddenly by a ray of +red light swung to and fro several times from the particular bit of +darkness which Cleek knew was Aygon Castle; extinguished; re-lit; sent +swinging across the darkness again like an arc of crimson light; and +when this was done for a third time, Cleek knew that it was a signal--a +signal from Maud Duggan to him--a signal, too, which meant distress. +Something had happened out there in that grim darkness beyond the rim of +hill and valley in that great, gaunt edifice of mediæval stone, +something so serious that she had signalled for him to come, as she said +she would. + +He drew out his spotlight, and sent it zigzagging in the direction of +the red light, just to let her know she had been seen and understood. +Then, swinging round swiftly, he caught up his dark overcoat, slipped +his arms into it, drew a cap low down over his head, and was off into +the shadows and pelting away down the narrow tortuous lane as fast as +his swift feet could carry him. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WHEN THE BLOW FELL + + +It was not an easy road Cleek traversed, for in the darkness and in the +utter absence of lamps of any sort the lane became a thing of stones and +pitfalls for the unwary traveller, and there were many times when he was +down upon his hands and knees in the soft, sweet-smelling, +heather-thatched hillside, having lost footing with the road altogether, +and only his pocket-lamp kept him from absolute downfall and disaster. +But the great gates were reached at last, and he saw that they had been +set ajar, so that he could slip in undisturbed, if he wished--a little +forethought on Maud Duggan's part for which he silently thanked her. + +He slid in between them, glanced a moment up at Rhea's great bronze +figure etched out against the moonlit sky and taking on a supernatural +lifelikeness which was eery beyond words, and then darted up the +driveway, groping his way in the shadows toward the great house which of +a sudden seemed to be blazing with light from every window, as though +the soul of it had suddenly been awakened out of its sleep and it had +come to life in one huge simultaneous effort. + +Under the tread of his light feet the gravel barely moved, and having +got his bearings that same afternoon, he pelted up in the darkness +toward the front door, stopped suddenly, listened, darted leftward +toward the lawns, and came--_phut!_--up against somebody who was running +in the opposite direction, swift-breathing like a man pursued, and who, +having met the impact of Cleek's tautened body, stationed there for just +such a purpose, bounded back again and gave out an involuntary gasp of +astonishment and ill-concealed irritation. + +"Whew! I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said this stranger, as Cleek +flashed on his lamp and sent its rays travelling up the man's slim +figure from top to toe. "Who the--why the--what the----?" + +"Awfully sorry, I'm sure," responded Cleek, with a light laugh, in his +best blithering-idiot manner, "but I happened to be strollin' up in this +direction to pay a call upon Miss Maud Duggan, and fell into you. So +beastly dark in these parts, doncherknow. After London, a chap is likely +to lose his bearin's. Exceedin'ly sorry and all that." + +The man stopped suddenly and, bending forward, peered up under Cleek's +tweed cap into the face beneath it. Cleek saw him as a slim, handsome +fellow of the leisure classes, lithe of limb and athletic of body, and +in that small ray of torch-light, augmented by the moon's pale gleams, +liked the look of him, though he was startled by the meeting--that was +obvious--and a little shaken as well. + +"Eh? What's that? Miss Duggan, did you say? Then what's your name, may I +ask? You're a stranger to these parts, I suppose?" + +"Yes. Up for the salmon-fishin', doncherknow. Strollin' back to the +Castle, are you? We'll go together. My name's Deland--Arthur Deland. Am +I permitted to know yours?" + +"Certainly. But I'm not--going to the Castle to-night. I've--I've +just--come from there, you see, and was on my way home again when we +cannoned into each other. My name's Macdonald, Angus Fletcher Macdonald. +I'm a--particular friend of Miss Duggan's.... But time's getting along, +and I've a good distance to go. So I'll be off, if you don't mind. +Good-night." + +"Good-night." + +Cleek nodded to him in the half dark, then as the man swung away from +him down the wide drive, turned in his tracks and watched him till the +moon, hiding under a cloud, hid him, too. + +"Macdonald, eh? The unfortunate lover whom the father will not +countenance. H'm. Wonder what he was doing here at this time of night? +Rather nervous, I should say, at our encounter. And why the dickens--if +anything's happened--didn't he know something about it? It's a good +twenty minutes since she signalled to me, and if he's just come from +the house----" + +Of a sudden he stopped short and sucked in his breath as a new thought +penetrated itself into that perfectly pigeon-holed and regulated +mentality of his. "Gad! surely _he_ hasn't---- Well! I ought to have +detained him and brought him back on some pretext--if anything really +_has_ happened to cause her to want me at this hour of the night.... +Well, I'll nip along and find out. And if anything's really wrong, I +shan't forget _that_ gentleman in a hurry." + +He reached the house without further adventure, and rang the door-bell +with a steady hand. But he was hardly prepared for its response. For at +the sound of it Maud Duggan came running toward him, her face white as a +dead face, her eyes wild, her hair untidy, and clutching him by the arm +fairly hauled him into the hallway, just as the butler--stung out of his +calm demeanour by the happenings of that night--appeared from the end of +the hall and came toward them. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you came, so glad, Mr. Deland!" she shrilled out in a +high-pitched, terrified voice. "It was lucky you turned up as--as you +promised. But I'm afraid our game of c-cards cannot take place. +Because--oh, how can I say it? How? A terrible thing has happened, Mr. +Deland, and that which I feared has come to pass, only in a much more +awful manner! My--my f-father has been murdered, in full sight of us +all, right there in the library, just as he was about to draw up a new +will to disinherit Ross. Foully ... murdered ... poor darling!" + +Then the sobs caught in her throat, and she turned away a moment and hid +her face in her handkerchief, while Cleek, mastering his curiosity and +amazement at this curious and amazing statement, waited a moment for her +to regain her composure. Then: + +"My dear young lady!" he cried in a low-pitched, even voice. "Murdered! +And in the presence of you all! Then of course you know who his murderer +is." + +"I don't, I don't! We none of us know! None of us!" she ejaculated, +shutting her hands together and lifting a tear-stained, haggard face to +his. "Oh, Mr. Deland, that is the terrible, the mysterious part of it +all. It happened in a flash. Suddenly the lights went out; we heard the +wheel humming, just as the Peasant Girl said it would hum, and then ... +then ... the lights came up again, and there he lay, shot through the +temple and stabbed to the heart, quite, quite dead!" + +"Whew! Rather a marvellous happening, I must say," gave out Cleek, +laying a hand upon her shaking shoulder and edging her tenderly toward +the open door of that little ante-room into which he had been shown +only that morning, when the old laird himself had entered upon their +conversation, with his lady in attendance. And now he was dead! +murdered! It seemed indeed hardly credible. "Sit down awhile, and then +tell me at your leisure all the happenings which took place. Got any +brandy in the house? Or have you had some? No? Well, I've always a flask +handy. Now, take a pull at this, and then lean back in that chair and +close your eyes. You'll be a different person, I assure you. Here's my +flask. Make it a good peg, too." + +Dumbly she did as she was bidden, acting as a sick child does, without +question, and thankful only for a directing hand. Meanwhile, Cleek stood +over her, watching how the colour ebbed slowly back into her pallid +cheeks and the red crept again into her blue lips, and congratulating +himself that he had been just in time, and no more, before she would +have fainted. + +She shut her eyes as he had told her, and when a few minutes had +elapsed, Cleek leaned forward and touched her gently upon the wrist. + +"Now let's hear all about it--if you're able. Where is your stepmother?" + +"Upstairs in her room--prostrate." She spat the words out with positive +venom. "Ross is with his father, bowed down with grief, poor old boy; +while his fiancée, Cynthia Debenham, who came back with him, and her +cousin, Catherine Dowd, are in the house somewhere, seeing to the +necessary household arrangements." + +"And you've telephoned the police?" + +"Yes. And then signalled to you. They'll be along presently, I suppose?" + +"Possibly--yes. I'd have brought my own man if I had only known. Mr. +Narkom will be here in the morning to take charge of affairs. I sent for +him to-day. And the rest of the household?" + +"Cyril is with his mother. Wakened up out of his sleep, poor boy, by all +the commotion, and of course hardly aware yet of what a terrible tragedy +has happened here in his own home. The servants are huddled together +like frightened rabbits, and the women refuse to put in any appearance +at all. Miss McCall has been trying to get them in hand--she's so quiet +and yet so resourceful, you know, Mr. Deland--and she has helped us such +a lot in that way." + +"And that accounts for every one, then? No one left the house since +the--the thing took place?" + +"Not a soul. There was no reason to, you see. And no one has been here, +either. Callers to Aygon Castle are few and far between, Mr. Deland, as +you can imagine. We're so very far from civilization." + +"I see. And no one's been to the place at all, you say? Beyond the +immediate family, and this Miss--Miss Dowd and your brother's fiancée? +They returned with him, I suppose, after having persuaded him not to +take such a foolhardy view of the case which I heard this morning? Well, +I'm glad he came back, if only--for this. Poor chap! it will ease his +conscience, at any rate. And those are the only people who have entered +this place to-night, Miss Duggan? You are positive of that?" + +She lifted wide eyes to his face. There was conviction in every line of +her own. + +"Absolutely positive, Mr. Deland." + +"Well, that's all right, then." Cleek nodded slowly at her but his lips +were grim. Either _she_ or Macdonald had lied. For he had heard him say, +in that broken, staccato voice of his, "I've just--come from there, you +see, and was on my way home again." And a dollar to a ducat that _she_ +was not at fault. Well, the man Macdonald would want watching. And if he +_had_ "done a bunk," as the boys say, he would know his man instantly +and scout all Britain over for him--though at present his motive for +connection with the crime was certainly unknown. + +He sent his keen eyes over her wan face, and came to his own +conclusions. Here was no liar, if he knew the signs. Then he leaned +toward her. + +"Now," said he, "just tell me--what happened. All about it. Don't leave +anything out--not the veriest little thing. How did you all happen to be +in the library in the first place?" + +"As I told you, Father had summoned us all there for the purpose of +disinheriting Ross by crossing his name from his will, and in the +presence of witnesses substituting another instead." + +"And whose name, may I ask?" + +She bent her head suddenly, and put one hand against her cheek. + +"Mine, Mr. Deland." + +"_Yours?_... Oho! And not young Cyril's, then?" + +"No. Upon that Father was adamant. He said justice must be done to the +elder family--that is Ross and me, as you know--and he would see justice +done. If Ross could not have the rightful inheritance because of his +unfitness (poor Ross!) then it was to come to me, unless I saw fit to +marry Captain Macdonald. In that event it all went to charity. +Naturally, I protested with him." + +"Why?" + +"Because, don't you see? I hoped he would perhaps relent and leave +Ross's name where it was. The ignominy to the poor boy would have been +so terrible--if he had struck his name out. Ross would never have got +over it--never! He is so proud of his house, so wrapped up in it in +every way." + +"And did your father manage to destroy the will then before +it--happened?" + +"No. He had it in his hands. I was wrestling with him, trying to get it +away, and Paula had caught me by the shoulders and was endeavouring to +get me away, too, when the lights suddenly went out, and--and came up +again. And there he was in his chair--_dead_!" + +"And you say that you heard the sound of the spinning wheel 'humming' in +the darkness? You really did hear that, Miss Duggan?" + +"Yes--I would swear to it on my oath." + +"And how then did your father die? By what means?" + +"By a shot through his temple, I suppose (though he was stabbed as +well)--although there was no noise, Mr. Deland, nothing to tell us that +the awful thing was happening, save the failing of the current at that +moment." + +"H'm. I see. A soundless pistol--in fact, an air-gun. Any one in the +house got such a thing, do you know?" + +She shook her head. + +"Not that I know of, unless ... but he gave his away long ago." + +"Who, may I ask?" + +She sent suddenly startled eyes up into his face, as though she realized +that she had unguardedly been trapped into a damaging admission. + +"Why--why--my brother Ross, Mr. Deland," she said in a hoarse, +frightened voice. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A DOUBLE TRAGEDY + + +Cleek sat forward in his seat suddenly, every nerve alert at this +somewhat startling piece of news. Oho! So Ross Duggan was the only +person possessing an air-pistol--and the laird had been killed by means +of one, shot through the head in a dastardly fashion. Gad! it certainly +wanted looking into! And the moment had been chosen with such precision +that the alteration in that self-same will had never been made, and Ross +Duggan still stood as chief heir to his father's estates! + +That was a queer thing--a very queer thing! He flung up his eyebrows and +twitched the corner of his mobile mouth. + +"Your _brother_, Miss Duggan? I see. And how long ago was it that he +bought that pistol, may I ask? And for what purpose?" + +She gave an uneasy laugh which ended in a little sob that brought a look +of pity to his eyes. + +"Oh--ages and ages! Quite a couple of years ago, I think. Ross and a +fellow-officer who was here for the fishing got it together. Ross had +thought of a new idea for killing the big salmon after they had been +played so long, and though exhausted were brought to shore alive. +Everyone laughed at him, of course, and the thing never turned out to be +anything; but Ross's idea was to shoot them as soon after swallowing the +hook as was possible, and the soundless pistol wouldn't frighten the +other fish. It was a ridiculous idea--but Ross imagined it would be more +humane, though not nearly so much sport from the fisherman's point of +view, as you know, Mr. Deland--and he tried it only once. He was teased +out of it after that." + +"And the pistol?" + +"I really don't know ... what became of it. I never saw it again, and, +in fact, forgot all about it. But of course, Mr. Deland, Ross +couldn't--_couldn't!_--oh, I beg of you, don't think of such a terrible +thing for one instant! Ross adored his father _always_, in spite of the +bad blood between them of later years." + +"Quite so. Only, naturally, in the pursuit of duty one must ask all +manner of irrelevant questions. You understand that, Miss Duggan, I +hope? Of course your brother Ross would not think of such a thing. But +if he is the only possessor of an air-pistol, well, naturally, +circumstantial evidence will be rather unpleasant for him--unless +something else turns up. I'd like to see your brother, if you please, +and have a little chat with him. And then he will show me the--your +father, and let me make a little perfunctory examination.... By the way, +how far away is the nearest police-station?" + +"A matter of three miles. But the men have motorcycles, and should be +here at any moment. Hark! that's Rhea's bell, isn't it? No doubt they +have already come. Oh, Mr. Deland, _what_ shall I say to them? I don't +feel as though I could face a stranger _now_!" + +Cleek laid his hand upon her shoulder as he rose to his feet. + +"And you're not going to--have no fear of that," he replied kindly. +"Remember, I represent Scotland Yard, Miss Duggan. This thing lies in my +hands, and I am in command of it. I shall see the police-sergeant and +make all necessary arrangements. The formalities will have to be +observed, of course, for to-night, at any rate. No one must leave this +house under any pretext whatever--neither servant nor guest. All doors +and windows must be locked, and I shall set a guard about the place. But +that will be my duty to attend to--not yours. So go and rest a little, +if you can--and emulate your worthy stepmother (who, by the way, I want +to see as soon as possible), after you have taken me to your brother, +and we have had a little talk together.... Would you mind conducting me +to him now?" + +She bowed her head dumbly, and passed out in front of him, down the +long narrow passage with its armoured figures standing out in niches cut +into the wall and its air of brooding mystery which so well fitted this +tragic affair and lent still further colour to it. At last they reached +the library. At the door of it she paused, hesitated, put her hand upon +the handle of it, and then drew back with an involuntary shiver. + +"I can't--I can't!" she said brokenly. "It's asking too much to go in +and see him now--not until he has been placed as he ought to be, poor +dear old Daddy! But Ross is in there with him, Mr. Deland. So if you +just knock, and then enter, and tell him who you are, that will be all +right.... Those men are coming in, I know. I can hear them at the door +now. Oh, please, please don't let me see them-- I don't feel as if I +could!" + +"And you shan't--have no fear of that," he replied. "So be off with you +as quick as you can, and lie down for half an hour, at any rate. And if +I have need of you I'll send someone along with a message.... Ah! +they're coming.... Good evening, Sergeant. You've been exceedingly +prompt in coming along, I must say. And brought four men with you, too? +That's good. We shall want 'em in this place. There's been a murder +here--old Sir Andrew Duggan has been done to death in a mysterious +manner--shot and stabbed at the same time. I've not yet looked at the +body, but shall do so presently. Mr. Narkom will be down in the +morning." + +"Mr. Narkom? The Chief Superintendent, eh? Then--then may I ask who +_you_ are, sir?" responded Sergeant Campbell, in a deep, ringing voice +which exactly fitted the huge figure of him. + +Cleek bowed. He looked keenly into the gray eyes under the beetling +brows, came to the rapid conclusion that here was a man who could keep +his tongue in leash if required, and then with a glance over the four +police-constables standing behind him, handed him a card upon which he +had scribbled one word, and then watched the effect of it with dawning +amusement as the knowledge soaked into the Inspector's consciousness. + +"Name's Deland," he said with a knowing wink, speaking in the nick of +time, before the Sergeant in his astonishment and admiration for this +man who stood before him, and whose name was a household word upon the +tongue of every policeman the world over, had quite given the show away +to the rest of his followers. "Arthur Deland. You've probably heard of +me, Sergeant, if you follow the doings of Scotland Yard at all. Came up +here under Mr. Narkom's orders to handle another case, and then +dropped--_plop!_--upon this one. Better come along now. I want you to +set a couple of men before the library door, where the thing took +place--nothing to be moved, of course, or touched in any way, until Mr. +Narkom arrives--and then send another of your men back to fetch ten more +reserves, and stand guard all round the house from the outside. Tell 'em +to report to you every half hour, and if there's anything doing bring it +along to me at once. You understand?" + +"Yessir. Certainly, sir." + +"Then come along." + +He led the way through the long hall, past the gaping butler to whom +this stranger, whom his master had entertained at lunch, and who was now +so mysteriously in charge of affairs, seemed suddenly to have assumed a +principal part in the affair, and to be showing his "nerve" in a good +many ways; and with a quick order to him to see that all doors and +windows were securely bolted and locked, so that no one could get in or +out of the house save at the instigation of the Law and the Law's +minions, Cleek passed on to that chamber of death where the old laird +lay, and turning the handle softly, led the way in. + +There was a light shining in the centre of the room from an +old-fashioned lamp which stood upon the desk-top and sent a soft +effulgence round and about it that lay like a halo upon the peace of +that silent place. At the desk sat Ross Duggan, head in hands, shutting +out the sight of the Thing that faced him in all the majesty of death, +that Thing which so short a time back had been his own father, and now +sat huddled forward in a fallen attitude in the swing-back office chair +opposite Ross, transparent hands lying aimlessly upon the desk-top, head +downthrown, jaw dropped, and with a little sinister blackened puncture +in the temple telling the tale of the air-pistol's accurate aim only too +well. + +Cleek went up to the desk and laid his hand upon Ross's shoulder. In an +instant the young man sprang to his feet, eyes ablaze, face chalk-white, +startled and not a little displeased at this intrusion upon him and his +dead by a man whom he had met only casually a few hours back, and who +had witnessed that never-to-be-forgotten quarrel between him and his +father which would sear his memory now forever. + +"I-- I---- This is hardly the hour and the time, Mr. Deland," he began +in a hushed voice; but Cleek silenced him, the queer little one-sided +smile travelling up his cheek, and his eyes serious and not a little sad +as they rested upon the haggard face of this heir to an unhappy +inheritance. + +"That's all right, my dear chap--really," he said in his clear, +low-pitched voice. "You see, my profession happens to be that of a +detective, and I stand at present as official representative of Scotland +Yard. The Sergeant here has come to do his unpleasant duty, and place a +guard over the body. It would be better for you, really, to go and lie +down. After such a terrible shock...." + +"I'll go, and gladly!" returned Ross with a grim nod of the head and a +sudden warming of colour in the pale cheeks of him. "It's not been the +pleasantest task sitting here with--him--like that, Mr. Deland. And as +you happen to have jumped up from nowhere and taken matters so entirely +in hand, I'll relinquish my trust. But I didn't somehow like to +leave--him--alone. After what's happened--the strange method of his +death--and all the rest of this ghastly affair, I meant to keep the rest +of the world away from him, if possible, and if the murderer should +chance to come back!"--a sudden light flashed into his eyes and +involuntarily his body stiffened--"then I should be ready for him." + +"Spoken like a soldier and a gentleman," said Cleek softly, with a nod +of understanding. "Now I want to have a look at your father, Mr. Duggan. +And I'd like it if you could just find it in your heart to stay here +with me for a moment or two, and acquaint me with the facts. Your sister +has told me the rough outline, and----" + +"My sister?" His voice showed the surprise which this news elicited. +"How did you see her, then?" + +"That is a long story, which you shall hear some other time. At present +she simply sent for me in a very quick and excellent manner, and I came +at once. The worthy Sergeant and his men followed.... Now, Sergeant, +place your men as I told you, and I'll get on to the business of +examination. I only want to get a rough idea of the true method of +death, and glean what clues I can for Mr. Narkom, who will arrive in the +morning.... And, gad!" He glanced up at the huge clock which was ticking +away the minutes and hours with sonorous voice. "It's getting on that +way now. Now, Sergeant, if you can get one of your men to give me a hand +with the body----" + +Speaking, he moved it gently, until it lay half upon the pedestal +desk-top, so that the light shone full upon the ghastly face, and rolled +it tenderly over. There was a thin trickle of blood still oozing thickly +from the left side of the breast, where the fine puncture of some almost +needle-like instrument showed how successfully it had done its horrible +duty. Cleek tore away the coat and waistcoat, stripped back the shirt +from the frail body, and examined the wound through his little glass. In +size it was no more than what might have been caused by a heavy bodkin, +and in depth--so deep that it had no doubt punctured the inner walls of +the heart, and, if successful in this method, caused immediate death to +its victim. + +He looked up quickly into Ross's downbent face, his own rather grim. + +"A stiletto wound," he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"See that fine, clean-cut edge? I've seen similar ones in Italy and in +the southern parts of America. The blade's squarish, not flat as in the +cases of most daggers. And it is amazingly sharp. That blow would cause +a death-wound, undoubtedly. But I understand there was a shot fired as +well--from an air-pistol, I imagine, as there was no sound. Now, the +question is, where is that bullet, and from what direction was the shot +fired? That'll tell us a lot." + +Ross Duggan's face changed suddenly, as though a shadow had passed over +it. + +"That's the question, Mr. Deland," he replied in a tense voice. "If we +could find out that, we could find out a good deal. But why this double +crime should have been committed, Heaven alone can tell. My father had +many enemies--but none who would have stooped to kill him--of that I am +positive. And it is obvious that two have tried to do so. Look, here is +the wound in the temple, just above the left eye. And it has gone clean +through the head. Poor old Dad! Poor, misguided old Dad! How I hate that +woman Paula and all her wiles and ways! If any one's at fault in this +dastardly business, Mr. Deland, you can count upon _her_! Her father +swung for a similar crime (she doesn't know I know that) and if she has +done this terrible thing she, too, shall swing, as he did! Whoever has +done this cruel, wicked thing, Mr. Deland, shall be brought to justice, +if I have to scour the world over for the murderer." + +"Ah--who? That is the question, my friend," returned Cleek quietly, +stooping over the bowed white head with its thatch of snowy hair, and +tracing the path of the bullet through it in his mind's eye. "H'm! Went +through here and came out-- Gad! here's the puncture! Right here! So +that somewhere in this room that bullet has lodged itself, and when that +is found we shall have our finger upon the pulse of this dreadful +tragedy more surely than we know.... Heigho! It's two-thirty, and in +this semi-darkness little to be done until the morning sends us its +kindly rays. So we must leave things as they are for the present, and +later go over the whole thing with clear heads and rested minds.... +Sergeant, I put you in charge. A man outside of the window there, +please, and another one in this room, and still another outside the +door, and if any one tries to get in or out, blow your whistle and I'll +be with you in a jiffy.... Come, Mr. Duggan. You're looking terribly +white and fagged. Let's have a whisky-and-soda--if you'd be so good as +to extend your hospitality so far--and then I'll make myself a +shake-down in the next room, if you've no objection. I've given orders +for no one to be allowed to leave the house until morning and until +parole is given to do so, so you need have no fear of one of the +murderers escaping." + +"I-- I---- What's that you say?" stammered out Ross, swinging round and +looking at Cleek with drawn brows and flashing eyes. "You've given +orders in _my_ house! I say, you know, this is a bit thick; and--and who +the dickens do you think would have done the thing in this place, may I +ask? You're rather overstepping the bounds of common hospitality, Mr. +Deland, in your role of private detective. And I must ask you to leave +the ordering of things to _me_." + +"And that, I am afraid, is exactly what I can't do, my friend," replied +Cleek serenely, with a crooked smile. "Simply because, according to your +somewhat one-eyed and one-sided English law, every one is a suspect +until he is proved innocent. You, your sister, your stepmother, even +your fiancée--who, I suppose, is spending the night here with her cousin +Miss Dowd, under the present circumstances as my orders were issued a +little earlier in the evening--every member of this household comes +under the unwilling stigma of a possible perpetrator of this crime." + +"Damn it!-- I say--how dare you----" + +"We policemen dare everything, Mr. Duggan, because that is our duty, you +know," he responded smoothly. "And, besides, there's one thing more. +Someone here has an air-pistol, and the owner of that has got to be +found. I've an inkling, supplemented by a few words dropped by your +sister, but we'll let that pass. Only, the owner of the air-gun is not +going to escape this house to-night. That's all, I fancy. Sergeant, +good-night. Or, rather, good morning. You'll call me if necessary, won't +you? I shall be in the very next room. And-- Mr. Duggan, if you don't +happen to have that whisky handy, you needn't bother. I've a flask in my +pocket." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WOMAN IN THE CASE? + + +There was no call during the long watches of the night, no untoward +happenings of any sort. Cleek, sleeping with one eye open, rose now and +again and crept silent-footed out into the passage, doing a little bit +of listening in upon his own account. But nothing of any moment +happened. And so when at length the house was astir, and the sound of +servants with their brushes and brooms began to make their usual +early-morning clamour, he shook himself awake, got to his feet, and went +off into the bathroom, where Ross Duggan's safety-razor worked wonders +with his over-night beard, and a wash under the cold-water tap still +more. + +Returning, he stopped at the door of that chamber of tragedy where the +one-time master of all this vast inheritance of stone and moorland lay, +Death wiping from his aged face every line and leaving it as smooth as a +child's. + +"I want to have a little poke round for myself," he told the constable +on duty outside the door, who instantly let him in, as became a +representative of Scotland Yard. "You might send someone up to the Inn +of the Three Fishers with this note, and see that it gets delivered +immediately into the hands of a chap named Dollops. It's important." + +"Very good, sir." + +"And in the meantime, I'll see that no one enters this room, I promise +you. Inspector Petrie himself will be around presently. And +Superintendent Narkom should be with us at twelve o'clock or +thereabouts." + +Left alone, therefore, in the early morning sunlight of that perfect +June day, Cleek made his way into the still room, closed the door behind +him, and then, glancing up, caught sight of the stolid back of the +constable on duty outside of the courtyard window, and not being wishful +to enter into conversation with him, began to poke about of his own +accord. + +But the room held little or no clues for him to go upon. Not in the +first rough glance, at any rate. Over by the window, where it had stood +upon the previous day, when Maud Duggan had shown it to him, stood the +spinning wheel, innocently incongruous indeed in this room of Death. He +gave it a casual glance, and then turned to the desk-top where a pile of +papers lay scattered in some disarray upon its leather surface. + +Cleek ran his fingers quickly through these, glancing at each of them in +turn. + +"He was just about to alter the will, was he? Well, if that were so, the +will should be here now--and it isn't," he said to himself, with +suddenly upflung brows. "Queer thing! Unless someone put it away. I'll +try the drawers. There should be no secrets from a detective, my poor +misguided friend, and if the drawers don't answer to my fingers, I'm +going to search your pockets for the key--though to steal from the dead +is a ghoulish business at the best of times.... Hello, hello! Locked, of +course! Brrrh! I don't fancy the task at all, but I mean to have my +little look-in before any of the other members of the family get +downstairs for their breakfast. So here goes." + +Still mentally talking to himself, Cleek went over to the Thing that had +once been Sir Andrew Duggan, and plunged his hands in the trousers' +pockets without more ado. A bunch of keys rewarded the search. He ran +them over adroitly in his fingers; chose one which he thought would fit +the lock of the drawers, found it didn't fit, chose another, and this +time was more successful. For the top left-hand drawer of that +handsomely carved desk slid noiselessly open for him, stopped +automatically, and gave a funny little click. In a moment he had slid +down on his knees beside that gruesome figure which so impeded his +progress, and slipped his fingers up under the drawer (which was half +full of papers and so allowed him to do so), touched something which +felt like a button, and _was_ a button. Then the drawer came forward in +his hand, and revealed at back of it another one, which at a touch of +that button had dropped its front panel so that it formed a pigeon-hole. +As he peered into the recesses of this, he saw a bundle of yellowed +papers tied about with a faded piece of pink ribbon, and immediately +drew them forth into the light. + +"Whew! What a beastly dust! Well, I've met this kind of a desk before, +so fortunately you're no closed book to me, my friend," he apostrophized +it, as a powder of dust flew over his fingers as he touched the packet. +"Here's something which wants looking into, so I'll appropriate it now, +and have a squint at it later. Secretive old chap he was, then! With his +secret drawers and all! Looks like a bundle of old love-letters to all +intents and purposes, but written on paper that one would hardly have +called suitable for such tender epistles. Commonest kind of +note-paper--village note-paper." He drew a sheet from the packet and +held it up to the light. "And with a water-mark of a crown and +anchor.... Hello! bit of an illiterate lady, wasn't she, who penned +these lines! For the spelling's pretty shaky. And signed _Jeannette_.... +H'm. Some pretty little amour which has held such savour as to be +preserved in this form until after death--poor old fellow! Well, I'll +look into it later. Couldn't have been from the first Lady Duggan, for +_her_ name was Edith. Miss Duggan herself told me that. And ... +Jeannette! Now, I wonder...." + +But what he wondered was never recorded at that time, for just then came +the sound of a soft footstep upon the hall without, the rattle of a +door-handle and the gentle opening of the door itself; and Cleek had +just time to whisk away the packet, and assume an appearance of stolid +nonchalance, when someone came into the room on silently shod feet, +stepped a few paces forward, and then, seeing him, gave out a little +shriek and shut her two hands over her breast spasmodically. + +"Oh!--_how_ you startled me!" gave out Lady Paula breathlessly, as she +recognized who the intruder was. "What can you be doing here, Mr. +Deland? The police ... this awful tragedy." + +Cleek bowed and came toward her with outstretched hand. + +"My dear Lady Paula," he said suavely, "I represent the police myself. +I happen to have taken up criminology many years ago, and came up here +to Scotland upon a little holiday. This terrible thing that has happened +brought me immediately here to do my duty and to give what little help +I could to you all in your bereavement. And so here I am. I beg of +you, don't stay in this apartment now. It is no place for a +lady--particularly a lady so highly strung and nervous as yourself." + +"But how--did you ever--come to hear about it?" she demanded, stepping +back a pace or two, with her eyes carefully avoiding that Thing which +lay huddled there before them--mute reminder of all the terrors that had +happened the night before. "How could you have known, Mr. Deland----" + +"I mentioned the fact of my profession to your stepdaughter yesterday, +and she immediately summoned me here. And, of course, I came. Anything +which I can do...." + +"Thank you. But there is nothing--nothing! I came in now because last +night I--dropped my handkerchief, and it was one which I very much +value, because my dear husband gave it to me upon the anniversary of our +wedding-day. Duchesse lace, Mr. Deland, and with my name embroidered +across the corner. And I knew, if the police found it, that I--I should +never get it back again. Everything, you see, becomes a clue, doesn't +it? But it seems not to be here." + +Her agitation was very apparent, and Cleek mentally registered the fact +that the excuse was a tame one, and utterly untrue. + +"No," he said, "it isn't here, Lady Paula. And, as you say, if it were, +I could not give it to you. Go back to your room, I beg, and lie down. +You look ghastly pale; and after breakfast I shall have need of your +help, believe me. So go, please. And leave me to this gruesome vigil +alone.... Oh, by the way, do you happen to remember, during last +night's many and terrible happenings, whether the will which Sir Andrew +was about to alter (I have the facts of the case, you see, from Miss +Duggan herself) was put away by any member of the family? Because it +isn't here, you know." + +He swept his hand out across the desk-top in an expressive gesture. Her +face flushed rosily, and something like a startled light, half of +gladness, half of fear, showed in her wide, velvety eyes. But she shook +her head. + +"It was never touched--to my knowledge," she said emphatically. "And I +happen to remember that fact, for in the confusion of everything that +followed, when we were looking at my poor, poor husband, it fell to the +ground, and Maud picked it up again and laid it over there, under those +other things that my husband had been looking into. I noted the fact, +even in my despair, as one does note these little trivial things in the +midst of a great trouble, Mr. Deland. But it _was_ there-- I am +positive. And you can't find it now?" + +"No, Lady Paula." + +"Oh! Then undoubtedly Maud has hidden it away somewhere, in case I might +_steal_ it, I suppose, and so do her precious brother out of his +inheritance, if such a thing were possible." + +The venom in her voice was like the bite of a serpent--positively +poisonous, and Cleek gave her a quick, keen look. + +"Hardly that, Lady Paula. And--well, I don't happen to be well up on +these matters at all, the law, y'know, and all that--only the law of +criminals, and that's an altogether different thing. No doubt one of the +family has put it away. It will turn up in time. Now, please go away +before the rest of the constables arrive. You will want every atom of +your strength to see this appalling thing through, believe me, and +therefore I insist that you harbour it." + +She smiled up at him sadly, and turned upon her heel, her trailing pink +negligée whisking across the thickly carpeted floor like the tail of +some sinuous snake, weighted as it was with one heavy beaded tassel. + +"Very well--if you wish," she said quietly, with an arch glance at him; +but as she went something white fluttered to the ground in the wake of +her, and Cleek, waiting until she had gone, closed the door softly, and +then bent down and whisked it up. + +It was a handkerchief--a mere wisp of gossamer, with Duchesse lace edge, +and the name _Paula_ written in embroidery across one corner of its +fragile square. + +A little twisted smile flitted across his face as he looked at it, and +then suddenly his mouth went grim. This was obviously the handkerchief +in question--and she had had it upon her person every moment of the +time! So _that_ excuse was a false one, from the start-out. Then, too, +a woman who could look archly at another man over her own husband's dead +body was surely no woman at all, but a harpy in woman's guise. It was +ghoulish, horrible!... And if the excuse were false, what did she come +for--in the early hours of the morning, when servants were only just +astir in the other wing of the house, and she knew that there was that +dead Thing who had been her husband to be confronted? Would a woman face +a murdered man for a mere handkerchief?... She would lose a thousand +such sooner, from what _he_ knew of the feminine sex. + +No, there was some other reason, and that a secret one. Was it the will? +But that was already gone. Was it to remove some distinguishing clue +which she feared might be found to connect _her_ with this crime? + +What was it? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NEW CLUE + + +It was a silent, horror-haunted breakfast-table that morning at which, +however, every member of the family appeared, as though driven +downstairs for the mere comfort of being among familiar things, and with +one another, in this time of tragedy. Cleek partook of breakfast with +them, but the black looks which Ross directed at him would have made a +weaker man lose his appetite. + +He smiled to himself now and again, missing nothing of what went on +about him, yet seeming, indeed, to see nothing at all but his own plate, +which was plentifully filled in response to a hearty appetite. + +He found Cynthia Debenham a bonny, red-cheeked country girl of the best +type, athletic and muscular as a boy, and very obvious in her +expressions, as just such a normally healthy girl of her generation +usually is. Her cousin, Catherine Dowd, was on the contrary a +black-haired witch with slanting eyes and close mouth and the finely +chiselled nostrils of a thoroughbred mare. He did not take to her upon +sight. There was so much concealed behind those closed lips, so much +that was secretive in the whole type of her. But she was obviously very +fond of them all, and upon excellent terms with every member of that +ill-assorted family. So that at least Miss Dowd of the black locks was +endowed with the mixing spirit, which was very much in her favour. + +Cyril, large-eyed and serious, sent his glance roving from one face to +another, as though seeking for the secret of this horrible thing that +had taken place here in the midst of them, and Cleek could not refrain +from a pang of pity for the white-faced boy. He looked so frightened and +miserable, and now and again his eyes roved up into Ross's face with +something of inquiry in them, as though he felt that this big +stepbrother must surely hold the key to the tragic happenings of last +night. + +Ross, indeed, ate nothing and said less, although his fiancée did all in +her power to bring some sort of a smile into his morose face. While upon +the other side of him Maud Duggan sat in a silence which was fraught +with all the dreadful happenings of that dreadful night, showing a face +to the world which spoke mutely of the fact that sleep had not visited +her during the long dark hours. Lady Paula alone tried to make some sort +of desultory conversation, aimed at random at each member of the party, +and missing its mark each time. + +It was as though a pall had been dropped over them, shutting out the +possibility of speech. + +Breakfast at length over, Cleek took the situation quietly in hand, and +turning toward them in the open doorway, made his desires known. + +"If you will all be so kind as to step into the library in an hour's +time," he said blandly, "I should like to reconstruct the scene of last +night's tragedy in the presence of all those who took part in it.... No, +Miss Duggan, you need not be afraid. Your father's body will have been +removed by then. But if any one of you have any knowledge whatever to +impart to me--representing, as I do, Scotland Yard in the absence of Mr. +Narkom (who is already upon his way here), I shall be only too pleased +to speak with you in the little ante-room close by. I may use that as a +sort of office, for the time being, may I not, Lady Paula? You've no +objections, I trust?" + +She shook her head at him, flashing him a killing glance from under her +full lids. The flattery of his choice of her as principal of the bereft +family pleased her immensely. + +"None whatever." + +"Thanks very much." + +Then he withdrew to the said ante-room, took out pen and paper, and +began figuring out something upon it which caused him not a little +worry, by the look of his face. + +Five minutes brought a gentle tap upon the door, and without raising his +head from his work he called, "Come in." + +Catherine Dowd stood in the aperture, looking more like the Mona Lisa +than he had ever seen a living person do before. There was something of +the same inscrutable smile lingering upon her lips, the same mysterious +impassivity in her quiet countenance. + +"I've brought you something, Mr. Deland," she said in a soft purring +voice. "Something which I imagine has great bearings upon last night's +tragedy and which I found hidden in the left-hand curtain of the window. +It was stuck carelessly into the inner lining of the green silk, and +hung there. Here it is." + +Cleek was on his feet in an instant, face alert. She handed him the +object, and then nodded at his exclamation of surprise. + +"Yes. A stiletto. And in the face of the fact that Sir Andrew was +stabbed as well as shot, something of importance." + +"I should think so, indeed!" Cleek's face fairly radiated excitement as +he bent over the object that lay in his open palm, touching it with +light, nimble fingers. "Gad! yes! A stiletto--and a South American one at +that! See the curiously square blade? If that isn't the identical +instrument that stabbed Sir Andrew's breast, I'll eat my hat! Miss Dowd, +you have brought me a clue which may lead to the tracing of the murderer +himself--or one of 'em, as there must have been two. Now, tell exactly +the circumstances in which you found it, and why you kept the fact +hidden until now?" + +She came a little nearer to him and leaned against the edge of the +desk-top, a sort of secretive nonchalance in her attitude. + +"I don't say everything I know, Mr. Deland," she said smoothly. "For a +person who tells everything he knows leaves nothing within to show that +he has anything of interest left for the next person who comes along. It +was shortly after the tragedy had taken place. Everything, as of course +you know, was absolutely in confusion. People rushing about here, there, +and everywhere, as though they had gone mad, which indeed they must +surely have done in such tragic circumstances. I was as bad as the rest, +and with Cynthia searched the room for any clues or anything which might +lead to the tracing of the murderer. I had just gone to the open window +and----" + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, "so the window was open, was +it?" + +"Yes--about halfway up from the bottom. The centre one, Mr. Deland. +Someone had asked me to shut it--it was Ross, I think, poor distracted +boy!--which I immediately proceeded to do, and brushed against the +curtains--the big green plush ones which hang at the outer edges of the +bay window--when something clattered lightly to the floor. Cynthia was +at the other side, looking out into the darkness, everyone else was +occupied with Sir Andrew himself, so I bent down quickly and picked the +thing up. And there it is." + +Yes, there it undoubtedly was. And undoubtedly too, the weapon which had +stabbed Sir Andrew so cruelly, if Cleek knew aught of such things. He +frowned a moment over it, and then looked up into Miss Dowd's dark face +through narrowed lids. + +"And you know to whom it belongs?" + +"I cannot say for certain, but I fancy it is Lady Paula's. She had one +similar, I know, but whether it is the same one I am not prepared to +say." + +"Showing yourself a very wise young lady," put in Cleek with a smile. + +She acknowledged the compliment gracefully. + +"And that you are a very gallant gentleman, Mr. Deland--in spite of your +somewhat unusual role," she supplemented. Then, becoming serious again, +"But don't you think it--well, queer, that if this were the instrument +which stabbed Sir Andrew, that there should be no mark of stain upon it, +no blood of any sort? The blade when I found it was absolutely clean." + +"H'm. Yes. Rather extraordinary. Unless the murderer had time to wipe it +upon anything, Miss Dowd, before consigning it to the curtains. And now, +another question: What made you keep the thing secret?" + +She hesitated a moment, as though uncertain what to answer, then, +blushing faintly, confronted him. + +"I have often seen that thing in use in the Duggan household. It has +laid claim to many a theatrical bout upon an impromptu stage. It has cut +pages of books, and slit edges of papers, and----" + +"All the more reason why there should have been some significance to +every member of the family in it, Miss Dowd." + +"That's one up to you--certainly. But you see the last person I had seen +using it, the day before yesterday, when I was here with Cynthia, +spending the afternoon, was--really, I'd rather not say, Mr. Deland." + +"I'm afraid you must, Miss Dowd." + +Came a moment's hesitation; meanwhile Cleek watched her narrowly. He saw +the colour come and go in her ivory-tinted face, saw the light that came +into her eyes at mention of the name which followed, and drew his own +immediate conclusions. + +"Oh, very well, then. There can be no harm in your knowing. It was Ross +Duggan himself. He had been reading a new book which he had sent to +London for--'Poisons and Potions of Other Times', I think it was +called--and used that very same stiletto to slit the pages with. But +that was a couple of days ago, Mr. Deland. Who used it since, I couldn't +tell. Or how it got in those curtains, either." + +"I see. And that's all you have to tell me?" + +Cleek's voice was normal, though he was not a little startled at the +news she had imparted to him. Ross, indeed--and reading the musty old +book upon "Poisons and Potions", a replica of which stood upon his own +study bookshelf in his rooms in Clarges Street, and every word of which +he knew by heart! H'm. Strange literature for a young man of normal +tastes. And the thing had been in his possession then. Gad! All roads +began to lead to Rome with a vengeance! And surely Ross Duggan had the +greatest motive for the crime of any one of that strange and unhappy +family. And Sir Andrew had been killed, they said, before the name was +altered in that will--which at the moment was missing from its +hiding-place. + +He looked up suddenly into Miss Dowd's eyes. Perhaps this very secretive +young woman who was so deeply in love with Ross Duggan as to spirit away +clues which she felt might incriminate him under the very noses of his +unsuspecting family could enlighten him with regard to that document. + +"Tell me," he said rapidly, "did you see anything of the will--after the +tragedy took place?" + +She nodded. + +"Yes. It was lying upon the table in front of Sir Andrew, and when the +lights went up again, I saw it from my place at the back of him. I saw +it distinctly. Why? Has anything happened to it? Lady Paula picked it +up once, I remember, and glanced at it; then she put it down again, I +think. But my mind was distracted in another direction and I don't +remember anything more concerning it. It's not _gone_, is it? Surely +Ross can't be done out of his inheritance that way? Oh, if that +woman...." + +The venom in her voice was appalling to Cleek. There was something +inscrutable and oddly snake-like in the methods this young woman +employed. It repulsed while it fascinated. And no doubt she could strike +with a poisoned tongue upon aggravation. + +"Well," said he, "I didn't happen to see it there this morning, Miss +Dowd, but no doubt it had been put away for safety. I have had no +opportunity of interviewing any one but Miss Duggan--and now yourself" +(he made no mention of his early morning visit from Lady Paula), "and +probably it has a very meek and mild solution." + +"I hope so, indeed. I'll be going now, Mr. Deland. You think I did right +about the stiletto?--knowing the bad blood which lies between Lady Paula +and Ross? It wouldn't do, you know, to place any possible weapon in that +woman's hands. She'd use it for her own ends immediately." + +"As you would do also, my dear young lady," registered Cleek silently as +she left the room. "Gad! Well, here's evidence for us to investigate, +anyhow. She's a strange mixture, that girl, and one who would stop at +nothing.... By George! no, but she wouldn't, even for the sort of love +that _her_ kind would give a man! And it was _his_ inheritance which was +in jeopardy, don't forget that!... It's a pretty kettle of fish, indeed! +And this Ross Duggan seems to have half the countryside in love with +him! That's the third woman, including his affianced bride. His is +surely the deadly kind that they all fall for! Well, I'm glad the +inheritance isn't mine, at any rate. There is no fury like the fury of a +woman scorned--and a chap can't marry three women at the same time, and +live within the law.... If he ever did live within the law--in the face +of--_that_--which I saw in the dungeon! But I can't somehow credit +him---- And yet, who else?... Hello, there's Rhea's bell, and Mr. +Narkom, I'll dare swear. Well, I'll be glad enough to see his rotundity, +bless him!--more glad than I had at first imagined." + +And that's exactly who it proved to be. Rhea's bell was certainly +useful, that was one thing. It did keep tally of every incoming visitor. +And with that huge, high, iron-spiked wall which surrounded the grounds +of Aygon Castle so utterly insurmountable, surely the murderers couldn't +have got away very easily last night. Whew! Cleek whistled suddenly, and +sat up. He hadn't thought of that! Then the murderers must be here in +this household, or in the grounds of the place still--unless Rhea's +bell had acquainted the family of their entrance or exit through the +great gate. + +But the gate had been ajar last night! And he had met Captain Macdonald +prowling around on that nocturnal visit of his just after the time +when the murder must have taken place. Then _who_ set the gate +ajar? Someone in the house, of course! Someone who knew about the +thing--_beforehand_.... That opened up another avenue. He'd ask Miss +Duggan. Perhaps it hadn't been opened especially for _him_, then? +Perhaps it had been opened for--someone else. It certainly gave one to +think, as the French say. + +And he was thinking to such good cause that he did not hear the door of +the ante-room open, nor the voice of the butler Jorkins repeat a name, +and it was with genuine astonishment that he sprang to his feet and saw +the portly figure of the Superintendent standing before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CLEEK MAKES A STARTLING ASSERTION + + +Cleek and Mr. Narkom spent a busy fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the +Superintendent learned of the tragedy which had taken place and of what +evidence Cleek had got together for him, had a cursory look round the +library and at the body itself (which they examined more minutely), and +generally took a survey of the whole appalling affair. + +"Cinnamon!" ejaculated the Superintendent for the thirty-third time +since the recital of the thing. "It's a teaser, I swear! If someone in +the house hasn't done it, who the dickens _has_? When your wire came for +me to run up here, yesterday, I was up to my eyes in work. But I knew +you wouldn't send unless you really wanted me, and when _you_ do +that----" + +He stopped speaking and let the rest of the sentence go by default. But +Cleek had seen, and Cleek _knew_. The friendliness in their two pairs of +eyes deepened to a fellowship which is rare--and good to see. + +"I know, old chap. But we mustn't go wandering down those particular +primrose paths just now. You're a bully old boy, and I'd back you +against every other man in the kingdom. And you've been a sort of a +guardian angel and a blithering idiot all rolled into one! And that's a +combination which I for one, have strong leanings for!... Now, then, +what about it?" + +What, indeed! He swung around in his tracks, hands out-thrown, and +surveyed the Superintendent with tilted head and narrowed eyes. "Any +ideas, eh?" + +"Not a single, at the moment. Have you?" + +"Oh--several. But they're too uncertain at present for utterance. +There's one thing I do know: That if I could find out certain items that +went to the laundry from this household last week I'd know a great deal +more than I do now. And I'd be able to nail--someone--with a good share +in this beastly business. Also.... You saw Dollops, of course?" + +"Yes. Young beggar!--he was on tenterhooks. Afraid some ghostly lady had +caught you last night and hugged you to death, or some such rubbish. +Until I assured him that your biceps were equal to all the ghosts in the +world. Yes, I saw Dollops, all right. And he said he'd got work to do +for you, or something. Some constable had called with a note early in +the morning...." + +Cleek looked up quickly from a survey of the window-sill. + +"Yes--yes. Had he discovered what I asked him to?" + +There was a sort of dumb tolerance in the Superintendent's unimaginative +countenance. He shrugged his shoulders off-handedly. + +"My dear chap," he responded, "here's his identical message, only I +can't imitate his inimitable accent. 'Tell the Guv'ner, sir, as that +there "Crahn and Anchor" wot he wants ter know abaht is an inmate of the +post-office!...' Now, if you can make any sense out of that, Cleek...." + +"Deland, my dear chap, Deland, I beg of you!" interposed Cleek hastily, +whirling about with upraised hands. "Not a soul in the place knows who I +really am. Even Highland fastnesses, you know, have their leaking +spots--and I'll show you one of 'em by-and-by that'll make you sit +up!... But he _did_ get it, the young beggar! Well, well, well! that +points nearer home, anyway, and it'll be something to go on.... What's +that? A clue? Well, perhaps, and perhaps not. Anyhow, it's not clue +enough at present to hang any ideas on. But the stiletto's done the +thing in one instance, and the air-pistol in the other. But how?--but +where?--but----" Then he whirled around suddenly and stood a moment +looking at the spinning wheel as though, of a sudden, it had actually +come to life of its own accord, and then darting forward scanned the +spindle. "H'm. Perhaps not the stiletto--perhaps _this_, and the +peasant-girl story to make a cloak of! The points are much the +same--stiletto or spindle? But--which?" + +"What the dickens are you mumbling over?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture, as Cleek stood surveying this instrument of a by-gone year, +and pinching his chin between thumb and forefinger thoughtfully the +while. "Spindle? You don't suppose the spindle of _that_ thing could +have anything to do with it, eh?" + +"Stranger things have happened, my dear friend, though I'm inclined to +think that in this case they have not!" responded Cleek serenely. "The +spindle theory is thin--deuced thin. But it's often in the thinnest +material that the thickest things are hid.... Now, if we could only find +the bloodstained article with which the stiletto was wiped, we'd settle +that question once and for all. I-- Gad! yes, I remember now! I'll ask +her later on what they were. H'm--ah! That's possibly where it is." + +But Mr. Narkom's patience was running a close race with his curiosity, +and both in the same direction. He gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed +the top of his bald head disconsolately. + +"You're the most amazin' beggar," he gave out finally, in a tense voice. +"Mumbling away like a lunatic, of laundry-bills and spinning wheels and +'crowns and anchors' which are 'inmates of village post-offices,' and I +don't know what all! If I didn't know something about you, I'd say +you'd gone suddenly balmy, and light out for little old London before +you turned your hand on _me_! But you might let a chap have an +inkling----" + +"When you've been in this house as long as I have, you'll have more than +an inkling--you'll probably _know_," returned Cleek with a little laugh. +"But, look here, my friend, we've got to get the body out of +here--presto!--or we'll be having the ladies fainting away and upsetting +the apple cart with a vengeance! They're due in here inside of a quarter +of an hour, when I'm going to give a little 'turn' of the whole thing +again, and see if we can't reconstruct it a bit. The constable outside +will lend a hand. Here, Peters!" + +"Yessir?" + +"Get your friend from the outside window for a moment and give a hand to +get--This--out of the room before the ladies come. I want to reconstruct +the whole affair in the presence of all concerned. And we'll take away +all the gruesomeness that's possible.... Poor old chap! Poor old +tight-fisted laird! Eh, man, but you've got a sterner judge to face now +than ever you were yourself! And this time Justice has to be done, and +no gainsaying the fact, either!" + +The unpleasant task was barely finished before the sound of footsteps +and the humming of many voices in the hallway without told those within +that the family were reassembling for the "performance." Cleek, with a +hasty glance to see that all was right, threw wide the door. + +"Come in, come in," he said in a pleasant, friendly voice. "There's +nothing now to be seen but that which all may see, Lady Paula, so +neither you nor Miss Duggan nor any other member of the party need fear. +If you will all kindly take your places exactly as you took them last +night, I'd be immensely grateful. At any rate, Mr. Narkom here"--he +introduced him to the assembly with a slight bow--"will be able to get +some kind of an idea of exactly how things were when the--tragedy +happened. Hello! Where's Miss--Miss--er--McCall? Wasn't she a member of +the party, too?" + +Lady Paula entered the room with a rustling of soft black silk, and came +toward him with sadly smiling countenance. + +"I hardly thought, you know, that you would require her presence, Mr. +Deland, and so I told her she might attend to her duties instead. But of +course if you wish----" + +"I do wish----" + +"Then she shall be immediately sent for. Maud, my dear, will you kindly +call her?" + +Maud, thus addressed, turned silently away and went out of the room, but +in a few moments was back again, the slim, shrinking form of the girl +following closely behind her. + +Cleek came toward her and smiled down into her pale face. + +"If you would be so kind, Miss McCall, as to take up your position as it +was last night when--when the murder was committed, I should be +exceedingly grateful. Thanks very much. You really needn't be so +frightened, you know. It's only a sort of grim dress rehearsal after the +show instead of before. Just to get some sort of idea. + +"Now, then, Sir Andrew, I take it, sat here in this chair"--he seated +himself forthwith at the desk, and looked about him. "And you, Mr. +Duggan, were in the centre, opposite, with your sister here at your +left. You were at your husband's right hand, a little way back, Lady +Paula? Oh, I see--just halfway behind his chair, in case he might need +you. Of course, of course. The right position for a lord's lady to +be.... Now, let me see. You, Miss Dowd, stood at the left hand, right +back against the wall, with Miss Debenham on _your_ left--oh, a little +forward, eh? And Miss McCall on the other side of her. That's it. Now, I +suppose, we are all in our places. Now, Mr. Narkom, if you'd be so good +as to take up my present position and represent the ill-fated gentleman +for one moment, I'll hop up and look about a bit. The scene's set, and +we'll try and reconstruct the drama from anything any one would like to +tell me. I believe one of the windows was open, was it not, Lady +Paula?" + +He turned to her so swiftly that she was taken back, and in her +nervousness went a shade pale under her olive tan. + +"I--don't know, Mr. Deland. I really never noticed...." + +"But _I_ did." It was Catherine Dowd who spoke, a note of decision in +her clear voice. "The centre window was open, Mr. Deland--from the +bottom. Wide open." + +"Yes--of course it was," Maud Duggan broke in excitedly. "I remember +noticing how the curtains blew while poor Father was speaking. Don't +you, Ross?" + +He shook his head miserably. + +"I don't remember anything but what actually took place," he returned, +in a low, unhappy voice. "I was so furious, Maud; you must remember the +ignominy of--of Father calling in everyone like this to see my name +struck out of the will! If he'd done it in private, even, it would not +have been so bad, but in front of others, people who were not of our +family"--his glance travelled from Johanna's mouse-like countenance to +the inscrutable Catherine's. "It--it seemed hardly cricket to me, and I +was boiling over. I wish to God I hadn't been! It would have made it +much easier to bear--now!" + +"My poor Ross!" + +Cynthia's voice, very low and tender, crept across to him, and he gave +her a weary smile in acknowledgment. + +"Well, now," said Cleek evenly, "let's start away at this wretched +affair. Mr. Duggan, you were the only other gentleman present besides +your father. Perhaps you will tell me how things went. The ladies look +somewhat pale. It's rather an ordeal, I'm afraid, but a very necessary +one. Your father, I understand, seated himself and began to denounce you +in a loud voice, and you----" + +"Retaliated, Mr. Deland. Yes, I'm afraid I did. Poor old Dad! But I was +pretty well strung up. And then, just as he had sat down again--he was +standing up before, waving his fist in the air and calling me all sorts +of names"--his voice broke a tone or two and then recovered +itself--"just as he had taken up the pen and was about to scratch out my +name and substitute my sister's, out went the lights; we were plunged +immediately into utter darkness, and in the midst of it----" + +"We heard distinctly the sound of the spinning wheel, humming just as +the Peasant Girl said it would hum upon the approaching death of any +male member of the family," supplemented Maud Duggan feverishly and with +much excitement. "Hum-hum-hum! it went, Mr. Deland; then there was a +swishing sound as of someone moving hurriedly--a sort of +half-gasp--a--a--oh! how shall I describe it?----" + +"A whizz and a whirr, and then the lights came up and there lay Sir +Andrew in his chair--dead." + +The finale came from Catherine Dowd, who spoke in a low, tense voice, +every note of which sounded in that quiet room, and made the atmosphere +vibrate with the feeling of it. + +"My God!" + +The exclamation came from Lady Paula's and Mr. Narkom's lips +simultaneously, but from very different causes. For the lady had gone +suddenly white as death and fallen back against the wall, both hands +pressed to her face and her shoulders shaking. + +Maud Duggan hastened to her immediately, while Miss McCall, like the +perfectly trained companion she was, produced smelling-salts from the +capacious pocket of her blue serge coat-frock, and held it under her +mistress's nose. A dose of brandy set the lady to rights, and her +Southern emotionalism subsided when she sat down in front of the open +window. + +She looked up into Cleek's downbent face with wide eyes. + +"I am so sorry," she said. "But it brought it all back--so +dreadfully--so terribly! Oh, I shall never forget it--never! Miss +McCall, my smelling-salts, again, please.... Thank you. Mr. Deland, you +have still--much more to proceed with?" + +He nodded. + +"A good deal, I'm afraid. In the first place, I must tell you that we +have discovered one of the weapons--the stiletto which stabbed your +husband, Lady Paula. There remains but the air-pistol--and that will not +be a difficult matter, either, I imagine." He looked significantly at +Ross, whose face went suddenly scarlet. + +"I say--if you dare to accuse--_me_...." + +"Not so fast, my friend; I'm accusing nobody," returned Cleek serenely, +"and too much protestation often hides a guilty conscience. Please say +nothing until you are questioned. It is the safest way. First--the +stiletto." + +He drew it from his pocket and held it aloft where they could all see +it, the sunshine fighting upon its fine blade and turning it into a +narrow ribbon of brilliancy. + +"Can any one claim this, please?" + +There was an instant's hush of amazement as all looked at the thing, as +of the stillness before the storm, and then Maud Duggan hurried forward +and seized it in her two hands. + +"It is my stepmother's!" she exclaimed emphatically, and at the sound of +her voice Lady Paula sprang to her feet, instantly upon the defence, and +her faintness forgotten in this exciting moment. + +"Mine--mine! Oh, of course it is mine!" she shrilled like a veritable +harpy. "Every one of you would like to accuse me of this terrible crime, +I suppose. Mine?--yes, it is mine. But who had it last, I ask you? That +is another question to answer. Who but yourself, Maud?" + +"Not yesterday, Paula." + +"The day before, then----" + +"It was I you lent it to the day before, if you remember, Paula," struck +in Ross's voice quietly. "Please try to stick to facts as much as +possible." + +"Well, you, then--or your wretched sister--one or the other of you," she +returned vehemently, stung out of all thought of good-breeding by the +sudden appearance of this thing of ill-repute. "What does it matter, so +long as it was used by one of you?" + +"And you will remember, if you think back, that I myself brought it up +to your boudoir and handed it to you, Paula, and I myself saw you place +it in your top drawer," interposed Ross, still in that ice-cold terrible +voice which is so much more horrible to bear than red-hot anger. + +"You lie!--you lie!" + +"He does not!" It was Johanna McCall who spoke at this +juncture--Johanna, with two red spots of colour in her usually pale +cheeks and her eyes fairly blazing. "I saw him do it, too-- _I_ saw you, +Mr. Duggan. Don't believe what she says, Mr. Deland! It is she who +lies-- I swear that!" + +To and fro the evil words flew like vultures seeking to peck each +other's hearts out in the combat. In the sudden hush which followed this +last denouncement, while Lady Paula was accumulating her forces to +retaliate, Cleek held up his hand. + +"Then I take it," he said, "that the stiletto is the property of Lady +Paula, but that it was last used by Mr. Duggan, who returned it to Lady +Paula in the presence of a witness, and she put it back into her drawer. +That is correct, is it not?" + +"A lie--an absolute lie!" + +"Perfectly correct, Mr. Deland." + +"Thank you, Mr. Duggan. At any rate, the ownership of the thing is +established, which, by the way, Lady Paula, makes no assertion whatever +as to incriminating _you_ in this disastrous affair. Miss Debenham, +would you mind coming over here for a moment? I would like to look at +your dress----" + +"My _dress_, Mr. Deland?" + +He smiled at her with disarming frankness. + +"No wonder you think I am mad, but--ah, yes! see, right here on this +panel--I thought I was not mistaken. If you wouldn't mind turning round +a little more toward the middle of the room, Miss Debenham--thank +you--right here; those dark stains." He went down on his knees suddenly +and sniffed them, rubbed them with his fingers, and then beckoned the +mystified Mr. Narkom, who joined him immediately. "You see, Mr. Narkom, +what it is? Rather peculiar, isn't it?" + +"What the devil are you driving at?" demanded Ross at this juncture, +striding around the desk and taking up a stand beside his fiancée as +though to shield her from the hands of these merciless probers of human +hearts. "I wish to God you and your kind had never showed up here at +all, I do, indeed! You always bring trouble in your wake." + +"_Follow_ trouble, I think you mean, my friend," supplemented Cleek +quietly. "The trouble is generally there first. It is our business to +see that it is thrust upon--the right shoulders." + +"Then Cynthia--what are you driving at now?" + +There was a moment's tense silence. Then Cleek's voice sounded clearly: + +"Simply this. Those three stains there--long, narrow ones--upon Miss +Debenham's gown (I noticed them this morning at breakfast) +are--bloodstains, Mr. Duggan--_bloodstains_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MR. NARKOM VOICES AN OPINION + + +"_Bloodstains?_" + +Three pairs of feminine lips voiced that sinister word simultaneously: +Lady Paula's, Cynthia's, and Maud Duggan's. + +"But how, Mr. Deland?-- But why?-- And upon Cynthia's dress, too!" + +"Well, I'll swear I never had anything to do with it, anyhow!" threw in +Cynthia emphatically and in a voice of astonishment. "How _could_ they +be bloodstains, Mr. Deland? and how could they possibly get on _my_ +frock? Solve that question, if you please, first of all." + +"Quite a simple one, Miss Debenham. Just this: The murderer--or one of +them, as the case may be--entered this room by that middle window, +stabbed Sir Andrew with the stiletto, stolen for the purpose, of +course--then, in a frenzy lest he be discovered, caught hold of the +nearest thing and wiped the bloodstained instrument upon it, and then +made off as quickly as possible. You happened to be the nearest, no +doubt. So you were the person chosen. Did you not feel anything at all +of the action?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nothing that I remember. We were all so astonished when the light +failed that I don't remember anything at all about it. If it was done, +it was done gently--and my skirt is wide." + +"And you think the murderer, the perpetrator of this wicked crime, was a +man, then, Mr. Deland?" put in the soft voice of Lady Paula at this +juncture. + +Cleek spun around toward her, nodding emphatically. + +"I do, indeed. No woman could have arranged the thing like this, Lady +Paula. The electricity would have been too difficult a problem for her, +in the first place, and then the shooting----" + +"And how do you account for _that_, Mr. Deland?" + +"Ah, that is a more difficult matter. How? By whose hand? We will get +back to our stage rehearsal for that, I think. Mr. Narkom, would you sit +down again in the chair? Thanks very much. It's only just for a moment. +Now, if you ladies would take up your positions again as they were, I'd +be very much obliged. Let me see. The shot entered the temple here above +the left eye and passed clean through the head into the wall of the room +beyond. An acute angle of fifty degrees. H'm. That would bring it to +about over there and to a level with the top of that wood-panelling. +Then the bullet must be located somewhere in that vicinity, from all +logical reasonings. But where? Come, Mr. Narkom, just a moment. Lend me +your keen eyes, will you? And we'll have a look together. It'll want +careful looking, I'll warrant. But the panelling's in fine condition and +shows every mark. I-- Gad! and here it is too!" + +His finger paused upon a slight, dark puncture in the darkness of the +wood, and he whirled round and faced them all, eyes alight, face aglow, +and marking the spot with his finger-nail. "Here, lend me your knife, my +friend, and we'll dig it out. That will establish a pretty good clue, I +can promise you. And a soundless pistol-shot--an air-gun. It ought to be +easy to trace the owner of _that_, in desolate parts like this. Well, +here goes!" + +A moment's careful prodding with the point of the knife, and the thing +was done. The bullet--an infinitesimal thing--fell out into the palm of +his hand. Then, of a sudden, he swung around in his tracks toward them. +His face was grim. + +"Look here," he said, in the sharp staccato of excitement, "what I want +to know is, who of this company possesses an air-gun? For that someone +does I am certain. That shot must have been fired at close range--by the +depth to which it was embedded in this wood. Mr. Duggan, do you happen +to own an air-pistol?" + +The last remnant of colour drained itself out of Ross Duggan's already +pale cheeks. His eyes narrowed down to pin-points in the frame of his +face. Then his chin went up. + +"I do, Mr. Deland." + +"H'm. I thought as much. And if you were standing there, opposite your +father, and with no one at the right side of you, and only the space of +the bow-window between you and the outside world--taking into +consideration the enormous amount of misguided reason which you might +have to commit such a terrible crime--as I said before, if you moved +quickly over there, side stepping, so that the shot might miss any of +the ladies opposite after passing through Sir Andrew's brain, and--if +the lights failed at a given and arranged moment, and you whipped out +your revolver and fired, it _might_ bring about just this identical +result." + +"I ... my God! man, you're not accusing me of murdering my own father, +are you? You're daft--insane--idiotic!" + +Cleek held up a silencing hand. + +"I'm not accusing anybody, Mr. Duggan; simply reconstructing matters for +the purpose of finding out the true assassins. And, as I told you last +night, every one, according to English law, may be considered guilty +until he be proved innocent. Suspicions seem to point heavily to you, I +must say. But we've got to have more facts, of course. + +"He didn't do it, Mr. Deland! Of course he didn't do it!" + +Cynthia shrilled out these words suddenly, rushing toward Cleek and +fastening her hands about his arm. "You're mad to suggest such a thing, +to even think it! My Ross wouldn't stoop to _murder_ for a beastly +inheritance! You don't know him as I do--as all these others do. It's +incredible." + +"Quite true, Miss Debenham. But let's ask Mr. Narkom what he thinks of +it. He's kept his peace during this session, proving himself, no doubt, +a wiser man than I. Mr. Narkom, give us your views, please. Who do _you_ +think has committed this crime, according to present evidence?" + +"That man!" Mr. Narkom pointed excitedly in Ross's direction, his fat +face red with excitement, his forehead perspiring with the heat of his +excitement. "_He_ fired the shot. But the stiletto--that is a more +difficult question." + +"And you think Mr. Duggan actually did kill his father, then? No, no, +sir, I beg of you, let us finish this discussion before you interrupt. +It might lead to something really enlightening. You think that, Mr. +Narkom? Considering the position in which the shot was fired, and the +position in which Mr. Duggan himself stood last night?" + +"Decidedly I do." + +"H'm. I'm sorry. But I'm inclined to agree. But the evidence, I admit, +is at present slight--the actual circumstantial evidence, I mean. You're +not going to--arrest--him on that, I hope?" + +Arrest! The fateful word fell upon that assemblage with truly sinister +meaning. Arrest Ross! Arrest him! Impossible! Upon every face these +thoughts might be read--except upon Lady Paula's, where, indeed, a sort +of secret and hidden triumph seemed to glow like a light lit from +within. Cleek flashed his eyes over every face. He paused at Lady +Paula's for one moment, and then went on to Ross's--and ended up at +length upon Catherine Dowd's. It was transfigured! Transfigured with +hate of himself, with love of Ross: the two most intense feelings in +human nature warring with each other upon it to be uppermost. That look +of hatred made him positively shiver. If the woman had had any real +reason for the crime, could she not have been the perpetrator of the +stabbing episode? But she hadn't any reason, at least none that could be +at present discovered. One would have to go deeper than that for motive. + +"Well, Mr. Narkom?" + +The Superintendent was looking frankly uncomfortable. Cleek's direct +action in front of them all had somewhat winded him. He was not used to +such out-and-out tactics, even in the methods of a man who was the most +amazing beggar he had ever struck. + +"I--I--well, hardly that, my dear chap," he responded awkwardly. "We've +got to have more proof than that, you know. A judge won't hang a man +upon the evidence of his possible position in a room when the light went +out. It--it isn't feasible!" + +"Well done, well done!" Cleek laughed the words softly into his ear. +"So, Mr. Duggan, you are free--for the present. But understand, you are +on parole and must not leave this house unaccompanied by a constable or +plain-clothes man. This thing's got to be sifted to the bottom, and, +what's more, it's going to be, too. And whoever has murdered that poor +old man will swing for it, so help me God!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH RHEA TAKES A HAND + + +The silence that followed this last solemn remark of Cleek's was fraught +with unknown, tremendous issues. One could have heard a pin drop in the +still room. Then at last Lady Paula stirred. + +"You have finished, Mr. Deland-- Mr. Narkom? I may go now?" + +"In one more moment, Lady Paula. There is simply the matter of the will +now to be thrashed out before you disperse and leave us to work out the +problem as best we may. You have, no doubt, put it away, Mr. Duggan? I +didn't see it here when I investigated early this morning." + +"I've done nothing of the sort, Mr. Deland." + +"Oh!---is that so? I beg you pardon. Then perhaps you, Miss Duggan?" + +"Certainly not. I've never laid a finger upon it!" returned she, with a +shake of the head and amazement written all over her countenance. "I've +never thought about it again from that moment to this! Why, of course it +must have been upon the table when--when poor Father met his--death. He +was just about to alter the name when the light went out." + +"Then you were using the electric switch last night instead of the +customary lamp, I take it?" + +"Yes. Father did use it at intervals, and I suppose in this case he +thought it better for seeing with. For it was certainly on. A lamp could +never have failed as that light did, Mr. Deland. No doubt it would have +been better if we had not used the electricity, for the dreadful thing +could never have taken place then, could it?" + +"And so we must put that down to Ross, and lay the whole blame upon +_him_, at any rate!" snapped out Lady Paula in an angry voice; and Cleek +thought, for a woman so shortly bereft, she was singularly well +recovered from the shock--if it had ever been one in the first instance. +"For if he had not installed this dreadful thing, then surely, surely my +poor, poor husband would never have met with his death at all!' + +"Oh, have done with your nagging, Paula!" responded Ross irritably as +she ceased speaking. + +And Cleek obtained silence simply by stepping into the breach himself. + +"Well," he said serenely, "the will has disappeared, at any rate. No +servant has touched it, I suppose? Or entered this room last night +before I came, Miss Duggan?" + +"None that I know of. It's peculiar, to say the least of it." + +H'm. Then among this little company around and about him Cleek +registered the fact that one might include a thief and a murderer. Not +any too pleasant a thought, when the guilt could not definitely be fixed +upon any single one. But stay!--there was the boy Cyril, and if that +will had been stolen, why should not he have done it as much as anybody? +He and his mother would benefit more if the will disappeared entirely +than by the simple bequests which Maud Duggan had told him had been left +to them. A widow had always a third share by law, that was an understood +thing; and a third share of this enormous estate meant a good deal more +than one at first imagined. The boy Cyril must be interviewed in due +course. + +Then there was another point to be taken up, the question of Captain +Macdonald's presence in these grounds last night, shortly after the +murder had taken place. That gentleman must account for his movements in +the proper quarter. And if by any chance there were footprints outside +that very window, then--b'gad! he, too, might be included in the circle +of possible criminals. + +He strode quickly over to the window and leaned out of it, looking down +upon the flower-bed beneath it, just a matter of three feet or so, and +the little walled-in courtyard that girt it about. Eh? what? There were +marks in the soft earth, and plenty of 'em! + +Then the assembled company fairly gasped at his next action, while Mr. +Narkom, knowing him better than they did, pelted over to the window and +leaned out of it. For Cleek had climbed upon the ledge and had let +himself down--light as a cat--down on to the bed, and stood looking in +through the window at them with serenely smiling face. + +"Gad!" he ejaculated excitedly. "Well, and why not? Footprints!... +Constable, just nip along into the village, and fetch me back Captain +Angus Macdonald. I want to speak to him rather particularly. Tell him +it's the Law--and that he's got to come--and he'll come along pretty +lively, I can promise you." + +The constable nipped along forthwith, while of a sudden Maud Duggan's +flushed face went white as a dead face, and her eyes fairly blazed at +him. + +"Captain Macdonald! Oh, it's ridiculous, Mr. Deland!--absurd! What on +earth are you dragging _him_ in for? You must be mad to think for one +moment----" + +Cleek held up a silencing hand before he dropped to the ground and began +peering at the footprints in the soft earth through a magnifying glass. + +"I don't think, Miss Duggan--it's a policeman's business to _know_," he +retorted; and then set about his task, while those others in the fateful +room crowded about the open window and stood looking down at him with +blank, unhappy faces. + +Carefully he measured their length with his little foot-rule and noted +the size down in his pocketbook. Then he fitted one of his own slim feet +into the indentation, saw that it was rather larger and broader, stepped +back upon the courtyard and faced them, all clustering about him, with +serene countenance. + +"A fair-sized boot, ladies and gentlemen," he remarked; "quite a +fair-sized boot! Number tens, if I know anything of sizes. And looks +like hunting-boots, too. Evidently a chap who rides. Now, this Captain +Macdonald, Lady Paula----" + +"One of the finest horsemen in the country," she returned, with a +shrugging of shoulders and an uplifting of brows. + +"Ah! Just so. That was what I imagined when I saw--when I encountered +him here in these grounds last night. Light of foot, and the proper +build, too. He'll no doubt be along in the course of another three +quarters of an hour (if Jameson doesn't have a dickens of a job locating +him), so in the meanwhile, if Mr. Narkom is willing, we'll take a little +turn together and talk over things, and then come back to you here in +the allotted time. Willing, Mr. Narkom?" + +"Perfectly willing." + +And so it came about that, arm in arm, the two friends went off together +down by the wide driveway that led to the great doors of wrought-iron +which Rhea so ably guarded, and Cleek, stopping in the pathway, pointed +up to the statue etched out against the sky in sinister outline, and +told Mr. Narkom the story of it. + +"Cinnamon! But what a magnificent thing it is!" ejaculated that +gentleman with awe, when the tale was finished. "That's something to be +proud of--eh, old chap? Now, if I had a fellow like that for an ancestor +there'd be no living with me at all! These old families!--there's +certainly something in this thing they call Birth and Race--though for +the life of me I never can make it out." + +"No," thought Cleek, with a smile, "you wouldn't." But he said nothing, +merely passed on toward the iron gates, and seeing that they had been +left ajar, clanged them to sharply behind them. + +"He'll ring his great bell when the latch falls--that's his ceremonious +way of welcoming the coming and speeding the parting guest," threw in +Cleek with a laugh. "I'm going to shove down the latch now, so watch +him, my friend. Here goes!" + +He sent the door clanging to with a vigorous pull, but--not a sound rang +out over the still air. Rhea had failed in his duty for once in his +whole long, dutiful lifetime. Cleek spun round and looked at him, face +gone suddenly blank. + +"What the--that's the funniest thing! It's never failed before, except +last night, when I found it conveniently ajar," he ejaculated, staring +up at the sky. "Unless--perhaps it would have failed last night, too. +There's no knowing. But Miss Duggan assured me positively that the +thing had never been stopped. But if it _had_ been stopped for this very +happening last night, to silence the approach of an unwanted visitor, +what's to prevent 'em from swaddling the clapper up--and not had time to +undo it again? And yet, when the Inspector came it rang all right. +No--_that_ theory won't hold water, my friend." + +"What's that you're mumbling about, Cleek?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture. "Clapper swaddled up? You surely don't think the bell's been +stopped for any purpose?" + +"No--simply to protect the sensitive ears of the housekeeper," threw +back Cleek with a contemptuous laugh; and then whirled around upon him +and caught him by the shoulder. "Forgive me, old friend. My tongue +scampers ahead of my heart sometimes, which is a very poor trait for a +policeman to possess. What I mean to say is simply this: Up to yesterday +that bell rang--even when we came here for the first time--for I have +the evidence of my own ears to prove it. And now--it doesn't ring. So +what's prevented it? I'm going up to see." + +"Cleek, my dear fellow!--to climb that height! And in daylight, too!" + +"What's the harm? say I--if you'll keep watch and tell me of approaching +visitors. Here goes! Keep your eyes peeled upon the high-road, Mr. +Narkom, because it wouldn't do to be seen, y'know and if any one +approaches, whistle 'God Save the King,' and I'll slip into a +hiding-place somewhere until the coast's clear. And don't tell any +strangers who you are, will you?" + +Mr. Narkom acceded to all these requests with a quick nod, took up his +post by the gateway leading out upon the road, and let his startled eyes +travel backward now and again at Cleek's nimble, crawling figure +climbing steadily up the sides of the huge gates, like a lizard upon a +wall. Up, up, up he went, scaling the height and clinging here and there +to the twists of iron and bronze that made an easy foot-hold--until, +just as the summit was reached, and he was standing abreast of the +enormous figure and looking up into its great face, with the bell +dangling from the bar of iron upon which he stood, he heard the sound of +"God Save the King" floating up to him in Mr. Narkom's whistle, darted +quickly through the giant's legs, and drew himself up against the back +of him and--hoped for luck. The sound of two men's voices--and one of +them the Superintendent's--reached him where he stood upon the narrow +ledge. He recognized the other as that of the bailiff, James Tavish, +whom he had encountered upon the high-road only yesterday. + +Mr. Narkom dallied with him for so long, passing the time of day and +making tactless inquiries about the murder, in his blunderbuss fashion +("Dear old bungler!" Cleek apostrophized him inwardly), that he began +to wonder when the man would ever go. Then at length the voices ceased, +and he saw Tavish's fine, well-set-up figure swing off in front of him +up the driveway, and then himself slid back to the outer side of the +statue, lest the bailiff look back, and waited until Mr. Narkom whistled +"Coast all clear" again. + +This done, Cleek swung himself down carefully, clinging on with knees +and feet in a most impossible and seemingly dangerous position which +brought a hasty warning from Mr. Narkom, and--found the clapper of the +bell at last. It wasn't such a big bell--not much bigger than a man's +head, but wrought of solid bronze, which made it almost impossible for +him to swing it up on its chain to the platform upon which he hung +poised above it. But somehow he managed to do the thing, and Mr. Narkom, +watching with his heart in his mouth, saw his hand dive down inside of +the bell and fumble there a moment. Then he heard Cleek's quick whistle +of surprise as he swung the bell silently back again, and came down once +more--empty-handed! + +"Well, what did you discover?" hastily exclaimed the Superintendent as +Cleek came to earth at last and stood dusting himself. "Or wasn't there +anything at all? Was the bell muffled _before_ last night's tragedy, +Cleek--or is it simply a bird's nest that's lodged there and stopped +the thing? I'm on tenterhooks to know." + +"And know you shall, old friend," said Cleek, straightening himself from +his self-imposed task and giving his cravat a twitch with nimble fingers +to its correct position once more. "It wasn't a bird's nest--not by a +long chalk! More like a hornet nest, I should say, between you and me; +but that's apart from the question. And it wasn't muffled before the +tragedy, either, Mr. Narkom. It was muffled _after_! Pretty strange, +isn't it?... Yes, I thought you'd think so. Well, anyhow, I'm coming +to-night to remove the 'muffling' object when the rest of the people are +in bed, and I want you to help me by keeping on the watch-out. We're due +for a full moon to-night, and that'll help matters. So Rhea's in the +mystery, too, is he? Umm. A difficult subject to tackle as well, on +account of his silence. But he's told me something this day that has +unravelled _one_ portion of the riddle, at all events. And when I've +unravelled the remainder, you shall hear what it is. + +"Now for Dollops, and the Three Fishers. I'm anxious to hear that 'Crown +and Anchor' story from his own lips. And I've other work for him. So +come along." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ANOTHER FLY IN THE WEB + + +It was a full hour by the clock when Captain Macdonald, in the hands of +his burly captor, and looking as furious as it is possible for a man to +look in such circumstances, entered the library at Aygon Castle, where +already Mr. Narkom, Cleek, and all the other members of that +ill-assorted and tragic party were already assembled, and, looking +neither to right nor left of him, pushed past Maud Duggan's detaining +fingers and went straight up to his man on sight. + +"Look here!" he said angrily, as, hat in hand, he stood before Cleek, +his countenance showing a little of what he felt inside his hot young +heart. "What the deuce--what the dickens do you mean by sendin' a +beastly policeman for me? That's what I want to know! I was on my way up +here--the awful thing that has just happened I only heard this morning +through my groom, who met one of the Castle grooms in the village, and +he told him--and I was comin' up to see if I could be any help, when up +comes my lord constable, seizes me by the sleeve, tips his cap, and +says, 'You've got to come along with me'--just as if I'd picked a +blessed pocket or something! I'm dashed well furious I can tell you! And +I want an apology at once. Thought there was somethin' decidedly fishy +in your appearance here in the Castle grounds last night, and now I know +what you were about for." + +"But, unfortunately, I don't know what _you_ were about for, Captain," +retorted Cleek with a one-sided smile. "And that's exactly what I sent +for you to find out. After you have explained yourself so fully and +so--so emphatically--in the presence of these ladies, I will now claim a +little of your time and attention for myself. + +"You were perfectly right. I happened to be coming here, upon this very +unpleasant and tragic errand, at the summons of Miss Maud Duggan----" + +"_Maud_ sent for you?" + +"She did. We had a prearranged signal--she'll probably tell you all +about it"--he smiled at her sad young face, a hint of tenderness in his +own. "You see, we happen to be friends _through_ friends, if you can +follow what I mean. Miss Duggan's school-mate and chum chances to be the +lady who has done me the honour to promise to become my wife, and of +course it was naturally a firm link between us." + +"Maud's school-friend?" The Captain's voice was incredulous. "And you? +A--a policeman! Damned funny!" + +"As you say--_very_ funny," returned Cleek, with an ironical bow. "But +I must beg of you, my good Captain, to curb your language a little +before the ladies. It's not done, you know, in the best society--even a +mere policeman knows that. And as all this is entirely beyond the point +I'm aiming at, let's get down to brass tacks at once. What I want to +know is--what were you doing here last night, when the crime had only +just been committed? And why did I encounter you, running from the +direction of the house as fast as your feet could carry you? That's what +I want to know." + +A sudden gasp of amazement from Maud Duggan, hastily suppressed, brought +Cleek's eyes round to her instantly. Meanwhile, the Captain, going red +and white by turns, started to speak, hesitated, and then commenced +again, looking the very picture of abject discomfort and unhappiness. + +At last: + +"Well, if you want so much to know--find out for yourself," he broke out +in a sulky tone. "For I'm not going to tell you--that's flat! I've had +nothing whatsoever to do with the beastly affair, and you know it. And +if you don't know it, it won't take you long to find out. But what I was +doing here last night is my private affair, and nothing to do with +anybody." + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, arching an eyebrow in Mr. +Narkom's direction. "Still more emphatic, I must say! And 'absolutely +refuse,' too! The Law takes no refusals, Captain Macdonald, and if you +don't know that fact, you'd better learn it now. And if you and Mr. Ross +Duggan happen to be friends----" + +"We are friends--the best of 'em, eh, old chap?" from Ross himself. + +"Very well, then. All I can say is that you are harming Mr. Duggan's +case with your ridiculous silence, and if you're not pretty careful, +might end in driving him into the prisoner's dock." + +It was a "tall order"--and it almost carried, but not quite. For +Macdonald gave out a smothered exclamation of amazement, swung around +and looked at Ross, and then, meeting Maud Duggan's agonized eyes, +tightened his mouth and faced Cleek again with the set expression upon +his face. + +"Ross Duggan's no murderer--and you know it, dash you!" he gave out in a +harsh, curt voice. "And it's no business of yours what I was doing here +last night. I'm a friend of the family----" + +"But forbidden the house, I take it?" + +Macdonald flushed an ugly crimson. + +"You're exceedin'ly well informed upon family affairs, I must say!" he +retorted tartly. "Yes--forbidden the house by the master of it (poor old +chap!) and therefore--well, I'm not goin' to say any more. It may +implicate someone else who's entirely innocent, and you won't get my +mouth open with a sledge-hammer and a nail!" + +"And no necessity for it, either--you dunderheaded young donkey!" +thought Cleek amusedly. "For if you haven't given the whole show away, +and made it perfectly plain to everybody that you were meeting your +sweetheart--or about to do so--then my name's not Cleek--which, of +course, it isn't! And there's no telling but that you're a better actor +than you make out! And this may be a 'blind'--but at present there's no +'cover' to draw, so we'll be off cantering in the other direction until +the scent's a bit stronger in _yours_." Aloud, he turned to the irate +young man with a slight bow, and spoke in his easy, calm manner. + +"Well, if you won't, you won't. These are not the days of the thumbscrew +and the rack, Captain Macdonald, and a man's tongue cannot be made to +speak by any other means than a little confinement in a prison cell. And +I don't think that's really necessary, in your case, do you, Mr. Narkom? +So we'll let that pass for the present. But I'd like you to understand +that--on account of your refusing to acquaint us with the facts of your +presence here in the grounds of this place last night--we are obliged, +in the maintenance of Law and Order, to put you upon your parole." + +"Thanks very much." + +Captain Macdonald bowed, with much mockery of lip and gesture, and then, +turning to the others in that silent little knot of spectators, made his +way over to the side of Maud Duggan, whose face was as pale as a dead +face, and in whose eyes lurked the suspicion of a great fear, and laid +his hand upon her arm. + +They conversed for a moment or two in low voices utterly oblivious of +those others who were searching their faces with curious eyes, while in +the background Ross Duggan fidgeted with his watch-chain and sent his +handsome eyes searching each figure in that still room, as though in an +endeavour to find a clue therein which would lift the pall of hateful +suspicion from his own shoulders. + +Cleek surveyed them critically. It was an abominably personal sort of +case, to say the least of it. And not much to his liking. But the +element of mystery in the whole affair gripped his interest in spite of +these other drawbacks. + +Of course there was no truth in the cock-and-bull story of the Peasant +Girl--that went without saying. But that it had been used as a "blind" +to cover the real perpetrators of the crime was evident to his mind. And +why _two_ of them? For in each case death would have been caused +instantaneously. He looked down at the spinning wheel standing there in +the recess of the window, and tried to link the thing up with it. But +there seemed no peg to hang a clue upon there. Obviously the thing had +been "worked" with just such an idea to disguise its real purport. + +Then he thought of the letters that he had found in the desk, hidden +away and yellowed with Time's fingers, and tied about with faded ribbon. +And of a sudden something flashed across his face which, Mr. Narkom +watching him as a cat does a mouse and knowing to a nicety what those +expressions so often meant, made that worthy gentleman positively jump +with excitement. + +Cleek smiled at him and shook a head over his eagerness. Then he turned +to the rest of them. + +"No need now to prolong this unpleasant and unhappy interview," he said +quietly. "Mr. Duggan has given his parole, and also the worthy Captain +over there. The Yard's men will do the rest. But I must renew my request +that none of you leaves this house to-day, or goes beyond the walls of +the garden, unless under special permission from Mr. Narkom or myself. +Just for to-day, my friends. By to-morrow perhaps the riddle may be +solved, or its end in sight. But for the next twenty-four hours I must +beg your assistance, every one of you, to bring it to a successful and +definite close." + +His request had an immediate and almost eager response. For there was +not one of that little band of anxious people who was not glad to be +released from the unpleasant and searching questionings of the Law, as +represented by this bland gentleman of the fine manner and the polished +ways, who seemed, indeed, as good as they were (if not better), and who +met them upon the grounds of an equality which was hardly to be expected +from one of his calling. + +Maud and the Captain walked away together conversing in low voices, +their faces grave. Ross, Cynthia Debenham, and Catherine Dowd--lagging a +little behind, and favouring Cleek with a look of venomous hatred cast +back at him over her shoulder as she passed through the open +door--turned toward the terrace, where they all sat down and discussed +the thing from every point of view within their reach, and came to no +definite ending at all; while Lady Paula, summoning Miss McCall with a +regal gesture, rose from her chair, bowed charmingly to each of the two +men left in the room, and withdrew to the safety and peace of her own +boudoir. + +When the door had shut upon the last of them, Cleek began pacing the +room excitedly, pulling at his chin and gnawing at his lower lip, which +gestures brought Mr. Narkom to the conclusion that he was indulging in a +"jolly good think!" + +"There's more in those letters than meets the eye," Cleek said aloud, +apostrophizing the wall-paper and the fireplace in turn. "H'm. Not a +doubt of it. 'Jeannette.' Something Scotch in the flavour of that, eh, +Mr. Narkom?... Yes, that's my opinion, too. It wouldn't take a hammer +and a nail to drive _that_ fact home, anyhow. And the date of 'em some +seventeen years back.... But it's the 'humming sound' which gets me, I +swear. Can't account for that, anyhow. Might be a dynamo, but there +isn't a dynamo in the place, and no need for it, either. Plain stabbing +and shooting upon the face of it. We'll go for a prowl this afternoon, +old friend, and see what new lands we can discover." + +"All right. I'm your man, Cleek--the same as always," returned Mr. +Narkom affectionately, as he slapped Cleek on the shoulder with his +broad hand, and then slipped it about his ally's neck and kept pace with +him up and down the narrow room. + +"Anything that's going--with _you_ in it--will find me on the spot, too. +I'm a bit of a slow-mover, I know--but you're such a lightning-bug of a +creature that there's not a soul on earth can keep pace with you. Have +you looked into that laundry-bill question you were dickering about a +while ago?" + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed. + +"I have. But there's nothing doing there, as yet. The particular maid I +questioned has got a bilious attack this afternoon and can't go over the +lists for me. But I'm to hear to-morrow morning for certain.... It _is_ +rather a teaser for you, isn't it, old chap? But you must bear with me +until I've unravelled the ends myself, and when that's done, I'll put +'em into your hands, and you can wind 'em up for me into a tidy little +ball. Let's get a move on now, there's a good fellow. By the way, who's +the guilty party _now_, eh?" + +Mr. Narkom scratched his head perplexedly and let a full minute elapse +before replying. + +"It's a dickens of a tangle, looking at it any way," he returned +dejectedly. "I could have sworn that chap Ross Duggan had murdered his +father for the simple motive of keeping his name in the will and of +course the name _wasn't_ erased, after all, was it? That's a black point +against him. But this flustery-blustery-Captain-chap with his +lord-high-almighty ways rather took the wind out of my sails. And when +you said you had encountered him last night, Cleek, you could have +knocked me down with a feather. How did it happen?" + +"Oh--caught him running as hard as he could from the direction of the +lawns beyond this window, and fell plump into him as the best way to +attract his attention," returned Cleek serenely. "I thought it strange +that he should be there at such a time. And he looked half-scared out of +his wits, too. Expected me to tell the household, I suppose. Rather +officious young chap, I must say--but I've a sneaking liking for him, +all the same. D'you think he did the shooting, then?" + +"Not a doubt of it!" Mr. Narkom was emphatic. + +"Oh! And why, do you suppose?" + +"Um--ah! Well, that's got to be discovered yet. Never know, Cleek; there +might be some hidden business in this affair in which this Captain is +involved. Anyhow, I doubt him--tremendously. Didn't ring true, I +thought. Rather too noisy and all that." + +"And you believe in the adage that 'empty vessels make the most sound,' +I take it?" rejoined Cleek with a smile. "Well, perhaps you're right. +Only I wouldn't call that young gentleman an empty vessel.... Anyhow, +this evening will elucidate matters a little. For I'm going to remove +that muffling for the nonce, and substitute another one. And it ought to +prove quite an enlightening job, too!" + +So saying, he swung out of the courtyard of the house, vaulting the +window lightly, and reaching a helping hand up to Mr. Narkom, who came +through less easily, perspiring at every pore. And suddenly Cleek's +finger went up to his lips, and with a hasty "Hush!" for his wheezy +comrade, he drew back into the screen of the bushes, standing as still +as a statue, all eyes, while the amazing thing came to pass! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"TENS!" + + +"Did you see that, Mr. Narkom? Did you see that?" rapped out Cleek +excitedly, when--a few minutes later--he stepped free from the detaining +bushes and beckoned the Superintendent from his hiding-place. "Recognize +the cut of _that_ lady--eh? And notice anything else about her?" + +"Only that she looked like that Lady Paula Duggan who was here a few +minutes ago," rejoined Mr. Narkom breathlessly. "But what had she got +that black thing over her head for?--sort of veil, wasn't it? Couldn't +see her face through--and gad! but how lightly she stepped!" + +"Rubber shoes, my dear fellow! Where were your eyes?" snapped Cleek with +a hasty exclamation. "Off somewhere where she doesn't want to be seen. +I'll swear. And as this courtyard leads out into the backwoods of the +place, to that forest ridge which girts it about, and thence on to the +Great Free Road as it's called, she's meeting someone whom she doesn't +want any one to see--and doesn't want to be discovered in the act, +either.... Hello! here's Dollops at last! Just the very chap I was +wanting. Here, lad, there's work for you. Run along and track down that +lady in black who is disappearing so rapidly up there by the right-hand +side of the hedge--and keeping pretty close to it, too, for shelter from +the watching eye in the household. Gad! lucky thing we came out this +way, Mr. Narkom, and caught her napping. She never thought of _that_, I +suppose. Seems a woman of one idea all through, doesn't she? The +beautiful, sleepy-eyed cat-creature! I've met her kind before. All purr +and softness when she's a friend--and a perfect she-devil when an enemy. +Now, then, Dollops, your legs are nimble, so slip up after her, but +don't on any account let her know you're doing it. And I'll follow in a +moment or two. But don't let her get away without discovering where +she's going to. Mr. Narkom, you wait here, will you, and keep watch in +case she returns, or any one else in the know follows after, while I nip +up to the lady's boudoir, and enquire where she has gone to. I'll dare +swear she's 'lying down with a headache and has given orders not to be +disturbed.'" + +And his imaginings proved to be correct, for that was exactly the case. +For Miss McCall, encountered in the outer passage from her lady's room, +with coat and hat on, and pulling on a pair of neatly darned cotton +gloves, met him, blushed like the timid little thing she was, and +answered him in all faith that what she spoke was true. + +"Lady Paula? I believe she's lying down, Mr. Deland. She told me on no +account to disturb her and to let everyone else know that she wished a +couple of hours' quiet," she said in her soft, gentle voice, lifting her +timid eyes to his face. "It's been a shock, I suppose"--her face and +voice hardened--"but she'll get over it--as she gets over everything +else that happens to worry her. She said she'd be down for tea, however; +and Master Cyril has gone off with Mr. Duggan and his fiancée for a walk +round the laboratory. It's--it's all very sad, Mr. Deland, isn't it?" + +"Very," rejoined Cleek. "Very sad, indeed. For a house divided against +itself, Miss McCall--you know the rest of the biblical quotation. And +I'm afraid that is exactly what will happen in this case.... Oh, well, +lying down, is she? Then I won't disturb her. Going out?" + +"Yes. Just along to Mr. Tavish's cottage, at the bottom of the drive," +she responded a trifle drearily. "Mr. Tavish and I, you know, +are--engaged. I have tea with him sometimes, and try to do some of his +mending. It's hard for a man to live alone, as he does." + +"Indeed it is. Engaged? Then may I offer you my congratulations, Miss +McCall? I won't detain you any longer, as I know you must be anxious to +get along. A little freedom in the fresh air will do you good. We shall +meet again later, I've no doubt. Good-bye." + +She nodded to him brightly and disappeared down the hill, and Cleek +could hear her soft feet beating upon the carpet as she passed down the +stairs. + +Once out of sight of her, he darted into the room which he knew was Lady +Paula's, and closed the door softly behind him, turning the key in the +lock. It was just the sort of boudoir he would have imagined her +choosing--a place all soft pillows and low divans, and hung in silks of +Eastern colourings, so that it resembled nothing so much as the home of +a sultan's favourite, from the low Turkish stool standing by the +couch-side, with the little filigree box of cigarettes upon it, +accompanied by a match-case _en suite_, to a tiny jewelled inlaid holder +bearing a half-smoked cigarette in it. Cleek picked it up, smelt it, +smelt it again, and then pursed his lips up into a low whistle of +astonishment. + +"My lady indulges in a delicate drug now and again, does she?" he told +himself, examining the thing with some distaste. "And for that reason +one may find excuse for the hysteria of this morning. That lends fresh +colour to the case, certainly. For a drug-fiend in plain parlance is +little more than a fool, and a half-balanced fool at that.... I'll take +a peep at those drawers in that secretaire, my lady, and see if you have +anything to reveal to me. For an _ambitious_ drug-fiend would stop at +nothing to gain her own ends, and if those same ends should happen to be +such a heritage as _this_ for her son and herself.... Hello! what's +this? Tablets, eh? But the bottle unmarked." + +He drew one out of the little phial and laid it in the palm of his hand, +and with the other thumb as piston, ground it down to fine powder and +then, sniffed it, recollecting that story which Maud Duggan had told him +of her suspicions with regard to the poisoning of her father. But after +he had touched the tip of his tongue to it, he smiled a little. + +"H'm. Nothing but aspirin. I thought as much, certainly, when she told +me the story. So that explodes _that_ little theory once and for all--if +there was anything in it from the beginning.... Nicely appointed +chamber, I must say." He walked leisurely about it, lifting a pillow +there, and dropping it back into its place, and straightening the set of +a chair, pushed out of its usual position by a very obvious hurry of the +room's occupant. + +And he was just in the act of doing this trivial thing when he came upon +a little screw of paper lying in a twisted ball beneath a chair which +stood close up to the Turkish stool, and evidently dropped by accident +(which undoubtedly was the fact). Cleek stooped to pick it up, smoothed +it out in his fingers, and then of a sudden sucked in his breath, and +every muscle in that well-organized frame of his went taut as iron. For +the paper--innocent as it looked--contained news which certainly was +enough to startle the most unsuspicious police-constable in existence. +For, written across its surface, having neither name nor address nor +date, and in a calligraphy which was undoubtedly foreign, were the +words: + + Meet me at three o'clock by the G. F. Road. Everything + successfully carried out. Muffled clapper. Must see you. + Utmost importance. + + A. M. + +"Hello! Hello!" rapped out Cleek in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"Then she _did_ have something to do with it, after all, did she? Gad! a +dollar to a ducat that there's someone else in this affair whom we've +never even hit upon yet! What a bit of luck Dollops turned up at that +moment--when _she_ was just on the way! Let's see--what's the time? +Three o'clock. Gad! I'll nip along myself, and come in at the finish, +and hear what I can hear from the good lady's lips herself, and see who +the dickens it is who's meeting her. There's more in this than meets the +eye, Cleek my boy, and don't you forget it!" + +Following the direction shown him by Mr. Narkom (who was still standing +like a monument of Patience in the little shrubbery where they had first +caught sight of her wandering ladyship), Cleek pelted off in the +direction of the woods, every faculty alert, and in the hastily donned +rubber-soled shoes proving himself a silent if a fleet-footed pursuer. + +But he was doomed to disappointment upon his quest. For halfway toward +the Great Free Road as that portion of the country was called, through a +belt of thick trees which entirely hid the landscape from view, he met +Dollops, looking disconsolately upon the ground, hands in pockets and +face dejected, and cannoned into him as they came abreast of each other. + +Dollops's face went crimson at sight of Cleek, and then paled off +suddenly. His voice was tragic in the extreme. + +"Missed 'er, Guv'nor!" he declared laconically. "Missed 'er for the +first time in all my existence upon this 'ere plannit! Give me the slip, +strite she did, but _'ow_, is a question as 'as fair diddled me. I +follered 'er up to 'ere as good as you please, and then of a suddint +'eard voices to the left of me, did a bunk after 'em, as I knowed you'd +wish me to, sir, and--that there she-devil 'ad disappeared as smooth as +you please! A fair ghost she were, Guv'nor, strite--an' if she ain't the +Peasant Girl wot 'aunts these parts, then I'm a Dutchman!" + +But Cleek had not the heart to smile at the boy's excited preamble. He +was too disappointed at losing his quarry so easily when this new thing +had been thrust right into his hands in this fashion, and the chance of +elucidating the mystery so incredibly easy--judging by the crumpled +note in his breast-pocket. Another such opportunity would never occur +again--one could not hope for things to happen in duplicate. + +"Dollops! Dollops!" he exclaimed, with a shake of the head. "Where is +your training in Apache quarters gone to, I'd like to know? Letting a +mere woman elude you, as though she had been Margot, Queen of the +Apaches, herself. And doing the ventriloquial trick so successfully upon +you, too! And at the very crux of the case, just when I'd found the clue +of all others which was likely to establish the truth of the whole +appalling affair! I'm disappointed. But it can't be helped, so put away +your crestfallen countenance, and come back to the house with me. We'll +have to wait until evening now, and see what comes to pass to-night. Did +the lady actually see you by any chance?" + +"Don't know, sir." Dollops's voice was dejected. "Suppose she must 'er +done, by the way she slipped the leash on me, so ter speak. Why, sir?" + +"Because, my young jackanapes, if that is the case, the scarcer you make +yourself the better," returned Cleek rapidly. "For it's no use your +allying yourself to me in her ladyship's presence, for the fat would be +in the fire with a vengeance. And now, about that other affair.... You +did what I told you? And what did your bit of private 'detecting' bring +forth, may I ask?" + +For a second Dollops's glum face lit up, and his eyes shone. Here at +least he had found something with which actually to help. There was a +hint of triumph in his tones. + +"Got 'em 'id in the shrubs, sir," he returned enthusiastically. "Done up +in brahn paper, they are, and ready for examination on sight. 'Untin' +boots, Mr. Cleek, sir--gent's 'untin'-boots, and that thick wiv mud as +ter look like blessed gardings too. Fit fer growin' a crop of taties in, +I swear, sir. An' fahnd 'em 'idden in a bush er laurels as large as +life." + +"Whew! Is that all, then? Nothing under-ground?" + +"No, sir. Not a blinkin' thing." + +"Um. Pity. You must show me the hunting-boots, Dollops; they may prove a +clue--though just how they would be connected with this particular case +remains to be seen. Very muddy, eh? Any name inside?" + +Dollops nodded. + +He looked hastily from side to side to see that no one was listening. +Then he bent toward Cleek with a mysterious manner and spoke in a bated +voice. + +"Yessir. Belongs to a gen'leman as is sweet on the young leddy we come +along wiv yesterday from Lunnon," he replied weightily. "Or so they tell +me up at the Three Fishers. Name of Macdonald--Captain Angus Macdonald. +Writ inside 'em as large as life and twice as nat'ril. Eh?--wot's the +matter, sir?" + +For Cleek had whirled about suddenly and struck his hands together, and +was laughing, laughing like a man gone suddenly daft. He stopped +abruptly and put one hand upon Dollops's shoulder. + +"Matter?" he said rapidly. "Why, simply this: Get a line on this young +Captain's handwriting, Dollops, and report to me this afternoon. And if +it tallies with this note, as I somehow fancy it does--well, we'll see +the fur fly so quickly that you won't be able to say Jack Robinson. +Happen to notice the size of the boots, by any chance?" + +"Yessir. Tens." + +"Good lad. And the footprints outside of the window in that little +courtyard are tens, too! The net's closing in upon you, my gallant +friend, and you won't get a chance to do much more spluttering and +exclaiming before I've found out what your little move in this +Inheritance Game is, and--nipped it in the bud!... Gad!--Captain Angus +Macdonald! And--tens!... Now, who the dickens would have thought it?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A PAIR OF BOOTS + + +Who, indeed? That King's Evidence was beginning to prove itself against +still another member of this unhappy household--or, to be more literal, +a would-be member--was clearly to be seen. What if the Captain's story +of shielding someone else were a mere "blind," as he had thought once +before? What if he was in league with Lady Paula herself, and using a +pretended affection for Maud Duggan as a wedge to get into the graces of +the household? Who knew? Stranger things had happened. But if he was +scoundrel enough to steal the heart of a good woman, such as Miss Duggan +undoubtedly was, a good, honest, straight woman, then he were a +blackguard indeed! + +Cleek had come across just such things in his varied experience in Yard +matters, and found his faith in human nature apt to be shaken by the +least wind that blew upon it. And for the will to disappear--after Sir +Andrew had declared that he would disinherit Ross and substitute the +name of his sister instead--and not that name which Lady Paula had hoped +he would substitute, the name of Cyril Duggan, as all her imaginings +had led her to believe--what if, on the strength of this fact, the +murder had been committed to get the old man out of the way, and then to +snatch the will itself, and--see what the Law would do for the widow and +the progeny? Who knew anything of Lady Paula but that she was the +daughter of a famous criminal who had paid the last penalty for his +crime? And a graceless but fascinating woman at that. The whole thing +might be a gigantic plot to wrest more from the estates than that will +of Sir Andrew's was likely to leave to her and her immediate family. + +Captain Macdonald and the good lady might share things between them, and +then make off together when things had righted themselves and start +again in another country. It seemed incredible after what Maud Duggan +had said of him, and yet.... Love blinds a woman's eyes even more than +it blinds a man's, and the good Captain was a handsome devil, to say the +least of him. + +The web of his imaginings spun itself on and on during that brief walk +back to the house alone, with the parcel containing those tell-tale +hunting-boots under his arm, Dollops having been left on the outskirts +of the wood to "keep his eyes open and see what he could see." It was +remarkable how one thing led to another, tightening the chain all the +time. Here was possible motive, surely, and what if that note had been +written by the worthy Captain? H'm. That certainly was possible. And +the initials were the same. Gad! it gave one to think, as the French +say. It did indeed! For the Law gave a widow a third share of +everything--and in the case of no will her son had an equal share with +the other children of the first family. And Maud Duggan had told him +that Sir Andrew had left her enough to live upon for herself and +Cyril.... But all these estates in Scotland, that were not part of the +entail, well, a third would certainly bring them more than _that_. + +He didn't trust Lady Paula. He'd met her kind too often before to take +her upon face value. But the Duggans themselves came of far different +stock. H'm. That might be it. And the air-pistol stunt simply used to +throw the blame upon Ross. Gad! it grew more credible as one went on +thinking about it. But there were loop-holes to be filled up before one +could be even sure. The condition of Captain Macdonald's affairs would +assist considerably. Maud Duggan had said he was poor. Another link. He +might even be in debt. Possibly was. Well, that must be looked into, +too. + +But if the thing had actually gone so far as murder, why had there been +two of 'em--when one would have done? And Lady Paula had stood upon her +liege-lord's _right_ hand, and not upon his left. And it was through the +heart that that little poignard had pierced. And Catherine Dowd stood +there. And it was she who had brought him the poignard in the first +place! It was the devil's own doing, any way you looked at it. And not +only Catherine Dowd, but Miss Debenham and Johanna McCall as well. + +He reached the house at last, and stepping in through the French window +that led to the great drawing-room by the back way, rang a bell there +and waited for the maid who answered to come and speak to him. + +"I want Miss Duggan, please." + +The maid withdrew with a discreet, "Yessir," and it was not many seconds +later when Maud Duggan herself appeared, looking pale and distraite and +exceedingly unhappy. + +"You wanted me, Mr. Deland?" + +"I did. Just for a moment," replied Cleek gently, noting her dark-ringed +eyes, and in the present state of his mental peregrinations feeling more +than a little sorry for her. "I've something to show you. And I want you +to tell me exactly to whom they belong and how you think they got where +my boy discovered them." + +Then he pulled the wrappings from his bulky parcel and set the +hunting-boots in front of her upon a little marquetrie table. + +She gave a sudden start, went pale as death, and shut her hands against +her heart as though to stop its unruly beating. Her pale lips trembled. + +"Angus's!" she exclaimed in a wrung voice. "Where--did you find them?" + +Cleek turned his head away, not to see her evident distress. It hurt him +miserably to hurt her. It was like whipping a faithful dog that trusted +you. + +"I thought so. The name, you see, is inside. My man found them hidden in +the shrubbery, just near the gates, and brought them along to me at +once. Do you know anything about how they got there, Miss Duggan?" + +She shook her head vigorously. + +"No. Not a single idea of it, Mr. Deland. That I swear," she returned +with emphasis. "Those boots are undoubtedly Captain Macdonald's, of that +I am sure. And see, as you say, there is the name inside. But they have +not been used by him for a long, long time. It was nearly six months +ago, I think, that he left them here, after a meet in our grounds, and +before Father had found out anything about our--our caring for each +other. He stayed the night, Mr. Deland, and Ross lent him some sleeping +things, and then one of the men-servants carried his hunting togs over +to his place the next day." + +"And these boots?" + +"Were left behind by mistake. He called for them, but I asked him not to +take them away. You see, I--liked to have them here, for silly, +sentimental reasons, no doubt. But I told him I loved to see them with +the other men's boots--Ross's and Father's and Cyril's and Mr. +Tavish's--in our harnessing-room, where the groom, Jarvis, always takes +care of them and keeps them oiled, when not in use, to prevent them +cracking. And so Angus laughed at me, and said they might stay, as he'd +another pair at home--and teased me terribly over my babyishness. It may +sound silly to you, Mr. Deland, but it meant a lot to me to see those +boots there--_belonging_--where I belonged. It was like--a peep into the +future.... And when the trouble with Father came, I wanted them there +more than ever, to keep my heart up. To my knowledge they have never +been moved." + +"And yet my man Dollops found them under the shrubbery and in this +condition this morning--after last night's terrible affair, Miss +Duggan," put in Cleek quietly, keen eyes upon her face. + +"It certainly looks black for Angus, Mr. Deland," she replied in a +frightened voice. "But I'll swear he never used them. I'll swear it in +court, if need be." + +"How do you know?" + +She stopped a moment and sucked in her breath, and then a sudden look of +determination came over her face. + +"Because," she said steadily, "he was coming to meet _me_ in the grounds +last night, as he had come often enough before. We could never see each +other in daylight, as Father had forbidden him the house and so we +stole our meetings at night, under the old oak tree at the bottom of the +first lawn. You can't see it from the house, as that hedge of yew hides +it entirely." + +"And you saw him last night? You'll swear upon that?" + +"I--I--that is--_yes_, I saw him last night," she replied, with flaming +cheeks and upthrown chin. "First Ross, and now Angus! You're cruel, Mr. +Deland, cruel as detectives can so often be! I thought you were going to +help me--truly--and, instead, you cast suspicions upon the two people I +love most dearly in the world! How can I possibly put you upon other +clues? _Anything_ to lead you away from such a false and utterly +unworthy scent!" + +Cleek laid a hand upon her arm, and bending his head, looked down at +her, a great sadness upon his face. + +"Justice is so often cruel, Miss Duggan," he said quietly, "and to men +in my profession we have so often to be cruel to be kind. I wouldn't +hurt you for the world, believe me. But I must do my duty to the Law +that employs me at all costs. I am not indicting your fiancé--truly--and +there may be still another way out. Men have borrowed each other's boots +before now. And if you can tell me the size of the feet of the men in +this household, it will be a considerable help." + +She lifted her eyes and looked at him, filled with a sudden hope. + +"I can tell you Ross's this minute," she said quickly. "He takes eights. +He has a small foot, like poor old Father had. And Cyril's, of course, +is just a boy's foot--sevens, I think." + +"Any one else?" + +"The butler, Jarvis. Our groom, Batchett, and the old gardener, +McGubbins--and Mr. Tavish; but he's a huge man, and would take elevens, +I should imagine--if not bigger. Anyhow, I'll make inquiries, and be +back with you in ten minutes, if that will do." + +"Make it twenty minutes, _here_--for I've other things to attend to," +returned Cleek with a smile. "And don't worry more than you can help. +Things will right themselves in time, you know; and there are lots of +blind alleys in the pursuit of Justice which we often imagine to be the +royal road to Rome. In twenty minutes, then. By the way, who attends to +your laundry, may I ask? The sorting and counting of it I mean." + +"You amazing man! What on earth do you want to know that for? Why, the +laundry-maid, supervised by Miss McCall. One of her endless stream of +duties." + +"Thanks.... One more question. What do you know of Miss Catherine Dowd?" + +She shook her head. + +"Only that she is Cynthia's cousin," she returned uncertainly, "and +that she has been staying down here on and off all through the spring. +She--she's rather fond of Ross, I believe, Mr. Deland--though for +mercy's sake don't whisper it aloud! We call her 'La Gioconda,' you +know. She's so odd and inscrutable." + +"Exactly. I nicknamed her that myself. And I'll tell you another secret, +too. She brought me this morning the stiletto which so obviously stabbed +your father. She says she found it sticking in the curtains. Have you +ever discovered that the young lady lies, Miss Duggan?" + +She gave a quick, uneasy laugh, and shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ross always says he wouldn't trust her on sight," she paraphrased, with +a nervous gesture. "We've tripped her up--on purpose--lots of times, you +know, as girls do to one another. But to men, it seems a mean trick, I +expect, Mr. Deland. Only, she elaborates so frightfully, you know. About +her family and their money, and all the rest of it. And that's such +frightfully bad form. If people really 'belong,' they don't have to +advertise the fact, do they? And Catherine advertises it rather too +much. But I don't know anything actually against her." + +"Thanks. And what of this Johanna McCall? Where did she originally come +from? Do you know?" + +Her face softened visibly. You could see that Miss McCall held a warm +place in her heart. + +"Yes. I can tell you at once. Her foster-father used to be a bailiff +of my father's in the good old days when money wasn't so hard to get, +and even land seemed to yield a richer harvest. The old man died at +his work, and as he was a widower, with this little adopted daughter +living with him, he begged Father to see that she came to no harm. +And Father promised. And when she grew old enough, he gave her work +in the house. Sort of secretary--Mother's help, you know. But when he +remarried, Paula changed all that, and took her for her own sort of +companion-lady's-maid. I believe she would have left us before now, +after the treatment she has had, if it hadn't been for Father being her +guardian, so to speak. But none of us can ever forgive Paula for the way +she has treated her. It's disgraceful." + +"And yet your father never complained?" + +"My father never _saw_. But the girl has been made a pack-horse from the +minute Paula set her foot in this house. She seemed to have marked her +down for her own, and Johanna has had to suffer in consequence. Such a +nice little thing, too! It's common knowledge that she is engaged to Mr. +Tavish--though we've heard nothing definitely. But it will be an +excellent match. More in her own station of life; and they're both such +dears.... Anything else, Mr. Deland?" + +"Nothing else, thanks." + +"Then I'll be off. And back again in twenty minutes. And in the +meantime, Mr. Deland, you won't--you won't think too hard of my Angus +will you? Even if he had done such a terrible thing whatever reason +would he have had to do it?" + +"Has he any debts, Miss Duggan?" + +She laughed a little and shrugged her shoulders. "Heavens, yes! Heaps of +them. That was what Father had against him. Father used to say that a +poor man should own nothing, because there was little chance of paying +it back. But so have I, for the matter of that. Over a hundred +pounds--and bridge debts. But it's my only recreation, Mr. Deland, and I +can easily pay it back, so that it's nobody else's business, is it? But +I wouldn't have Paula know for worlds! She'd make my life misery." + +"As she'd make any one's--who stood in her way," thought Cleek, as the +girl left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. "So the worthy +Captain is a debtor, is he? H'm. A very uncomfortable state of affairs, +I imagine. And that poor girl has only thrown fuel upon the smouldering +fire, and helped to bank it up. For a man who is dogged by debts would +stoop to a good deal, and if he is already in correspondence with her +stepmother, by way of this little clandestine note, why shouldn't he do +other things? There's a good haul, at any rate, bigger than that for +which many a worse crime has been committed. And, besides, he must have +hated the old man for forbidding him the house. So he might have worked +off a bit of that, too. And yet--gad, it's a puzzler! I'll nip after Mr. +Narkom and have a little talk with _him_! And--no!--I'll see the +laundry-maid first. Perhaps by now she will have remembered something +with regard to that missing handkerchief." + +Acting upon that impulse, he rang the bell once more, summoned the maid +to him, and had a little talk with her there in the shaded drawing-room, +and elicited a few facts which surprised him not a little in the +puzzling mesh of conflicting clues which seemed to surround him upon all +sides. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ENTER CYRIL + + +Within the space of a half-hour Miss Duggan was back again in the big +drawing-room, and Cleek, having had a short confidential talk with Mr. +Narkom, and gleaned a few of that good gentleman's ideas, entered the +room by the French windows that led on to the terrace just as she came +in by the hall door. + +"Hello!" he said with a smile. "Brought your bootmaker's department with +you, eh? Now we'll really be able to establish somebody's innocence on +_that_! Come, let's have a look at it." + +She brought the paper to him, a sort of blank wonderment written in her +eyes as they scanned his face. + +"It's the strangest thing," she said with a shake of the head, "the very +strangest! But every single man in this establishment has the same-size +foot, Mr. Deland. There's nothing but tens among them. It seems a queer +coincidence, surely!" + +Cleek pursed his lips up to a whistle of amazement. + +"Gad! it certainly does. Every man-jack of 'em, then? Jarvis, and +Batchett, and your bailiff Tavish, and McGubbins? Every one of them?" + +"What a memory you have!" she countered amazedly. "Yes, every one of +them. Except Mr. Tavish. And his are elevens, he tells me." + +"Didn't give away any reason for asking, I hope, Miss Duggan?" put in +Cleek at this juncture, with an arching of the brows and a keen look +into her upthrown face. + +"Indeed I didn't. In fact, I threw them off the scent most successfully +by taking a pair of Ross's boots along with me and pretending I didn't +know whose they were. Batchett soon put me right. 'Them's Mr. +Ross's--Sair Ross, if ye please, m'm,' he said, using Ross's new title +(poor old boy! He won't like it a bit, either. He thinks titles are +anathema!). But Mr. Tavish, of course, didn't know whose they were, nor +did the old gardener, McGubbins, nor Jarvis, either. Only they said they +weren't _theirs_. And then, of course, told me the sizes they took. So, +you see, Mr. Deland, you can't blame Angus for _that_, can you?" + +He smiled at her and shook his head. + +"You've missed your vocation. You ought to have been a lady-detective, +using those methods," he replied lightly. "But it's odd--deuced odd! +I'll take a look at their feet whenever I get the chance. Don't bother +any more, Miss Duggan. I'll get to the bottom of this thing somehow or +other, before the next few days, and don't make any mistake about that. +That's all you can do for me. So go along, and lie down and have a +proper rest. I'm going to interview Mr. Narkom again. What time is tea, +by the way?" + +"Half-past four. If you'd like it sent to your rooms with Mr. +Narkom----" + +"No, thanks; we'd prefer to take it with _you_." ("And use our eyes for +ourselves," he supplemented silently.) Then, without more ado, bowed and +left her, and went off in pursuit of the Superintendent, who had been +spending a quiet hour investigating the scene of last night's tragedy, +and trying to solve the riddle of it. + +Halfway there Cleek encountered young Cyril, wandering disconsolately +about, hands in pockets and head downthrown, and at sight of Cleek he +fairly ran up to him, his brows black as thunder, his young mouth set +into an ugly line. + +"Look here," he demanded, in his shrill young voice, planting himself in +Cleek's way and looking up into his face, "they've been telling me you +suspect my stepbrother Ross of murdering my father last night, and I've +been waiting to catch you and to tell you it's a damned lie!" + +"Easy, easy, my young enthusiast," returned Cleek, with a throb of +admiration for this fearless young person, nevertheless. "They'll never +make a detective of _you_ if your methods of attack don't improve +hastily. Let's hear what you're worrying over. Now, then, all over +again. I'm going along this way to see the Superintendent, and you can +come with me if you like." + +Cyril's face went a dull brick-red at Cleek's bantering tone, and his +lips twitched. He swung into step beside Cleek as they traversed the +long hall toward the library. + +"They've been telling me," he reiterated, "that you think my stepbrother +Ross killed Father last night, and----" + +"Who's 'they,' may I ask?" + +"Oh--Mother--Miss Dowd, Cynthia--the whole bally lot of 'em. Said you'd +threatened to arrest Ross and put--put him in prison. But it isn't true, +sir, is it?" + +Cleek looked down at the eager young face, and sighed. + +"Partly," he returned, "and partly not. I've made no accusation, Cyril, +but--things point very blackly to your brother, and it will take pretty +strong evidence to say he is innocent at this juncture of the case, at +any rate. There are--others--whom I doubt, but at the present moment +doubts are all that can be expected of me. Certainties will follow +later.... Now, look here, you can help considerably. Tell me, who's been +tinkering with the electric switches in the library lately?" + +Of a sudden the boy's face went red and whity by turns. Then he averted +his head and pretended to inspect a fly that was crawling upon the +opposite wall. + +"Er--I don't really know," he replied in a confused voice. "I haven't +the faintest----" + +"You do!" Cleek had caught him by the shoulders and whirled him around +so that eye met eye squarely, and he saw that the boy dropped his. +"Come, now. Play the game. I can't expect to find the true murderer +unless you tell the truth. Listen to me, Cyril. Was it your brother +Ross?" + +Came a long silence, followed by a quickly drawn breath. Then: + +"_I_ have." + +"You? What the dickens did you do? Tell me all about it, quickly. I +found a bit of flexible wire upon the carpet yesterday morning when I +was looking over the house with your stepsister, and came to the +conclusion that someone had been altering the lights. And it was you, +was it?" + +Again the flushed cheeks and quickly drawn breath. Oh, this quixotic +family!--that muddled a decent man up in trying to do his duty by their +perpetual affections and efforts to shield one another. + +"Yes--and no. It was the day before yesterday. Ross and Mr. Tavish were +in the library going over some land accounts and looking at the weekly +wages bill, which is part of Ross's work for Father that he's been doing +the past two years. I was there, too, mending a damaged switch which +wouldn't go right, and Ross had promised to help me when his business +was finished. Well, when it was done, and they had smoked a cigarette +together-- Mr. Tavish is awfully popular with the whole place, you know, +Mr. Deland, and Ross liked him immensely--well, as I was saying, when +they'd done, they came over to me, where I was tinkering away at the +switch by the wall, and while Ross explained to me what exactly was the +matter, Mr. Tavish stood over us and made remarks." + +"Can you remember what any of those remarks were?" + +"Yes. He said he thought I was growing to be a clever youngster, with a +turn for electricity which ought to drive my father nearly mad, and then +he shook his head, and Ross laughed sort of uncomfortably, and agreed +with him. And then Ross asked Mr. Tavish if he knew anything of +electricity. 'Not a blessed thing!' Mr. Tavish said, with a loud laugh. +'I don't know the difference between a short circuit and a Bath bun.' +And of course we all laughed again, and then Ross explained a little of +it to him, and he seemed to catch on awfully quick, and asked some jolly +interestin' questions." + +"And what were the 'jolly interestin' questions,' may I ask?" + +"Oh-- I've really forgotten. Whether one could get a shock from that +sort of thing when you were working at it, and Ross said you could; and +electricity could kill a person instantly. And then they began to talk +about electrocution and the electric chair which criminals had to sit in +instead of being hanged, as they used to do in the old days. And Ross, +who simply loves anything to do with the subject as much as I do, Mr. +Deland, began to explain how a man could be killed by leaving a live +wire somewhere near where he could grasp hold of it, and then taking a +long piece of flexible wire in his hands, he wired it along the edge of +the room from the ground plug to the window, just to show what he meant +by it." + +"Oh, he did, did he? And what colour was the flexible wire?" + +"Crimson. Usual shade. Mr. Tavish was awfully interested at what Ross +did, and Ross got so enthusiastic that he carried the piece of wire up +to the window and left the raw edge of the wire exposed, and when he put +a piece of stuff against it, it singed up immediately, and, my word! +there _was_ a stink!" + +"Naturally. And then?" + +"Ross said a lot of things about the power of electricity that seemed to +interest Mr. Tavish, and of course _I_ was frightfully struck, as you +can imagine, and kept my ears open. And just then, who should come in +but Mother, and of course Ross and all of us stowed the conversation for +the time being, and Ross nipped off the length of unnecessary wire with +his pincers and left Mother with Tavish to discuss some changes she +wanted made in the poultry runs. She's rather interested in chickens, +you know, sir." + +"I see. But this was a bird of another colour, eh? What's that? No, my +lad, you've said nothing to incriminate anybody, and I'll keep your +confidence about this conversation, if you're worrying about it. Now, +then, you'd better nip along, as it's nearly tea-time, and when I was +your age clean hands were an absolute necessity even in +the--er--austerity of my home! I've no doubt they're the same in yours." + +"But I haven't said anything to--to incriminate Ross, have I, sir?" +reiterated Cyril anxiously. "That thing about shooting a chap with the +aid of electricity--of course it couldn't be done, I suppose, and Mr. +Tavish didn't know enough about it to contradict Ross--and anyhow he was +only gassing and not really meaning it at all. I--I'd give my right +hand, sir, for Ross. He comes next to my mother in my estimation. And +that's saying a good deal!" + +"Not so much as you might think--if you know that lady as well as I do, +my lad," apostrophized Cleek as the boy sped down the passageway and +left him alone. "Gad! here's a new outlook altogether. And that +conversation actually took place! He wasn't lying, the straight young +devil. And he never realized that he was plunging that precious brother +of his deeper and deeper into the mire!... I say-- Cyril!" + +The boy turned at the end of the passage and came slowly back to him. + +"Yes, sir?" + +"By the way, what size shoes do you take? Gad! your foot's pretty hefty +for a sixteen-year-old, I must say! What's the number of those delicate +little trotters?" + +Cyril laughed self-consciously. + +"They are rather huge, aren't they?" he replied. "But they're tens. Same +size as Ross, you know, so that I can often borrow his shoes--and +Captain Macdonald's as well. Funny we should all be the same size, isn't +it?" + +"Yes--deuced funny," returned Cleek, sucking in his lips suddenly and +his face gone grim. "Tens--eh? Thought it was sixes for you and sevens +for your brother." + +"Who the dickens told you that fairy-tale, sir?" + +"Oh, nobody particular. I must have dreamt it, I suppose," returned +Cleek with a shrug of the shoulders. "And-- I say, Cyril. Your man +Jarvis seems to have trotters, too. What size are his boots now, I +wonder?" + +Cyril's eyes flew wide. + +"You must have made a mistake," he said in a surprised voice. "For +Jarvis's feet are awfully small. Eights, I believe. Anyway, I can't get +'em on because I tried once. Stole his dress clothes and dressed up in +'em. But the mater was furious! Hello! there's the tea-gong. I must be +off!" + +Then he went off forthwith. Meanwhile Cleek, with his finger upon his +chin, stood stock-still in the middle of the hallway and pinched up his +brows. + +"Now, why the dickens did she lie to me--unless she wanted to shield her +precious brother?" he said ruminatively. "And why in heaven's name are +they all so anxious to pervert Justice and to deny truth?" + +But there was no one to give him any answer to that most difficult +question, and he had perforce to possess his soul in patience for the +present. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DOLLOPS MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +The rest of the day passed comparatively uneventfully for all those +concerned in the drama of a night's doings, and save for a searching +scrutiny of the library by Cleek, carried out under the noses of the +village policeman, with Inspector Campbell very much to the fore as +being in command of the local constabulary and anxious to make a good +impression upon the Yard's Superintendent (with an eye to future +promotion), and the discovery of one or two minor details which had +passed even his searching eye before, Cleek's time hung fairly heavily +upon his hands. + +Dollops, keen as mustard upon any task which involved the imagination of +his beloved master, spent the rest of the afternoon and a goodly part of +the long twilight in scampering over the countryside in pursuit of +various "facts," by the aid of a borrowed bicycle, which Mr. Fairnish +had charged him seven-and-sixpence for in advance, being obviously +doubtful as to whether the young man would return it or not, for +Dollop's Cockney countenance was not one to breed immediate trust on +sight. + +His efforts in this direction proved fairly fruitful, for after having +scraped acquaintance with one of the grooms at Captain Macdonald's +stables--the worthy Captain meanwhile champing furiously at the "bit" +which kept him tethered to his present quarters for another night, when +there were other affairs at his own place that wanted looking into--and +in his own inimitable fashion managing to wangle an old letter written +by his master to himself from the groom, Dollops, whistling +vociferously, came spinning back again to Aygon Castle to present his +find to Cleek, and receive the reward in Cleek's instantly spoken +pleasure. + +But to see Cleek was a different matter altogether. He had been told to +"lie low" where Lady Paula was concerned, and not poke his nose in +anything within reach of her ladyship's sharp eye. And as he did not +possess Cleek's marvellous birthright by which he was able to alter his +countenance in the space of a second, and become to all intents and +purposes another man, Dollops was certainly "floored." + +"Better try rahnd the servants' quarters, an' see what I kin see there," +he decided after a brief survey of the land from an adjacent laurel bush +which immediately faced the Castle. "The Gov'nor'll be ready ter split +my nob open if I ups and goes inter the plyce by the front door, bless +'is 'eart! And it's shorely the back door for the likes o' _you_, +Dollops me lad! So here goes!" + +So to the servants' quarters went Dollops forthwith, and scraped +acquaintance with Jarvis, the butler, by offering him an impossible +cigar, and asking off-handedly for Mr. Deland in the meanwhile. + +"Dunno where 'e is at the moment," replied Jarvis, with a wink and a +smile. "Seen 'im talkin' to the lydies only a few moments back, in the +drorin' room. But since then.... Lunnon chap, ain't yer?" + +"Yus!" Dollops's voice rang with pride of birthplace. He threw back his +narrow chest and stuck his fingers in his waistcoat and surveyed his +interlocutor with upthrown chin. + +"Well, so'm I. Come dahn with the family last January from their Lunnon +'ouse. Park Mansion, it's called. Big plyce in Eton Square. Know those +parts, I'll lay." + +"Every inch of 'em," vociferated Dollops with emphasis. "Luvly plyce, +ain't it? They tells me yer got a ghost in this 'ouse, and blimey! I'm +that frightened ter meet 'er, me backbone's almost come rahnd ter me +front. 'Ugs the gentlemen at night, don't she?" + +Jarvis threw back his head and let his hearty laugh ring out over the +rafters of the servants' hall. + +"Wouldn't 'ug _you_, young 'un, not for nothing--if it were light enough +ter see yer face by," he retorted with heavy wit. "But it's truth. And +the wimmenfolk is that nervous at night there's no managing with 'em +nohow. Some sprightly feller in a by-gone century went and man-'andled a +girl from these parts an' carried 'er 'ere by force. Then 'e got 'er +into trouble, so the story goes, an' she up and stabbed 'erself with the +spindle of her spinning wheel--that there contraption wot stands in the +library terd'y and makes a rare job er dustin' fer Minnie the under +'ousemaid. She don't 'arf kick at it, I kin tell yer! Anyway, that was +'ers! And we 'ad a footman 'ere last May wot fancied 'imself very +partickler as a braive bloke. Well, he says, says 'e, 'I'll sit up +ternight and go dahn by the dungeon door, where she's supposed ter come +from, and see wot I kin see.' 'Course we laughed at him, and there was a +bit of friendly gamblin' done--_you_ know--an' I backed the blighter for +a pound-note." + +"An' what 'appened?" + +"Ah, that's the scrub of it, as Shakespeare says, me lad. Young fool sat +up there, and then abaht three o'clock in the mornin' we 'eard 'im come +a-screamin' ter 'is quarters, lookin' as pale as death. 'E said 'e'd +'eard the Peasant Girl rustlin' abaht in her room, and the chink o' +chains, and then the iron grille door began to open, and an unearthly +voice called out,'Avaunt ye, varlet, or I'll break yer bones!' and +then.... 'E was off like a pea from a catapult, and that was the last +we ever 'eard of 'is bravery. 'E gave notice next day, and forfeited a +month's money ter get away from the plyce. And I lost me money, of +course! That's wot comes of backin' a bad starter--mostly orlus loses +yer money I find." + +During this enlightening recital Jarvis had been polishing the table +silver, pausing between his task to relate the story, while Dollops's +pale face went the colour of ivory, and the hair at the back of his neck +began to prickle with fright. + +"Gawd's troof!" he ejaculated, stung to some show of feeling by this +gruesome tale. "Ain't that orful! 'Oo'd 'ave thought it? I wouldn't +spend a night down there fer a mint of money--would you, Guv'nor?" + +"Not if I knows it. But no one never does go dahn very often, only ter +the wine-cellar. See that door there? Open that and you'll find a set o' +stairs leadin' right down inter the cellar, and the rest of the pleasant +little dungeon-places where they used ter put bad men like you an' me, +my boy. Orl right in daytime, er course, an' nothin' much ter see. And +perfectly safe. 'Ave a squint, won' yer?--while I send a maid ter find +yer gentleman. Quite a nifty little 'idin'-place 'twould be fer any one, +but as safe as 'ouses in the daylight. _Go_ on. Ain't scared, are yer?" + +Now, if there is one thing in the world which is likely to upset a +nervous man more than anything, it is to be designated "scared" in that +precise tone of voice. It is from such efforts that heroes are made. +Dollops, whose heart had turned to water within him, found it instantly +hardening at the butler's joking tone, and the bantering look upon the +man's rosy face settled the matter. He squared his shoulders and threw +back his head, though his jaw was chattering like a chimpanzee's. + +"Course I ain't--stoopid!" he said stammeringly. "Show us the way, and +I'm orf at once. Any other entrance but this one?" + +"Yes. Through the courtyard and down the stone steps. But it ain't never +used. Your gentleman went dahn yesterday mornin' with Miss Maud, just +for a bit of fun like. I'm needin' a couple er bottles er best port up, +if you've a mind ter fetch 'em fer me, an' when yer gets back I'll give +yer a swallow er Burgundy ter warm yer. 'Ere's the keys. Bottom of the +steps and first door ter yer right. You'll see a lot of others, but I +wouldn't meddle with them if I was you. Them's _'er_ preserves. I +believe you're scared stiff--even at this time of day?" + +Dollops favoured him with a withering look, being perfectly unable to +find his voice, and then proceeded to the door with steady step, flung +it open, and straightway began to descend the staircase to the cellar, +his rubber-soled shoes making no sound upon the wooden stairs with +their carpeting of thick felt and with his heart literally in his gaping +mouth. Down, down, down the stairs led him, and then he heard a laugh +from the top of them, turning suddenly to see Jarvis's smiling face +above, framed in the open doorway, heard the door slam loudly, and the +key grate in the lock, and realized that he had been the victim of a +pleasant little practical joke. + +The palms of his hands went wet. He felt a mad impulse to bound up the +stairs again and hammer upon the door until he gained admittance, but +his pride held him back. + +"No, I'll see 'im in 'ell first, the blinkin' practical joker!" he +apostrophized the absent butler in tones of blackest rage, and then, +curiosity getting the better of him, seeing that there was no other +alternative but to go down and then return by the _other_ way, "which +was scarcely ever used," proceeded on his journey into blackness, which +grew each second more black, until he was stepping carefully, with one +hand pressed against the stone of the wall and his eyes goggling through +the darkness from sheer fright. + +He reached the bottom of the stairs at last, and paused to take breath. +He was as winded as a spent runner, and as white as a sheet, and +trembling in every limb. The place was as black as a pocket, save for +where, through a grille-door on the left-hand side of him (which was +actually supposed to be her door, if he had but known it, and led +through to the torture-chamber which Cleek himself had traversed), a +single candle shone with a pale, sickly light, sending a tiny shaft in +his direction, though, with peering through at it, he could only just +see its vague outline in some room beyond. + +"Gawdamassy!" he ejaculated, his eyes fairly popping out of his head at +this sight. "Someun's 'ere, that's a fact! And from what I knows er +ghosts, they shine wiv a more unearthly light than wot comes from a +candle in a bottle. Now, 'oo the dickens----" + +But his searchings after light on this subject were cut off short by the +sound of softly speaking voices creeping to him through that grilled +door, and coming from some long distance away within it. He darted back +against the wall and, groping with his hands, found a cupboard door +ajar, slipped into it, and drew himself up taut against the inner wall, +and waited for that which might come to pass, every nerve a-tremble, his +eyes fixed upon the crack of the door, which at present showed black as +a pocket. + +The soft voices continued--men's voices, too, and one with the changing +inflections of the foreigner. + +"Blinkin' German!" thought Dollops excitedly. "Or a Chink! Don't know +the difference between their parley-vous meself, but it's orl alike wiv +_foreigners_. But the other 'un--'e's English orl right. Never 'eard +'is voice before, that's certain! Gawd! they're comin' out now, an' I +prays 'eaven they ain't a jossin' ter fetch nuffin' from this 'ere +cupboard, or little Dollops's number'll be up with a vengeance! I don't +fancy bein' done in by a blinkin' pigtail, neither! Nah!--then! Keep +still, Dollops, me boy, and stop yer tremblin'. You'll 'ave the 'ouse +a-shakin' in a minit, an' they'll fink it's a earfquake instead of a +boy-quake--strite they will!" + +Having wrestled himself into some sort of quiet of heart and brain, +Dollops continued to lie in wait until the strangers had come out +through the grilled door, and stood a moment with the candle between +them, talking in low tones, and glancing occasionally up the flight of +stairs by which he had only just descended. One of them had his back to +him, but the other's face was in full view. It was a dark, +swarthy-skinned face, with black eyes and crisp black moustache curling +upon the upper lip, the slim nose and aquiline features revealing to the +watching lad the very evident fact that here was a genuine Italian. + +And the other? He'd seen that tweed coat before, surely--but where? +Where? He racked his brains to think. Somewhere that tweed coat had +crossed his vision once before during that day, and in some +unaccountable manner it was associated in his mind with Sir Ross Duggan +himself.... + +The men moved quietly, blew out the candle, and then opened the door +opposite and began to climb up the stone stairway into the fresh air, +creeping about like mice. + +Meanwhile Dollops, afraid no longer, and all his being afire to get to +his master with news of this new development--and so make up for his +slowness this afternoon, when the lady had so successfully given him the +slip right here within his reach--stood stock-still, raking every corner +of that fertile young brain of his for the clue which eluded him. + +And then--quite suddenly--he _knew_. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"PINS AND NEEDLES" + + +Twenty minutes later he presented himself once more at the back door, +and asked in scathing accents for Mr. Jarvis, dangling the keys of the +wine-cellar in one careless hand. + +That gentleman appeared to him, changed for his evening duties in the +dining-room, and with one eye upon the clock, clapped him upon the +shoulder and guffawed into his face. + +"Blinkin' idiot!" thought Dollops, as he grinned back. "Might er +frightened me into foamin' at the mouth like a bloomin' 'oss, he might." +Then, aloud: "Nice practical joke ter play upon a feller, eh, Mr. +Jarvis? Nah! if I'd been sufferin' wiv me nerves and 'avin' calisthenics +wot's so fashionable just at presint, you could of sent me to my +coffin--strite." + +"But you're alive an' kickin' now, me 'earty!" returned Jarvis, with +another guffaw, "an' lookin' in the pink, I must s'y. What about them +bottles of port?--or didn't yer stop ter look into the wine-cellar? +Didn't bring 'em up, I notice." + +"No." Dollops's smile was catching. "But I nearly brought up sumthink +else, I kin tell yer--an' that's me 'eart, for it were a-sittin' in me +mouf like as though it would choke me! I've 'arf a mind ter cut you out +of me will, Mr. Jarvis. But, seriously speakin', where's my gentleman? +I've a note fer 'im if 'e's engaged, and if not, I'd like ter see 'im. +Say it's important." + +"News from the Front, eh? Fahnd out 'oo committed that there crime last +night, I don't think," said Jarvis, with his heavy humour. "Well, I'll +send along Minnie after him. Dinner's bein' prepared, and no doubt your +boss'll be dressin'. If 'e ain't nosin' round after clues, with that +there fat Superintendent. Wot's 'e, anyway?--your Mr. Deland? Amachoor +detective?" + +Dollops nodded. + +"That's the line. Tell 'im I've got summink ter say about his blue +trousers wot I've been a-pressing at the Three Fishers. An' it's most +important." + +"Oh!--very. Blue trousers is an important matter when a man's been +murdered in 'is own 'ome, I take it. Orl right, orl right; don't lose +yer temper, sporty. I'll see to it at once. Like ter go up to 'is room, +would yer?" + +"No. Rather wait 'ere for 'is message." + +"Very well. Sit down and make yerself comfortable, and no doubt there'll +be a bite er dinner fer yer, if you're patient. Won't say 'no' to a +nibble er chicken, I lay, follered with a dash er Peach Melba?... I +thought not." + +So saying, the garrulous Jarvis proceeded kitchenward to summon Minnie +and entrust her with the message for Mr. Deland, and then returned to +the servants' hall and passed the rest of the time with Dollops, talking +of London--a subject which appeared to be dear to both their hearts, and +which certainly gave them something in common with each other. + +Minnie returned in ten minutes bearing a little note upon her silver +salver, which she presented to the smiling Dollops with a mock bow and a +courtesy. She was a pert little country thing, with a trick of the eye +that took a man's heart. + +"'Ere's a note fer yer lordship," she said smartly. "Your gentleman says +'e's sorry 'e can't get down, and it don't matter about the blue +trousies a particle. And 'e don't need you this evenin', so that you kin +explore the countryside if yer want to. Wot say to a little walk, Mr. +Ginger-'Air? It's my evenin' out, and I don't mind if I do." + +Dollops winked and nudged her with his elbow. + +"You're a pretty piece, _you_ are, and if we was in Lunnon I'd be takin' +you to the pickshurs," he returned with a grin. "But I've an appointment +rahnd about ten o'clock up in the village. I'm yer man till then, +Saucer-Eyes. No, Mr. Jarvis, a bit of dinner, as you s'y, wouldn't go +quite amiss. I'm that 'ungry me insides rattle." + +And while Jarvis was carving the chicken for the servants' hall, and +giving him a generous portion, and Minnie was off to her room to prink +up and change for the evening, Dollops opened his master's letter and +scanned the few lines written upon it. + +"Be under the big gate by twelve o'clock to-night," it said. "Hear all +news then. Burn this." + +So when Jarvis returned Dollops was lighting a cigarette from a twist of +note-paper, which, upon sight of the big plate of steaming-hot chicken +that awaited him, he promptly threw into the fire, watching +absent-mindedly until it had become a charred fragment, and then set to +upon the feast with a vengeance. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile Cleek, dinner at last over--a meal passed in sober silence, +with the shadow of that dead Thing still hanging over the diners and +wiping the joy of life from their faces--went with Mr. Narkom out upon +the terrace, cigars alight, and discussed with him the probabilities and +possibilities of the whole affair, comparing notes with the +Superintendent and jotting down in his business-like way any ideas that +occurred to him as they talked together, until his cuff was covered over +with pencil scrawls and the furrow between his eyes had deepened +considerably. + +Slowly the evening wore itself away, the presence of the silent-watching +constabulary in the house making all friendliness between hosts and +unwanted guests a matter of impossibility. Women and men drew together +in little knots, discussing the affair in low-pitched voices, and even +Maud Duggan's eyes held something of accusation now when they dwelt upon +Cleek's face, so that at length he took Mr. Narkom by the arm and drew +him toward the door. + +"Come, old friend," he said quietly. "We are intruders here, you and I. +These other poor folk cannot be at rest in our presence. Come along to +the library once more, and have a look about it. The place draws me, I +must say. For I still believe that the secret of the whole terrible +thing lies there. To-morrow afternoon is to be Coroner's Inquest--a +hateful proceeding, to say the least of it--and I've given myself just +that time to solve the mystery." + +"Cinnamon! And you don't imagine you're going to, do you, Cleek?" +returned Mr. Narkom excitedly, as they passed down the passage together +and entered the room. "That's rather a tall order, I must say. Seems as +if we'd scoured this room from end to end." + +"And yet, from what I heard from Master Cyril a short while ago, that is +exactly what we have _not_ done," rejoined Cleek, dropping to his knees +and examining the wall plug which had interested him before. Meanwhile, +Mr. Narkom strolled to the other side of the room, leaned against the +spinning wheel in an attitude of ease, and then ... as Cleek's fingers +began to trace an invisible path along the edge of the carpet, the +Superintendent gave out a sudden little cry and jumped as though he had +been shot. + +"Eh?--what's the matter, old friend?" Cleek was on his feet in an +instant, for the Superintendent had gone a little pale, and was running +his hands up and down his back in a curious fashion. + +"Pins and needles! Funniest sensation I've ever come across. Brrh! Just +like a slight electric shock." + +Electric shock! Cleek was beside him in an instant, his face suddenly +alight, and his hands searching over the instrument, here, there, and +everywhere. Electric shock, eh? That was peculiar, to say the least of +it. + +Then he stopped suddenly and sucked in his breath, and, whipping round +upon his heel, clapped the Superintendent upon the shoulder. + +"And it takes _you_, after all, to lead us to the actual secret!" he +said affectionately, smiling into Mr. Narkom's astonished face. "For +here's the thing in a nutshell. What a blind fool I've been all the +time, old friend. Here's the murderer, the perpetrator of last night's +crime--the mechanical means of doing away with human life in such a +perplexing manner. Here--right here. See?" + +"What the--what are you driving at, my dear chap?" ejaculated the +Superintendent excitedly, stooping at the pressure of Cleek's arm upon +his shoulder. "This--spinning-wheel thing? You don't mean to tell me +that _It_ murdered Sir Andrew, do you? Because I'm not fool enough to +believe _that_ story--and not dunderhead enough to be taken in by a +practical joke. What _do_ you mean, old chap? I'm on pins and needles to +know." + +"And it's just those particular pins and needles of yours which have +found the thing out," returned Cleek in the sharp staccato of +excitement. "Look here! It's as easy as A B C--once you've got the hang +of it. And that sensation of yours _was_ an electric shock all right. +And it was just this spinning wheel which gave it to you. The thing's +wired--see? Devilishly well done, too, and disguised very successfully. +But here it is. Under the wheel. And see that funny box-like thing +attached, which looks as though it belonged to a part of the +machinery?--and doesn't. That's a battery, by all that's good! Now, what +the dickens does that battery do, I'd like to know?... 'A whirring +sound'--'hum-hum-hum!' That's how they described it to me this morning, +do you remember? Gad! And this is the thing that produced that +supernatural sound, then! Just a touch of a switch somewhere, and the +thing sets in motion. Now let's follow this wiring along to its +destination, and that will tell us a good deal." + +He traced the line of palish flexible wire--so nearly the colour of the +old wood as to be hardly discernible unless one really knew of its +presence, round the wheel, and down on to the floor--the thing stood a +mere matter of inches from the window-sill--and then disappeared up +through a narrow piece of oak-coloured woodwork which was entirely +unnoticed from the panelling it covered, until it reached the +window-ledge and ended at the extreme right-hand corner of the middle +window, and vanished in a cluster of ivy which clung about the outside +of it, sending its tendrils right up to the edge of the sill itself. + +Mr. Narkom followed the thing with fascination, poking a finger here and +there to help discern its threadlike and imperceptible progress, and was +almost as quick as Cleek in leaping out through the low sill to the +flower-bed below upon which those tell-tale footprints had made such a +strong impression. Then, of a sudden, they both stopped and stared +blankly at each other. For the end of the thing lay beneath the ivy +covering, in a little home-made switch which, touched by the finger, +obviously set the whole contraption in motion. + +Cleek hopped back into the room to see that no one was about, but the +constable in charge stood outside the door, not in it, and they had +closed that door carefully behind them upon entrance. Then he leaned out +over the top of the window-sill and spoke softly to Mr. Narkom. + +"Put your finger upon the switch when I say 'Go,'" he said in a tense +whisper, "and I'll stay inside here and watch how the thing works. Now +then.... _Go!_" + +Mr. Narkom applied his finger forthwith, while to Cleek within came a +soft whirring, drumming sound, and then--an almost imperceptible "click" +and--the most amazing of all these amazing matters came instantly to +pass! For as he leapt out of the path of it, led by some mysterious, +intuitive impulse, a bullet sped rapidly past his ear, and lodged itself +in the woodwork, just a fraction of an inch below the spot where that +other bullet had lodged, and--the secret was out at last! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"A LUNNON GENTLEMAN" + + +"By all that's good!" he ejaculated, as Mr. Narkom jumped into the room +somewhat heavily at sound of his hastily spoken ejaculation. "See that +mark there in the woodwork, above the spot where we dug the bullet out +this morning? Nearly shot me through the head, old friend, and made an +end of your troublesome ally at last! Gad! the ingenuity of it! The +devilish ingenuity! So _that's_ how it was done, eh? We'll look into the +thing a bit closer, but from what I have already seen I'd say there was +a pistol hidden inside that wheel, but the thing's so perfectly done +that it must have taken a master-hand to have done it. And where's the +master-hand here? Ross Duggan?--with his hobby for electricity? He's not +got the face of a man who could contrive a thing like that, and carry it +out to such a pitch of perfection. And yet--it's a soundless pistol, all +right, that did the deed. But the patience of the manipulator! the +straightness of vision, to be certain of the moment to operate it! That +man would be a useful adjunct to Scotland Yard's force, Mr. Narkom, with +knowledge such as that. It's the most diabolically clever thing I've +ever encountered!" + +"It is--by James! it is!" returned the Superintendent, mopping his +forehead in his excitement and going very red in the face. "Sure it +isn't a woman, old chap? Women are pretty tricky people in affairs of +this kind. And the contrivance of it, too!... So _that's_ how it is +done, is it?" as Cleek's agile fingers slid over the wheel and stopped +upon a faint line which showed how the thing had been cut out and then +stuck in again after the pistol had been lodged in its hiding-place. +"Here; use my knife and dig it out, won't you?" + +"Never! The time for doing that will be after I have given a +demonstration of its prowess before the assembled company. I'm no master +at intricate woodwork and mechanism such as that, Mr. Narkom, and I want +to keep it in perfect working order for the crucial moment. If I +extracted it now, ten chances to one I'd never get it back again. The +thing to be discovered is to find out the man in this establishment +whose fingers give him away as a delicate worker. And there's just one +I've noticed that----" + +And it was just as the name formed itself upon his lips that Cyril +Duggan burst hurriedly into the room, despite the detaining hands of the +constable on duty outside the door, and beckoned hastily to Cleek. + +"Your man wants you, Mr. Deland," he said breathlessly. "Says it's +awfully important and must see you at once. He wouldn't come in, but +asked me to tell you, would you come round to the servants' quarters as +soon as you could? He's waiting in the outer courtyard. Ginger-headed +chap by the name of Dollops. I'd only just gone out for a breath of +fresh air before Mother packed me off to bed--ten o'clock is the latest +hour I'm permitted to sit up to. But he seemed so anxious to see you +that I promised to come along at once. It's gone ten now, I think, and +Mother will be after me if I'm not off--she's frightfully particular on +little matters. But the policeman here said you and Mr. Narkom were busy +and were not to be disturbed.... I say! What's the matter with the old +spinning wheel, eh? You seem to be frightfully interested in it!" + +"I am--as you say--frightfully," returned Cleek with a smile. "But +nothing of any more consequence than an outsider's interest in something +he knows nothing about. Ever looked at the thing, my boy?" + +"Yes--heaps of times. And experimented upon it, too! Tried all sorts of +ways to make it go, until Mother put a stop to my touching it, and said +I should probably hurt myself with the spindle and break the thing." + +"Oh, she did, did she? Well, perhaps you might. It's more harmful than +people give it credit for. All right, Cyril; many thanks for telling +me. I'll be along in a moment or two. You'd better get off to bed now, +or Lady Paula will be on your track, I'll swear. Good-night." + +"Good-night, Mr. Deland; good-night, Mr. Narkom." + +He was off again like a shot, and Cleek could hear his light steps +running down the hallway and up the stairs, like the big child he was. + +"Funny thing," he said to Mr. Narkom as the two left the room together +and walked down the corridor toward the servants' quarters, "but that +young gentleman always seems to turn up in the most unforeseen moments. +Notice _his_ fingers, did you, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, they are as +delicate as a woman's and as strong as a man's. Curiously strong for a +fifteen-year-old, I must say. Now, if I didn't know better, I'd lay a +ducat to a dollar that that lad is a good sight cleverer than either you +or I give him credit for, and with his mother's blood in him and a +portion of his rascally grandfather's, too, there's no telling just +exactly where he will end up.... Hello! is that you, Jarvis? I'm told my +man wants to see me very particularly. Know where he is by any chance? +It's probably about that blue suit of mine. He worries more over my +clothes than any woman. In the courtyard? Thanks, very much. You coming +along, too, Mr. Narkom?" + +"Don't mind if I do," returned the Superintendent off-handedly, "seeing +that there is nothing more to be discovered to-night. My man's in +charge, so we might go over to the Three Fishers and have a quiet smoke +in your rooms. That is, if you'd care about it?" + +"Love to, my dear chap, love to. Through this door, eh, Jarvis? Nice +snug place you've got here, I must say. Family do you well, I suppose?" + +"Yessir," Jarvis's voice bordered upon the confidential. "Tight-fisted +where the money is, sir, but--that's Scotch, you know." + +"And you're London, eh?--and naturally generous! I understand. Well, +here's something to buy yourself a drink with." And Cleek dropped +half-a-crown into the butler's hands. + +As the two men disappeared through the kitchen door and out into the +courtyard, the highly elated Jarvis turned to his fellow servants with a +genuine sigh of admiration. + +"Amachoor detective or not," he apostrophized the absent gentleman, "an' +queer in the top story though 'e may be, that's what I calls a +right-down Lunnon gentleman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DAMNING EVIDENCE + + +They found Dollops waiting in the little squared-in courtyard which led +down to the dungeons, and in a state bordering upon hysteria from the +excitement of all those exciting things which had just come to pass. + +He blurted out his story of Jarvis's practical joke and its ultimate +consequences in a helter-skelter fashion, anxious to get on to this new +development, and except for a "By James!" from Mr. Narkom and a nod of +the head from Cleek, pursued his course without interruption. + +"And when we'd walked a mile or so over them 'ills and dahn inter the +dales, Minnie ups and says ter me, 'Come an' 'ave a drink, Ginger-snap!' +And er course I was nuffin' loaf, as they s'y (though what bread 'as to +do with it I niver could tell). So we comes upon a pub in a little bit +of a shanty built of timber dahn in the nest of the 'ills, and she tykes +me by the arm and pulls me inter it." + +"And what did you find there, Dollops?" put in Cleek, with a smile for +the lad's poetical expression. + +"A bit of a bar full of Scotties wot looked as though they'd come 'ome +from a funeril, from the h'expression of their fyces," he returned +emphatically. "Them Scotties do take their pleasure sadly, not 'arf! Not +a blinkin' one of 'em got a bit er jollyin' left in 'em. ''Ello, +Minnie-gairl,' they s'ys to 'er wen we come in, 'who's the noo mon ye +ken?'--talkin' in their silly langwidge wot an Englishman can't +unnerstand. 'Pal o' mine,' s'ys Minnie, pert-like, 'come ter visit fer a +little time. Gen'leman's st'yin' at the Castle.' + +"'Where that there wee beetie o' crrime has taken place?' puts in a +sandy-'eaded feller wiv beetling brows an' a complexion like a bit er +red granite. 'Yes,' says Minnie. 'Then better give 'im a wee drappier +ter warrm 'is freetened hearrt!'" + +Dollops paused a moment, and Cleek threw back his head and gave vent to +a smothered laugh. + +"You'll be the death of me yet, lad," he remarked merrily, "with your +Cockney and 'Scotch' rolled into one. But let's hear the end of the +story. What happened then?" + +"They giv me a drink, Guv'nor, of very strong whisky it were, an' when I +asked 'em where it come from an 'oo made it, thinkin' I'd lay in a +bottle or two fer when we gets back ter Clarges Street, a feller wot +just come in (an' a bit tight 'e were, too) slaps me on the back and +says, 'Hoo noo, laddie? It's frae the valley, under the little brookies +and amangst th' gravel.'" + +"And what did you say, Dollops?" + +"I told him in good old English ter go tell that ter the marines and +stow the gaff, and he ups and larfs at me, and he says, says 'e, 'I'll +show ye if I speak the truith or no.' And then a lot o' 'em says, +'Hoots' and 'toots' and 'nah,' as though they was monkeys in the zoo, +and set up such a gabbling as you never 'eared of, and the end of it was +that ole Barmy tykes me by the arm and pushes me through the door. 'Come +from Lunnon, does yer?' he says ter me. 'Well, then, never any tellin' +but ye can gie us a han' wi' disposin' of our wares.' And with that he +ups and pulls Minnie along with him, in spite of them uvvers, and off we +goes dahn th' 'ill inter a deep sort of gravel-pit, and there--the +blinkin' thing was, sir, as large as life and twice as nateril!" + +"My dear chap!--what the dickens does he mean, Cleek?" threw in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture. + +"Simply what he says. And it was there, was it, Dollops?" + +"It were, sir"; Dollops's tone was portentous with mystery; "and what's +more, there was that black-eyed Dago feller wiv the chase-me look and +the hearf-brush moustache, talkin' fifteen ter the dozen in sevin +different langwidges, and makin' more noise than all the rest of 'em put +together." + +"Gad! you've surely found out something, Dollops, and done a good day's +work, bless your heart," said Cleek admiringly, slipping his arm +through the boy's on one side and through Mr. Narkom's on the other. +"Well, it's to the gravel-pit with the lot of us this evening--at least +for you and me, Dollops. You had better remain here at the Castle, Mr. +Narkom, while we're gone. And meet me at midnight under the big gate. +But let's not be seen, Dollops, else the fat will be in the fire with a +vengeance. Anything else?" + +Dollops bent nearer to the man he loved best in all the world, and put +his mouth close up against Cleek's ear. + +"One uvver fing, sir--an' wot I calls the piece of resisters," he said +in a low voice. "As I comes aw'y, 'oo should I see a-runnin' dahn the +'ill, side by side with Dicky-Dago, but that there young feller as they +calls Cyril (sickenin' sissy sort er nyme ter give a chap, too!), an' I +jumps back inter the bushes wiv Minnie clinging ter me arm, an' waits +till they've gorn parst. An' I 'ears the youngster s'y you nyme--'Mr. +Deland,' he says, an' 'clever'--and then summink else, wot I didn't +'ear, but wot made Dicky-Dago give out a sort er garsp and gurgle in 'is +froat, an' says something which sounded like a Russian patent medicine, +an'--that's all." + +"And a very good 'all', too, Dollops," ejaculated Cleek, giving the +boy's arm a squeeze. "You have surely done your share of unravelling in +this case, at all events. What do you say about it, Mr. Narkom?... +There'll be a nice five-pound note to add to that growing account of +yours for this night's job, I promise you.... And so Cyril is mixed up +in it, too-- _Cyril!_ That boy! Gad! what does it mean, eh? And in +league with those scoundrels.... 'Ten o'clock for bedtime,' says he, so +frankly. Ten o'clock! And the young underhanded rascal roaming the +countryside just before that in company with an Italian of questionable +character! Looks bad, every way you look at it. And with Lady Paula's +actions and secret meetings taken into account as well, puts a pretty +black face upon _their_ little share in last night's tragedy. Now, I +wonder if this Dago, as Dollops calls him, is a lover of the lady's or +what?... Gad! Mr. Narkom, what's your opinion?" + +The Superintendent waited a moment, and cleared his throat, and when he +spoke his voice was emphatic and a trifle bored. + +"No two questions about it, to my way of thinking," said he quietly, as +they traversed the darkness together. "That Captain Macdonald did the +thing--because of those footprints of his outside the window--and as he +couldn't or wouldn't give the reason of why he was in the grounds here +last night at that identical time. And the person he was shielding was +obviously Lady Paula. She, too, has been involved in this, though +whether in the actual murder or not, I'm not prepared to say. And Ross +Duggan, too. I imagine the whole thing is a put-up job; don't you, +Cleek?" + +"I can't rightly say," returned Cleek in an uncertain tone. "Sometimes +it points one way and sometimes another. And I'm inclined to agree with +you where Lady Paula is concerned. She knows a good deal more than she +says, and is wily--deuced wily, as all drug-takers are. And the motive +would be there all right, judging from what Maud Duggan told me was the +share which Sir Andrew had apportioned out for his widow and her boy. +She'll double that easily enough. But to _kill_ for such a thing seems +incredible--though I've known of worse crimes for less reason than that. +But Ross Duggan's is the greatest motive of all, taking into +consideration just when the thing happened--_before_ his name was +erased, you must remember, Mr. Narkom, and as he's a dabster at +electricity and the only person with an air-pistol in the house ... +well, circumstantial evidence looks pretty black against him, doesn't +it?" + +"It certainly does." Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle apologetic. "Well, +I hardly know what to think, Cleek. And you're such a beggar for +stringing evidence together, and never forgetting it! And there's such a +dickens of a lot of evidence in this case that a chap gets horribly +involved, and his memory is likely to play him tricks. And then that +Italian chap whom Dollops has seen such a lot of to-day--where does he +come in?" + +"Right into the midst of the whole caboosh," returned Cleek +enigmatically, "and don't you make any mistake about that, my friend. +Dicky-Dago, to use Dollops's name, is one of the prime movers in this +little inheritance game, and in another one also. A dollar to a ducat he +knows the whole thing, and Tweed Coat's with him." + +"Who the dickens is Tweed Coat?" + +"The gentleman whom Dollops so aptly described a few moments ago," +returned Cleek quietly. "Perhaps you didn't notice Ross Duggan's coat +this morning, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, it was made of a very sweetly +smelling cloth called Harris tweed; and when Dollops described the one +he saw to me this evening, I recognized it at once." + +"Then Tweed Coat is Ross Duggan, Cleek?" + +Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle shrill. Cleek's eyes met his squarely, +and his eyebrows went up. + +"Who else?" he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A STARTLING DÉNOUEMENT + + +And so it came about that Dollops and Cleek, both wearing dark suits +(procured in Cleek's case at the Three Fishers, and from his own +dressing-bag), and with caps pulled down over their faces and false +moustaches decorating their upper lips as a protection against +unforeseen discovery, made their way out in the clear moonlight toward +that "gravel pit" of which Dollops had spoken, and padded soft-footedly +down the hill toward the little "shanty" to which Dollops guided them, +and after a quick glance at it, pushed on into the darkness of the +night; down, down, down into the valley--to the thing that lay there +revealed in the moon's rays, and which in the face of the to-morrow's +sun would have vanished like the picture upon an exposed camera film. + +But to-night--to-night they could see the whole panorama of it, lying +close to the earth, concealed behind a huge furze-bush upon the +hillside, stomachs flat against the face of it, eyes sharpened upon that +identical spot which told so much to them of what they sought. Perhaps a +dozen men worked there--perhaps more--coats off, shirt-sleeves rolled +up--big, bonny men of brawn and muscle, come of a stock as tough as the +granite of the hillside itself and hardened by the keen winds and the +keener air of the Highlands that had given them birth. + +"Giants!" whispered Dollops awe-inspiringly, his lips close against +Cleek's ear. + +"_Thieves!_" responded Cleek, with a quick intake of the breath. "Gad! +they're a lot, Dollops! And if they caught us up here, hidden away, our +chances would be exactly nil. Where's your friend Balmy, eh?" + +"Dahn there--under that big flare, sir--'im wiv the blue shirt and the +red neck-cloth. Likely lookin' blighter, ain't 'e?" + +"H'm. Not very. Not a sound, boy! There's a couple of 'em coming this +way. Got it in barrels, have they? Gad! I'd like to have a look at one +of those homely articles. I'll swear there's a false bottom to it, if I +know anything of this kind of trickery.... Hello!--there's Tweed Coat!" + +"Tweed Coat," thus named, passed a stone's throw in front of them, his +arm linked with another man's, his head downbent. But Cleek had seen the +moonlight upon his face, and knew his man at last. Ross Duggan had worn +that coat this morning, or one so like it that even he, hawk-eyed +detective that he was, could have told no difference between them. The +moonlight struck upon the white bosom of his evening-dress shirt, +making it shine like a strip of ivory, and at something which his +companion said to him, he caught it close together, and turned the +collar of the jacket up about his throat. + +First the handkerchief so plainly marked "R. D." and now this! But that +such a man should be mixed up in a thing of this sort, an illicit thing +which was against all laws and regulations of the land that had borne +him, made Cleek's mouth go grim. The handkerchief, the coat; and +now--the man. That little chain was completed, and every link welded +together. At least some part of the mystery was clear at last. + +The pair passed close against them where they lay in the darkness, so +close that Cleek's fingers might have reached out and caught at the +other's trouser-leg and tripped him. But the time was not yet ripe for +arrests. Better let the thing go unsuspected until to-morrow afternoon, +and then, when the Coroner's Inquest was at hand, rally them all +together in the library once more, and make the final settlement. + +Here was only a part of the thing, not the whole thing itself, and if he +knew one of his men, he did not yet feel certain of the other. The night +should bring that uncertainty into clarity if possible. + +The darkness hid the couple from view at length, and when their +footsteps had died away into silence, Cleek touched Dollops upon the +shoulder and commenced wriggling upon his stomach down toward the next +furze-bush, and out into the open, lying flat as Indians do, until they +had slid the distance between the two clumps of shrubs, and lay +concealed, some twelve feet nearer to the scene of operations. + +"See anything of your Dago friend?" whispered Cleek, after they had +watched for a while in silence at this hive of living industry which, +when the dawn had penetrated through the veil of night, would have +passed out of sight and vision as though it were a mirage of their own +imagining. + +Dollops's voice was barely above a breath. + +"Yessir. Just dahn there ter the right. Feller wiv the big black +moustache. Slim-'ipped Johnny in the dark suit. Got blinkers on 'im like +black velvet from wot I sees. Proper furriner--the dirty dog! Find 'im, +sir?" + +"Not yet. Oh! yes, I see! H'm. An _Italian_ all right. But what the +dickens is an Italian doing in these outlandish parts? And what +attraction can this perishing climate have for people of their ilk? +First the Lady of the Castle--and now this one. Unless.... Gad! there +might be some connection between 'em. Did you find any trace of Captain +Macdonald's handwriting, Dollops, to show me?" + +"Yessir. Got a letter from 'is groom. Pinched it while we was a-talkin'. +'E showed it ter me, an' it's in me pocket. Summink wrong _there_, +Gov'nor?" + +"So wrong that it will take more than a little explaining upon the +gentleman's part to put it right, my lad," responded Cleek in a whisper. +"I want to see that letter--badly. But it will have to wait until we are +back again at the house. And we'll be back in a jiffy. I'm satisfied +with the result of this night's work, in this direction, at any rate, +Dollops. You've done well--better than I could have done in similar +circumstances, and I'm downright pleased with you!" + +"Lor', sir!" Dollops's voice was choking with joyful emotion. "If yer +goes and frows any more buckets at me, me chest will expand that big wiv +pride as they'll be spottin' us in a trick--strite they will! But I'm +glad I've made up for that footlin' mistyke over the lydy.... Gawd! +Look, Guv'nor--look! 'Oo's this a-comin' now? A woman--strike me pink, +if it ain't! And a lydy, too, from the cut of 'er. Now, 'oo in 'eavin's +nyme is _she_?" + +His pointing finger brought Cleek's eyes instantly into the line of it, +and Cleek's face in the moonlight went suddenly pale. Dollops's eyes +rested on the grim mask of his face, palely visible from the moon's +rays. Then, at a sign from Cleek, he ducked his own head into the grass +and lay motionless, as his master had already done. + +And by the sound of the soft footsteps, coming from somewhere behind +them, Cleek and his companion knew that the woman had reached the spot +where they were lying hidden under the great clump of gorse. Then a hand +reached down and touched Cleek softly upon the shoulder, and a woman's +voice spoke into the darkness with a tender inflection; and at sound of +it every nerve in his body tightened like wire for the tensity of the +situation. + +"Ross," said the woman's voice tenderly, "Ross dear, get up--get up! I +followed you here to-night, because I--I wanted to talk with you-- I +_had_ to talk with you, to tell you something! I simply had to. But I've +been a fool to break parole, as you have done, with that man with the +hawk eyes in the Castle even at this minute. But so much hangs upon +it--Ross, so much! Look up and speak to me, and, whoever your companion +is, tell him to go away until we have had a word together. Look up, look +up--_do_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HARE AND HOUNDS + + +To say that Cleek was startled was to underestimate the matter +altogether. Here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed! It took exactly +three seconds for him to act, and to act in such an extraordinary +fashion as to call forth a gasp from Dollops, whose head was still half +ducked, with one arm upthrown to hide it from the woman's eyes, and to +register in his loyal heart the fact that this master whom he served was +a miracle-worker indeed. + +For Cleek's hand had flashed up in the darkness and taken the moustache +from his lip, and as the woman still continued to plead with him in her +soft voice Dollops, peering through the upthrown arm, saw the features +of the man he loved writhe suddenly as though they had been made of +rubber, saw him twitch up his hand and muffle his coat-collar about his +neck, and then realized with a gasp that here at his side lay such a +fair representative of Ross Duggan as might even be mistaken for that +gentleman in this dark hour of the night. + +And from the lips of this astonishing person proceeded Ross Duggan's +voice, with its curious clipped Scotch inflection and the little habit +of clearing the throat which was so indicative of the man, and which +Dollops--trained as he was by Cleek's quick observation--had already +noticed for himself in the couple of times he had seen and listened +unseen to the gentleman. + +He saw Cleek get to his feet, and twitch his shoulders up and his cap +down, as he faced the lady in her thin dark wrap through which the +glimmer of some light satiny material showed like a line of fire. + +"My dear girl," said Ross Duggan's voice a trifle testily, "what a fool +you are to come out here at this time--if you'll excuse my saying so! +Sit down, for heaven's sake, if you must be here, and don't let those +men down there see you. I'm--I'm making some observations on my own, but +at any minute someone may come up here--and I wouldn't answer for the +consequences. You've fallen into a hornet's nest, Catherine, and only a +woman with some desperate plan of action would do that. Don't you know +what's being carried on down there?" + +She shook her dark head, and dropped instantly into a little heap of +satin and dark-coloured velvet beside him in the darkness. + +"No," she whispered softly. "I wondered what you were doing, and who +your companion might be. Send him away, Ross. I _must_ speak with you +alone!" + +"All right." The inflection of voice was so identical with that of the +new lord of the manor as to make Dollops fairly jump at sound of it. He +would hardly have been able to believe the evidence of his own ears if +he had not seen this thing done before in those old Apache days, in the +Inn of The Twisted Arm, when the notorious Margot and her crew had run +them to earth and this was the only way out: "Get along there, Parsons. +There's nothing more to be seen now. You can meet me some time next +week--if things go all right with me and I'm not already swinging at the +end of a long rope! And we'll have another confab together. But you'd +better make yourself scarce now. There'll be a dickens of a kybosh if +they find we've broken parole, and I don't want you hauled into the +beastly thing. So long. And _listen--listen_: be careful--do!" + +Dollops nodded his head forthwith, and by dint of wriggling and +scrambling made his exit from this astonishing pair, and, free of the +bare moorside at last, broke cover and started off at a good run, +wondering what the dickens they had stumbled into _now_. + +Meanwhile the erstwhile Ross and his lady friend sat on behind the +furze-bush in their somewhat ridiculous predicament, and talked in +whispers. + +"What is it you want to say to me?" said "Ross," a hint of sharpness in +his low-pitched voice. "That you should run this risk--it is madness, +Catherine--madness!" + +"Nothing is madness that I could do for _your_ sake," she responded +passionately, putting a hand over his as it rested upon the brown earth, +and bending toward him. "Don't you know, Ross, haven't you guessed my +secret yet? Surely you must have seen it? I have tried to tell you with +my eyes, time and time again, and when I have caught that odd look in +yours when you looked at Cynthia. I felt my heart bound with gladness +that you did not care for her. And that has made me brave. Oh, my +dear--my dear! Listen to me, and do what I ask of you. If you _did_ kill +your father, Ross, that man down there at the Castle will make you swing +for it. I know it--I feel it here--here! Those penetrating eyes of his +can see beyond the veil of deception right down into your heart. If you +have done this dreadful thing, tell me, and I have made all arrangements +that you can escape at once. I've a car waiting in the lane. I 'phoned +for it at the garage by the station only a bare two hours ago--and I had +a difficulty, too, as you can imagine, with the whole house full of +policemen and our every action watched. But I was desperate--desperate! +I couldn't see you arrested for _that_! And so, while there is yet +time.... Oh, don't you see? It's your liberty I'm offering you! And we +could start away together and make our lives afresh in a new country. +Ross, Ross, don't you hear, don't you _see_? Every minute is precious +while that man is in command at the Castle. He looks a fool--but he is a +clever fool at that. I don't trust him. I'm not a weak woman, Ross, to +be afraid of a murderer--pshaw! what is that? If a man has need to do +it, and the courage, I can even _admire_! And I love you! Don't speak +now, Ross--just come, and let us slip away together. In this wild +country we can soon be lost--slip down the coast and get away on the +first steamer to--anywhere! I've money on me--see here. Plenty of it! I +sent Hilda down to draw it all out of the bank this morning. (Thank God +for the comfort of your telephone!) She'd do anything for me--that +girl--since I caught her stealing Cynthia's pearl necklace, and +threatened her if she didn't return it to tell the whole sordid story to +the family. And she swore to help me any time I needed her. So come, +Ross--come now--come quickly! but come--come!" + +Her whispered words trailed off into silence at last, and Cleek, +catching his breath for a moment at the whole audacious plot which she +had laid so successfully, could not help but admire, even as he felt the +rush of contempt that a man must feel for every woman who can cheapen +herself thus in his eyes. But here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed! +What to say to her? what to do? It took time to think, so he merely +caught her hand and squeezed it, and felt all sorts of a beast for +making such use of her confession as to lead her on to even deeper +things. + +She reached a hand out at the pressure of his fingers, and wound it +about his neck. + +"You'll come?" she whispered close against his ear. + +He shrugged his shoulders. The issue must be faced, and faced now. + +"Let's get out of this danger-zone, where we can talk in a little more +comfort and less fear of our lives," he responded quickly, casting his +eyes about him to see if the coast was clear. "Quick! draw your dark +wrap over your head and make for cover. That furze-bush over there! Get +behind it, and drop down, and I'll follow. From there, there is a chain +of bushes behind which we can make for the high-road at last. Quick! the +men are coming this way, some of them. And if we're caught...!" + +Her face was fearless. She acted instantly upon his suggestion, +gathering her dark velvet cloak about her and pulling it up over her +face and head, and then sped out suddenly across the open space like a +fleet shadow, until a shaft of moonlight, penetrating through the +clouded sky, fell full upon her hurrying figure, etching it almost as +clearly as though it had been day. + +Cleek sucked in his breath and, half-crouching, half-running, sped after +her. God! what if the men had seen! He glanced back quickly over his +shoulder, and then redoubled his pace. For, of a sudden, with the speed +of a lightning-flash every flare in that valley had gone out--zip!--like +that. Every voice had dropped to stillness, and the night was a hideous +thing of running footsteps, pelting, he knew only too well, up the +hillside after them--those watchers who had seen the secret of the +night, and to-morrow might give it forth to an unsuspecting world. Their +lives wouldn't be worth much if _this_ crew caught them, that was +certain. + +Panting, he reached her side, caught hold of her elbow, and pinning it +close in his fingers hurried her forward, every faculty alert, every +nerve a-tremble. Her panting breath was like the breath of a spent +runner; she wouldn't last far in those high heels, he knew; the going +was too hard. It was only a matter of time now. The hurrying footsteps +seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. + +He bent his face down to hers. + +"The motor-car? Where?" he said in a quick, panting voice. + +She managed to stammer out a reply, stumbling feet falling over the +rough ground, tripping in clumps of heather, bruising themselves against +harsh stones. + +"In the lane--beyond--over there! I've been a fool--leave me and go +yourself!" she panted out in disjointed sentences that were ringing +with despair. + +"Never! We'll get there yet. Gather up your skirts.... Gad! you're +done!" It was his own voice that spoke to her, and for a sudden moment +he had forgotten the part he played in the exigencies of this +distressing situation. He heard her gasp suddenly, send startled eyes up +into his face, and then sway against him, and realized his folly--too +late. The shock of the thing had unnerved her. In the darkness she could +not see his face clearly but the voice had been--different. He'd brought +the whole structure about his ears by one foolish momentary mistake. +Then quite suddenly she fainted against him. + +"Fool!" he apostrophized himself. "Blind fool!" and, stopping instantly, +caught her up in his arms just as the lane hove in sight, and throwing +her across his shoulder, took the added burden in his best athletic +fashion, and ran. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE MAN IN THE BLACK MASK + + +They reached the motor only just in the nick of time, for already the +darkness behind them was rent with cries of "There they are! Head them +off!--there they are!" making the night hideous with the noise of them, +and the stampede of feet seemed to grow more dense with every minute. + +Cleek flung his unconscious burden in the car, leaped in after it, and +tapped the chauffeur upon the shoulder. + +"Extinguish your lamps and make for Aygon Castle--as quick as you can!" +he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. "And the quicker the +better! There's trouble here, and if those men catch up with us to-night +I'll not answer for the lady's safety." + +"Yessir." + +Then with a whizz and a whirr the car was off, rocketing down the lane +and taking the corners upon two wheels, so that Cleek had hardly a +breath left in his body, and the rush of air that swept them as they +sped away began to revive the unconscious form of Catherine Dowd who lay +upon the seat beside him. + +A drop of brandy, rather uncertainly administered because of the +darkness and the jolting of the car, revived her still more, and in +another moment she had opened her eyes and let them dwell upon his face. +In the darkness they glowed like two lamps. And her face was very +frightened. + +"My God! Not Ross!" she broke out uncertainly, shutting her hands +together across her breast in her agitation. "Then--who are you?" + +"Who knows?" he responded with a touch of gallantry. "It was your +mistake in the first place, remember, not mine. A friend in need, +perhaps, who has been able to save you from the consequences of a very +foolish action. You know what those men were doing?" + +She shook her head dumbly. + +"Then you will learn to-morrow from the lips of a man whom you have +learned to distrust, because he has proved more than a match for you +already. That is so, isn't it? Your Mr. Deland up at the Castle. From +what I heard, you have broken parole, and to do that----" + +"You won't tell?--oh, surely you won't tell!" she gave out in a low, +wrung voice. "How you could mimic Ross Duggan as you did is beyond me. +But you stole my confidence, and I demand its return: that you tell +nothing of to-night to a living soul. Will you promise me that?" + +He paused a moment and looked down at her with frowning brows. Then his +face cleared. + +"Very well, then. That is a bargain. But I don't think you realize just +how near to actual danger you ran to-night in your mad pursuit of Ross +Duggan. What made you think I was he?" + +"I don't know. Only I had followed him from the Castle down the lane, +and then lost sight of him at the edge of the little burn which skirts +that particular valley. And then I saw--you. And somehow, to my +untrained eyes in the darkness, you looked like him--perhaps I was so +anxious to find him that I willed myself unconsciously to think that you +were he--but be that as it may, I made the profound mistake, and--now +the mischief is done with a vengeance. What shall I do now? What _shall_ +I do?" + +"Return to Aygon Castle, my dear young lady, by the route by which you +left it, and leave things in Higher Hands than yours," Cleek returned +gravely, as they whizzed past in the darkness, the motor thrumming a +purring accompaniment to his low-pitched voice. "Never urge a criminal +to flee from justice, for as surely as he remains alive justice will +find him--and make him pay the penalty all the more severely for his +pains! Justice must be done in a civilized country, my dear young lady; +that is what we pay our taxes for--to uphold those same judges who will +mete out justice in a proper, unprejudiced fashion." + +"But Ross--you think he is guilty?" + +"Who knows? Time alone will tell. And his innocence will be better +proved if he is not urged to fly away from the outcome of his actions. I +must ask you, too, a favour. Rather, I must exact a promise. Please +leave Ross Duggan alone until after to-morrow." + +"And then?" + +"If I know aught of anything, he will be beyond the power of your +assistance--and perhaps not in need of it," he replied quietly. "Here is +the Castle. Slip in, now, through that wicket-gate that the tradesmen +use, I believe, and get back to the house as quickly as you can. I'll +give your orders to the chauffeur." + +She got out unsteadily, and then stood looking up at him, her eyes +glowing darkly in the frame of her pale, serious face. + +"And you won't tell me who you are? Something--somehow--seems familiar +about you, but I cannot place it. You won't help me?" + +He shook his head. + +"Better let this night's doings be buried in the Limbo of Forgotten +Things, dear lady," he said, his hand resting for a moment upon her +shoulder. "And if you know not who the sharer of your--er--adventure may +be, surely it is better that way. Good-night and good-bye. You will keep +your promise?" + +She gave him a sudden inscrutable look from beneath her dark brows. +Then she flung up her head. + +"Of course. Thank you for what you have done." + +"That is nothing. Good-night." + +"Good-night." + +Like a shadow she was fleeing up the wide drive, her feet barely making +any sound upon it; then, even as she disappeared from view, Cleek turned +swiftly to the chauffeur who sat in the front seat of the car, goggles +hiding his eyes from view, and clapped him upon the shoulder. + +"Well done, Dollops, well done!" he rapped out with a soft laugh. "I +thought it was you the minute my peepers rested upon your Cockney +countenance, you little bundle of indefatigability! How did you do it? +You caught my meaning, of course? Deuced keen of you, I must say!" + +Dollops grinned, and slipped his goggles into his pocket. + +"Yus," he returned, with a vigorous nod. "I caught the signal orl right. +'_Listen_,' you said, didn't you, Guv'nor? So I listens, and then I +makes a little plan all on my lonesome. 'The Guv'-nor's up to summink,' +says I ter me, 'an' I'll lay 'e wants me ter tyke a little 'and.' And so +I ups and makes fer the road, and there I find the shuvver a-waitin' in +this 'ere little snortin' machine." + +"He was there, then, was he?" + +"Large as life and twice as nat'ril. 'Now, then, me lad,' I says ter +me, 'git on the right side o' 'im, an' if yer can't git on the right +side, git on the wrong side, s' long as yer gits 'im out of 'is seat.' +But a couple er bob to a Scotsman is as big as a legacy, sir, an' I soon +puts 'im strite wiv a message from 'is missis. 'Snoop along an' send a +wire ter town,' says I, _Comin' later in the day, wait fer me_, an' +address it ter the Commander-in-Chief of the Generil Post Office, +Lunnon.' An' he looks at me an' swallows the gaff like as it were +plumduff. I could 'er larfed, sir--strite I could! And I gives 'im the +tip ter get a drink, and before I'd finished speakin', 'e'd gorn!" + +"Good lad! good lad!" Cleek's laugh was merry if low-pitched. The London +address of the telegraph message tickled his sense of humour immensely. +"And what did you do then?" + +"Drove dahn the road a little just ter keep me 'and in, and then, when I +'eard you call out ter the lydy, and knew you wuz in danger, sir--why, I +slipped in the clutch and come rocketing toward yer as farst as I +could." + +"Oho! And you were nearer than the lady had arranged, then?" + +Dollops drew a long breath before replying; and his voice was solemn. + +"That little distance of a quarter of a mile might 'ave done for yer +entire--an' I weren't tykin' no risks," he replied heavily. "An' if +anyfink was to 'appen to _you_, sir--well, it's me fer the river 'fore +you kin wink an eyelash. Dollops ain't a-stayin' 'ere wiv you on the +uvver side of the sky, sir, an' don't you myke no mistake abaht _that_. +Where you goes, I goes, too--if it's to 'eaven or 'ell. An' I'm thinkin' +I knows the w'y the ayngels'll tyke _you_." + +"Well, they're not taking me yet, dear lad, so don't worry your ginger +head about it!" returned Cleek, with a little gulp of emotion for so +staunch an adherent as this wisp of Cockneydom who stood before him. +"But it's friends like you and women like Miss Lorne that keep a man +straight and strong and true, and don't let him turn down the wrong path +instead of the right. Come, now, there's still more work to be done. Mr. +Narkom will be waiting, and I told him midnight under the big gate. Slip +up the driveway and see if you can see him while I go round by Rhea's +gate and see how the coast lies." + +Dollops disappeared forthwith, and it was but a moment or two later that +he returned in company with the Superintendent looking a little +round-eyed and scared until he saw Cleek standing in the shadow of the +big gate, and going up to him flung an arm about his shoulders. + +"You've frightened me into forty fits and out of 'em again," he cried +with a little sigh of relief, "for I'd made up my mind that something +had happened, and was on the way down here to see if you'd kept your +appointment, and if you hadn't--well, every man-jack of 'em at the house +would have made an all-night search for you, till we'd found you, +Cleek." + +"And now that you have, you bundle of fussydom, you see I am still all +of a piece and, as Dollops says, as large as life and twice as natural," +returned Cleek with a smile. "Gad, but there's not much moon about now, +is there? And it will be dark work climbing----" + +"But you intend to do this mad thing, Cleek?" + +"Certainly, my friend. And it's not the maddest I've done this night--by +a long chalk. I'll tell you all about it later on, when there's more +time and less chance of being overheard. Now, then, step softly, you +two. If there's any one there, we don't want to let 'em think an army's +approaching. You gave Inspector Petrie the word if we needed him? That +I'd ring Rhea's bell in case of immediate help required?" + +"Of course. And that one toll would mean one man, and _two_ tolls, +three; and three tolls, as many as they could spare from the duty of +guarding the house and letting no one go out or in." + +"And they've already let almost every inmate of the place roam about at +their leisure this night--to prove their trustworthiness!" threw in +Cleek, with a short laugh. "A fine lot of disciplinarians up in this +part of the world, I must say--though of course the country's difficult, +and you want about fifty men up here to one in London. I'll have a word +with the Inspector before I leave--with your permission, Mr. Narkom." + +"Certainly." + +"We'll get along now, Dollops. You stand here under the gate, and keep +watch _toward_ the Castle; Mr. Narkom, you stand here, and guard the +road-end, and make the usual signal of a night owl's hoot if you see any +one approaching. I'll slip on my rubber sand-shoes to grip with, and +shin up in a moment." + +And suiting the action to the word, that was practically what he did +do--though the climb up there in the darkness was certainly more than +momentary. For with no light and very little moon it was a more +difficult task than Cleek had anticipated, and he had to tread carefully +to avoid slipping on the narrow shelves of stone and iron that girt it +about. + +Up, up, up he went, like some dark fly crawling across the face of the +night, and to those watching below, their hearts in their mouths at +sight of his perilous progress (which at times they could not follow for +the pitchy darkness, and knew not if he were safe or not), those moments +seemed hours indeed. + +But Cleek had been in tighter corners and more difficult places than +this in the course of an adventurous lifetime, and the poise and +sureness of the man were amazing. Up, and along the stone parapet he +went, sliding face toward the stone wall of it, until he could lean back +a little and look up at Rhea standing out against the midnight sky like +a monstrous splotch of black ink in a lake of indigo-blue. The bronze +bell swung beneath him. He knelt cautiously upon one knee, preparatory +to whipping out his electric torch, and even as he did so, heard the +sound of other footsteps stealing round from the _other_ side and coming +toward him with the soft tread of a cat. + +Instantly he stopped short--stock-still, as though made out of marble, +and leaned back against the parapet while those sliding, soft, creeping, +cat-like footsteps came steadily on. He became conscious of a black +shape, slim as a woman's, against the midnight sky, that moved with +panther-like precision across the face of the parapet. He could actually +hear that other person's laboured breaths, and as the Thing steadily +approached felt it fan against his cheek. + +If Cleek had been in a less precarious position the soul of the man +would have relieved itself by laughing outright. For the situation +seemed almost funny. But this was no time for humour. The moment he +stirred and made himself known, upon that moment the creature--whoever +and whatever it was--would pounce upon him, and dash them both down to +sure death upon the stones below, and in full sight of the +Superintendent's watching eyes. But what to do if he stayed where he +was? Detection was certain in any case. There remained only a moment of +moments before it actually would come. And in that moment, to be +prepared for--what? + +The creature came on steadily, picking its way stealthy as a cat across +the rugged stone parapet upon which Rhea stood, until it stopped a few +inches away from him, face averted, one tense hand clinging to the very +stone to which Cleek also clung. Then slowly it turned, knelt upon one +knee, reached down a long hand toward the bar from which the great +bronze bell swung, made as if to find a foot-hold with one slim black +foot, and--Cleek's hand shot out over that other hand, and Cleek's voice +whispered in its ear: + +"Damn you! what are you doing here?" + +[Illustration: _With a low-pitched exclamation of fury, the man closed +with him and fought like some mad thing_] + +Instantly all was pandemonium! For the man--for man it was--sprang round +quickly, showing the lower half of a white face to Cleek's watching +eyes, and then with a low-pitched exclamation of fury closed with him +and fought like some mad thing, spitting out furiously and clawing and +scratching with his free hand to gain hold of the other. + +Cleek realized the danger even as he met it, and knew what it ultimately +meant. But the thing had to be done. And in the doing he had wound one +foot round a stave of iron which rose up out of the parapet to form the +base of Rhea's bronze throne, and so steadied himself for the nonce. +But it was a difficult task indeed to free himself from this clutching, +scratching, biting Thing, and it took all his powers of resistance to +combat him successfully. + +"Stop it--damn you!--stop it!" he gave out furiously, in an angry +whisper which at least reached Mr. Narkom's ears, and sent the +night-owl's hoot creeping eerily out over the silence of that black +night to tell Cleek that he would come to the rescue if necessary. And +Cleek hooted back. He couldn't do this thing alone--it was too much for +him. The space upon which they wrestled was a mere foot and a half in +breadth, and at any moment one or both of them might pitch down into the +darkness to certain death. + +He peered into the man's fury-ridden face, trying to distinguish the +features of it, but the upper half was covered with a black mask through +which the eyes gleamed like slits of fire, and the strength of him +seemed superhuman, to say the least of it. It was merely a matter of +moments now--something would have to be done--when, of a sudden, the man +leapt away from him, reached down an arm again, and--lithe as a +cat--swung himself down upon the perilously narrow ledge of the great +bronze bell. Here was Cleek's chance. In an instant his hand had shot +out toward the man's leg and caught it in a vice, while with the other +he steadied himself by a firm hold of the wrought-iron stave that had +saved him a moment or two before. + +The creature spat out his vindictiveness in a string of Italian oaths, +and Cleek, paying not the slightest attention to him, merely hung on +tighter to the ankle and prayed for help. Another few moments of this +strain and--the fight would be lost. His arm muscles were strained to +their utmost, his whole body upon the rack. He sent forth the summons of +the night-owl again and again, and was rewarded by the sound beneath him +of a hasty exclamation from the Superintendent, a muttered "My Gawd!" +from the hoarse throat of that little bit of Cockneydom who had served +him and saved him many times before, and then the whispered words, +"Comin', Guv'nor--there in a tick!" came with their ring of comfort, and +he exerted himself to the last ounce to retain his hold of the biting, +clutching furious Thing that lay twisting itself, save for that +unfortunate leg in Cleek's grasp, upon the narrow confines of the ledge +of Rhea's bell. + +.... The moments seemed like hours, and Cleek had all but let go, with a +strained wrist and a dislocated finger which was giving him agony, when +he saw the dark shape approaching him, and knew that his rescuer had +come. + +"In the nick of time, lad," he breathed, as he released his hold in +favour of Dollops. "God knows who the beggar is, but he's like a +wild-cat. My hand's done in completely. Hold him and, if you can, get +him back again upon this ledge. The pair of us will be too much for him, +I vow! Then we'll have to hold on and ring the great bell for help. It's +the only way. But we must unmuffle the clapper first. Here--your torch! +Gad! _that's_ what the blighter's doing, is he? Unmuffling it for +himself!... I say, my Dago friend, keep quiet a little, will you?--or +you'll find yourself in the next world in the space of another minute. +This isn't a table-top, you know. And there's about two inches between +yourself and eternity. And if _you're_ ready to go, I'm not!" + +The creature thus addressed pulled itself up uncertainly, still +muttering in Italian, and as Dollops's hold slid from ankle to knee, +from knee to thigh, and then--like a flash--to arm and shoulder, in +proper jiu-jitsu grip, whirled round upon them, something white showing +in the clenched fingers of one hand, and ground his teeth at them, as +though he would eat them alive. + +"Curse you!--damn you! What are you doing here, hell-hogs!" he spat out +in a low, vehement voice. "My friends will be here any minute--and then +your game will be up!" + +"But not before yours has beaten it by a moment or two," gave back Cleek +rapidly, in a low-pitched voice. "Here!--give me that thing in your +hand. I'm anxious to see what it is that muffled the bell so +successfully last night. And if you don't stand still while I'm taking +it, my lad here will hurl you down into perdition. Now, then--give it +up.... Got him, Dollops?... Hi! there, Mr. Narkom! I want you to take +hold of that rope on the right-hand side of the gateway--and pull it for +all you're worth. We've got to have help to secure this thing in man's +guise we've fallen foul of, and got to have it quick!" + +And so it came about that the silence of that still night was broken of +a sudden by deep-throated pealing as Rhea's great bronze bell gave +tongue. Once--twice--three times, until those above it were well-nigh +deafened with the sound, and those below and beyond it knew, by that +prearranged signal, that they were wanted--and wanted at once. + +Instantly the night became hideous with shouting voices and running +steps. The door-keeper hurried out of his cottage with lantern lit, and +made his way toward them; constables appeared from every corner of the +grounds; meanwhile, Cleek, with the crackling paperish thing that had +muffled the bell in his hand, and the other lending what support to +Dollops he could give in holding the man down, called out their +requirements in the sharp staccato of excitement. + +"A net, boys--quick! or a great-coat--anything! Only spit out your +torches and hold it firm-stretched, and we're going to throw something +down to you which will want a lot of holding, for it's as slippery as an +eel," he gave out sharply. "Now, then--are you ready? Mr. Narkom, see +that the lights are strong enough; I don't want him 'missing fire' and +landing with a broken neck until we've done with him. Ready, Dollops? +One--two--three----" + +Came a scratching and a fighting and a furious sound of rending material +as the man wriggled to be free of those three detaining hands that held +him. Then of a sudden a startled gasp, a muttered oath, and--a flying +black shape came hurtling down in the darkness to that little circle of +light where the upturned, expectant faces of the constables showed in +Rembrandt-like light and shadow, and--the shape landed in the folds of +the outstretched great-coat with a _thwack_, and was muffled up in it in +a moment, kicking and clawing and scratching furiously as the thick +folds went over his head. + +Ten men removed him from it eventually and set him upon his feet, just +as Dollops, slithering and sliding down from the dangerous height, with +his heart in his mouth for his master's safety with that injured hand of +his, landed with a _plomp_ upon the soft ground, and gave Cleek the hand +that had helped him all the way down that perilous journey, until he, +too, was in safety at last. + +"Gawd's troof, Guv'nor!" he ejaculated, as he whipped out his +handkerchief and bound it tightly and professionally over the finger and +down on to the strained wrist. "You're 'urt proper, ain't you? That was +a narrer squeak, I don't fink!... That's better, ain't it? I weren't +a-goin' ter let yer git orf without that bit of bandages to 'elp the +pain, not if we loses the blinkin' murderer 'isself! Let's 'ave a look +at the chap, sir." + +Cleek's good hand swung up across the boy's shoulder. + +"Thank you," he said simply. "Hello! here's Mr. Narkom. Yes, let's have +a look at the blighter, men, before you carry him off to the lock-up. +I'm interested to know what he looks like beneath that mask of his. Just +to get a line on his features, you know." + +Speaking, he went up to the group of constables and, flashing out his +torch, sent its spotlight upon the man's scowling face. + +And it was just as he did this that Dollops let out a yell of amazement, +and stared at him--mouth open, eyes wide. + +"Gawblimey! and pink sossidges!" he exclaimed, whirling round upon Cleek +in astonishment, "if this 'ere ain't the giddy limit! Why, that's ole +Dirty Dick the Dago 'isself!" + +"And this," said Cleek, as he glanced down at the crumpled bit of +parchment which he still held, and smiled into Mr. Narkom's serious +face, "is the missing will, or I'm a Dutchman! Quite a little bit of +excitement for one night's entertainment, I must say! Who says anything +about killing two birds with one stone? Men, I'm coming along with you +to the lock-up. It's a bit late in the evening, or early in the morning, +to be more literal, but I'm going to have a conversation with your +prisoner which is going to elucidate many things for me. Mr. Narkom, I +should advise you to go back to bed and take a rest. To-morrow is likely +to be a heavy day." + +Then, smiling, but still a trifle pale, Cleek swung into step with +Dollops behind the little cavalcade which was wending its way slowly +through the great gateway and out upon the road beyond--toward the goal +of many imaginings and the proper elucidation of the riddle at last. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE END IN SIGHT + + +Cleek spent an hour in the "lock-up" with the man they had captured, and +had what he scathingly called a proper heart-to-heart talk with him, +coming away with the contemptuous feeling in his heart which all clean +men must find there upon discovering a fellow creature who, to save his +own skin if possible, is willing to split upon a pal. + +He wended his way toward the Inn of the Three Fishers, with Dollops +beside him, head downward, every faculty concentrated upon the proper +unravelling of the riddle that confronted him. If two and two made four, +then he had the answer pretty well elucidated at last. One had to fill +in the gaps with a bit of imagination, but--he patted the pocket where +the missing will lay, lying close against that packet of love-letters +that he had found in Sir Andrews's' desk. Funny how papers so often +proved things where human flesh-and-blood failed. Clues--both of 'em. +Strong clues. And likely to give surprise to one or two people he knew +of. Lady Paula, for instance--and Ross Duggan. + +"Dollops," he said quietly, as he let himself into the little hostelry +with his latchkey, just as the dawn was striking the sky with rosy +fingers and rending aside the dark curtains of night, "this is going to +be a heavy day for us. I don't relish the task in front of me, and +yet.... It's no use funking the issue. Justice must be done--and if it's +going to hurt some people pretty badly, it isn't my fault, is it?" + +"It is not, sir," gave back Dollops emphatically. "But you come on up to +yer room and let me attend to that there 'and. 'Urtin' pretty nasty, +ain't it? I thought so. A bit er cold water'll 'elp some, an' I'm a dab +'and at the First Aid stunt since I took them lessons in Lunnon larst +winter. We'll put yer right in a jiffy. But I carn't 'elp wishin' it was +_my_ paw, all the same. Miss Lorne'll be that worried when she 'ears. + +"Then the best thing to do is not to tell her, you little Worry-Box," +returned Cleek with a laugh. "It's luck it's my left one, so the writing +won't be affected. A week or two will see it right. I wish I could cure +all the heartbreak and unhappiness in this old Castle-keep as +effectively in such a short time.... Thanks very much. That'll do +nicely, I think. And it's a good deal easier. Now, be off to bed, boy, +and try to make up for the loss of that beauty-sleep which you've +missed. To-morrow, or rather, to-day, is going to keep us all fairly +busy, I imagine. I shall want you to come up to the Castle with me in +the morning, you know--and I mustn't be later than ten o'clock." + + * * * * * + +And so it came about that in the morning Cleek, looking rather pale, +with one hand in a roughly contrived sling, and with Dollops in close +alliance with him, and Mr. Narkom bringing up the rear, made his way to +the great door of Aygon Castle, rang the bell coolly, and nodded +pleasantly to the door-keeper who admitted him as though nothing out of +the ordinary had happened in the night that had just passed. As he +passed through the gates with his companions and heard them clang to +behind him, he laid a hand upon the gate-keeper's arm and spoke in a low +voice. + +"Heard nothing at all after we left, Burns? Saw no one, I suppose, this +morning?" + +"Not a soul, sair. Aiverybody seems to have overslept themsailves and +never a word has even come to me over the telephone in my lodge." + +"Good! Excellent! Well, keep your mouth tight-closed and know nothing if +you are questioned. Not even to the master of the Castle himself. To +_nobody_. Simply nothing untoward happened at all last night that you +know of. Follow me?" + +"Absolutely, sair." + +"Very well, then. Come, Mr. Narkom, we'll make our way up to the Castle +now. Fine place, isn't it? Wonderful bit of stone-work in that +balustrade round the tessellated tower. Never noticed it so plainly +before. Perhaps it's the fine day." + +Speaking, he led the way up the drive, followed by a wide-eyed Dollops +and a panting Superintendent who had not long finished his breakfast of +bacon and eggs, and had missed his usual ten minutes' perusal of the +newspaper after it. + +Jarvis opened the door to them, bowing low over Cleek's cap as the +latter proffered it, and giving Dollops a friendly wink behind his +master's back as he led them into the little ante-room and went to +summon his mistress. + +As they sat waiting, Cleek saw Tavish, clad in riding-boots and +trousers, and making a fine figure of a man, swing past the half-open +door. Cleek nodded to him as he glanced in. + +"Good morning. I say--come in a moment, won't you? I've got a perfectly +astonishing piece of news!" + +Then, as Tavish, with a nod and a smile, came into the tiny room, +seeming, in his enormous stature, to fill up every nook and corner of +it, and shook Cleek firmly by the hand, that gentleman leaned a little +forward and whispered something in his ear. + +Mr. Narkom saw the flare of eye and the slackening of jaw which betoken +amazement as Tavish opened his mouth to speak. But Cleek held up a +silencing hand. + +"Hush! I don't want the thing made public yet, y' know, my dear chap. +Only I thought perhaps you'd like to have a look in and see the final +round-up of the villains. Take a back seat, you know. There's no harm in +that. And I've the most amazing bit of evidence by me which I've traced +it all to. Stolen will among other things. Bring it home to _her_ as +smart as you please. Ought to be worth watching when you see her face." + +"Gad!--yes." Tavish struck one hand into the open palm of the other, and +his nice face went grim. "The woman's a devil from the first letter to +the last. And if you knew the things she's done to my future +wife--Johanna McCall--well, it fair makes a man's blood boil. I'd +tighten the noose round _her_ neck, I can promise you, and with my own +hands, too. The earth is well rid of _her_ kind." + +"In which I profoundly agree. And--hello! here's Miss Duggan. At +half-past ten, then. I'll make arrangements for you to slip in +unnoticed. It's going to be as sensational as a first-rate London +melodrama. And--not a word, old chap?" + +"Not one of 'em." + +"Thanks very much. I'll rely on you, then. And we might even want you to +lend a hand. What's that, Miss Duggan? Lend a hand for what? Oh, simply +in capturing a somewhat wild mare that has got loose in this part of the +country and has been kicking up a pretty shindy all over the place. Mr. +Tavish's strength and knowledge of horse-flesh ought to be a real help, +eh, my friend?" + +Here he winked broadly at the vanishing Tavish, and brought up a chair +for Maud Duggan after she had greeted Mr. Narkom and given Dollops a +little forlorn smile as Cleek introduced him to her notice. + +"And have you followed up any of the clues which you discovered +yesterday, Mr. Deland, to the utter desolation of all my hopes and +fears?" she asked him wearily, sitting down with her hands lying loosely +in her lap, a very picture of despondent womanhood. + +He bowed his head. + +"I'm afraid I have. Several of them. And yet--I don't know. Anyhow, I +want you all to come along to the library again this morning--and for +the last time. After to-day you ought not to be put to any further worry +and inconvenience, my dear young lady. But what I want _you_ to do is to +assemble all the members of the immediate household together for me, and +tell them I've discovered a perfectly new clue altogether--and from a +perfectly new person--someone who, so far as you or I know, has never +even entered the house at all, at any time. So you see, that's not such +bad news, is it?" + +At these words her head came up upon the slim column of her neck, and +she looked into his face with suddenly bright eyes. + +"You mean to say that--you mean to say that you can prove that neither +Ross nor--Captain Macdonald is guilty of that terrible crime?" she gave +out in a shrill voice, shutting her hands together in her emotion, and +breathing hard. "Oh, Mr. Deland, if you have only found out _that_----" + +"Not quite so fast, please," he responded a trifle sternly. "I'm afraid +I can't give you any of the facts yet. Only I want you to know that--in +one direction, at any rate--you may have some cause to hope. That is, of +course, if my deductions are correct. It all depends. Even a policeman +can make a mistake--isn't that so, Mr. Narkom?--and find himself led +away upon a false scent. It depends a lot upon the wiliness of the fox +he's in pursuit of. And in this case, when there's a--animal's a female, +one has the disadvantage of the woman's intuitive faculties and natural +gifts of deceit. 'The female of the species'--you know what Kipling +said, of course? That sounds rude, doesn't it? But it's amazingly true, +all the same--yourself, I'm sure, always excepted." + +She made no answer to the little sally other than to pass a pale hand +across a paler forehead, and pat a piece of dark hair into place, with +that little gesture of forlornness which went straight to Cleek's heart. + +"Then you have nothing more to tell me, Mr. Deland? Nothing for me to +build my hopes on save that a new element has entered the case----" + +"Together with an old element--yes," responded Cleek softly, with a stab +at his heart for her pathetic appearance. "Just that. No more. I can +tell nothing until I have you all there before me, and then--well, +perhaps I shall be able to unravel the mystery for you, and put an end +to your sufferings in _that_ direction, at any rate. Would you be good +enough, as you're passing, to ask the constable on duty outside the +library door to come to me a moment? Mr. Narkom and I want to question +him about one or two things. There's another one _inside_ the room, so +there's no chance of any one getting in and falsifying clues while he's +away. Thanks very much." + +She passed out, pale-faced, utterly forlorn, and the sagging droop of +her shoulders sent another stab of pity through Cleek's heart, while Mr. +Narkom--tender-hearted as a chicken, as he himself often put it--blew +his nose loudly and passed the handkerchief surreptitiously across his +eyes, and turned a sad face to his famous ally's. + +"Poor girl, Cl--Deland, poor, poor, unhappy girl! It goes to my heart to +see any woman so desolate as that. And a good-looking woman, too! She +feels the whole wretched affair keenly. And if you'd only explained to +me some of those wonderful theories of yours and given me some inkling +of what you're going to say to 'em, I might have been a bit of help to +her, you know. Human sympathy's a comforting thing----" + +"But not always so comforting when it emanates from the police, who will +probably wring her heart dry," returned Cleek with a twisted smile. "No, +no, my friend. Bless your tender heart for the kind thought, but in this +case it's up to me to tread warily. And the least suspicious glance cast +at a guilty party, the least flutter of eyelid or brow in expression of +one's knowledge--and the cat would be out of the bag, and all our +trouble taken for nothing. I'm going to play 'possum to-day and lay low. +And you've just got to forgive me beforehand and put up with it. I've no +doubt your own theories coincide with mine but---- Here's P. C. Mackay. +Good morning, Constable. Mr. Narkom and I just wanted to have a few +words with you, with reference to what arrangements you made for me last +night. You followed out my instructions?" + +P. C. Mackay, who was a slight, wiry, light-rooted chap, and so chosen +by Cleek for the very work he had been given to do, nodded his head, and +his hand came to the salute. + +"I did that, sir." + +"Good. No names mentioned, Constable ... but you found some clues there, +I take it?" + +"Yessir. _This._" He looked from side to side of the room, as though +uncertain how to produce the clue in case of discovery. But the door was +shut, and only they four were within the confines of the small place. +Then he put his hand into his breast-pocket and drew forth a little bit +of crimson-covered flexible electric wire. + +Cleek's face fell a little. + +"That all?" + +"Yessir--except for a photograph of a young wummun. It was hidden in a +carved wood box on the dressin' table. I brought it along in case you +might find some use for it. Here it is." + +Speaking, he drew the bit of pasteboard from his pocket and handed it +across to Cleek, who bent his eyes upon it, gave a little start at +something which was written across it in bold capitals and underscored +three times, gazed a moment at the pictured face, and then promptly +opened his pocketbook and placed it within. + +"Very good, Constable. Mr. Narkom, you will do me a personal favour if +you arrange for P. C. Mackay's promotion. He did good work last night, +and it must not be forgotten. You may go, Constable." + +"Thank you, sir." + +The man saluted smartly, grinned all over his ruddy Scotch face at the +word "promotion," and went back to his position outside the library +door, his head in the clouds and his heart longing for the time when he +could impart this wonderful knowledge to his Maggie, and see her blue +eyes brighten. + +Meanwhile Cleek, the door shut once more, dived down into his pocket and +produced the little bit of red electric wire which he had picked up in +the library that first day before the tragedy had taken place, when Maud +Duggan was showing him over the house. He fingered it idly, and then +showed Mr. Narkom the two pieces spread upon his open palm. + +"Not much in that, I'm afraid. Just the ordinary kind of wire which +everyone uses, and with nothing to show any peculiarities," he said, +speaking half to himself and half to the Superintendent. "Both cut with +a sharp knife, obviously. Now, if they mated evenly--and gad! they _do_ +mate!" He brought them together and dovetailed the two frayed ends one +against the other until the edges met in a perfectly even line. "That's +a funny thing! A deuced funny thing! But they belong to each other as +much as two twin souls belong. They're one and the same piece. Gad! and +with the photograph of the estimable young woman--it proves it without a +doubt!" + +"Proves what, my dear chap?" + +Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle testy. The whole affair of that morning +had got upon his nerves. In the first place, he had had to get up too +early after a broken night, and in the second, Cleek hadn't given him +time to digest his meal, and then the whole higgledy-piggledy of Cleek's +words, from which he could make neither head nor tail, served to +irritate him still further. + +Cleek laid a hand upon the Superintendent's arm, and spoke in his most +coaxing voice. + +"Have patience with me, dear friend, as you have done before, and as you +will have to do again," he said softly. "It isn't that I don't trust +you--haven't I trusted you with life itself before now, and never found +you wanting?--but it is that at present my theories are in somewhat of a +muddle, and it's only keeping my own counsel that's going to help me to +disentangle them." + +"I know, I know, old chap," returned the Superintendent, casting aside +his rancour at this apology from the man who was his best friend, with +his usual heartiness. "I'm a slow-thinking old beggar, and somehow your +lightning sketches get the better of my patience. But I'll back you to +unravel the knot every time. Think you've come to the end, then?" + +"I fancy so. With a little bit of bold guesswork thrown in to make equal +measure. That must always be reckoned in the bargain, you know. But if I +haven't found the person or persons who have murdered Sir Andrew in that +cold-blooded and diabolically clever manner, then my name's not--Arthur +Deland. And I know as much about the methods of sleuth-hounds as my old +boot!" + +So saying, he fell to examining the photograph again, and tossing the +two pieces of flexible wire up and down in the palm of one hand, and +muttering to himself like a lunatic, while Dollops and Mr. Narkom, in +silence, could do nothing more but wonder and look on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LIBRARY + + +It was exactly eleven o'clock, and the various clocks in the house were +chiming the hour out from every nook and corner of the Castle when +Cleek, followed by Dollops and Mr. Narkom, made his way to the library, +and found assembled there all the members of that ill-fated family--as +well as those others who had perforce been obliged to stay there +over-night at his orders--and with a polite "good morning" and a stiff +little bow, took his place in the midst of them and glanced around. + +They were a wan, white-faced lot. Lady Paula's black eyes were ringed +with violet, Maud Duggan's face was pinched and old-looking in the +morning light, as though the night had seen no sleep for _her_ (which +was true), Johanna McCall's little peaked face was pale as ivory, and +her eyes looked heavy-lidded, as though she had cried overmuch in the +still watches (which was true also), while Cynthia Debenham and +Catherine Dowd sat with set faces and angry eyes, watching him as though +deadly afraid of what he might say or do next. Ross Duggan's countenance +was as lined as an old man's; Captain Macdonald showed by the flare of +nostrils and flash of eye that his temper was still as hot as his +tongue, and not improved for the keeping; and little Cyril--who slipped +in a moment or two late, with Tavish bringing up the rear--had the look +of a boy who was scared half out of his wits. + +And scared badly he was, too. Trembling hands showed it; trembling lips +showed it still more. Cleek's eyes narrowed down as he glanced at the +boy's set face, and he found it hard to give him even so much as a +welcoming smile. Like mother like son--that boy. As wily as you make +'em. And untrustworthy, too. He was not so fond of Master Cyril, now +that he knew more of him, as he had been at first meeting. + +When they were all seated, with P. C. Mackay keeping watch over the door +and another constable on the outside of it, Cleek turned to them and let +the queer little one-sided smile so indicative of the man travel up his +face. + +"Well, my friends," said he in his smooth, low-pitched voice, "I +promised you something when I saw you again, and I'm here to fulfil that +promise. The riddle of Sir Andrew's death is a riddle no longer. If you +will have patience for a short time I shall explain a few things to you, +and then----" + +"You know who killed my husband, then? You know?--you know?" bleated out +Lady Paula, starting to her feet with white face and hands clasped +close against her breast. "You have found out the secret of his murder, +Mr. Deland?" + +"Yes--and I know who his murderer was, too, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +sharply. "Sit down, Mr. Duggan, I beg of you. The door is guarded, as +you can see--both outside and in--and perhaps it might be as well if I +added caution to care and turned the key in the door--so." Speaking, he +crossed the room in rapid strides, locked the door, and dropped the key +into his pocket. "Prevention is better than cure, you know. Yes, Lady +Paula, I know who murdered Sir Andrew, and I know how it was done. A +dastardly deed at best--an abominable crime upon humanity in return for +a family wrong. The old question of a vendetta--though of so recent a +date as to be a mere matter of seventeen years back. You have been +married that long, have you not? You are surprised, I see. Well, I +confess it, so was I. And when you mix up such other unpleasant +ingredients as a woman's ill-timed ambition, a blackmailer, and the +green-eyed god jealousy, you find a very unpleasant mess of pottage +indeed." + +He spoke in his own way, unravelling the riddle in that leisurely +fashion for which he was famous; but to those over-charged minds and +hearts that surrounded him he seemed much like a cat playing with a +mouse--and enjoying its fruitless efforts at escape. + +"But the murderer--who?--who?" gave out Maud Duggan in a suddenly shrill +voice, as a little silence held for a moment in that still room. "Tell +us that, Mr. Deland, I implore you----" + +"In good time, Miss Duggan. First of all, the ways and means. Look!--see +that spinning wheel. There stands your guilty party in that innocent +guise. The hand that guided that wheel killed Sir Andrew as surely as I +am standing here. And how? An air-pistol. And who owns an air-pistol in +this place but Mr. Ross Duggan?" + +"It's a lie--a damned lie! And I'll have you to law for it, too!" Ross +Duggan started to his feet, face crimson, hands knotted, eyes flashing +at this plain implication of himself. "Damn you, whoever you are!--it's +a lie! I did not kill my father! I swear it upon the sacred book itself! +I did not kill him!" + +Cleek held up a detaining hand. + +"And who, may I ask, said you did, my fiery young friend?" he returned +suavely. "If you will give me a little time to tell my story in my own +way, I shall be extremely obliged. You stand self-confessed as the owner +of an air-pistol. That we have proof of. The rest will follow in due +course. But here is the instrument of death--this simple little spinning +wheel, which, wired by electricity as it is, and with the pistol hidden +inside that wheel with diabolical ingenuity, caused the death of your +father. And who among you, may I ask, has such a perfect knowledge of +electricity as to equip the thing like that?" + +Again there was silence; meanwhile each looked at the other and the same +name framed itself unconsciously upon every lip ... Ross Duggan. It was +not spoken aloud, but Cleek could read it as he looked about him. Then +Lady Paula spoke. + +"Then--it was Ross? It was that unfilial and cruel son of an unknowing +and innocent old man, just as I knew it to be?" she shrilled excitedly, +jumping to her feet and turning to Ross and seizing him by the shoulder +as though she would tear him limb from limb. "Oh, _sacremento_! +I knew it! I knew it! Wicked, cruel creature that you are! +Ungrateful--beast----" + +Cleek caught her sharply by the arm and spun her around as though she +had been made of paper. His face was grim. + +"One moment," he cried in a sharp staccato. "This lady is going to give +trouble. Well, then, the moment can be delayed no longer. +Constable--bring in your prisoner." + +He gave a shrill whistle, strode across the room, fitted the key into +the lock, and in an instant there was pandemonium. + +For of a sudden there was a stifled scream from somewhere in the room--a +hurried breath and a woman's voice shrilled out, "Oh, I cannot bear it +any longer-- I cannot! I cannot!" Then the door flashed open to admit of +two policemen, who had slung between them the stooping figure of a man, +closely handcuffed, and with a dark scrub of beard showing upon his +unshaven chin. Came another scream; a boy's shrill voice lifted +excitedly, "Uncle Antoni!" followed by a scuffling of a man's footsteps. +Cleek took a quick step forward in the midst of all the confusion, +caught at someone's sleeve and held it in a grip like a vice, rapped out +in a sharp voice, "Catch him, Dollops! Catch the beggar before he slips +out through the open door and gives us the 'go-by'--the beastly +blighter!" Then, all in a moment, he was fighting and twisting and +doubling to regain his hold upon the man who was trying to escape; there +was a muttered curse, and a flying foot came out and caught the leg of a +delicate table, sending it toppling over with a crash in the midst of +them; the grating of a key in a lock, and--the end had come! + +Brushing a piece of dust from his sleeve as P. C. Mackay snapped the +bracelets upon still another prisoner, Cleek turned and surveyed the +room with flushed cheek and flashing eye. + +"Friends," he said blandly, "your man--your murderer. Caught as +red-handed as one could wish--and as innocently as a babe, too!" + +And pointed toward the manacled, fighting figure of James Tavish! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE SECRET OF THE SINGING WHEEL + + +The scene that followed this startling announcement can well be imagined +rather than described. For even as the man stood glowering at them, his +mouth muttering the curses that his heart held, came a new diversion +from another quarter. For Catherine Dowd had called out sharply, "Quick! +quick! some smelling-salts here--and brandy!" and as the women of the +party endeavoured to produce one item, while the men more successfully +produced the other, it was seen that Johanna McCall was the object of +this aid, for she half-lay, half-sprawled upon the floor, mouth open, +face twitching, eyes already glazing over, and the white froth forming +about her pale lips. + +Cleek leaned down and lifted her head in his uninjured arm; and looked +down into her upthrown ghastly face. + +"Gad!" he said under his breath, "and now the other one--self-confessed! +Who'd have thought it?--who, indeed? And for what reason, I wonder?" + +"For him--for Ross--for the man I love," the pale lips framed the words +brokenly as the strength of the girl sagged and ebbed slowly away. "He +would have disinherited him--disinherited Ross, turned him +out--penniless! Cruel--wicked--I stabbed him with--the stiletto--the +light went out--caught it off the table--wiped it on _her_ dress--must +have been mad--mad--but you can't get me. It's poison--arsenic. I had it +ready. And I needn't have done it--after all!" + +Then she sighed a little, opened her eyes suddenly and closed them +again, and then slumped forward in Cleek's arms--dead. + +Cleek caught at a cushion, pushed it under the sagging head, slipped his +own arm out from under it, and got slowly to his feet. His face was +pale, his lips set. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he said quietly, pointing a hand at the still +figure, so pitifully small and childlike, huddled together upon the +floor, "the other--murderer. Poor, misguided little creature! Of such +folly can Love only be held to blame. A hopeless passion, a breaking +heart, a suddenly maddening resolution made and carried out in a red-hot +moment, and--another soul gone to meet its Maker with the red blot of +death upon it. Tragic, is it not?... Lady Paula, take a seat. There is +so much more to tell, and this has slightly precipitated matters. +Tavish, my friend, you will do better not to glower and struggle like +that. The Law has you, and _the Law will make you pay_--in spite of all +your efforts to fix the blame upon someone else. I think, my friends, if +we might adjourn to the drawing-room, the rest of the riddle would make +easier and better telling. It is hardly fitting--here and now." + +"You're right, Mr. Deland, perfectly right," threw in Ross at this +juncture, jumping to his feet and catching his fiancée by the arm. +"Come, all of you. Out of this room and into the next. I want to hear +the end of the tangle, Mr. Deland, and find exactly how you implicated +_me_." + +Cleek looked up suddenly with a slight smile. + +"Not Deland, my friend, just Cleek--Cleek of Scotland Yard, at your +service," he made reply smoothly, smiling at the amazed faces which +greeted this statement. "So you see, Tavish, you had greater odds +against you than you knew. We'll have your other prisoner, please, +Constable. The worthy Antoni Matei shall tell us something before the +day is out. Of that I am certain. And I have promised him a good price +for his loose tongue. Tavish, never trust a lying comrade. This is the +friend who saw you through--and then split afterward upon you. Choose +birds of another colour next time you practise such tricks--only, I'm +afraid it is a trifle late to start new methods--_now_." + +Speaking, he passed out of that tragic room, waving his hand with a +gesture which was almost theatrical to the others to follow him, and +when they were all assembled around him in the drawing-room, went on +with his amazing story. + + * * * * * + +"You want to hear the whole story from start to finish? Well, it will +make long telling, I'm afraid," he said, as Maud Duggan put the +question, glancing a trifle anxiously at the slumped figure of the +Italian which stood manacled between two burly constables, waiting his +turn to speak up and tell what he knew. "To begin with, I must confess I +was a little mistaken in my calculations. _To begin with._ +Circumstantial evidence does not always prove guilt, Miss Duggan, +although it's generally a good pointer in a broad way. And your brother +had many pieces of evidence against him. That bit of red flexible +electric wire, you know, that I picked up in the library that first day +you showed me around. I admit I thought it belonged to him, particularly +when young Cyril here told such an excellent story of how Sir Ross (I +must give you your proper title, you know!) wired the room temporarily, +just to show James Tavish how it could be done. But it didn't, you see. +That fragment was found in Tavish's own bedroom. Then, when I went down +into the dungeons, I discovered--something else." + +His hand dived into his pocket and brought forth a crumpled +handkerchief, slightly bloodstained, and handed it to her. "Can you +identify that?" + +She looked up, startled. + +"Of course. It's yours, Ross, isn't it? See, here are your initials. And +yet you found it down there--with something else, Mr.--Cleek?" + +"I certainly did, my dear young lady. With a syphon of soda, a tumbler +and a bottle that smelt of very good raw whisky. Rather strong for _my_ +liking, but still--we'll let that pass for the present. I'll have +something to say about that later which may interest you, Mr. Narkom. I +found it there--and, as you say, I found something else, too. And when I +saw the initials I naturally thought of your brother--which just goes to +prove that human nature is apt to make mistakes, even when it thinks +itself pretty expert upon certain subjects. As a matter of fact, Miss +McCall had borrowed that handkerchief--she supervises the laundering, +you told me, Miss Duggan--for James Tavish when he cut his finger, and +he had never given it back, obviously. When I discovered that, that was +the first pointer in his direction. The others followed fairly +rapidly.... Then the air-pistol, you know. You yourself told me your +brother had one--and then regretted the telling afterward, like every +loving and foolish woman who wants to preserve her kin from possible +blame, even in the face of her own suspicions. That was Number Two +against him. Number Three came from this young lady here--Miss Dowd--who +brought me the stiletto that had been used to stab your poor father, and +admitted, strictly against all her scruples, that, as far as she knew, +it had been last used by Sir Ross to cut the edges of a book upon +Poisons which he had been reading. I don't much admire your taste in +literature, Sir Ross, but that is hardly to do with me. A man can choose +his own companions and his own library, thank God, although Life itself +chooses almost everything else for him. But I must confess that the +spinning wheel got me guessing, as our American cousins say. I've Mr. +Narkom to thank for that discovery. And he made it in rather a +remarkable way. Leaned against the wheel and experienced a slight shock. +After that, the thing was as easy as A. B. C. We simply traced the +wiring to the window-sill, where we discovered a switch hidden in the +ivy, turned it on, and--there you were! I nearly got potted by the +devilish contrivance myself, only some sixth sense told me to get out of +the way in time. But the aim was amazingly accurate. The second bullet +fell a matter of half an inch below the first. A perfect marvel of +ingenuity, contrived by a man who had obviously made electricity his +study for years--in spite of his confessed ignorance of it. Worked out +to a nicety. The failing lights were his idea also, and quite simple to +manage, really. The drumming dynamo made a very good imitation of the +'singing of the wheel,' in accordance with the old story. And a less +enlightened household than yours, Sir Ross, might have put all sorts of +constructions upon that--except, of course, the right one.... That, my +friends, was how the diabolical thing was done." + +For a moment a silence held, fraught with mute astonishment; then +exclamations of amazement fell from every one of that little company, +and Ross Duggan was just about to speak when Lady Paula broke hurriedly +in. + +"And my brother?--my poor unfortunate brother?" cried she in a wrung +voice. "He had no share in the crime, I'll swear it, Mr. Cleek. Even +your magic cannot prove that." + +"Not in the crime actually, Lady Paula, but in--other things," he +replied a trifle grimly, glancing again at the flushed face of the +prisoner. "For as a blackmailer I fancy he is something of an artist. +That fact you already know--to your cost, I fancy. And I think I'm not +wrong in saying that it was he who suggested to you the stealing of the +will and----" + +"I begged him not to, Mr. Cleek! I implored. I did-- I swear it. And I +never stole the will, that I can promise!" she broke in distractedly, +beating her hands together. "Antoni suggested--yes--he wished to destroy +it, so that my share of the estate might be greater as widow than that +which had been apportioned to me, and of course he would have a portion +of that, too. But I implored him not--that is true, is it not, Antoni? +You can answer to that? I begged you, and you promised! And he +threatened me even with exposure if I did not agree to the preposterous +idea! I complied, only upon the promise that it should not be destroyed. +But who took it I do not know." + +"But I think I can pretty well guess," responded Cleek serenely, with a +quick look at Cyril's suddenly flushed face. "Your son, Lady Paula, has +much of his uncle's blood in his veins. And he acted, no doubt, upon +_forceful_ advice, and carried the thing through quite successfully. +Perhaps he will tell us just when he decided to steal his own father's +will--at the instigation of an unscrupulous relation." + +Came a slight pause in the telling, meanwhile a startled exclamation +broke from Ross Duggan's lips, while every eye in that little assembly +fastened upon the unfortunate boy. He broke into quiet sobbing, darting +his eyes here and there for possible sympathy. + +"Yes, I took it, sir--when Uncle Antoni told me," he broke out between +sobs. "It was--just after it had happened. I heard Mother's scream, and +then she ran into my room and told me of--the dreadful thing that had +happened! About half an hour afterward Uncle Antoni appeared at the +balcony which opens out from my bedroom window, and told me I must steal +the will for him. I was terrified--oh, I was!--but he threatened me +with--with a pistol----" + +"That's a lie!" gave out the prisoner with a maledictory eye upon his +unfilial nephew. + +"It isn't--it isn't! You told me to get it--just how to get it. That it +was lying upon the table-top; and so I slipped down in my stockinged +feet, and waited in the passage until I saw Ross slip out of the room +after everyone else had gone back to bed, and--and _you_ had come out, +Mr. Cleek, and were talking to Maud in the ante-room. So I crept into +the room--oh, it was dreadful, with Father lying there--like +that--snatched it up and fled back to my bedroom in terror. Uncle Antoni +was still waiting on the balcony, and when he got it he climbed down the +balustrade again and--and--that is all I know. Oh, I wish--I wish I'd +never had anything to do with it!" + +Cleek nodded. + +"I'm sure you do," he said quietly. "So it was really not your fault, +Cyril. You acted under considerable pressure. That I'll admit. But it +might have been better if you had confided in--someone else after the +deed was done. It would have helped clear up the mystery sooner, at any +rate. But that cannot be helped now. To proceed with the story. Here, by +the way, is the missing will, Lady Paula. I found it muffling the +clapper of Rhea's bell--a very ingenious hiding-place--and in the +finding discovered your--er--worthy brother at the same time. That was +how I happened to get hold of him. He gave me a few tips of quite useful +information afterward, upon promise of a light sentence, and helped to +lead me finally to the true murderer. So we will hold that in his +favour, at any rate. Sir Ross, I'd prefer you to keep that document +until it can be placed in the hands of your family lawyer. We don't want +any more disappearing tricks for the present, do we?" + +"Hardly. Gad! it's amazing, positively extraordinary how you've found +all this out!" threw in that gentleman with deep emphasis. "Please +accept my apologies now for those unforgivable things I said to you, Mr. +Cleek. But when a chap's just been practically accused of killing his +own father----" + +"You must expect a little heat. That's all right, my friend. Don't +bother about it further. Only, I was obliged to throw the scent upon +someone other than the real man--or we'd have lost him. You understand +that, of course?" + +"Certainly. Only tell us how you traced the murder to its proper source, +and _why_ James Tavish should have done such a thing." + +"That I will, and in the shortest way possible. But you must let me tell +my story in my own particular manner," replied Cleek, with a slight +smile and a warmth of feeling toward this very impetuous and +generous-hearted young man. "There's still a good deal to be cleared up +before you can understand, and I'm afraid some of it won't make +particularly good hearing. But that I cannot help. Men are frail things, +Sir Ross, where temptation is concerned. And when there is a pretty +woman in the question ... it's all right, Lady Paula; it all happened +long before _you_ entered your husband's life, so that there is nothing +for _you_ to forgive--but, as I say, when a pretty woman enters at one +door, a man's discretion very often flies out at another. + +"I found, among other things yesterday, when I was looking for the will +in your father's desk, after having appropriated his keys first, a +bundle of old love-letters, written upon paper which I ascertained had +been bought in the village, and bearing a post-mark which was local, and +signed with the name 'Jeannette.' I confess I did not know just where +these entered into the case at all, but something told me that they were +a big factor. My intuition--policeman's sixth sense--call it what you +will. I looked into the matter, and then discovered, after some probing +through my man Dollops (who, by the way, Mr. Narkom, deserves high +commendation in this case), that they were actually written by James +Tavish's sister, Jeannette, and that--to put it baldly, for which I +trust you will forgive me--that your father had been carrying on a +secret liaison with this girl for some years, upon promise of marriage, +and had, in fact, got her into very unfortunate trouble." + +"But he never married her--he married _me_-- I am his legal wife, I +swear that!" struck in Lady Paula, in a high-pitched, terrified voice. +"I knew nothing of this woman at all--everything in our marriage was in +order----" + +"Of that there is not the smallest doubt, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +gravely. "I said only 'under _promise_ of marriage.' That is where man +is unfortunately so unfaithful. He merely left her to bear her trouble +alone--after, of course, providing for her and the possible issue of +their unhappy union--and, being a faithful woman, it broke her heart, +and both she and her child died as a consequence of this neglect. When +the wish to live is gone, there is little else to bind one to this earth +at such times, my friends, and so she and her unwanted little one passed +out to a happier realm. Much of this I have gleaned from those same +letters; much I have deduced in the natural course of events. The final +clue was discovered in James Tavish's own room, where this photograph, +bearing the date of her death and that of her child, and having one word +written across the face of it, was discovered in a box on his +dressing-table." + +He handed the piece of pictured pasteboard across to each of them in +turn, watching their faces to see the effect of it upon them +individually. Mute astonishment, dull grief showed in Ross and Maud +Duggan's eyes as they looked upon it. It was as though they had +discovered suddenly that their idol had feet of clay. For across the +front of the pictured face was written one word in heavy black scrawl, +and the word was "_Avenged!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +"AS A TALE THAT WAS TOLD" + + +"My God!" It was Ross Duggan who spoke. "Just to think of it! Just to +think! That _my_ father----" + +"Don't forget he's dead, Ross, and beyond all chance of your +remonstrating with him, and that the dead cannot speak up for +themselves!" cried Maud Duggan, in a wrung voice. "Don't say anything +you will be sorry for, I beg of you! Mr. Cleek, this has come as +something in the nature of a shock to my brother and me, and--and it's +going to take some time to let this part of your story sink in. It seems +dreadful that one's own father...." + +"And yet there are many who have done worse--far worse," threw in Cleek, +with uplifted hand, as she paused and looked at him out of anguished +eyes. "Youth must learn to forgive, Miss Duggan. That is a lesson which +both you and your brother have got to learn, and don't forget, will you, +in the learning, that this thing took place more than seventeen years +ago--before your father was married to his present wife. Raking up dead +ashes is a poor sort of game, and an unprofitable one. I would never +have spoken only that therein lay the motive of James Tavish's crime, +and for seventeen long years he has worked for it. The unutterable +patience of the man! the appalling sense of revenge! For at the end of +that time his bitterness to the man who had wronged his sister was even +greater than when the thing itself took place. How long has he been in +your father's employ?" + +"Twelve years." + +"And I take it he was well known locally before that?" + +"The family was certainly an old local one, Mr. Cleek, and, in fact, I +have heard the story go that they were descendants of the original +Peasant Girl on her mother's side." + +"Oho! Well, that may or may not be. Vendettas are not only carried out +in southern climes, Miss Duggan. I've learned that lesson to my cost +many times since I took up this profession. And the Scotch temperament +is a dour one, and not forgiving. A grudge is a grudge, even if it lasts +through several centuries--and who knows but that this belief lent +colour to his hatred of your father? At any rate, whether it is true or +not, James Tavish killed Sir Andrew because he was the betrayer of his +sister--and took seventeen years to bring his vengeance to full +maturity. Gad! what a character to bear! It makes one's blood run +cold!... Constables, I think you may remove your prisoner now to the +nearest lock-up. We've done with him for the present, thanks." + +So saying, he waved his hand toward the door, opened it, and waited +until the little cavalcade had taken its dismissal; meanwhile those +within the room of that house of discord sat silent as dead people, +thinking back over the doings of seventeen years ago, and of a dead man +who had betrayed an innocent woman. It was an unpleasant thought at +best. They were glad when Cleek came back into the room, closed the +door, and took his seat among them again. His pleasant voice dispelled +the repellent weavings of their own brains. + +"And now," said he, "to continue with our story. It is nearly done, +but there are points which I know each one of you would like to have +cleared up before I take my leave. What's that, Lady Paula? How did I +come to suspect your brother in the first place? Ah, that involves a +long story with which I will not bore you, for you have had enough +already of this distressing affair, I'm sure. Only this: That I happened +to go up into your boudoir yesterday, when you were making your way up +the Great Free Road"--he paused a moment as she coloured, and gave a +significant smile. "You see, I know more than I tell, eh? Well, I +discovered a note screwed up on the floor, and signed 'A. M.' Antoni +Matei, we now know it was. Once I suspected Captain Macdonald--simply +because the footprints outside of the window of the library were made +by his hunting-boots--discovered afterward by my man, mud-caked and +hidden in some shrubs near Tavish's cottage. Which leads me, Miss +Duggan, to that very particular point of the size of the gentleman's +boots. You remember? I won't call that incident to your mind further. +Only--you were a little mistaken, that's all. But let that pass. Every +woman acts upon the dictates of her own heart, and if those dictates are +a trifle mistaken--yes, that was how I found out, Lady Paula. After +seeing Captain Macdonald's handwriting I knew that he had _not_ written +that note. A further investigation upon the part of my lad Dollops and +myself last night led to the elucidation of who it was who _had_ written +it. Your brother himself disclosed his relation to you last night, after +we had our talk in the village lock-up. After that, the thing was as +easy as A B C. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Duggan? And where exactly did Captain Macdonald +come in! Why, when one meets a man running agitatedly away from the +particular part of the Castle where the crime had taken place--and just +_after_ it--one is inclined to be a little suspicious of that man. It is +only natural. Though, thank Heaven, my suspicions were soon quieted, +after I discovered that your gallant Captain had really come into the +grounds--with your having left the gate ajar for him so that Rhea's +bell would not sound--to meet _you_ clandestinely, as he had been +forbidden the house. Love will always find a way, you know. Only, it was +unfortunate at the time that he should have chosen that night of all +others to have come to meet you. You knew of the crime, then, Captain? +Or what was it that sent you pelting away so hard from the house that +held your affianced bride?" + +"Simply because I had heard a woman's scream, had seen the lights all +over the Castle switch up, and did not want my meeting with Maud to be +discovered--lest a more certain means should be taken to keep us apart +ever afterward," returned the Captain, a trifle heatedly. "And I must +confess that I was a bit nonplussed and--and angered when you mistook +_me_ for a murderer and held me under suspicion." + +"For which you might readily give your apology, as a better mannered man +has already done," apostrophized Cleek inwardly. "Still, we can't help a +man's nature, and he seems a likely enough chap, as men go. _And_ she +loves him. And it's no affair of mine as to how he behaves himself--so +long as he was not the guilty party." Then, aloud, "I see. Well, Miss +Duggan will explain to you how your hunting-boots came to be here, and +to lead to your being suspected along with the other. Just ask her +afterward--eh, Miss Duggan? And love her still more for her womanly +sentiment, if I may be permitted to tender any advice. + +"I think that is really all. Only, I should like just a word with Sir +Ross and Cyril alone, if I may be granted the favour? And then I must be +going. Mr. Narkom and I have other affairs to attend to in this +neighbourhood which are very pressing and will want a lot of careful +handling to bring home to their proper destination.... Thanks very +much." + +He got to his feet instantly as the women arose, followed by Captain +Macdonald, and quietly left the room. Only Sir Ross, Cyril, and Mr. +Narkom remained. As the door closed behind them, Ross Duggan spoke up. + +"What is it that you wish to say, Mr. Cleek?" he said quietly. "I'll be +glad if you will go easy with Cyril. He's not a bad boy, you know. Only +a trifle misguided, and I shall make it my duty in future to keep a +sharper eye upon him. The boy has had no other companions but his books +of adventure and his own imagination." + +"And a very unfortunate mess those two things have made of him," +returned Cleek quietly, crossing over and laying a hand along Cyril's +shoulder. "School, and boarding-school, is the best place for _him_, my +friend, and good healthy companionship with others of his own age. It's +just the devil of that reading which made him act as he did. I found him +out, late last night in company with his uncle, doing some very +nefarious work on the hillside below here." + +"_What?_" + +"Gently, gently, my friend. Don't forget, will you, that Cyril has not +been given the same chances as other boys. And his is an active brain. +The work in question was illicit whisky-stills--in fact, the very thing +for which I originally came down here, Mr. Narkom. James Tavish and +Antoni Matei and Cyril have all had a hand in it. And the still itself, +you will find, if you go down to your own dungeon, Sir Ross, to where +the Peasant Girl is supposed to have her haunts o' nights." + +"Cinnamon! Cleek!" + +"Yes--and, by James! Mr. Narkom. And that's the actual truth, too. I +discovered it first of all. A little looking on the part of Dollops and +me brought the thing to light, through a susceptible maid-servant at +present in your employ, Sir Ross. She fell for my Cockney lad's 'ginger +'air.' And he made use of his opportunity. And it was then--even as late +as last night--that my suspicions were finally pinned upon James Tavish +as the murderer of your father. For I saw him, in company with the Dago, +wearing your tweed coat, which I noted hanging on a hook in the passage +earlier in the day, and had even seen you wearing during the morning, +before you changed into that dark suit yesterday afternoon--and if it +hadn't been for _me_ that same tweed coat might have led you into some +rather unfortunate feminine revelations from one of the ladies who are +at present in your house. But let that pass.... Mr. Narkom, we must go. +There's a gang to be rounded up, and unfortunately, through a foolish +woman, some inkling of our presence here has become known, and it will +take us all our time to trace the rest of the participants in this +pleasant affair before they have had time to show nothing more than a +very clean pair of heels for our benefit. We must be making tracks. Sir +Ross, take an older fellow's advice and fight for that boy's rights to +go to a decent English school. I've no doubt that the house will be +divided now, since these revelations have been made. One could hardly go +on living with a woman for a stepmother who--who had even contemplated +such things, although she did it for the benefit of her own boy. +But--fight for him. And get him away from--unfortunate influence if you +can. Or you'll be losing for the Empire an otherwise good little +citizen. There's no doubt about the presence of the uncle now--with that +whisky-still business on hand, and that's what brought the two men +together, no doubt. But get this boy clear of it all. Try a public +school where his _moral_ outlook will be as well cared for as his +physical, and--get him there _quick_. + +"Good-bye, Cyril--shake hands, won't you? And you might write a line to +me now and then, to let me know how you're getting on. I'd have had a +boy of your age myself, no doubt, if--if I hadn't made a fool of myself +earlier in life, and I've got to make up for it now. But it makes me +rather soft for youngsters. Good-bye, Sir Ross, and good luck. Clear out +of this ill-fated inheritance for a time, until things blow over. You'll +find there'll be a different aspect of affairs when you come back with +your vision cleared. Mr. Narkom, come along. At least we've beaten the +Coroner at his own business, and that's always a feather in a +policeman's cap, eh, old friend?" + +And, so speaking, he passed out of that house of discord, which, +however, he was to visit later, many times, as friend and confidant of +the new owner of it, out into the clear sunshine of an early noon, and +the paths that lay ahead. + + +THE END + + + + +Popular Copyright Novels + +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of + +A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction + + * * * * * + + =Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =Affinities, and Other Stories.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =After House, The.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Against the Winds.= By Kate Jordan. + =Ailsa Paige.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Also Ran.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + =Amateur Gentleman, The.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Anderson Crow, Detective.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Anna, the Adventuress.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Anne's House of Dreams.= By L. M. Montgomery. + =Anybody But Anne.= By Carolyn Wells. + =Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.= By Arthur Stringer. + =Around Old Chester.= By Margaret Deland. + =Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Athalie.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =At the Mercy of Tiberius.= By Augusta Evans Wilson. + =Auction Block, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= By Eliza C. Hall. + =Awakening of Helena Richie.= By Margaret Deland. + + =Bab: a Sub-Deb.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Bambi.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Barbarians.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Bar 20.= By Garence E. Mulford. + =Bar 20 Days.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Barrier, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Bars of Iron, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + =Beasts of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs. + =Beckoning Roads.= By Jeanne Judson. + =Belonging.= By Olive Wadsley. + =Beloved Traitor, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Beloved Vagabond, The.= By Wm. J. Locke. + =Beltane the Smith.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Betrayal, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Beulah.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + =Beyond the Frontier.= By Randall Parrish. + =Big Timber.= By Bertrand W. Sinclair. + =Black Bartlemy's Treasure.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Black Is White.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Blacksheep! Blacksheep!= By Meredith Nicholson. + =Blind Man's Eyes, The.= By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer. + =Boardwalk, The.= By Margaret Widdemer. + =Bob Hampton of Placer.= By Randall Parrish. + =Bob, Son of Battle.= By Alfred Olivant. + =Box With Broken Seals, The.= By E. 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Frank Davis. + =Christine of the Young Heart.= By Louise Breintenbach Clancy. + =Cinderella Jane.= By Marjorie B. Cooke. + =Cinema Murder.= The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =City of Masks, The.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Cleek of Scotland Yard.= By T. W. Hanshew. + =Cleek, The Man of Forty Faces.= By Thomas W. Hanshew. + =Cleek's Government Cases.= By Thomas W. Hanshew. + =Clipped Wings.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Clutch of Circumstance, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Coast of Adventure, The.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Come-Back, The.= By Carolyn Wells. + =Coming of Cassidy, The.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Coming of the Law, The.= By Charles A. Seltzer. + =Comrades of Peril.= By Randall Parrish. + =Conquest of Canaan, The.= By Booth Tarkington. + =Conspirators, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Contraband.= By Randall Parrish. + =Cottage of Delight, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =Court of Inquiry, A.= By Grace S. Richmond. + =Cricket, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.= By Rex Beach. + =Crimson Tide, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Cross Currents.= By Author of "Pollyanna." + =Cross Pull, The.= By Hal. G. Evarts. + =Cry in the Wilderness, A.= By Mary E. Waller. + =Cry of Youth, A.= By Cynthia Lombardi. + =Cup of Fury, The.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Curious Quest, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + + =Danger and Other Stories.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =Dark Hollow, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Dark Star, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Daughter Pays, The.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + =Day of Days, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance. + =Depot Master, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Destroying Angel, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance. + =Devil's Own, The.= By Randall Parrish. + =Devil's Paw, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Disturbing Charm, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Door of Dread, The.= By Arthur Stringer. + =Dope.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Double Traitor, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Duds.= By Henry C. Rowland. + + =Empty Pockets.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Erskine Dale Pioneer.= By John Fox, Jr. + =Everyman's Land.= By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. + =Extricating Obadiah.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Eyes of the Blind, The.= By Arthur Somers Roche. + =Eyes of the World, The.= By Harold Bell Wright. + + =Fairfax and His Pride.= By Marie Van Vorst. + =Felix O'Day.= By F. Hopkinson Smith. + =54-40 or Fight.= By Emerson Hough. + =Fighting Chance, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Fighting Fool, The.= By Dane Coolidge. + =Fighting Shepherdess, The.= By Caroline Lockhart. + =Financier, The.= By Theodore Dreiser. + =Find the Woman.= By Arthur Somers Roche. + =First Sir Percy, The.= By The Baroness Orczy. + =Flame, The.= By Olive Wadsley. + =For Better, for Worse.= By W. B. Maxwell. + =Forbidden Trail, The.= By Honore Willsie. + =Forfeit, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Fortieth Door, The.= By Mary Hastings Bradley. + =Four Million, The.= By O. Henry. + =From Now On.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Fur Bringers, The.= By Hulbert Footner. + =Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.= By Frank L. Packard. + + =Get Your Man.= By Ethel and James Dorrance. + =Girl in the Mirror, The.= By Elizabeth Jordan. + =Girl of O. K. Valley, The.= By Robert Watson. + =Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.= By Payne Erskine. + =Girl from Keller's, The.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Girl Philippa, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Girls at His Billet, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Glory Rides the Range.= By Ethel and James Dorrance. + =Gloved Hand, The.= By Burton E. Stevenson. + =God's Country and the Woman.= By James Oliver Curwood. + =God's Good Man.= By Marie Corelli. + =Going Some.= By Rex Beach. + =Gold Girl, The.= By James B. Hendryx. + =Golden Scorpion, The.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Golden Slipper, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Golden Woman, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Good References.= By E. J. Rath. + =Gorgeous Girl, The.= By Nalbro Bartley. + =Gray Angels, The.= By Nalbro Bartley. + =Great Impersonation, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Greater Love Hath No Man.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Green Eyes of Bast, The.= By Sax Rohmer, + =Greyfriars Bobby.= By Eleanor Atkinson. + =Gun Brand, The.= By James B. Hendryx. + + =Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Happy House.= By Baroness Von Hutten. + =Harbor Road, The.= By Sara Ware Bassett. + =Havoc.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Heart of the Desert, The.= By Honore Willsie. + =Heart of the Hills, The.= By John Fox, Jr. + =Heart of the Sunset.= By Rex Beach. + =Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.= By Edfrid A. Bingham. + =Heart of Unaga, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Hidden Children, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Hidden Trails.= By William Patterson White. + =Highflyers, The.= By Clarence B. Kelland. + =Hillman, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Hills of Refuge, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =His Last Bow.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =His Official Fiancee.= By Berta Ruck. + =Honor of the Big Snows.= By James Oliver Curwood. + =Hopalong Cassidy.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Hound from the North, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =House of the Whispering Pines, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.= By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. + =Humoresque.= By Fannie Hurst. + + =I Conquered.= By Harold Titus. + =Illustrious Prince, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =In Another Girl's Shoes.= By Berta Ruck. + =Indifference of Juliet, The.= By Grace S. Richmond. + =Inez.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + =Infelice.= By Augusta Evans Wilson. + =Initials Only.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Inner Law, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =Innocent.= By Marie Corelli. + =In Red and Cold.= By Samuel Merwin. + =Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer, + =In the Brooding Wild.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Intriguers, The.= By William Le Queux. + =Iron Furrow, The.= By George C. Shedd. + =Iron Trail, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Iron Woman, The.= By Margaret Deland. + =Ishmael.= (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth. + =Island of Surprise.= By Cyrus Townsend Brady. + =I Spy.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln. + =It Pays to Smile.= By Nina Wilcox Putnam. + =I've Married Marjorie.= By Margaret Widdemer. + + =Jean of the Lazy A.= By B. M. Bower, + =Jeanne of the Marshes.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Jennie Gerhardt.= By Theodore Dreiser. + =Johnny Nelson.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Judgment House, The.= By Gilbert Parker. + + =Keeper of the Door, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + =Keith of the Border.= By Randall Parrish. + =Kent Knowles: Quahaug.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Kingdom of the Blind, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =King Spruce.= By Holman Day. + =Knave of Diamonds, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + + =La Chance Mine Mystery, The.= By S. Carleton. + =Lady Doc, The.= By Caroline Lockhart. + =Land-Girl's Love Story, A.= By Berta Ruck. + =Land of Strong Men, The.= By A. M. Chisholm. + =Last Straw, The.= By Harold Titus. + =Last Trail, The.= By Zane Grey. + =Laughing Bill Hyde.= By Rex Beach. + =Laughing Girl, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Law Breakers, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Law of the Gun, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. 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And Thomas W. Hanshew. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. Hanshew + +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 Riddle of the Spinning Wheel + +Author: Mary E. Hanshew + Thomas W. Hanshew + +Release Date: July 28, 2010 [EBook #33279] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIDDLE OF THE SPINNING WHEEL *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THE RIDDLE OF THE</h1> + +<h1>SPINNING WHEEL</h1> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h2>By MARY E. and THOMAS W.</h2> + +<h2>HANSHEW</h2> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>AUTHORS OF</h3> + +<p class="center">"Cleek, the Man of Forty Faces," "Cleek's Government</p> + +<p class="center">Cases," "The Riddle of the Frozen Flame," "The</p> + +<p class="center">Riddle of the Night," "The Riddle of the</p> + +<p class="center">Purple Emperor," "The Riddle of</p> + +<p class="center">the Mysterious Light," etc.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h4>A. L. BURT COMPANY</h4> + +<h4>Publishers</h4> + +<h4>New York</h4> + +<h4>Published by arrangement with Doubleday, Page & Company</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY</p> + +<p class="center">DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>The Girl from Scotland</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>Cleek to the Rescue</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>The Castle o' Dreams</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>The Morning Call</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>A Startling Discovery</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>When the Sword Fell</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>The Summons</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>When the Blow Fell</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>A Double Tragedy</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>The Woman in the Case</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>A New Clue</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>Cleek Makes a Startling Assertion</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>Mr. Narkom Voices an Opinion</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>In Which Rhea Takes a Hand</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>Another Fly in the Web</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>"Tens!"</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>A Pair of Boots</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>Enter Cyril</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>Dollops Makes a Discovery</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>"Pins and Needles"</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>"A Lunnon Gentleman"</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>Damning Evidence</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>A Startling Dénouement</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>Hare and Hounds</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>The Man in the Black Mask</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>The End in Sight</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>What Happened in the Library</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>The Secret of the Singing Wheel</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>"As a Tale That Was Told"</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE RIDDLE OF THE</h2> + +<h2>SPINNING WHEEL</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE GIRL FROM SCOTLAND</h3> + +<p>Mr. Maverick Narkom, Superintendent of Scotland Yard, looked up from the +letter he was perusing, a wrinkle in his brow and one hand spread out +over the sheet to keep it open, as the sound of a soft knock broke +through the stillness, and with an exasperation born of the knotty +problem upon which he was at work, called out an irritable "Come in."</p> + +<p>Inspector Petrie's head appeared in the aperture, stiff hand at the +salute.</p> + +<p>"I know you wasn't to be disturbed, sir," he began apologetically, "but +there's a leddy come to see you. Seemed distressed, and said it was +urgent, and begged me for the love of 'even to let her in."</p> + +<p>"And, being a religious man, you succumbed, of course," rapped out Mr. +Narkom in a tone of exasperation. "Oh, well, where's her card? What with +one thing and another, this morning's work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> has practically gone to +blazes. Not a minute's peace, by James! What's the lady's name, Petrie?"</p> + +<p>Inspector Petrie came forward, a strip of pasteboard in his hand upon +which was engraved a name and something written in a woman's hand +underneath.</p> + +<p>"<i>Miss Maud Duggan.</i> H'm. Scotch, I take it. And what's this! <i>School +friend of Miss Ailsa Lorne.</i>—Ailsa Lorne, eh? Haven't heard from her in +a month of Sundays. Said her business was important—eh, Petrie?"</p> + +<p>"Very important, sir."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, then, show her up. This cipher business requires entire +quiet, and so long as I can't seem to enforce that, I might as well +attend to the matter in hand."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir." Bowing, Petrie withdrew. Meanwhile Mr. Narkom slipped +his arms into his coat—it was June, and the heat-wave had London in its +grip, and allied with an equally warm problem he had thought himself +fully justified in shedding it—and sat at his desk, drumming his +fingers upon the top of it to the tune of "God Save the King."</p> + +<p>A moment later "Miss Maud Duggan" was standing before him—a slim, +pale-faced woman with dark-ringed eyes and a twitching, nervous mouth. +She came toward him, hands clasped over heaving breast, entire body +aflame with the intensity of her quest. Mr. Narkom, waving her to a seat +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> none too much cordiality, mentally labelled her "highly strung," +and seated himself with an effort to interest himself in what she had to +say.</p> + +<p>"Miss Duggan, I believe?" he began, with a creditable attempt at +cordiality. "Friend of Miss Lorne's?"</p> + +<p>"That's right," she said in a hesitating voice, with just a trace of +Scotch accent that told of the part of the British Isles which gave her +birth. "I <i>am</i> a friend of Ailsa's—an old school friend—although we +haven't seen each other for a matter of five years. But I wrote to +her—when the trouble began—and she told me to come to you. Here is her +letter, if you care to see it."</p> + +<p>"I prefer to listen to your version of the story first, my dear young +lady," returned Mr. Narkom, with a reassuring smile. She was palpably +nervous. "You are in trouble, of course? No one ever visits these +offices for any other reason. Now just set yourself at ease and tell me +all about it. Is it a family matter, or what?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is a family matter. And a very serious one at that, Mr. +Narkom," returned Miss Duggan in her rapid voice. "And I am so worried I +don't know which way to turn—and so, in desperation, I came down—all +the way from Scotland—to consult you. You will help me, I know. It is +about my father. His life is in danger, in very grave danger, and I am +afraid that even now, while I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> away, something may happen to him, and +that woman practise her cunning successfully at last."</p> + +<p>"In danger?" Mr. Narkom sat forward in his chair, his professional +instincts awake at the word. "Who is the woman of whom you speak, Miss +Duggan, and why should she have designs on your father's life? Begin at +the beginning and tell me where you live, and all about it. There's +plenty of time, you know. Things don't happen so rapidly as a lot of you +young people imagine. You are Scotch, are you not?"</p> + +<p>"I am. And my father is Sir Andrew Duggan, of whom you have no doubt +heard. He—he has large possessions in Scotland. A big landowner, you +know——"</p> + +<p>"And a hard one," said Mr. Narkom mentally recalling certain paragraphs +about the gentleman which appeared from time to time in the Scotch +papers.</p> + +<p>"Our home is at Aygon—Aygon Castle, in Argyllshire. And there are two +of us by our father's first marriage—my brother Ross and me. Ross, as +you know, is heir to the estates, of course, as eldest son of the line +(that part of them which is entailed); but some seventeen years ago my +father married again, an Italian woman whom he met upon one of his +periodical journeys abroad."</p> + +<p>"And this is the woman in question?"</p> + +<p>"It is!" Her voice ran up a tiny scale of excitement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> She shut her +hands together and breathed hard, and leaning forward in her seat, let +her big dark eyes dwell a moment upon his face. "That woman is a +would-be murderer, a fiend incarnate, prompted to heaven knows what +awful action by her ambitions for her son Cyril!"</p> + +<p>"Your father's child?"</p> + +<p>"My father's child. Cyril is sixteen this birthday—a nice lad, but with +all the Latin traits of his mother's race—those traits which mix so +badly with our Scotch character, Mr. Narkom. Paula has planned this +thing from the beginning—slowly, secretly, steadily. She has planned to +wrest the estates from Ross, to turn his own father against him, so that +at the last he will remake his will and leave all that he possesses to +Cyril—and rob Ross of his rightful inheritance!"</p> + +<p>"My dear lady, have you any foundation for believing this?" put in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture, as she paused. "An ambitious woman is not +necessarily a potential murderess, you know."</p> + +<p>"But this one is. One can see it in her eyes when she looks at Ross, and +one can read it in every gesture—every thought that passes across her +face. She is a dangerous woman, Mr. Narkom, who will stop at nothing. +Her own father, I believe, had a career that was shrouded in mystery, so +far as we can trace, but there was theft in it, and crime, too—that +much I have ascertained. His daughter is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> fitting descendant of the +family. I repeat, there is nothing she will stop at—nothing!—and now +that Ross has taken up with this electricity installation—he has been +mad on engineering ever since he was big enough to toddle, but Father +would not permit him to go in for it—Lady Paula has used it to her own +desperate plans, and has practically succeeded in turning Father against +Ross, so that the two hardly speak when they meet, and avoid each other +as much as possible in the daily round of life."</p> + +<p>"And what, my dear young lady, makes you think that—er—Lady Paula +would wish to murder your father?"</p> + +<p>"My eyes—and my ears, too. Both of which are sharper than one might +imagine. When Paula mixes my father's food—he is an old man and full of +whims and cranks, Mr. Narkom, and he has been much attached to his +second wife and trusts her absolutely—and at night he takes +bread-and-milk for supper, nothing else. And no one but Paula must make +it. She has a little sitting-room of her own just off my father's study, +where there is a little gas-stove and all the necessary paraphernalia +for mixing an invalid's food, and last week I made a point of going in +to watch her—found an excuse to get some note-paper and stepped into +the room quietly. She was stirring the milk in the saucepan, and in her +hand was a little phial of some whitish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> powder which she was just about +to empty into it when the sound of my step startled her. Instantly she +swung round, went as pale as death, and clapped her hand to her heart. +'How you startled me!' she exclaimed. 'You should not enter the room so +softly, Maud. It is dangerous.' 'Not more dangerous than what you are at +present doing,' I wanted to answer, but I dared not. I had no proof, and +to accuse her without it might only make Father turn entirely from Ross +and me in his quick-tempered, irascible fashion. But she slipped the +phial into her pocket and finished making the bread-and-milk while I +fumbled in the stand where the house paper is kept, all the time +watching her from the tail of my eye. And I could see how her hands +trembled, Mr. Narkom, so that she slopped the milk over into the saucer +from the cup. It's poisoning she is practising upon him— I know it, +intuitively!" She clenched her hand, and sent an agonized look into the +Superintendent's face. "And all because she is determined to get the +estates for Cyril, and then kill poor Father, and take <i>everything</i>, and +turn us all out of our rightful home!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom took out his handkerchief and wiped the beads of perspiration +from his brow. The day was warm, and this excitable and evidently very +much upset young woman only made matters warmer.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," he said in his paternal way. "Isn't that going a little +too far—to accuse a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> woman of poisoning upon such slight evidence? How +is your father's health?"</p> + +<p>"Failing every day. Every day he grows weaker, but he will see no +doctor—does not believe in them and will never let one enter his house +if it can be avoided. But he is weakening steadily. And it is not +because of his seventy-six years, either, for a haler and heartier man +never lived—until Paula started this wicked thing upon him, and began +making him bread-and-milk for supper. She says he eats too heavily; that +it is not good for him. And Father takes every word as law."</p> + +<p>"A somewhat unwise course with any woman—begging your pardon," put in +Mr. Narkom with a smile. "And now tell me what arrangements your father +has made for the future of his second wife and her son. Or don't you +know?"</p> + +<p>"As it happens, I do. Father is a great stickler for inheritance—or was +until Paula got hold of him—and upon his marriage with her, when my +brother and I were only children (I am twenty-seven and Ross is +twenty-nine), he made this point quite clear to her, I understood, +assuring her upon the birth of Cyril of a sufficient income for her own +and Cyril's needs when death should claim him for its own.</p> + +<p>"Paula, however, has always wanted Aygon Castle; always envied us as its +rightful owners; always said what <i>she</i> would do with it if it belonged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +to <i>her</i>. And now that Ross has taken up with this electrical hobby (an +extravagant one, as you no doubt know), he has installed a complete +lighting plant in the Castle instead of the musty old lamps which we +used to use, and has thereby frightened all the old tenants of the place +nearly out of their wits. For they have never seen such a thing before!"</p> + +<p>"And yet we live in modern times, and in the year of grace +Nineteen-Twenty-Two," said Mr. Narkom quietly.</p> + +<p>"But you must remember that our village is miles away from anywhere," +she returned quickly. "It is a sort of rock-bound fortress which is +almost as impenetrable as the fortresses of old. Miles of +heather-covered hills and crags surround us, and the nearest +town—Cragnorth—is a three hours' journey away. Many of the villagers +have never even seen a train, so that this modern installation of +electricity into the old castle is like some witchcraft that terrifies +them. Paula has made a tremendous fuss, too, saying that the place is +ruined, that it is vandalism, and has so inflamed Father that quarrels +take place all the time between him and Ross, and he has threatened to +disinherit him if he continues in such mad practices."</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom nodded vigorously several times.</p> + +<p>"Aha! now we have come to the root of the affair altogether," he said +with some satisfaction. "That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> was the point I was waiting for. Your +father has actually volunteered that statement, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"He has. And in my presence."</p> + +<p>"And how does your brother Ross take it?"</p> + +<p>"Ross has the family temper, Mr. Narkom. Ross said hot words which he +should never have uttered, and then dashed off to his fiancée's house, +three miles distant—a sweet girl, whom we all love—and did not come +back until the next afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I see, I see. A very unpleasant affair altogether. And you, naturally +loving your brother, Miss Duggan, have pieced things together, and have +now come to me to see what I can do for you? I must have a few minutes +to think this over." A finger touched the bell at his side. Almost +immediately a head appeared and Mr. Narkom gave his orders. "Tell Mr. +Deland to come here, Petrie. I want to speak to him."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir."</p> + +<p>"And now, to look the thing straight in the face. You can bring me no +actual proof of guilt upon your stepmother's part but your own love for +your brother and your woman's intuition, added to what you have seen. +One can bank upon a woman's intuition very often—but not in a case of +this sort. That you will readily understand. However, something is +obviously wrong and wants looking into. So I've sent for one of my best +men, Miss Duggan, and if he thinks enough of the case to take it up,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> I +will entrust the matter entirely to him. He happens to have looked in +this morning, luckily, and—here he is!"</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke, the door opened, and Mr. Deland came in. He was a +tallish, well-set-up man, with eyes neither green nor gray, but with +that something in the bearing of him which mutely stands sponsor for the +thing called Birth. And he was dressed in the trappings of the average +young-man-about-town. Anything more unlike a police officer or a private +detective would be difficult to imagine.</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom crossed over to him and, drawing him aside, with a muttered +apology to the anxious-faced girl who watched him, spoke a few words in +a low tone into his ear. Mr. Deland's expression changed from feigned +interest to the real thing. The two men spoke again for a few moments in +the same low-toned voices, and then Mr. Narkom addressed her.</p> + +<p>"Miss Duggan," he said, rather pompously, she thought—"Mr. Deland has +promised his interest in the case. I have given him but the barest +outlines. It is for you to fill in the story in the manner that you have +filled it in for me. Sit down, Mr. Deland. Now, Miss Duggan, please +begin all over again."</p> + +<p>She looked into this strange man's eyes with her own anguished ones, and +bit her lip a moment to keep back the tears that had been impending +since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the beginning of her story. Her lips trembled. But the eyes were +kind—and understanding. Something in the face spoke to her as lips can +never do. She leaned forward in her seat, shutting her hands together +one upon another in her distress.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Deland," she said brokenly, "help me, please—<i>please</i>! I am in +despair; every moment that passes! I am terribly afraid for Father's +life, even as I have told Mr. Narkom here. But there are some things +which a woman cannot tell. Those things which she feels in her +heart—and has no concrete facts with which to explain them. Father will +die if you do not come to my rescue immediately. He will die, and by no +natural means. I tell you, my father is being poisoned slowly, and +because of his very taciturnity none of us can save him! Even now, as I +sit here, something tells me that things are not right with him, or with +Ross, my brother! All my life long I have had these premonitions. There +must be gipsy blood in me, I think. But there it is. Oh, help me to save +him, to save my brother Ross's inheritance. And my blessing will go with +you to the end of your days!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>CLEEK TO THE RESCUE</h3> + +<p>She stopped speaking suddenly and choked back a sob, covering her face +with her gloved hands, and for a moment Deland sat looking at her, eyes +narrowed, and the curious little one-sided smile so characteristic of +the man travelling up his face. Here was very evident distress indeed. +And real, too, if he knew anything of women. And yet—where was the +evidence, the intention to murder, as she had suggested? There was +absolutely nothing to go upon but a woman's intuition—and that, +strangely enough, very rarely went wrong. He'd bank a good deal upon a +woman's intuition every time, and feel he'd get good credit.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Miss Duggan," he said, leaning forward in his seat and +surveying her with keen, critical eyes. "You are very grieved, I know, +but, as Mr. Narkom has just told me, you have nothing to go upon +but—<i>actually</i>—your own intuition. My friend here does not always bank +on that. I do. A woman's intuition is often a great deal safer than a +whole chain of circumstantial evidence. That is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> where Mr. Narkom and I +differ—eh, old friend? At any rate, as there is another case besides +yours up in Argyllshire awaiting my investigation, I'll tell you what +I'll do. I'll come up to Scotland to-morrow—to-night, in fact, by the +midnight train—and look into both cases at once. And if I can find +anything requiring my assistance I'll gladly give it. How will that do?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom stifled an exclamation of surprise. Here was an interest +which he had never dreamed of awakening. Cleek (for such was the +admirable gentleman in his admirably cut clothes) rarely, if ever, +showed such immediate interest unless there was more in the thing than +met the eye in the first place. And although this Miss Duggan was +obviously in earnest, he himself would be inclined to put the thing down +to a woman's natural jealousy for her rightful possessions, and a +natural love for the man who was beloved to her by all the ties of flesh +and blood and for whom she would fight, if necessary, to the bitter end. +He had seen this sort of thing before—and paid very little attention to +it. The poison story was weak—undeniably weak—though no doubt Miss +Duggan firmly believed in it. A thousand things might have been +contained in the phial other than the poison to which her jealous mind +had instantly leapt. Powdered aspirin, perhaps, or whatnot. And for +Cleek to take such an immediate interest—<i>Cleek</i>!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>He sucked in his breath noiselessly.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" thought he, "there <i>is</i> more in this than meets the eye; of that +I'm sure, or he'd never take such an interest in it. Of course, there's +those illicit stills in the same county, but ... well, anyhow, I was +right in sending for him, by James! It was worth taking a chance over."</p> + +<p>Then he turned his eyes to where Miss Duggan had leaned forward +suddenly, her wet eyes alight with gratitude and face instantly +transfigured.</p> + +<p>"Oh, will you?—will you? How good of you, how very, very good!" she +ejaculated with a little half-sigh of utter relief. "That is all I ask, +Mr. Deland. Someone will come and <i>see</i>—see for themselves how things +stand at Aygon Castle. I tell you my intuition is very rarely wrong, and +if harm does not come to my poor father before this week is out, then I +have made the first mistake in all my life. But I'm not mistaken. Of +that I am positively, absolutely <i>sure</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Well, let's hope you are, my dear young lady," said Mr. Narkom, in his +practical fashion, getting to his feet at a sign from Cleek, to show +that the interview was over at last. "You are lucky to have the help of +Mr. Deland, I must say. Personally I never thought for an instant that +your case would interest him, but as it <i>has</i>, you'll no doubt meet on +the midnight express—eh, Deland?—and travel up together? And now, as I +have a lot of business<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> on hand, I'll wish you a very good morning and +good luck."</p> + +<p>"Thank you." She got to her feet and put her gloved hand into his. "You +have been very, very kind. And I hope, too, that you are right +concerning my intuition. But I am afraid not. Thank you so much +for—everything. And you, too, Mr. Deland. Shall I expect you to-night, +then, by the midnight express, or would you prefer to travel alone?"</p> + +<p>Cleek bowed.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. I shall be glad of your company, if you will permit me +to travel with you, Miss Duggan," he responded gallantly—feeling, +however that he would have preferred to travel alone, if politeness +permitted him to say so. "There will be a good deal of reading that I +shall have to do, but if you'll pardon that.... To-night, then, by the +midnight express. I shall look for you outside the Third booking-office, +at 11:40. And I shall already have secured two corner seats. Back to the +engine, or not?"</p> + +<p>"Back, please," she made answer, giving his hand a grateful squeeze on +parting. "How kind you are! I feel hopeful already! Somehow, you inspire +me with confidence, Mr. Deland. In your hands I know things will not go +amiss. If we can only get there in time——"</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders, and let the rest of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the sentence go by +default, and then, bowing slightly to each in turn, took her departure, +a graceful, elegant figure, bearing in every line and look the mark of +the noble ancestors of one of Scotland's noblest families.</p> + +<p>As the door closed behind her, Cleek wheeled round, and striding over to +Mr. Narkom set a hand upon each of his podgy shoulders, and stood a +moment looking down into his face. Then he gave a short, sharp laugh, +and let his hands drop.</p> + +<p>"A dollar to a ducat but there's more in that than meets the eye," he +said, with a lift of the shoulders and a twitch of the lip. "There's a +woman who has sincerity written upon her soul, but hasn't a jot or +tittle of actual evidence to offer us. Your method would be to send her +home again, until she brought you the poison bottle or the cork of it, +or the bread-and-milk into which the stuff had been poured—eh, old +chap?... And mine—what?" He spread out his hands, and shrugged his +shoulders, and swung upon his heel with a laugh for the rueful +expression upon Mr. Narkom's face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say, old fellow——" began the Superintendent excitedly; but +Cleek's uplifted hand silenced him.</p> + +<p>"Familiarity breeds—the best of comradeship!—my friend. And a little +dig in the ribs now and then should never be read amiss. I owe all I +have to you, Mr. Narkom. You know the deeps of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> gratitude. And if I +am not permitted sometimes to tease.... Oh, you silly old booby! You'll +never be a policeman to the end of your days. There are too many +sensitive nerves running round underneath that plump and portly exterior +of yours. And your heart's too soft! But don't let us stray from our +business in this ridiculous fashion, for time slips by and the hour +isn't half long enough for what must be done in it. Tell me briefly what +she told <i>you</i>, and in as near her own words as you can remember, and +then I'll be off and away to make arrangements for to-night's journey. +If there's nothing in this thing, I'll send you a wire: 'Empty.'</p> + +<p>"You'll understand. If there <i>is</i>, then the word 'Full' will answer +quite satisfactorily, without giving away our plans to any interested +persons. As for the whisky-still business, what more perfect harbour for +it than those craggy, heather-covered hills of Scotland? I'll have news +for you, my friend, never fear; and immediately I hit upon anything, +Dollops shall send it travelling over the wire in our own special code +to you."</p> + +<p>"What a man you are, Cleek! What a fund of restlessness, untiring +interest and intelligence!" said Mr. Narkom, as he laid a fond hand upon +Cleek's sleeve and looked up into his smiling face. "Gad! The Yard would +go to pieces without you nowadays. You saved us from collapse in the old +days of that Maurevanian business, when the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> country seemed to +have run amuck—and blamed the police for it! And you're saving us every +time now. What we'd do without your brains and your pluck and your +wonderful birthright, which disguises you so successfully that even I, +your best friend, don't know you, when you choose—well, I can't say. +But my blessing with you, Cleek, and the best of luck! You'll find what +you're looking for, I haven't a doubt."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll find what I'm looking for, Mr. Narkom; I'm certain of that," +said Cleek quietly, the queer little one-sided smile travelling up his +cheek once more. "I don't wish to sound egotistical, but there are few +things can beat your humble when his mind's made up. Else how would I +have travelled back from the underworld into such a position of trust +and uniqueness as this? Only that a woman's eyes lit the way for me, and +a man's great heart opened the door—and the crook determined to become +the gentleman, and pitched into it forthwith all he was worth. +Cussed—that's me!"</p> + +<p>"And <i>clean</i>! And with those two attributes Hercules was enabled to +clean out the Augean Stables and prove himself ready for anything that +came," supplemented Mr. Narkom, with a noisy sigh. "Cussed and clean! +That's your motto. I'll back it every time.... Now, then, to business. +We've thrown enough bouquets at each other to last for a lifetime! +There's a dickens of a cipher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> case which is tying me into knots at +present, so I need all my faculties to untie myself again! Here are the +facts, Cleek. Nothing much, but you will make more than I can of them; +so here goes."</p> + +<p>And so it came about that when Cleek left the offices in Scotland Yard +that afternoon, and strolled leisurely down toward his diggings in +Clarges Street, he was in possession of the full story, just as Maud +Duggan had told it to Mr. Narkom, and had gleaned therewith one or two +incidental conclusions upon his own account.</p> + +<p>The journey to Scotland was likely to prove a fruitful one. And he was +to see the gaunt crags of that most majestic and rugged country under +more interesting conditions than he had at first bargained for.</p> + +<p>But <i>how</i> interesting and how tragically enthralling, even Cleek himself +was not able to foresee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE CASTLE O' DREAMS</h3> + +<p>To say that Cragnorth—that little unknown village of the Highlands +which lies like an eagle's aerie upon the crest of the hills, scattering +its few dwelling-places like seed over the hillside and down into the +valley below—stood half-an-hour's distance from the station was to +underestimate the fact. For it took Cleek and Dollops and Miss Duggan +two mortal hours of driving in the station hack before they came in +sight of it.</p> + +<p>And it was just as they reached a bend in the hill-road and came out +upon a deep ravine, moss-covered and still wreathed with the mists of +the morning, that Cleek saw Aygon Castle for the first time, and felt +the whole true meaning of what it meant to these lairds of the Highlands +to live here, generation after generation, giving to their children the +right of ownership in the ancestral homes; it was just then that Miss +Duggan turned in her seat and pointed with one arm out-thrown toward it.</p> + +<p>"That's the Castle. Isn't it too magnificently beautiful for words, Mr. +Deland?" she said, with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> suggestion of a catch in her voice at sight +of it. "With those mists wreathing it about, and all its dear, gaunt, +worn turrets piercing the top of the world like that! Now you can +imagine how I feel toward the—the woman who would wrest all this from +Ross, take what is his rightful inheritance from him and give it to a +boy who is only half a Scotsman, and with the blood of another country +running in his veins! Now you can understand why I came all the way to +London to see Mr. Narkom. Look on it, Mr. Deland, and drink in its +beauty. The sight of it is like heaven itself to me."</p> + +<p>Cleek did look on it to his heart's fill, and drank so deep of its +majestic beauty as to be well-nigh intoxicated with it. The artist's +soul of the man was afire with the chill grandeur of the place. From +turreted towers rising through the gray mists, like the towers and the +turrets of the Holy City itself, Aygon Castle was like some enchanter's +palace, like some figment of the mind's weaving in those hours of +day-dreams which lie between the dark and the day.</p> + +<p>To the left of it a huge watch-tower reared its monstrous head to the +blue-flecked Highland sky, set atop of which stood the figure of a man, +gigantic and wrought in bronze, with the plaid of the Duggans sweeping +across his shoulder and eddying out into a marvellous real billow behind +him, one huge forearm raised in the hand of which was a battle-axe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +standing out black and menacing against the early morning sky.</p> + +<p>Cleek swept a hand out to it, while Dollops, silent up to the present, +gave forth the feeling of his Cockney soul in one long-drawn "S'welp +me!" of utter enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Who is the gentleman of the axe, Miss Duggan?" said Cleek, turning +toward her, his face alight with interest. "What a magnificent thing it +is! And how he stands out against this Highland sky of yours—menacing, +victorious, utterly sublime! Some ancestor, no doubt?"</p> + +<p>"<i>The</i> ancestor. The greatest of all that great line of Duggans, or +<i>Mac</i>duggans, as it was then," she responded in a hushed, exultant +voice. "Chief of the greatest and most powerful clan of all Scotland, in +those days when Scotland was a country apart, and the Scottish chiefs +were little kings in their own dominion, ruling in absolute monarchy +over their subjects. Rhea du Macduggan. That was his name, Mr. Deland. A +great and powerful and just man. And when this Castle was built over the +spot where his camp had been in those by-gone glorious days, the +Macduggan who had it built caused that statue to be erected, and had it +wrought in finest bronze, to endure throughout the centuries. You can +see for yourself how well Rhea has withstood the bludgeoning of time. +And, too, you may understand a little, at sight of him, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> this place +means to my brother and me, and how loath we are even to entertain the +thought of letting it get out of the family."</p> + +<p>"And is the estate not entailed?"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately not this portion of it. That part which follows the +entail comprises a couple of the adjacent villages and a lot of +farmsteads out there across the valley. But the Castle—no. In olden +days each son of the family fought for it against the surviving holder +of it, fought a personal battle of strength to prove himself worthy of +it, and then, upon victory—or proved worthiness—the will was made. The +line has never been broken, Mr. Deland. And to-day my brother and I are +as willing to fight for it as were our ancestors of old."</p> + +<p>"And I don't blame you, either," said Cleek with alacrity, sighing a +little, as though some thought of all this magnificence awakened an echo +in his heart that would not immediately be stilled. "I know a little of +that feeling, too. When a man loves his ancestral home, and his country, +he will fight for it and die for it rather than that an alien hand shall +take possession of either. That is the gift of Race, the inherent +something that Family breeds in us. The clanship which belongs to an old +and unbroken line. I know—I know.... Heigho! But it is an inheritance +indeed. I am more in sympathy with you than ever before, Miss Duggan, +for I, too, would fight for this against the hand of an enemy, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> die +fighting rather than that it should slip out of my reach.... And you +mean to tell me that your brother Ross has installed electric lighting +<i>here</i>?"</p> + +<p>She smiled a little, and nodded her head as one might smile at thought +of some child's deliciously childish and foolish action. One could see +that she worshipped her brother.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Deland. A complete installation, which is both the envy and +the desire of every other landowner for miles around."</p> + +<p>"And why the envy, may I ask?"</p> + +<p>"Because the fortunes of many are lower than ours. The Duggans were +always the wealthiest clan in this part of the country. The other clans +were poor. They are still poor. And we, too, are poorer than we were. +The land takes nearly all our income to wrest something from its +wildness besides the heather and the stretches of gorse-covered moor. We +herd the flocks on those parts, Mr. Deland, but cultivation of the rest +is very difficult. It is too wild, too barren. And the other big houses +are indeed envious of our wonderful lighting arrangements. It has been +the root of much friendly quarrelling among us. But the villagers are +<i>terrified</i>!"</p> + +<p>"I can well understand that—in this uncivilized quarter," put in Cleek +with a smile. "Many, I have no doubt, still use the old rushlight of +former days.... Ah, here is the village. My man and I had better put up +at the local hotel, Miss Duggan, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> a couple of fishermen— I'll be +bound your salmon is wonderful in these parts, and I for one love the +sport—and then we can effect an introduction by the aid of our mutual +friend, Miss Lorne, and perhaps to-morrow I might be permitted to call +upon you. How does that satisfy your mind?"</p> + +<p>She put out a hand to him with an impetuosity that was foreign to her.</p> + +<p>"It satisfies me splendidly. You are more than kind to take such an +interest. Put up at the Three Fishers, by all means, Mr. Deland. The +landlord is a kindly soul, and will give you every attention, I know. +And then, if you will be good enough, call to-morrow morning—unless I +have to send for you before then. And if so, how shall I do that?"</p> + +<p>The hack drew up in front of the Inn of the Three Fishers and Cleek and +Dollops dismounted, the latter entering the inn with their baggage, +while Cleek stood at the side of the carriage, leaning over the edge of +it to speak to its sole occupant. Beyond him, directly opposite to them, +the village street broke off into a slope that led down into the valley, +rock-bound and lichened over with heather-bells and the outstretched +arms of prickly gorse-bushes. While on an adjacent hill directly in +front and rising out of the valley itself up a steep mountainside stood +Aygon Castle, its many windows commanding a distant view of the village, +and practically upon a level with it, so that some of those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> same +windows faced upon those of the inn, with the street and then the valley +and the hillside on which it stood between.</p> + +<p>Cleek waved a hand toward it now.</p> + +<p>"Which is your own window?" he asked softly.</p> + +<p>She pointed. "Fourth from the left. That tall, narrowish slit-like one. +It has mullioned panes—see? There are only three others like that on +this side. The fourth from the left is mine. Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said Cleek meaningly, "if you want me, put a light in that +window—a red light, for preference, as at this distance it would be +easier to see. And light and re-light it three times. I shall be on the +watch. And if not I, my man Dollops. Until to-morrow morning, when I +shall call. Remember—three times, if you want me, and I shall come +immediately—in my professional guise or not, as you like. And keep up +your heart, Miss Duggan. Things may not be as black as you think. Fourth +from the left, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Fourth from the left. How kind you are! I shall never be able to thank +you for all your interest. And I have a little disused bicycle lamp in +my cupboard. It has a red slide. I will flash that—if I need you. +Good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said Cleek, smiling, and standing bareheaded in the early +morning sunshine.</p> + +<p>The carriage drove on up the hill, turning at the corner and winding +down again into the valley, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> from the outer wall of the street upon +the opposite side one could watch its progress as one watched the +movements of a fly upon an adjacent bank. Cleek crossed the road and +stopped there, head bent, arms folded upon the low stone top of the +wall. Round along the tortuous hill road it went creeping along, at an +incredibly slow pace it seemed from his position above it, on and on and +on into the valley, and then up, up, up, the opposite hillside, through +bushes and shrubs that screened it now and again from view, and betwixt +immense boulders, until eventually it came abreast of the huge +wrought-iron gates of the place and passed between them out of sight.</p> + +<p>And as it disappeared Cleek turned upon his heel with a deep-drawn sigh.</p> + +<p>"Gad! what an inheritance!" he mentally commented as he crossed the road +and entered the portals of the inn itself. "Enough to fight for, indeed! +Mr. Narkom, old friend, this is one of those subtle things which your +middle-class upbringing could never understand. One of those things +which belong to the few and the chosen. Heigho! And Esau bartered his +birthright for a mess of pottage. She'd fight for it—and so would I! A +nice girl—hysterical, high-strung, but full of the pride of race. The +fourth window from the left, she said. I'll put Dollops on the job, +while I snoop around a bit for myself, and see how the land lies. Mine +host<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> might possibly put me wise to a good deal, as our American cousins +say."</p> + +<p>So he strolled into the bar-parlour, and ordered a tankard of ale, and +over it made the acquaintance of that particular specimen of rugged +Scotch manhood who was for the time being to be his host.</p> + +<p>"Fine views in these parts," said he, conversationally, and in the +man-of-the-world-tourist-idiot voice which he affected upon occasions. +"My man and myself want to put up here for the fishin', doncherknow. You +can fix us in all right, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Cairtainly, sair. Therre's plainty of rume in th' Three Fishairs," +responded Mr. Fairnish, with a smile of welcome, and in that inimitable +accent which is Scotland's own, and which rings like rugged music upon +the ear of the stranger to those parts. "We've a nice bedroom facin' th' +Castle. It'll be a grrand view in the mornin' wi' yer tea. And yer +man—we'll find him a shake-down nearr-by, if ye so wish ut."</p> + +<p>Cleek liked on sight this genial host with his mellow accent.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd prefer for him to be within reachin' distance of me, +doncherknow," he said, with an inane grin into the red-whiskered +countenance, blue-eyed and lined with exposure to wind and weather, that +glowed above him.</p> + +<p>"Cairtainly. If ye weesh it; Mrs. Fairnish will show ye yer rume, and +anything ye may want——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cleek raised a detaining hand.</p> + +<p>"Please don't be in any hurry," he said pleasantly. "I've all day here +before me. Come down to do a bit of fishin', doncherknow. Fine sport in +these parts, they tell me. And that's Aygon Castle, is it? I know the +young lady, Miss Duggan, slightly. Grand place it looks, to be sure."</p> + +<p>Mr. Fairnish raised his eyes ceilingwards. His hands followed them.</p> + +<p>"It's a heavenly spot indeed," he said piously, as one might speak of +some religious place of worship. "One of the grrandest in our whole +country, sair. You'll be visitin' there, no doubt?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, possibly. A friendly call, doncherknow. What's the old chap like +who owns it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Fairnish cast a hurried look on either side of him. The canny Scot +showed uppermost in his visage. But the coast was clear. Only a boy of +ten or twelve played at the other end of the bar with a roughly made +engine of wood, dragging it to and fro over the tiled floor.</p> + +<p>"Sair Andrew's a harrd mon—a dour, harrd mon is Sair Andrew," he said +in a low, harsh voice, and with a wrinkling of face muscles which spoke +volumes. "I wudner cross his path unless I could help it. Harrd, sair, +harrd as nails. And wi' a grrasp on him for every penny!"</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones. "Mean, is he?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mean wi' ye call it? Mean? There's no worrd ter expraiss what Sair +Andrew is at all. Not in the language, sair. But he's got a fine bailiff +ter manage th' land, and 'tis wi' him the people deal. Not wi' Sair +Andrew. Mistair Tavish, now—he's a fine chap, wi' a greeat hearrt an' a +helpin' hand for aiverybody. Mistair Tavish, now, he's a gentleman, +sair. Not a block er grranite, like th' old landlorrd!"</p> + +<p>Cleek smiled. So even in these rocky fastnesses of the silent Highlands +a man liked his bit of gossip, and loosened his tongue to pass the time +of day with every stranger.</p> + +<p>"Very interesting, Mr.——"</p> + +<p>"Fairnish, Robairt Fairnish."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairnish. And what about the rest of the family? Mean also?"</p> + +<p>"Aw no, sair. Not Mistair Ross, at any rate, nor Miss Duggan, either," +supplemented Mr. Fairnish, lighting his pipe with one horny hand and +leaning out over the bar the better to address Cleek. "Another ale, +sair?—cairtainly. Mr. Ross, now. A fine fellow, in spite of his +strrange ways and his wonderful apparatus. He's lit th' whole Castle +with electricity, sair; and Sair Andrew has no got ovair the effect o' +it yet. He does nought but grrumble and growl at Mistair Ross for th' +expainse and th' noosence of it, until, so I haird, th' Castle be no +pleasant spot to live in. And his wife, Lady Paula Duggan——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Fairnish raised his hands and eyes in a very expressive gesture.</p> + +<p>"You don't like the lady of the Castle, then, Mr. Fairnish?" interposed +Cleek, tossing off his ale and setting the empty tankard down upon the +bar in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Like her, do ye say, sair? Like her! Show me th' pairson in th' whole +deestrict that does, and I'll tell him he's a liarr—if ye'll pardon my +language. There's nought in the countryside that does like her—a +black-haired, weecked foreigner like hersai'f—though ye'll no repeat my +worrds, I pray, or 'twould go harrd with Robairt Fairnish when next +rrent-day comes round. But never a bairnie that has ought to say that's +plaisant o' her—th' black-eyed witch-wummun! An' that's a fact. She +speaks a heathen tongue, sair, an' I never trusts a foreigner. They're +suspeeshus characters, the best o' them."</p> + +<p>Cleek threw back his head and laughed—laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, with a shake of the head, "perhaps you're right. Though +I won't say that my experience has always been just that. However, the +lady does not seem to find favour in your eyes. Mr. Ross Duggan I +haven't met."</p> + +<p>"A fine upstanding gentleman, sair, wi' ne'er a mean bone in his body."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"A gentle, kind creature wi' a hearrt o' gold.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> She'd do nought to harrm +anny one, sair, and I've proof o' that—bless her! Nor Miss McCall, +either."</p> + +<p>"Miss McCall?"</p> + +<p>"Lady Paula's companion and handy maid, sair. A leddy, if I knaws one. +Engaged to Mistair Tavish, I unnerstand—though 'tis not yet given out +to the gran' folk. But the' have th' saft look in their e'e for one +anaither. And 'tis juist that it means. A puir freeted creatur' wi' an +e'e fer the ghost o' the Castle. She'll have a fine mon in Mistair +Tavish, I assure ye. And now 'tis time ye saw yer rume, sair, or I'm no +a guid host ye'll ken."</p> + +<p>So saying, Mr. Fairnish moved away from the bar reluctantly, as one +stung by duty into doing something for which he had no relish, for bar +and Fairnish were as synonymous as the Dawn and the Day—and almost as +inseparable.</p> + +<p>Cleek watched him with upflung eyebrow and keen eye. Then he followed, +and set a hand upon the garrulous fellow's sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fairnish," he said quietly, "you've interested me immensely. My own +fellow-folk, you know—what is it that Pope says?—'The proper study of +mankind is man.' Well, it's like that with me. Perhaps I'm +over-curious—there are a lot of us like that in this world. But you +mentioned a ghostly visitant of the Castle just now. You were speaking +in jest, of course?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>An imperceptible something passed like a shadow over Mr. Fairnish's +rugged face. He gave a shiver.</p> + +<p>"In jest ye tak eet?" he said a trifle huskily. "Weel, 'tis in airnest +that I spoke. For nevair a step near the grounds will ought o' th' +countryside go at night. 'Tis a lang story, and I've no time to be +tellin' it thee noo, sair, but here's a leetle. 'Tis a peasant-gairl +that a Sair Andrew of the sixteenth century, I ken, abducted from her +propair parents (they lived in the Lowlands, so I've heard tell), and +brought to th' castle and locked up—for his ain pleasure! 'Tis a sorry +tale, for the puir maid deed o' a broken hearrt an' a broken speerit, +too, I tak' it, nigh on to twelve months latair, wi' a leetle one juist +come ter gladden her sore hearrt."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? And what became of the child, then?"</p> + +<p>"No one knaws. 'Twas said 'twas stealed at night by the granfer and +speerited awa'. And 'twas said th' de'il himsaif cam' an' claimed eet. +No one knaws that parrt o' th' story, but there's a mony who says they +du. Only the peasant-gairl hersaif haunts the Castle tu this day, sair, +and stalks th' whole place over from top tu bottom, an' inside and out, +a-lukin' fer her sheel."</p> + +<p>"Poor girl!" There was genuine sympathy in Cleek's low-toned voice, and +at sound of it Mr. Fairnish spun round and looked at him, his own face +brightening.</p> + +<p>"Then ye believe in eet?" he said. "Fer yer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> voice tells me so. And so +du I—an' aiverybody in these parrts. And wi' a mon so harrd as Sair +Andrew as laird, ye ken what a puir time the gel must have had long +ago—wi' another of 'em th' same. You're a sympathetic gentleman at +hearrt, sair, I knew it on sight uf ye, so ye'll be takin' a worrd of +advice from me, and no be out in the grounds at nicht, when there's no +mune. 'Tis said she twists the neck of every man she sees at nicht-time +in the grounds after dark, as a revenge for what she suffered at the +hands of one. Ugh! but it's a sorry tale and no prettier fer the +telling, I ken.... If ye come this way, sair, I'll introduce ye to my +ain leddy, and she'll tak' unco' care o' ye."</p> + +<p>"Thanks."</p> + +<p>Cleek swung into step behind him and mounted the wide shallow oak stairs +of the place to the tune of Mr. Fairnish's deep-pitched voice calling +for "Mary! Mary!" In the fullness of time "Mary" appeared, and resolved +herself into a buxom, high-bosomed, rosy-cheeked Highland lass, whom Mr. +Fairnish had taken to wife (the second for him) last January. She +appeared almost as garrulous as her husband, and while she showed Cleek +his room—a long, low-ceiled bedroom overlooking the Castle and with +windows across one end of it—she regaled him with tid-bits of gossip of +neighbouring parts, and incidentally added to his already plentifully +filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> store of knowledge of the "Castle-folk" the fact that Miss +Duggan herself was secretly engaged to a Captain Macdonald—one of the +poorest land-owners of those parts—who, because of his poverty, was +forbidden the house by Sir Andrew, and promptly sent about his business.</p> + +<p>"A harrd mon," she said, as her husband had done, standing in the frame +of the open doorway with arms akimbo, and looking the true Scots lassie +she undoubtedly was. "And sich a nice gentleman, tu—that Captain +Macdonald. Reel gentry, Mr. Deland, sair. I've often thocht what a peety +it was tu see 'em pulled apart like thaat. Ye'll be wanting some hot +water, sair, I ken."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. I'd like some, certainly. And my man——"</p> + +<p>"He's made himself at home already," she responded, beaming at him. "And +he's in my keetchen th' noo, eatin' an airly lunch. He towld me ye'd +come fer the fishin', sair. We've a-mony come fer that to these parrts. +That'll be all, I tak' it?"</p> + +<p>"That'll be all."</p> + +<p>At which the good woman withdrew her tongue and herself, and left Cleek +a trifle dazed by the positive fount of garrulity at which he had been +drinking this past half-hour, and a good deal interested in the +Castle-folk to boot.</p> + +<p>He walked to the window and stood looking out of it at the magnificence +of Aygon Castle that rose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> like some dream-palace before his admiring +eyes. And as he looked he counted the windows across that part of the +building which faced upon the village.</p> + +<p>The fourth from the left. Well, she'd possibly never need to signal, and +yet—one never knew. And there was a ghost, too, and a horny-fisted and +hard-hearted landlord, just as the penny novelettes would have had it. +Quite interesting; quite. But the arrival of hot water set every other +thought but that of cleanliness out of his head, and he gave himself up +to his ablutions like a schoolboy on holiday.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE MORNING CALL</h3> + +<p>No red light showed itself at Miss Duggan's window that night—though +Cleek sat up until the soft fingers of the dawn were wreathing the sky +with lavender veils and the face of the morning peeped through, like +some goddess stepped down from Olympus to smile upon her lesser fellows. +And it was then, and then only, that he sought his bed and the comfort +of cool sheets at last.</p> + +<p>Dollops, knowing his plan, did not disturb him. And so it came about +that the clock upon the mantel had chimed out ten before he opened an +eye and looked about him, sleep still dimming his vision and making the +unfamiliar room doubly strange.</p> + +<p>"What the—how the—Gad! if it isn't ten o'clock, and I've been sleeping +like a noodle ever since dawn," he said, springing out of bed and +donning dressing-gown and slippers to have a first glimpse out of the +window at that "fairy sight" which Mr. Fairnish had promised him with +his cup of tea. "Well, she <i>is</i> a beauty and no mistake! Good morning to +you, fair Palace of the Mists.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> What secrets are locked away in your +breast this morning, I wonder? Well, the night has passed tranquilly +enough to be sure, and that poor girl's terrors are stilled for the +present twelve hours, at any rate. I'll call there after breakfast and +scrape acquaintance with the lot of 'em, and judge if Mr. Robert +Fairnish is as good an observer as he is a talker."</p> + +<p>And directly after breakfast that was exactly what he did do. Dollops, +armed with fishing-tackle and rods, received his marching orders in full +sight and sound of the inn's proprietor, knowing full well that within +five minutes of that time all that he had said and done would be ablaze +over the village, if he knew aught of that garrulous tongue of his.</p> + +<p>"Be off with you, Dollops, and have a look at the river," said Cleek +from the shelter of the open doorway, as Dollops wended his way slowly +down the path to the wicket-gate which led out on to the road. "And see +what fish be in those waters. And if you don't come home with a +twenty-pounder, you're no angler, my lad!"</p> + +<p>Dollops nodded and winked.</p> + +<p>"Right you are, sir. As Mr. Asquith says, better 'wait and see.' And if +I don't bring 'ome a twenty-pounder, I'll bring 'ome a twenty-yarder, at +any rate. Fer I'm a fair dabster for eels every time."</p> + +<p>"Sounds more like boa constrictors and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> jungle than Highland rivers +and modest eels," retorted Cleek, laughing heartily. "And I'm paying a +call at the Castle and making my respects to Miss Duggan. So if I'm not +back for lunch, Dollops, don't fancy dreadful things and imagine I've +been consumed by the ghost-lady who haunts those lovely turrets and +towers, but come home and wait for me."</p> + +<p>Dollops stopped in his tracks and sucked in his breath hard, and the +freckled brown of his Cockney countenance took on a queer drabbish +shade. He came back again along the path and stopped in front of his +master, mouth hanging open, eyes wide.</p> + +<p>"Ghosts, sir! Did I 'ear you use the word <i>ghosts</i>?" he ejaculated with +a perceptible shiver. "Br-r-rh. I doesn't mind dealin' wiv any kind of +<i>'uman</i>—but wiv them in'uman species I'm a reg'lar goner! You ain't +arskin' me ter meet the lidy, are yer, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, my boy," returned Cleek, with a laugh and a shake of the head. +"So you needn't worry yourself about that. And if I do ask, you may be +sure I'll be asking nothing that I would not—and will not—partake of +myself. Get along with you, and don't bother your head. When I want you +to call, I'll come, too. You can count upon that."</p> + +<p>"Well, so long as I don't 'ave to call alone I doesn't mind so much," +retorted Dollops. Then, swinging round in his tracks, he went off down +the pathway, whistling that very hackneyed but popular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> tune, "Pack Up +Your Troubles in Your Ole Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!" While +Cleek, watching him for a moment, felt a sudden warmth of feeling +toward the rough-mannered but warm-hearted youth who had followed +him—willy-nilly—ever since they two had met upon that memorable +far-off day when Cleek had made himself responsible for the boy's +safety.</p> + +<p>A leisurely cigarette smoked in company with the worthy host, and then +Cleek took up his soft "squash" hat, seized hold of his blackthorn +stick, and with a nod and a smile to Mr. Fairnish, swung out into the +roadway, monocle screwed into left eye, well-cut tweeds setting off the +splendid figure of him, and looking for all the world like the leisured, +perfectly turned-out exquisite who journeys so far out of his beaten +track only in pursuit of a sport which vastly amuses him, and to whom +Bond Street and the very outer edge of the Western Highlands are all one +and the same thing, so long as he can get a day's amusement out of them.</p> + +<p>The walk to the Castle was not as long as he expected. It was, in fact, +but a brief fifteen minutes over a rough, hilly road which in parts was +little more than a track, and which swung up and down so unevenly over +the moor that walking was at times difficult. Halfway there, as Cleek +turned the corner of a little ravine and came out upon a full view of +the valley, with the Inn of the Three Fishers to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> the left of him and +the Castle to the right, he heard the <i>thud-thud</i> of a horse's hoofs, +and in a moment more, drawing up against the bank to allow whoever was +coming to pass, he saw a rider approach from the right and go through a +gate which led apparently to the Castle grounds. As the rider passed, +Cleek stepped out into the path with a sudden impulse and raised his +hat.</p> + +<p>"I say," said he in his London drawl, as the rider dismounted and, +removing his hat, stood before him—a fine figure of a man in Scotch +tweeds, measuring a good six-feet-two of staunch muscle and bone, with +the shoulders of a giant and a big-featured, kindly face, and the blue +eyes and high hooked nose of the typical Scotsman; the all-observing eye +of Cleek noticed that one of the stranger's fingers was bandaged, as if +it had recently been cut. Cleek instinctively liked him. "Can you tell +me," he said—"awfully sorry to stop you and all that—but can you +possibly tell me if this is Aygon Castle? Looks like it from the +pictures, b' Jove, but photography's frightfully deceptive—what? Friend +of mine—a Miss Duggan—Miss Maud Duggan, I think the name is—lives +there, doesn't she? I happened to come up here yesterday for the +fishin'—awfully fond of it and that sort of thing—and promised to call +whenever I was out this way. I'm right, am I not?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly right." Cleek liked the deep, ringing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> voice which answered +him, as he liked the shrewd blue eyes that travelled so rapidly over his +tweeds. Liked, too, the hard, grim mouth which broke into such a +charming smile, transfiguring the whole face as though a light had been +set behind it. "And Miss Duggan does live here. You're keen on fishing, +I take it. Well, so am I. It's a man's sport, and there's few Scotsmen +who don't like it. My name's Tavish—James Tavish—and I'm agent for Sir +Andrew Duggan's estates. We'll possibly meet each other up the river +some time, for I spend most of my spare time there."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. I'd like it immensely. Fishin's a lonesome game alone. And +though I've brought my man with me, and he's a dab hand with the tackle, +one gets a bit bored sometimes. I'll probably see you up at the Castle, +Mr. Tavish, and we'll improve our acquaintance. Many thanks for your +courtesy."</p> + +<p>So saying, Cleek passed on up the rough road, while his new friend +remounted the little chestnut mare he rode so magnificently, and went +galloping off up the incline, making a fine picture against the rugged +scenery of which he seemed such an inseparable part.</p> + +<p>Cleek reached the Castle gates at last, rang the huge bell, and waited +while the lodge-keeper unfastened them for him and inquired his name, +went with him up the long sweep of gravelled driveway<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> with its +bordering of yews and young pine trees lending an air of picturesque +gloom to the place even upon that bright morning. And having reached the +great oaken front door—a monstrous affair scarred by the ruthless hand +of Time as much as by the mailed fists which must have thudded upon it +in far-off days, or by the spears and battle-axes of past Duggans who in +this fashion had left something more definite than a memory for their +ancestors to cherish—pulled the chain of the bell, and waited while the +jangling echoes of its noise died away into silence before his summons +was answered.</p> + +<p>At length the door opened. He caught a glimpse of a dim interior, lofty +as a church and dark with the panellings of old oak which flanked it +upon all four sides, and then gave his name to the pompous old butler, +and was taken into a little ante-room redolent of age—that mothy, +curtained odour as of a room but rarely opened and still more rarely +used—and within a moment or two Miss Duggan was standing there before +him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Deland! How good of you to have come so soon—how very good!" she +said warmly, extending a hand to him in greeting. "You must surely stay +and lunch with us, now that you have come all this distance. And I want +you to meet my father." Her voice dropped a tone or two. "Paula is with +him now, going over the housekeeping accounts—it is a daily matter upon +which he is very insistent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> Ross is in the laboratory, tinkering over +something to do with the lights, but he'll be out in a minute. I told +him I had met you on the train, and that we had got into conversation +and found we were congenial friends through Ailsa Lorne. You know her +well, don't you, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>He smiled, and for a moment his eyes softened.</p> + +<p>"Rather well, I fancy, as she has consented some day to throw in her lot +with me and marry me," he returned in a happy, low-pitched voice. "And +that is why any friend of hers, you know, must be a friend of mine as +well. I'd like very much to have a look at the Castle, if I might be so +permitted. Architecture interests me immensely. It's a hobby of mine. +And this is surely one of the grandest old stately homes that Scotland +possesses!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it?—isn't it? I can see you have the love of Home and Race in +you, too, Mr. Deland, just as I have it in me," she responded, with a +little happy sigh. "And if only I had not this other trouble which hangs +over me like the sword of Damocles itself, life would be a very happy +thing, indeed. For when one loves and is loved——" Her voice trailed +off into silence, and she stood a moment looking out of the window, eyes +alight, face aglow.</p> + +<p>"Oho!" thought Cleek, with upflung brows. "So Love finds its way even +into these Highland fastnesses. First James Tavish and Lady Paula's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +companion (if what Mr. Fairnish said was true), and now Miss Duggan +herself."</p> + +<p>"Who is the happy man?" he said smilingly, as she sighed and turned +toward him.</p> + +<p>"How did you know there was one?"</p> + +<p>"How does any one know that any one loves any one else—when oneself +loves?" he returned enigmatically. "Remember I, too, belong to the happy +band. He lives close here, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Only a couple of miles away. But, alas! my father will hear +nothing of him, and has even forbidden him the house."</p> + +<p>"And may I ask why?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Because he is poor. Father's god is Mammon, Mr. Deland. He +knows and acknowledges no other. And Angus Macdonald has received very +little at the hands of that god."</p> + +<p>"But a good deal at the hands of the only God that matters, I take it," +put in Cleek softly, with a smile at her. "Well, they say that Love +laughs at locksmiths, and always finds a way. Time will give you your +chance, Miss Duggan, and you'll have to be brave enough to take it.... +There's someone coming, I think."</p> + +<p>There <i>was</i> someone coming, for even as Cleek spoke the door swung open +and a tall, gaunt, white-haired old man, with a back like a ramrod and a +face of granite, and with eyes that shone like pin-points of steel in +the smooth pallor of it, came into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> the room, followed by a dark-eyed, +dark-haired, sallow-complexioned woman with the long nose of the Italian +and the brand of the true coquette stamped all over her.</p> + +<p>Cleek recognized them at once. Here were the chief actors in the little +comedy of what was at present a girl's imaginings, and which he +sincerely hoped would never become anything else. What a hard face the +man had! What a trap-like mouth! What a merciless, seeking eye! And the +woman with him—all soft curves and roundness, with those luminous eyes +of southern Italy looking out at him from the frame of her pale, +ivory-tinted face, with already a hint of coquetry in their velvet +depths for any well-dressed, well-apportioned specimen of mankind. +Beside the something rugged and clear-cut in Maud Duggan's +personality—the something Scotch and enduring which is the birthright +of those born beyond the boundary-line of England—this woman's pale +suavity fell into a kittenish foolishness, became instantly trivial and +beyond recognizance.</p> + +<p>At sound of their approach Maud Duggan turned hurriedly and waved a hand +toward Cleek.</p> + +<p>"Father," said she in her low, level-toned voice, "this is Mr. Deland of +whom I told you last night. Mr. Deland is engaged to Ailsa Lorne, my old +school friend at the convent in Paris—and he has come down for the +fishing, and did me the honour to call upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> me the very first thing. I +have asked him to stay and lunch with us."</p> + +<p>Sir Andrew bowed stiffly and then extended a blue-veined and tremulous +hand. Cleek took it and bent over it like a courtier.</p> + +<p>"Very pleased indeed to see you, Mr. Deland," said Sir Andrew, in a +deep, full-throated voice that spoke more of the man he had been than of +the man he was now. "You are welcome to our hospitality now and at any +other time."</p> + +<p>"I am deeply grateful, sir, and during my short stay in these parts I +shall hope to make fuller acquaintance of you and your family—your +wife? How do you do, Lady Paula? I am enamoured of your charming +surroundings and your glorious home. May I be permitted to congratulate +you upon both?"</p> + +<p>A fleet look flashed from her eyes, a swift warmth of friendship for +this stranger who made her so much <i>one</i> of them who had never yet been +made one by the family themselves.</p> + +<p>"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Smooth as velvet her voice, warm, subtle, +alluring as the country that gave her birth. "I love it—<i>how</i> I love +it! Even though I am not of the Scotch blood, yet have I that birthright +of my nation—home-love. Maud, dear, take Mr. Deland round, won't you? I +have still some matters to arrange with your father, so you must do the +honours in my stead. And when Sir Andrew and I have finished with our +little <i>personal</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> matters"—she smiled suddenly, showing a flash of +snowy teeth between the warm red lips which Time had not yet cooled to +the more even tenor of England's blood—"then we will join you upon the +terrace. And be sure and show Mr. Deland the electric-lighting plant, +dear. He will be interested."</p> + +<p>Maud Duggan flashed her a look of absolute hatred at this, for she saw +the darkening shade upon her father's face, and noted the sudden +clenching of the hand upon his stick.</p> + +<p>"Cursed modernism and all its extravagant ways!" said the old gentleman +in a bitter voice. "Spending that which he should have saved, sir, upon +a ridiculous experiment which has ruined the atmosphere of the place +entirely. Wayward fool!"</p> + +<p>"But it has improved your reading faculties, anyhow, Father," put in +Miss Duggan in a quiet, resolute voice. "Paula is not nearly so busy +nowadays, when you can read your own papers——"</p> + +<p>"As though I <i>ever</i> wanted to do anything but wait upon him—dear man!" +struck in Lady Paula reproachfully, and with an arch glance at Cleek +which did not go unrewarded. "Your father is not so old a man as to be +in his dotage. And if there <i>is</i> twenty years between us, Maud, it is +hardly kind of you to bring the matter up like this. Perfect love should +have no age nor yet youth. It should be as ageless as Eternity, as +boundless as the sea, as high as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> Heaven itself.... Are you ready, +Andrew dear?"</p> + +<p>She bent toward the flattered and fluttered old man with that something +in her gesture which has been the gift of every woman of her type all +down the long ages since Scylla tempted Ulysses and Charybdis sent his +head whirling with her lure.</p> + +<p>Maud Duggan led Cleek from the room at that, and once out of earshot of +this ill-assorted pair, whirled round upon him, a spot of anger showing +in each cheek.</p> + +<p>"You see, Mr. Deland, you see?" she rapped out excitedly, "how she +misleads everything we say, and turns it all to her own ends? Oh, how I +hate her—hate her! and have done so ever since she first set foot in +this dear old home of ours. And Father—did you notice how worn and ill +he looks? How his hand shakes so that he cannot steady it? Three months +ago his hand was like a rock; his colour was as healthy as yours or +mine. And yet your Mr. Narkom would say that a woman's intuition leads +to nothing but her own foolish imaginings!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, my dear young lady—have a care!" threw in Cleek quickly, at the +sound of footsteps hurrying toward them, his lips tightening in a way +that suggested that he, too, thought there might be "something in it." +"We don't want the whole place to suspect my mission. That is our +secret, if you please. Now, show me the Castle, if you will—and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +whatever of interest which you think has bearing upon the case. Where is +Lady Paula's son? Does he live here, or is he away at school just now?"</p> + +<p>Miss Duggan shook her head.</p> + +<p>"No—Cyril is a delicate boy, and the doctor has advised Father to let +him stay home for a year and just run wild. He is generally with Ross."</p> + +<p>"With <i>Ross</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the two are sworn friends. Cyril's heart is wrapped up in Ross, +Mr. Deland. He never for one moment suspects what his mother is trying +to do—wrest Ross's inheritance from him so that he, Cyril, should have +it instead. It would break his heart, I think. Wherever Ross is to be +found you may be sure Cyril will be there also."</p> + +<p>"Damon and Pythias, eh? Strange that the son loves what the mother +hates, isn't it? I should like to meet this boy."</p> + +<p>"You shall—when we reach the laboratory. He's sure to be there helping +Ross. He is like his shadow, that child."</p> + +<p>"And he is sixteen, you say?"</p> + +<p>"Next October. And a firm believer in our ghost, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"Then you have a ghost and all complete?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Hasn't Mr. Fairnish of the Three Fishers told you the story +yet? He is usually to be relied upon to impart every bit of village +gossip within the first five minutes of one's acquaintance!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cleek threw back his head and laughed. They had entered a long, +low-ceilinged room, panelled in Spanish leather, with casement windows +which gave upon a little walled-in enclosure surrounded by flowering +shrubs and white-starred syringa-bushes that sent their pungent odour +upon the air in one long waft of perfume.</p> + +<p>"He's told me a good deal, it is true, but——What a delightful room! A +library, I take it? And what a curious old instrument that is! I haven't +seen a spinning wheel like that since I was in Wales and one stood in +the corner of the room where I slept at the village inn. A sort of +heirloom, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>She nodded, and Cleek crossed over to the thing to examine it, touching +a part here and a part there with reverent fingers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose you <i>would</i> call it that," she responded, crossing over +to him and looking down at the thing in question. "Though, really, why +Father has it here I cannot imagine. Its history is certainly not a +credit to the line. For it belonged to the very girl I was going to tell +you about. It belonged to the Family Ghost. Here is the story. The +villagers believe it to this day, and couldn't be persuaded to enter the +Castle grounds at night upon any pretext whatever. But of course the +educated folk don't. Early in the sixteenth century a wild head of the +Macduggan clan abducted a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> young—and I imagine beautiful—peasant-girl +when she was sitting at her wheel, spinning, and ran away with +her—wheel and all—and brought her here, so legend says, to this very +room. The girl, whose name, I believe, was Dhurea, or something like +that, stabbed herself with the sharp-pointed spindle of the wheel, and +in doing so laid a curse upon the Macduggan clan. She—she was going to +have a child, Mr. Deland, and as she was dying, she swore that in every +generation a Duggan should die a violent death, and that the sound of +her spinning wheel should predict the moment when death was near."</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said Cleek, in two different tones. "That differs a good deal +from the story Mr. Fairnish tells. There was a child, I understood, and +this child was stolen by the grandparents. That's not correct, then?"</p> + +<p>"There are various interpretations of the legend. No one knows the +truth—only that she killed herself and cursed the family in that +unpleasant manner."</p> + +<p>"And has the curse come true?"</p> + +<p>For a moment Miss Duggan hesitated. Then she sent startled eyes up into +his face. There was the look of a dog at bay in them.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe the story, Mr. Deland! I don't believe a <i>word</i> of it, +for such things cannot possibly be, in this civilized country," she +answered in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> scared tone. "And yet—ever since that day, one at least +of each generation has died unnaturally. And now—in <i>this</i> generation +there is only Father and Ross.... This peasant-girl is supposed to haunt +our dear Castle, and after midnight to stalk the place over, looking for +the man who dishonoured her and who has been dead these many generations +past."</p> + +<p>"H'm! I see. And so, naturally, she cannot find him. A weird story, and +more pleasant in the daylight than in the dark. And this is the lady's +spinning wheel, I take it? Your father has it by his writing-table, I +see. Rather in the way, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It used to stand over there, in the corner, but Paula declared that it +was too dark there, and that it did not show to its full beauty. So she +moved it. Father lets her do whatever she wishes. And of course it does +show better there, by the window, doesn't it? And as it's Father's +<i>left</i> hand that comes beside it, Mr. Deland, I don't really see that it +much matters."</p> + +<p>"No, I suppose not.... Hello! we've been a long time here, haven't we? +And I haven't seen the half of the place yet. Isn't that the luncheon +gong? Or is it just your tangy Highland air that makes me hungry enough +to imagine it?"</p> + +<p>"Neither," said she, laughing. "That's Rhea's bell. It hangs just under +the bronze statue of Rhea—you remember the one I showed you yesterday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +as we came home together?—and it rings upon the entrance of any one +through the great gate. A clumsy contraption, which has never been +altered in all these years."</p> + +<p>"But quite useful—with unwanted visitors," he replied, stooping +suddenly and picking up something off the carpet. "Hello, what's this? +Looks like a bit of flexible electric wire. Something of your brother's +hobby, no doubt."</p> + +<p>He held it out to her in the open palm of his hand. It was just a little +scrap of crimson-covered flexible wire, and she barely noticed it.</p> + +<p>"And ... hello, hello! No electricity used in here, either. I suppose +that's because your father doesn't approve?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Ross wired the room—or had it wired with the aid of an +electrician—and then installed the light. But Father was so angry that +he would rarely ever use it. Sticks to the musty old lamp over there, +for most things."</p> + +<p>"And is the room still wired?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There's a wall plug over there by the door. Why, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing. Then that would account for this fragment of flexible +wire, wouldn't it? H'm. Yes. I see. I see."</p> + +<p>But what he saw he did not at that moment mention, and Miss Duggan had +to guess at his meaning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But it was done ten days ago— I must really speak to the servants and +tell them to keep the place cleaner than they do. Fancy leaving odd +pieces about like that!" she ejaculated, sensitive to any suggestion of +poor management upon the part of Castle authorities. But Cleek did not +hear. He was standing over by the wall-plug, looking down at it, and +then kneeling, began to examine it minutely. She watched him in +amazement, unused to his methods.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Deland—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, just looking at how your brother does his work. Quite a good +workman, isn't he?" said Cleek, rising slowly to his feet, and pocketing +the bit of flexible wire forthwith.</p> + +<p>And that was the last word she could get out of him upon the subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A STARTLING DISCOVERY</h3> + +<p>Within one short hour Cleek had explored the Castle from end to end, in +company with a tireless girl for whom every stick and stone of the grand +old place held a memory that was as sacred to her as the church is to +the priest who has passed all his days in the service of it. But they +met no other members of the family just then. Only, as they passed +through the left wing, where the servants' quarters lay beyond, Cleek +was introduced to Johanna McCall—paid hireling and companion of Lady +Paula, and not too pleased with her job, either, if all he read in that +frightened face of hers was true.</p> + +<p>He found her a little pale slip of a thing, with wide, anxious eyes set +in an ivory-tinted, utterly colourless face, and with hair that was +"mousey" and straight, and a mouth that might tremble at an unkind word +as a child's does.</p> + +<p>She bowed to him timidly and extended a slender hand.</p> + +<p>"How do you do," she said, in a soft, toneless sort of voice which +matched her poor, toneless, utterly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> downtrodden personality. "Your +stepmother, Miss Duggan? She is in the study, I suppose? I have her +embroidery silks, and she wanted them immediately. But it took such a +time to get them disentangled. Master Cyril was playing with them last +night. I—oh, I do hope she won't be angry!"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, Miss McCall. Rome won't fall, you know, even if she does +speak an unkind word to you in her hasty fashion," gave back Maud +Duggan, with a kindly pressure of one hand upon the frail girl's arm. +"And she's busy just now with Sir Andrew. Looking over some accounts, I +believe. I should wait for her in her boudoir, if I were you. She's +bound to ring if she wants you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, perhaps that would be better."</p> + +<p>Miss McCall hurried down the corridor, silent-footed, as a paid +companion should always be, and Cleek shook his head as she vanished +through an open door at the end of the passage.</p> + +<p>"Poor little frightened thing!" he said softly. "And all for a pittance +which, in her sort of profession, must necessarily be small!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and she works like a black for it, too," gave back Maud Duggan +heatedly. "Slogs away all the day long, running errands +for—<i>her</i>—sewing, darning, mending, writing interminable letters which +Paula tears up afterward and decides not to send. And gets not a crumb +of comfort for her pains. Paula is terribly hard upon her, Mr. Deland. +I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> wonder the girl stands it; only—there's an attraction."</p> + +<p>"And you women are endurance personified—in those circumstances!" he +responded with a little significant laugh. "When your hearts are +involved, your common sense vanishes to make room for it. I've seen it a +thousand times before.... Really, Miss Duggan, you have been an +indefatigable guide. I don't believe there's a nook or cranny of this +place which I haven't seen, is there?"</p> + +<p>"Only the cellars—or, properly speaking, the dungeons. And they're of +no interest to anybody. Father keeps the wines down there, of course, +and anything that does not require too much storage. But, excepting for +the cellar, the place is never entered from one year's end to another. +Not a servant would go down into them for double wages. The peasant-girl +is supposed to stay there when she is not out on her nightly prowl for +the man who abducted her!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed? That's interesting. I suppose I couldn't go down? Dungeons are +a perfect passion with me, for I've an insatiable curiosity, and always +want to go poking my nose where no one else does. Sort of brand of my +profession, I suppose. Do you think you could find energy enough to take +me down?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>She led the way down an L-shaped passage, which led past the kitchens +and the servants' hall, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> gave out upon a little stone courtyard set +apart from the house and bounded about with a high wall through which +arrow-slits gave the true mediæval touch, and then down to the right of +this through a huge oaken door which opened noiselessly, showing a +flight of steep, uneven stone steps leading down into a dark, +damp-smelling interior.</p> + +<p>At the top of the steps she paused and looked back at him over the curve +of her shoulder, making a wry face.</p> + +<p>"You still want to go?" she asked jestingly. "I'm a brave woman, Mr. +Deland, but I wouldn't undertake this journey alone for anything! +There's—<i>rats</i>!"</p> + +<p>"As well as ghosts? But this is morning, and Scotland, and the twentieth +century—so lead on, Macduff," he answered her in the same jesting +spirit. "Or would you like me to go first?"</p> + +<p>She shivered and twitched up her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"No; I'll do the honours properly. This way. If you've a torch on you, +you'll need it at the bottom of these stairs. It's as dark as pitch."</p> + +<p>"I have."</p> + +<p>Cleek produced it, and they proceeded upon the uncanny journey. The +steps led down, down, into what seemed the very bowels of the earth +(which indeed they were), until they reached a little square opening +from which iron-grilled doorways looked out upon them from every side, +saving for one oak door<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> on the left, which Miss Duggan pointed out as +the wine-cellar.</p> + +<p>"H'm! And smells like it, too," put in Cleek, with a sniff—"What's +behind that door is worth a fortune, I'll be bound. Hello! here's a +candle-end stuck in a bottle! Now, who the dickens uses that, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"The servants, I suppose. They come down through their own stairs, Mr. +Deland—over there on the left—you can see them if you look hard +enough. They're wooden ones, and were put in by my father's grandsire, +for the convenience of the house. The servants don't like this way at +all. They prefer to come through the butler's pantry."</p> + +<p>"And those stairs lead up there? I see. Hello! Here's a chain attached +to this iron post. What's that?"</p> + +<p>"The prisoner's chain. This room here"—she pointed to the grilled door +opening next to the cellar "was kept for political prisoners, I believe. +And those two across the way were for personal enemies of the family."</p> + +<p>"And are there any others?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—through that first door on the right—but you won't get <i>me</i> to go +into them," she responded with a laugh. "It's horrible in there. There's +a rack and one or two thumbscrews and other articles which belong to the +Spanish Inquisition period; as well as rats innumerable. My bravery +vanishes at this point. I'll not go a step farther!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you don't mind if I do?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit. I'll wait here. But there's nothing to see—really. And it's +getting perilously near lunch-time."</p> + +<p>Cleek cocked his head persuasively at her.</p> + +<p>"I won't be a minute—really. But that thumbscrew has got me guessing, +as our American cousins say. I suppose there's no lock on the door? Gad! +but it opens easily enough. Been fairly recently oiled, I take it?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of. In fact, I don't believe any one's been in the +place since Ross came down here, three months ago, to show a friend +round. Perhaps he oiled it then."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. I won't be a minute, really. And I've another torch, if you'd +like it. Here." He tossed it to her, and, keeping his spotlight ahead +of him, entered the dark, dank, evil-smelling place, his footsteps +ringing upon the stone flooring and sending the echoes scampering into +the corners, together with more tangible—and verminous—things. There +was nothing in the first room, but beyond it he came upon the Torture +Chamber and all those instruments of cruelty which marked a less kindly +period of the world's history. And this Chamber was larger than the +other cell. Rusty hooks hung from the ceiling, of incredible size and +suggesting unthinkable horrors, and over all hung the odour of damp and +decay, mingled with something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> more modern, which caused Cleek to stop +suddenly and sniff like a terrier scenting a rat.</p> + +<p>"Strange!" he said to the silence and the solitude of that awful place, +"but she said the cellars were over there! But if someone hasn't been +drinking spirits here a short time ago, I miss my guess! And, what's +more, someone <i>has</i>! A solitary debauch, I suppose. Now, who the dickens +would have thought it?"</p> + +<p>His torch caught a glimmer of something that shone like glass—which +<i>was</i> glass, in fact, and resolved itself into a cracked tumbler beside +which stood a syphon of soda and an empty bottle smelling strongly of +whisky.</p> + +<p>"Whew! Nice little place for a quiet read and a smoke—I <i>don't</i> think!" +he apostrophized it. "With rats in the corners and ghosts all +around—brrh! He's a strange fellow who likes this sort of company, I +must say. But there's nothing to be nosed out here in this pleasant +little den. I'll just take a glimpse through the next one, and then get +back to Miss Duggan, or she'll be getting the creeps and run."</p> + +<p>He had started back, and had just swung his torch through the doorway +beyond, when of a sudden he stopped, sucked in his breath, and fairly +ran into the place, head down, nose to the ground, like a dog, every +faculty alert.</p> + +<p>What he saw there is not recorded, for just at that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> moment he heard +Miss Duggan's clear voice calling him, and he had perforce to answer. +But he had time to stoop suddenly and swoop down upon something white +but slightly bloodstained which lay on the ground before him, dart a +hasty glance at it, and cram it into his pocket, before swinging round +upon his heel and answering her summons; and all the time saying to +himself: "Who'd have thought it? Now who the dickens would have thought +it?"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he fingered the slightly bloodstained handkerchief which he +had picked up, and upon which by the light of his torch he had remarked +the initials "R. D." embroidered in one corner. And he laughed softly +and joyfully clapped his hands together.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE SWORD FELL</h3> + +<p>Luncheon at Aygon Castle resolved itself into a somewhat dull and +ceremonious affair, and although there were a good many of them round +the festive board, conversation languished and laughter was noticeable +by its absence.</p> + +<p>"What a devil of a family to live with!—sitting as though there were a +cold-water poultice on top of 'em," mentally registered Cleek as he +surveyed the company and tried his best to add to the general interest +by anecdotes of a recent tour in Ireland; but his conversational efforts +evoked only an occasional "Indeed?" from Sir Andrew. Entertaining these +people ought to be a paid task in itself, he decided. They hadn't got +any further with civilization than the hired-jester period. Gloom was +glory to the atmosphere of that room during the interminable meal. He +looked from one to another keenly.</p> + +<p>First the old laird, solemn as a judge, and concerned only with what was +put before him, with the strange greed of the very old; and at the foot +of the table, his lady, offering a contrast that was as darkness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> to +day. Cleek sat on the right of his host with Maud Duggan beside him, and +opposite her brother Ross—a big, broad-shouldered, hawk-nosed chap with +the small blue eye of the Scot, keen as a knife-blade, and showing in +the winged flare of nostril the blood that ran in his veins. A likable, +clever fellow. Cleek warmed to him on sight. And yet—his eye swung on +him again. Next to Ross sat Miss McCall, eyes downcast, speaking only +when spoken to, very patiently the servant of a mistress who would +instantly quell any attempt at familiarity or breach of position upon +her part; and next to Miss McCall, little Cyril, black-haired, +brown-eyed, wide-lipped as any other Italian boy, with the soft olive +bloom upon his cheeks that is youth's own birthright.</p> + +<p>"And they called him Cyril!—a wishy-washy name like that!" thought +Cleek disgustedly, looking long at him. "What a perfectly beautiful boy! +And looks delicate, too. No wonder the mother loves him. There's +something appealing in those pansy eyes of his that would lure blood +from a stone. I must have a chat with him later on. He'll tell me much +of this strange family, if I get the right side of him to begin with."</p> + +<p>He commenced tactics right away, and caught Cyril's boyish fancy in a +wonderful story of a heroic and marvellous engine-driver whom he had +known.</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell you some more about him, too—after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> lunch is over—if +you'll take me out and show me the grounds of this beautiful place," he +promised, with a nod and a smile which won Cyril's hero-worshipping soul +instantly and gained for Cleek an ally who, if handled in the right way, +might prove more useful than he had at first imagined. "There's one +story I remember about the Calais express, and how that chap got the +better of a pack of Apaches who were after the mail-bags. +Gospel-truth!—it's wonderful! We're goin' to be good pals, Cyril, I can +see."</p> + +<p>"Only, please, <i>please</i> do not fill his mind up with any more +imaginings, Mr. Deland, than he has already got for himself," threw in +Lady Paula, with an arch glance at Cleek and a little self-conscious +laugh. "He is already filled to the brim with his stepbrother's +electrical madnesses. Ross has woven a spell over him, I think, in +which—what do you call it?—flex and tungsten and short-circuits and +all the rest of that impossible jargon of these light-fiends are +inextricably mixed. I sometimes fear for Cyril's sanity! He talks in his +sleep all night long of these things, and then wakes in the morning, +pale as death. But I cannot make him do other than spend all these +beautiful, long summer days in that stuffy laboratory with Ross, +watching him at what he calls his experiments."</p> + +<p>She flashed a smile into Ross Duggan's suddenly flushed face, as though +the words she spoke bore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> no intended sting and innocence alone had +prompted her to speak her mind thus freely. But the timed shaft had its +desired effect, for Cyril turned quickly upon his mother with darkening +brows.</p> + +<p>"So silly of you, Mater, not wanting me to learn all about that ripping +electricity. And Ross knows such a lot, too, and I love to sit and watch +him. And he lets me help sometimes—don't you, Ross?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, old chap."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I can't see what all the fuss is about, Mater. I really +can't. Why, that light in my room's ripping for reading at night, +instead of the fuggy old lamp we used to have there, and——"</p> + +<p>An agonized look from Maud Duggan sent his brave words trailing off into +nothingness. But already the mischief was done. The black cloud had +settled upon Sir Andrew's face, and the sluggish blood was clotting in +temple veins and cheeks, telling of the anger within. The pin-point eyes +under their beetling brows were more steel-like than ever. He rose to +his feet suddenly, and brought one shaking fist down upon the table-top +with a force that sent the glasses jangling and the table silver +rattling to the tune of it.</p> + +<p>"Have done!" he thundered furiously, trembling in a rage that had become +an old man's obsession, and which responded to the constant playing upon +it like a deep-throated viola in the hands of a musician who understood +it; "have done with all this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> extravagant nonsense! Haven't I threatened +Ross enough as it is, to take his time-wasting, money-eating experiments +out of my house?—and now he not only disobeys my spoken word, but +actually causes the illness of my youngest son himself. Pale?—of course +the boy is pale! Hanging about indoors in a stuffy room, watching his +father's money poured out like water to tickle the fancy of a fool who +is old enough to know better! I'll have none of him—none of him! He may +sing for his bread and butter in future!—go out into the streets and +beg for it, as better beggers than he have done! But he'll leave the +house—he——"</p> + +<p>"Father!"</p> + +<p>It was Maud Duggan who spoke, rising quickly and hurrying round to him, +to put an arm about his shaking shoulders. "We have a guest—a +stranger——"</p> + +<p>"This is no time for guests or strangers! The moment has come, and I'll +have done with it once and for all!" he thundered back at her, with an +old man's persistence, and the single-mindedness of the ill and aged. +"Mr. Deland will pardon what must seem an extraordinary outburst, but +Mr. Deland will not stop it. I am master here, and my will is law. I +mean to enforce it. My mind is made up. Shall I watch my boy Cyril grow +up into just another such maniac, think you? Until he has not rested +content but that the whole Highlands be lit with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> his precious +electricity—at the price of his father's fortune?... Paula, my +dear—m-my medicine——" He shook slightly, and then an ague took him +and he trembled. He dropped back into his chair, a huddled, shivering +old man in whom the power of his anger had burnt the frail spirit into a +mere husk of its former strength; and in an instant Lady Paula was upon +her feet, running round to him, and fumbling as she ran with her fingers +in her bodice.</p> + +<p>"My dear!—my dear! You must not so excite yourself. It is not good for +you. Not right," she said soothingly, taking his head in her arms and +pillowing it against her breast; meanwhile with her other hand she +deftly unscrewed the top of a little bottle she had drawn from her +blouse, and shook out one tiny pellet, which she placed between his +trembling lips. "Take this, dearest, and you will feel better.... A +light drug, Mr. Deland, which the doctor orders at such times. Poor +dear!—poor dear! it is such a constant worry to him, this continuous +quarrel with his own flesh-and-blood. If you had really loved your +father, Ross——"</p> + +<p>"As <i>you</i> love him, no doubt I should be able to emulate your methods of +attack better," he returned, stung suddenly out of his bitter silence by +the reproach. "But I have been brought up in another school, Paula, +where we deal square blows that do not strike below the belt, and where +we do not let our ambitions play upon a flattered old man's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> affections +quite so cleverly or so perceptibly as you do!"</p> + +<p>"Stop!"</p> + +<p>The mischief was out, the damage was done, and in one moment that dull +and insignificant luncheon-table had been transformed into something +that was more like a third-rate melodrama than a family quarrel among +people of the better class. But the thing had been thrashed out so many +times before that politeness had worn thin, and each one spoke his mind +with a bitterness which left nothing to the imagination. Here was the +actual canker of a family's innermost heart, with all the outer covering +worn thin by constant bickerings and the whole ugly reality of the thing +starkly revealed.</p> + +<p>Cleek's face went grim as he watched the blanched faces about the table. +The stammering, broken voice of Sir Andrew tore into the sudden silence. +The old man was struggling up out of his chair, and from the detaining +arms of wife and daughter, face livid, lips twitching, the vein in his +transparent temple standing out like a piece of blue whip-cord. His +clenched hand shook in the air, trembling with the force that he put +into it.</p> + +<p>"Stop it! How dare you say such words to my wife—how dare you! You +shall pay for this, Ross Duggan, and pay dearly! To-night I alter my +will—to-night I strike your name from it forever and make the estates +over to someone else. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> your name goes out of it—as you +do—<i>to-night</i>!... Paula, your arm."</p> + +<p>He swung toward his wife with all the dignity of his years and his +inheritance, and took the arm she held out to him, clinging to it as a +child to its mother's skirts, and falteringly left the room, where his +words had fallen upon those remaining like the sword of Damocles itself. +Ross had gone white—deathly white, as had Maud Duggan herself—and all +the indignity of this thing before a stranger to their household showed +itself in his tense countenance.</p> + +<p>"Gad! I'll go—and go <i>now</i>!" he rapped out, in a very fever of fury and +outraged pride. "And glad to get away, too! Such an infernal hell-nest +of a place as <i>she</i> has made out of a decent British home!"</p> + +<p>"Ross! She's my mater, you know."</p> + +<p>"Sorry, old chap! I forgot for a moment. But it shan't occur again. I'll +be off, Maud, and get along to Cynthia's. She'll have something to say +about this, I daresay, and her Guv'nor will probably give me a leg-up in +finding a job. I'm better out of this. Mr. Deland, you've been the +unwilling victim of an unpleasant scene—and a family scene, which is +most unpleasant of all. I must apologize to you. Had I foreseen anything +of the sort, we would have postponed your luncheon until a later date. +It might have been more agreeable for you. Good-bye, and I'm sorry I +shan't see more of you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> I'm clearing off now, Maud—you can send along +my things later."</p> + +<p>Maud Duggan's eyes searched his face, a look in them of agonized +question, as if she was unable to believe the evidence of her own ears. +Then she ran to him and caught him suddenly by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Ross, dear, you mustn't be so hasty! You mustn't!" she entreated, +squeezing his arm in her two hands as he looked down at her with his +set, angry face. "You know Father, dear. He'll wish in half an hour, +he'd bitten his tongue out sooner than spoken to you like that. You know +he will. You're his first-born and his favourite—as you have always +been. Try and see this thing clearly. Don't act in a hurry, dear. Just +wait—wait until this evening, for my sake if not for your own. Don't +leave me here to stick the thing out by myself. It isn't fair to me."</p> + +<p>That last plea seemed to strike home better than all the others had +done, for the anger faded suddenly from his countenance, and he laid a +hand against her cheek before swinging upon his heel.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll think about it, and see what Cynthia says, anyhow," he +replied, after a pause. "Only, I've reached the end of my tether, and +human nature won't stand too much. Sorry, Miss McCall. Did I tread upon +your foot? I'm so blithering angry I don't really know what I'm doing, +so you must forgive me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>And for the first time the company seemed aware that Johanna McCall had +been a silent spectator of this family scene. For she had kept, as +usual, as quiet as a mouse, only, Cleek observed as he looked at her, +her eyes had blazed with that one light which no fire can quench, and +she had shut them for a moment, as though to hide the secret they +revealed from Ross Duggan's troubled face.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, really. And I'm so—awfully sorry, Mr. Duggan," she +said in her soft, monotonous voice. "It is so unfair, so unjust! And +please don't go—without saying good-bye—to me."</p> + +<p>Then she, too, turned upon her heel and fled out of the room. And +suddenly Cleek saw one thing startlingly clear. Miss Duggan had +mentioned "an attraction" in Johanna McCall's eyes. That was why she +stayed on here at the Castle and endured so much. But she had given him +to understand that it was Tavish.</p> + +<p>But it was <i>not</i> Tavish who had inspired that unquenching fire in those +pale eyes; it was <i>not</i> Tavish who had set that hero-worshipping +expression upon the plain, unattractive face.</p> + +<p>It was the disinherited heir to the estates himself!</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>That afternoon, after he had left the Castle and its inhabitants behind, +he wired Mr. Narkom, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> he had said he would. The enigmatic words which +flew across the wire to Scotland Yard, in their own particular code, and +made Mr. Narkom fairly jump in excitement, were these: "<i>Full up right +to the brim. Come along. Cleek.</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE SUMMONS</h3> + +<p>Cleek left that house of anger in a strange frame of mind, rather glad +to be back again in his own sunny room at the Three Fishers, and away +from an influence which seemed somehow horribly malign. The pitched +battle that had taken place between father and son—egged on by a +designing woman who did not mind to what depths she stooped so that her +ends were eventually reached, gave him an eery feeling. There was +something venomous about the whole affair, something that reminded him +of an asp about to strike. He could not shake that feeling from him. The +premonition held firm hold of his faculties.</p> + +<p>A walk with Dollops over the moors certainly acted as a refresher, for +the lad's ready humour had the true Cockney bite in it and he had seen, +with his keen eyes, how the master he loved and reverenced was brooding +under the shadow of something he sensed although he could not see. And +so his comical faculties were put to good work. Until—tea-time at +length reached—Cleek returned to the Inn of the Three Fishers, a little +less clouded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> heart and brain, and with some of the moody depression +shaken from him.</p> + +<p>He spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening reading and +thinking by the open window of his room, looking out now and then at the +whole massive structure of Aygon Castle, with its great gateway, above +which Rhea du Macduggan stood everlasting guard. Gad! anything might +happen there—and the world be no wiser! It was an appalling thought at +best. What secrets had that place held in the past and never revealed to +the light of day? What secrets might it not hold in the future?</p> + +<p>And those dungeons. The thing he had seen there.... And that +handkerchief—so obviously belonging to Ross Duggan, and which now lay +in his inner pocket. He fumbled for it and brought it out to the light, +examining it minutely. Fine linen, finely monogrammed. Very obviously +the handkerchief of an extravagant gentleman. But what on earth <i>he</i> +should be doing down there, amidst <i>that</i>, was something which sent the +grim lines fleeting about Cleek's mouth and eyes. It couldn't be he—the +son of a proud old house like this one! The thing seemed impossible. And +yet—there was the handkerchief to prove that fact; and then this +electricity business, which obviously ate up a good many private funds. +H'm. It would want close looking into, if nothing further proceeded with +Miss Duggan's part of the affair.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>For an hour or two he sat pondering and dreaming there, the book he had +caught up absent-mindedly from the billiard-room book-case lying open in +his lap.</p> + +<p>The dinner-gong sounding through that quiet house brought him quickly to +his feet, a sense of sharpened appetite lending pleasing colour to the +thought of what the dining-hall afforded, for mine host believed in +setting a good table, and his hospitality was by no means frugal.</p> + +<p>Dollops was already standing by his table, expectant eye upon the trim +maid who waited upon them, for during this little sojourn in the +Highlands Cleek had expressed a wish for the lad's company during meals, +and old Fairnish had told his spouse that "Misthair Deland were an unco' +queer pairrson tu wish the company of his mon wi' 'im at meal-time, but +so lang as he paid his bill prampt, 'twere nought of hees business."</p> + +<p>And that was why Dollops was waiting now with that hungry eye of his +upon the plate of steaming soup which the maid was bringing to the +table. Only his respect for the man who had raised him to his present +status kept him from dropping into his seat and gulping the stuff down +straightaway.</p> + +<p>Cleek smiled as he saw the lad's eager eye.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, sit down, Dollops, and set to," he said with a laugh, laying +a hand upon the boy's sleeve with something of tenderness in the +gesture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> "Your eyes are like hard-boiled eggs, they're popping out of +your head so. Hungry, I'll be bound."</p> + +<p>"'Ungry—I means hungry, sir? ... starved's more like it!" gave back +Dollops between mouthfuls of hot soup. "Why, I'm that 'ungry me +backbone's well-nigh come rahnd to me front! Nuffink since tea—although +I must say as I nabbed a roll from the kitchen table when the cook +wasn't lookin', and there was a cold sossidge fairly talkin' ter me from +the plate in the larder. And so, as there weren't no one around, I just +whistled to 'im, and he 'opped off his platter quite tame-like. But fer +anything else!..." The last spoonful went down with a gulp.</p> + +<p>"Dollops, Dollops! You'll be eating the wake up at your own funeral, you +young gourmand!" threw in Cleek laughingly. "You've a constitution like +an ostrich. I'm sure, if you were actually starving, you'd manage to +gnaw an umbrella—spokes and all!... Heigho! This is a queer world, +isn't it? Here's me sitting here in this little inn-place, on the top of +the Highlands, with the heart of me wandering away in other places, and +the soul of me sometimes hungry for the sight of other worlds across the +sea—to which I've closed the door of my own accord and shut the sight +of their dear blessedness forever from me! And there's those people up +at Aygon Castle. Bitter, cruel, hard to each other. Pulling this way and +that, until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> their hearts must break with the strain of the fray—and +with the whole structure of their dear inheritance forever with them, so +that they need never hunger and thirst for a sight of it as—as others +do. Heigho! but it's a topsy-turvy, crazy sort of a world we live in, +isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Something in the tone of Cleek's voice caused Dollops instantly to +pause. Eyes wide, mouth open, face gone suddenly pale, he set down his +knife and fork and reaching a shaking hand across the table laid it upon +Cleek's.</p> + +<p>"Guv'nor," he said, in a scared, hushed sort of voice, "you ain't +a-wishin' ter go back—to all them Maurevanian royalties, are yer? Wiv a +throne an' a crahn and a bloomin' spectur in yer 'and? You ain't +a-pinin' fer the Crash Pots, I 'opes? For as sure as I know anyfink of +anybody, they'd never let sich folks as Mr. Narkom an'—an'—me come +within twenty miles of yer. And you ain't—ain't wishin' ter l-lose us, +are yer, sir? It would fair break my 'eart if I thought <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>Cleek put back his head and laughed, laughed heartily, with his eyes +wet. There was a sob in the boy's voice as he spoke, and the look of +injured worship in his eyes would have wrung tears from a stone. Cleek +stopped laughing suddenly, and sat forward and looked straight at the +boy.</p> + +<p>"Dollops," he said quietly, "I wouldn't barter <i>this</i> inheritance—of +Love—which the good Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> has given me, for all the thrones and +'specturs' and 'crash-pots' that the world could hold. For true +friendship is the best inheritance of all. But there are times when a +man must be allowed to go down into the deeps of his memory and take a +maudlin joy in counting over the hidden pearls there. I've no doubt you +do it yourself, lad—and shed a tear in solitude for the days when you +had a mother to care for you, and you weren't just a frightened little +sinner of an orphan boy."</p> + +<p>"An' that's where you're dead wrong, sir," gave back Dollops with a +vigorous nod of the head. "Fer I never does anyfink of the sort. Me +muvver—Gawd 'elp 'er!—were a bruiser an' a footballer in one, an' +there weren't an inch o' me poor little body which didn't 'ave a score +of bruises upon it. As for me farver—well, I doesn't remember 'im, and +no doubt it's a good fing, too.... No, sir, you've bin and gone and +missed the bull's eye this time. I ain't no Wistful Willie, I ain't. +You've been Muvver and Farver and Big Bruvver and all the whole darn +Fambly ter me, an' if ever I finks o' the blinkin' parst, it's just that +I didn't live clean and strite an'—an' <i>decent</i>, so's I could be a bit +more worvy uv yer precious kindness.... Lord! listen ter me a-torkin' +like a bloomin' sermonizer! But them's my sentiments—strite! An' so +long as yer ain't wishin ter go back to—<i>them</i>——"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not wishing that at all, boy," said Cleek<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> quietly, with an odd +little smile. "So don't you worry your ginger head over such fool +notions as that. The day I want to get rid of you all—Miss Lorne, +yourself, and Mr. Narkom—is the day that sees me in my grave. And then +I'll only be waiting to wring your hands across the Big Beyond. And if +you ever mention royalties and 'specturs' and 'crash-pots' to me again, +Dollops, I'll—I'll cut you out of my will.... Finished?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, come along upstairs and smoke a weed with me. Unless you've +something better to do. I've need of a man's company to-night, for my +mood's maudlin, and a chat over old times will straighten things out for +me."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rar</i>ver!" Then to himself: "Missin' Miss Ailsa, like any uvver +bloomin' lovesick strain," thought Dollops to himself, with a shake of +the head. "Well, orl I kin s'y is, Dollops me lad, it's a good thing you +ain't in love yerself. You love yer tummy better'n the gels—and a +fairer deal it is, too. Fer yer <i>can</i> tell when you're proper fed up, +and starve a bit in consequence. But the lydies!—well, they never lets +yer leave 'em alone! 'E ain't 'ad no letter this mornin'—that's wot the +trouble is, bless 'is 'eart!"</p> + +<p>So Dollops followed Cleek upstairs to his room, and in the short +twilight of the summer evening sat with him, curled up on a cushion at +his feet, and smoked and talked and gazed at the great Castle in front +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> them, almost lost in the twilight mists, like the true little +<i>gamin</i> he was, until the lonesomeness had gone from Cleek's soul, and +the night had thrown her mantle over the sky.</p> + +<p>Then:</p> + +<p>"Time for you to be getting into your little 'downy', old chap," he +said, with a stretch and a yawn and a smile down into the eager young +face that rested against his knee, as a dog might do, faithfulness in +the attitude. "Or we'll be having no salmon-fishing to-morrow, for +you'll be over-sleeping yourself, and the fish will have swum to other +waters, getting tired of waiting for you. Cut along now, there's a good +boy."</p> + +<p>"Orl right, Guv'nor. Thank yer, sir, for this—this rippin' fine +evenin'. And fer lettin' me pertend I was for the moment, like, a real +pal to yer. I shan't never ferget that. Good-night, sir, and pleasant +dreams."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Dollops. Close the door softly behind you. There's an old +lady in the room beyond, and I fancy she's just gone off to bed. I'll +sit here a few minutes longer, and then nip in between the sheets +myself."</p> + +<p>But the few minutes lengthened into an hour before Cleek, about to rise +from his chair by the open window to knock out the ashes of his pipe +upon the sill, happened to glance up and out of it. Then he stopped of a +sudden, sucked in his breath, and stood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> stock-still, staring out in +front of him as though he had gone suddenly mad.</p> + +<p>For the darkness of that dark night had been cut suddenly by a ray of +red light swung to and fro several times from the particular bit of +darkness which Cleek knew was Aygon Castle; extinguished; re-lit; sent +swinging across the darkness again like an arc of crimson light; and +when this was done for a third time, Cleek knew that it was a signal—a +signal from Maud Duggan to him—a signal, too, which meant distress. +Something had happened out there in that grim darkness beyond the rim of +hill and valley in that great, gaunt edifice of mediæval stone, +something so serious that she had signalled for him to come, as she said +she would.</p> + +<p>He drew out his spotlight, and sent it zigzagging in the direction of +the red light, just to let her know she had been seen and understood. +Then, swinging round swiftly, he caught up his dark overcoat, slipped +his arms into it, drew a cap low down over his head, and was off into +the shadows and pelting away down the narrow tortuous lane as fast as +his swift feet could carry him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE BLOW FELL</h3> + +<p>It was not an easy road Cleek traversed, for in the darkness and in the +utter absence of lamps of any sort the lane became a thing of stones and +pitfalls for the unwary traveller, and there were many times when he was +down upon his hands and knees in the soft, sweet-smelling, +heather-thatched hillside, having lost footing with the road altogether, +and only his pocket-lamp kept him from absolute downfall and disaster. +But the great gates were reached at last, and he saw that they had been +set ajar, so that he could slip in undisturbed, if he wished—a little +forethought on Maud Duggan's part for which he silently thanked her.</p> + +<p>He slid in between them, glanced a moment up at Rhea's great bronze +figure etched out against the moonlit sky and taking on a supernatural +lifelikeness which was eery beyond words, and then darted up the +driveway, groping his way in the shadows toward the great house which of +a sudden seemed to be blazing with light from every window, as though +the soul of it had suddenly been awakened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> out of its sleep and it had +come to life in one huge simultaneous effort.</p> + +<p>Under the tread of his light feet the gravel barely moved, and having +got his bearings that same afternoon, he pelted up in the darkness +toward the front door, stopped suddenly, listened, darted leftward +toward the lawns, and came—<i>phut!</i>—up against somebody who was running +in the opposite direction, swift-breathing like a man pursued, and who, +having met the impact of Cleek's tautened body, stationed there for just +such a purpose, bounded back again and gave out an involuntary gasp of +astonishment and ill-concealed irritation.</p> + +<p>"Whew! I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said this stranger, as Cleek +flashed on his lamp and sent its rays travelling up the man's slim +figure from top to toe. "Who the—why the—what the——?"</p> + +<p>"Awfully sorry, I'm sure," responded Cleek, with a light laugh, in his +best blithering-idiot manner, "but I happened to be strollin' up in this +direction to pay a call upon Miss Maud Duggan, and fell into you. So +beastly dark in these parts, doncherknow. After London, a chap is likely +to lose his bearin's. Exceedin'ly sorry and all that."</p> + +<p>The man stopped suddenly and, bending forward, peered up under Cleek's +tweed cap into the face beneath it. Cleek saw him as a slim, handsome +fellow of the leisure classes, lithe of limb and athletic of body, and +in that small ray of torch-light,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> augmented by the moon's pale gleams, +liked the look of him, though he was startled by the meeting—that was +obvious—and a little shaken as well.</p> + +<p>"Eh? What's that? Miss Duggan, did you say? Then what's your name, may I +ask? You're a stranger to these parts, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Up for the salmon-fishin', doncherknow. Strollin' back to the +Castle, are you? We'll go together. My name's Deland—Arthur Deland. Am +I permitted to know yours?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. But I'm not—going to the Castle to-night. I've—I've +just—come from there, you see, and was on my way home again when we +cannoned into each other. My name's Macdonald, Angus Fletcher Macdonald. +I'm a—particular friend of Miss Duggan's.... But time's getting along, +and I've a good distance to go. So I'll be off, if you don't mind. +Good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night."</p> + +<p>Cleek nodded to him in the half dark, then as the man swung away from +him down the wide drive, turned in his tracks and watched him till the +moon, hiding under a cloud, hid him, too.</p> + +<p>"Macdonald, eh? The unfortunate lover whom the father will not +countenance. H'm. Wonder what he was doing here at this time of night? +Rather nervous, I should say, at our encounter. And why the dickens—if +anything's happened—didn't he know something about it? It's a good +twenty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> minutes since she signalled to me, and if he's just come from +the house——"</p> + +<p>Of a sudden he stopped short and sucked in his breath as a new thought +penetrated itself into that perfectly pigeon-holed and regulated +mentality of his. "Gad! surely <i>he</i> hasn't—— Well! I ought to have +detained him and brought him back on some pretext—if anything really +<i>has</i> happened to cause her to want me at this hour of the night.... +Well, I'll nip along and find out. And if anything's really wrong, I +shan't forget <i>that</i> gentleman in a hurry."</p> + +<p>He reached the house without further adventure, and rang the door-bell +with a steady hand. But he was hardly prepared for its response. For at +the sound of it Maud Duggan came running toward him, her face white as a +dead face, her eyes wild, her hair untidy, and clutching him by the arm +fairly hauled him into the hallway, just as the butler—stung out of his +calm demeanour by the happenings of that night—appeared from the end of +the hall and came toward them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad you came, so glad, Mr. Deland!" she shrilled out in a +high-pitched, terrified voice. "It was lucky you turned up as—as you +promised. But I'm afraid our game of c-cards cannot take place. +Because—oh, how can I say it? How? A terrible thing has happened, Mr. +Deland, and that which I feared has come to pass, only in a much more +awful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> manner! My—my f-father has been murdered, in full sight of us +all, right there in the library, just as he was about to draw up a new +will to disinherit Ross. Foully ... murdered ... poor darling!"</p> + +<p>Then the sobs caught in her throat, and she turned away a moment and hid +her face in her handkerchief, while Cleek, mastering his curiosity and +amazement at this curious and amazing statement, waited a moment for her +to regain her composure. Then:</p> + +<p>"My dear young lady!" he cried in a low-pitched, even voice. "Murdered! +And in the presence of you all! Then of course you know who his murderer +is."</p> + +<p>"I don't, I don't! We none of us know! None of us!" she ejaculated, +shutting her hands together and lifting a tear-stained, haggard face to +his. "Oh, Mr. Deland, that is the terrible, the mysterious part of it +all. It happened in a flash. Suddenly the lights went out; we heard the +wheel humming, just as the Peasant Girl said it would hum, and then ... +then ... the lights came up again, and there he lay, shot through the +temple and stabbed to the heart, quite, quite dead!"</p> + +<p>"Whew! Rather a marvellous happening, I must say," gave out Cleek, +laying a hand upon her shaking shoulder and edging her tenderly toward +the open door of that little ante-room into which he had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> shown +only that morning, when the old laird himself had entered upon their +conversation, with his lady in attendance. And now he was dead! +murdered! It seemed indeed hardly credible. "Sit down awhile, and then +tell me at your leisure all the happenings which took place. Got any +brandy in the house? Or have you had some? No? Well, I've always a flask +handy. Now, take a pull at this, and then lean back in that chair and +close your eyes. You'll be a different person, I assure you. Here's my +flask. Make it a good peg, too."</p> + +<p>Dumbly she did as she was bidden, acting as a sick child does, without +question, and thankful only for a directing hand. Meanwhile, Cleek stood +over her, watching how the colour ebbed slowly back into her pallid +cheeks and the red crept again into her blue lips, and congratulating +himself that he had been just in time, and no more, before she would +have fainted.</p> + +<p>She shut her eyes as he had told her, and when a few minutes had +elapsed, Cleek leaned forward and touched her gently upon the wrist.</p> + +<p>"Now let's hear all about it—if you're able. Where is your stepmother?"</p> + +<p>"Upstairs in her room—prostrate." She spat the words out with positive +venom. "Ross is with his father, bowed down with grief, poor old boy; +while his fiancée, Cynthia Debenham, who came back with him, and her +cousin, Catherine Dowd,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> are in the house somewhere, seeing to the +necessary household arrangements."</p> + +<p>"And you've telephoned the police?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And then signalled to you. They'll be along presently, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly—yes. I'd have brought my own man if I had only known. Mr. +Narkom will be here in the morning to take charge of affairs. I sent for +him to-day. And the rest of the household?"</p> + +<p>"Cyril is with his mother. Wakened up out of his sleep, poor boy, by all +the commotion, and of course hardly aware yet of what a terrible tragedy +has happened here in his own home. The servants are huddled together +like frightened rabbits, and the women refuse to put in any appearance +at all. Miss McCall has been trying to get them in hand—she's so quiet +and yet so resourceful, you know, Mr. Deland—and she has helped us such +a lot in that way."</p> + +<p>"And that accounts for every one, then? No one left the house since +the—the thing took place?"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul. There was no reason to, you see. And no one has been here, +either. Callers to Aygon Castle are few and far between, Mr. Deland, as +you can imagine. We're so very far from civilization."</p> + +<p>"I see. And no one's been to the place at all, you say? Beyond the +immediate family, and this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> Miss—Miss Dowd and your brother's fiancée? +They returned with him, I suppose, after having persuaded him not to +take such a foolhardy view of the case which I heard this morning? Well, +I'm glad he came back, if only—for this. Poor chap! it will ease his +conscience, at any rate. And those are the only people who have entered +this place to-night, Miss Duggan? You are positive of that?"</p> + +<p>She lifted wide eyes to his face. There was conviction in every line of +her own.</p> + +<p>"Absolutely positive, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all right, then." Cleek nodded slowly at her but his lips +were grim. Either <i>she</i> or Macdonald had lied. For he had heard him say, +in that broken, staccato voice of his, "I've just—come from there, you +see, and was on my way home again." And a dollar to a ducat that <i>she</i> +was not at fault. Well, the man Macdonald would want watching. And if he +<i>had</i> "done a bunk," as the boys say, he would know his man instantly +and scout all Britain over for him—though at present his motive for +connection with the crime was certainly unknown.</p> + +<p>He sent his keen eyes over her wan face, and came to his own +conclusions. Here was no liar, if he knew the signs. Then he leaned +toward her.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "just tell me—what happened. All about it. Don't leave +anything out—not the veriest little thing. How did you all happen to be +in the library in the first place?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As I told you, Father had summoned us all there for the purpose of +disinheriting Ross by crossing his name from his will, and in the +presence of witnesses substituting another instead."</p> + +<p>"And whose name, may I ask?"</p> + +<p>She bent her head suddenly, and put one hand against her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Mine, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"<i>Yours?</i>... Oho! And not young Cyril's, then?"</p> + +<p>"No. Upon that Father was adamant. He said justice must be done to the +elder family—that is Ross and me, as you know—and he would see justice +done. If Ross could not have the rightful inheritance because of his +unfitness (poor Ross!) then it was to come to me, unless I saw fit to +marry Captain Macdonald. In that event it all went to charity. +Naturally, I protested with him."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because, don't you see? I hoped he would perhaps relent and leave +Ross's name where it was. The ignominy to the poor boy would have been +so terrible—if he had struck his name out. Ross would never have got +over it—never! He is so proud of his house, so wrapped up in it in +every way."</p> + +<p>"And did your father manage to destroy the will then before +it—happened?"</p> + +<p>"No. He had it in his hands. I was wrestling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> with him, trying to get it +away, and Paula had caught me by the shoulders and was endeavouring to +get me away, too, when the lights suddenly went out, and—and came up +again. And there he was in his chair—<i>dead</i>!"</p> + +<p>"And you say that you heard the sound of the spinning wheel 'humming' in +the darkness? You really did hear that, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I would swear to it on my oath."</p> + +<p>"And how then did your father die? By what means?"</p> + +<p>"By a shot through his temple, I suppose (though he was stabbed as +well)—although there was no noise, Mr. Deland, nothing to tell us that +the awful thing was happening, save the failing of the current at that +moment."</p> + +<p>"H'm. I see. A soundless pistol—in fact, an air-gun. Any one in the +house got such a thing, do you know?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of, unless ... but he gave his away long ago."</p> + +<p>"Who, may I ask?"</p> + +<p>She sent suddenly startled eyes up into his face, as though she realized +that she had unguardedly been trapped into a damaging admission.</p> + +<p>"Why—why—my brother Ross, Mr. Deland," she said in a hoarse, +frightened voice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A DOUBLE TRAGEDY</h3> + +<p>Cleek sat forward in his seat suddenly, every nerve alert at this +somewhat startling piece of news. Oho! So Ross Duggan was the only +person possessing an air-pistol—and the laird had been killed by means +of one, shot through the head in a dastardly fashion. Gad! it certainly +wanted looking into! And the moment had been chosen with such precision +that the alteration in that self-same will had never been made, and Ross +Duggan still stood as chief heir to his father's estates!</p> + +<p>That was a queer thing—a very queer thing! He flung up his eyebrows and +twitched the corner of his mobile mouth.</p> + +<p>"Your <i>brother</i>, Miss Duggan? I see. And how long ago was it that he +bought that pistol, may I ask? And for what purpose?"</p> + +<p>She gave an uneasy laugh which ended in a little sob that brought a look +of pity to his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh—ages and ages! Quite a couple of years ago, I think. Ross and a +fellow-officer who was here for the fishing got it together. Ross had +thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of a new idea for killing the big salmon after they had been +played so long, and though exhausted were brought to shore alive. +Everyone laughed at him, of course, and the thing never turned out to be +anything; but Ross's idea was to shoot them as soon after swallowing the +hook as was possible, and the soundless pistol wouldn't frighten the +other fish. It was a ridiculous idea—but Ross imagined it would be more +humane, though not nearly so much sport from the fisherman's point of +view, as you know, Mr. Deland—and he tried it only once. He was teased +out of it after that."</p> + +<p>"And the pistol?"</p> + +<p>"I really don't know ... what became of it. I never saw it again, and, +in fact, forgot all about it. But of course, Mr. Deland, Ross +couldn't—<i>couldn't!</i>—oh, I beg of you, don't think of such a terrible +thing for one instant! Ross adored his father <i>always</i>, in spite of the +bad blood between them of later years."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Only, naturally, in the pursuit of duty one must ask all +manner of irrelevant questions. You understand that, Miss Duggan, I +hope? Of course your brother Ross would not think of such a thing. But +if he is the only possessor of an air-pistol, well, naturally, +circumstantial evidence will be rather unpleasant for him—unless +something else turns up. I'd like to see your brother, if you please, +and have a little chat with him. And then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> he will show me the—your +father, and let me make a little perfunctory examination.... By the way, +how far away is the nearest police-station?"</p> + +<p>"A matter of three miles. But the men have motorcycles, and should be +here at any moment. Hark! that's Rhea's bell, isn't it? No doubt they +have already come. Oh, Mr. Deland, <i>what</i> shall I say to them? I don't +feel as though I could face a stranger <i>now</i>!"</p> + +<p>Cleek laid his hand upon her shoulder as he rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>"And you're not going to—have no fear of that," he replied kindly. +"Remember, I represent Scotland Yard, Miss Duggan. This thing lies in my +hands, and I am in command of it. I shall see the police-sergeant and +make all necessary arrangements. The formalities will have to be +observed, of course, for to-night, at any rate. No one must leave this +house under any pretext whatever—neither servant nor guest. All doors +and windows must be locked, and I shall set a guard about the place. But +that will be my duty to attend to—not yours. So go and rest a little, +if you can—and emulate your worthy stepmother (who, by the way, I want +to see as soon as possible), after you have taken me to your brother, +and we have had a little talk together.... Would you mind conducting me +to him now?"</p> + +<p>She bowed her head dumbly, and passed out in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> front of him, down the +long narrow passage with its armoured figures standing out in niches cut +into the wall and its air of brooding mystery which so well fitted this +tragic affair and lent still further colour to it. At last they reached +the library. At the door of it she paused, hesitated, put her hand upon +the handle of it, and then drew back with an involuntary shiver.</p> + +<p>"I can't—I can't!" she said brokenly. "It's asking too much to go in +and see him now—not until he has been placed as he ought to be, poor +dear old Daddy! But Ross is in there with him, Mr. Deland. So if you +just knock, and then enter, and tell him who you are, that will be all +right.... Those men are coming in, I know. I can hear them at the door +now. Oh, please, please don't let me see them— I don't feel as if I +could!"</p> + +<p>"And you shan't—have no fear of that," he replied. "So be off with you +as quick as you can, and lie down for half an hour, at any rate. And if +I have need of you I'll send someone along with a message.... Ah! +they're coming.... Good evening, Sergeant. You've been exceedingly +prompt in coming along, I must say. And brought four men with you, too? +That's good. We shall want 'em in this place. There's been a murder +here—old Sir Andrew Duggan has been done to death in a mysterious +manner—shot and stabbed at the same time. I've not yet looked at the +body, but shall do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> so presently. Mr. Narkom will be down in the +morning."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Narkom? The Chief Superintendent, eh? Then—then may I ask who +<i>you</i> are, sir?" responded Sergeant Campbell, in a deep, ringing voice +which exactly fitted the huge figure of him.</p> + +<p>Cleek bowed. He looked keenly into the gray eyes under the beetling +brows, came to the rapid conclusion that here was a man who could keep +his tongue in leash if required, and then with a glance over the four +police-constables standing behind him, handed him a card upon which he +had scribbled one word, and then watched the effect of it with dawning +amusement as the knowledge soaked into the Inspector's consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Name's Deland," he said with a knowing wink, speaking in the nick of +time, before the Sergeant in his astonishment and admiration for this +man who stood before him, and whose name was a household word upon the +tongue of every policeman the world over, had quite given the show away +to the rest of his followers. "Arthur Deland. You've probably heard of +me, Sergeant, if you follow the doings of Scotland Yard at all. Came up +here under Mr. Narkom's orders to handle another case, and then +dropped—<i>plop!</i>—upon this one. Better come along now. I want you to +set a couple of men before the library door, where the thing took +place—nothing to be moved, of course, or touched in any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> way, until Mr. +Narkom arrives—and then send another of your men back to fetch ten more +reserves, and stand guard all round the house from the outside. Tell 'em +to report to you every half hour, and if there's anything doing bring it +along to me at once. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir. Certainly, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then come along."</p> + +<p>He led the way through the long hall, past the gaping butler to whom +this stranger, whom his master had entertained at lunch, and who was now +so mysteriously in charge of affairs, seemed suddenly to have assumed a +principal part in the affair, and to be showing his "nerve" in a good +many ways; and with a quick order to him to see that all doors and +windows were securely bolted and locked, so that no one could get in or +out of the house save at the instigation of the Law and the Law's +minions, Cleek passed on to that chamber of death where the old laird +lay, and turning the handle softly, led the way in.</p> + +<p>There was a light shining in the centre of the room from an +old-fashioned lamp which stood upon the desk-top and sent a soft +effulgence round and about it that lay like a halo upon the peace of +that silent place. At the desk sat Ross Duggan, head in hands, shutting +out the sight of the Thing that faced him in all the majesty of death, +that Thing which so short a time back had been his own father, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> now +sat huddled forward in a fallen attitude in the swing-back office chair +opposite Ross, transparent hands lying aimlessly upon the desk-top, head +downthrown, jaw dropped, and with a little sinister blackened puncture +in the temple telling the tale of the air-pistol's accurate aim only too +well.</p> + +<p>Cleek went up to the desk and laid his hand upon Ross's shoulder. In an +instant the young man sprang to his feet, eyes ablaze, face chalk-white, +startled and not a little displeased at this intrusion upon him and his +dead by a man whom he had met only casually a few hours back, and who +had witnessed that never-to-be-forgotten quarrel between him and his +father which would sear his memory now forever.</p> + +<p>"I— I—— This is hardly the hour and the time, Mr. Deland," he began +in a hushed voice; but Cleek silenced him, the queer little one-sided +smile travelling up his cheek, and his eyes serious and not a little sad +as they rested upon the haggard face of this heir to an unhappy +inheritance.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, my dear chap—really," he said in his clear, +low-pitched voice. "You see, my profession happens to be that of a +detective, and I stand at present as official representative of Scotland +Yard. The Sergeant here has come to do his unpleasant duty, and place a +guard over the body. It would be better for you, really, to go and lie +down. After such a terrible shock...."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll go, and gladly!" returned Ross with a grim nod of the head and a +sudden warming of colour in the pale cheeks of him. "It's not been the +pleasantest task sitting here with—him—like that, Mr. Deland. And as +you happen to have jumped up from nowhere and taken matters so entirely +in hand, I'll relinquish my trust. But I didn't somehow like to +leave—him—alone. After what's happened—the strange method of his +death—and all the rest of this ghastly affair, I meant to keep the rest +of the world away from him, if possible, and if the murderer should +chance to come back!"—a sudden light flashed into his eyes and +involuntarily his body stiffened—"then I should be ready for him."</p> + +<p>"Spoken like a soldier and a gentleman," said Cleek softly, with a nod +of understanding. "Now I want to have a look at your father, Mr. Duggan. +And I'd like it if you could just find it in your heart to stay here +with me for a moment or two, and acquaint me with the facts. Your sister +has told me the rough outline, and——"</p> + +<p>"My sister?" His voice showed the surprise which this news elicited. +"How did you see her, then?"</p> + +<p>"That is a long story, which you shall hear some other time. At present +she simply sent for me in a very quick and excellent manner, and I came +at once. The worthy Sergeant and his men followed.... Now, Sergeant, +place your men as I told you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> and I'll get on to the business of +examination. I only want to get a rough idea of the true method of +death, and glean what clues I can for Mr. Narkom, who will arrive in the +morning.... And, gad!" He glanced up at the huge clock which was ticking +away the minutes and hours with sonorous voice. "It's getting on that +way now. Now, Sergeant, if you can get one of your men to give me a hand +with the body——"</p> + +<p>Speaking, he moved it gently, until it lay half upon the pedestal +desk-top, so that the light shone full upon the ghastly face, and rolled +it tenderly over. There was a thin trickle of blood still oozing thickly +from the left side of the breast, where the fine puncture of some almost +needle-like instrument showed how successfully it had done its horrible +duty. Cleek tore away the coat and waistcoat, stripped back the shirt +from the frail body, and examined the wound through his little glass. In +size it was no more than what might have been caused by a heavy bodkin, +and in depth—so deep that it had no doubt punctured the inner walls of +the heart, and, if successful in this method, caused immediate death to +its victim.</p> + +<p>He looked up quickly into Ross's downbent face, his own rather grim.</p> + +<p>"A stiletto wound," he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"See that fine, clean-cut edge? I've seen similar ones in Italy and in +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> southern parts of America. The blade's squarish, not flat as in the +cases of most daggers. And it is amazingly sharp. That blow would cause +a death-wound, undoubtedly. But I understand there was a shot fired as +well—from an air-pistol, I imagine, as there was no sound. Now, the +question is, where is that bullet, and from what direction was the shot +fired? That'll tell us a lot."</p> + +<p>Ross Duggan's face changed suddenly, as though a shadow had passed over +it.</p> + +<p>"That's the question, Mr. Deland," he replied in a tense voice. "If we +could find out that, we could find out a good deal. But why this double +crime should have been committed, Heaven alone can tell. My father had +many enemies—but none who would have stooped to kill him—of that I am +positive. And it is obvious that two have tried to do so. Look, here is +the wound in the temple, just above the left eye. And it has gone clean +through the head. Poor old Dad! Poor, misguided old Dad! How I hate that +woman Paula and all her wiles and ways! If any one's at fault in this +dastardly business, Mr. Deland, you can count upon <i>her</i>! Her father +swung for a similar crime (she doesn't know I know that) and if she has +done this terrible thing she, too, shall swing, as he did! Whoever has +done this cruel, wicked thing, Mr. Deland, shall be brought to justice, +if I have to scour the world over for the murderer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah—who? That is the question, my friend," returned Cleek quietly, +stooping over the bowed white head with its thatch of snowy hair, and +tracing the path of the bullet through it in his mind's eye. "H'm! Went +through here and came out— Gad! here's the puncture! Right here! So +that somewhere in this room that bullet has lodged itself, and when that +is found we shall have our finger upon the pulse of this dreadful +tragedy more surely than we know.... Heigho! It's two-thirty, and in +this semi-darkness little to be done until the morning sends us its +kindly rays. So we must leave things as they are for the present, and +later go over the whole thing with clear heads and rested minds.... +Sergeant, I put you in charge. A man outside of the window there, +please, and another one in this room, and still another outside the +door, and if any one tries to get in or out, blow your whistle and I'll +be with you in a jiffy.... Come, Mr. Duggan. You're looking terribly +white and fagged. Let's have a whisky-and-soda—if you'd be so good as +to extend your hospitality so far—and then I'll make myself a +shake-down in the next room, if you've no objection. I've given orders +for no one to be allowed to leave the house until morning and until +parole is given to do so, so you need have no fear of one of the +murderers escaping."</p> + +<p>"I— I—— What's that you say?" stammered out Ross, swinging round and +looking at Cleek with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> drawn brows and flashing eyes. "You've given +orders in <i>my</i> house! I say, you know, this is a bit thick; and—and who +the dickens do you think would have done the thing in this place, may I +ask? You're rather overstepping the bounds of common hospitality, Mr. +Deland, in your role of private detective. And I must ask you to leave +the ordering of things to <i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>"And that, I am afraid, is exactly what I can't do, my friend," replied +Cleek serenely, with a crooked smile. "Simply because, according to your +somewhat one-eyed and one-sided English law, every one is a suspect +until he is proved innocent. You, your sister, your stepmother, even +your fiancée—who, I suppose, is spending the night here with her cousin +Miss Dowd, under the present circumstances as my orders were issued a +little earlier in the evening—every member of this household comes +under the unwilling stigma of a possible perpetrator of this crime."</p> + +<p>"Damn it!— I say—how dare you——"</p> + +<p>"We policemen dare everything, Mr. Duggan, because that is our duty, you +know," he responded smoothly. "And, besides, there's one thing more. +Someone here has an air-pistol, and the owner of that has got to be +found. I've an inkling, supplemented by a few words dropped by your +sister, but we'll let that pass. Only, the owner of the air-gun is not +going to escape this house to-night. That's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> all, I fancy. Sergeant, +good-night. Or, rather, good morning. You'll call me if necessary, won't +you? I shall be in the very next room. And— Mr. Duggan, if you don't +happen to have that whisky handy, you needn't bother. I've a flask in my +pocket."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE WOMAN IN THE CASE?</h3> + +<p>There was no call during the long watches of the night, no untoward +happenings of any sort. Cleek, sleeping with one eye open, rose now and +again and crept silent-footed out into the passage, doing a little bit +of listening in upon his own account. But nothing of any moment +happened. And so when at length the house was astir, and the sound of +servants with their brushes and brooms began to make their usual +early-morning clamour, he shook himself awake, got to his feet, and went +off into the bathroom, where Ross Duggan's safety-razor worked wonders +with his over-night beard, and a wash under the cold-water tap still +more.</p> + +<p>Returning, he stopped at the door of that chamber of tragedy where the +one-time master of all this vast inheritance of stone and moorland lay, +Death wiping from his aged face every line and leaving it as smooth as a +child's.</p> + +<p>"I want to have a little poke round for myself," he told the constable +on duty outside the door, who instantly let him in, as became a +representative of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> Scotland Yard. "You might send someone up to the Inn +of the Three Fishers with this note, and see that it gets delivered +immediately into the hands of a chap named Dollops. It's important."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir."</p> + +<p>"And in the meantime, I'll see that no one enters this room, I promise +you. Inspector Petrie himself will be around presently. And +Superintendent Narkom should be with us at twelve o'clock or +thereabouts."</p> + +<p>Left alone, therefore, in the early morning sunlight of that perfect +June day, Cleek made his way into the still room, closed the door behind +him, and then, glancing up, caught sight of the stolid back of the +constable on duty outside of the courtyard window, and not being wishful +to enter into conversation with him, began to poke about of his own +accord.</p> + +<p>But the room held little or no clues for him to go upon. Not in the +first rough glance, at any rate. Over by the window, where it had stood +upon the previous day, when Maud Duggan had shown it to him, stood the +spinning wheel, innocently incongruous indeed in this room of Death. He +gave it a casual glance, and then turned to the desk-top where a pile of +papers lay scattered in some disarray upon its leather surface.</p> + +<p>Cleek ran his fingers quickly through these, glancing at each of them in +turn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He was just about to alter the will, was he? Well, if that were so, the +will should be here now—and it isn't," he said to himself, with +suddenly upflung brows. "Queer thing! Unless someone put it away. I'll +try the drawers. There should be no secrets from a detective, my poor +misguided friend, and if the drawers don't answer to my fingers, I'm +going to search your pockets for the key—though to steal from the dead +is a ghoulish business at the best of times.... Hello, hello! Locked, of +course! Brrrh! I don't fancy the task at all, but I mean to have my +little look-in before any of the other members of the family get +downstairs for their breakfast. So here goes."</p> + +<p>Still mentally talking to himself, Cleek went over to the Thing that had +once been Sir Andrew Duggan, and plunged his hands in the trousers' +pockets without more ado. A bunch of keys rewarded the search. He ran +them over adroitly in his fingers; chose one which he thought would fit +the lock of the drawers, found it didn't fit, chose another, and this +time was more successful. For the top left-hand drawer of that +handsomely carved desk slid noiselessly open for him, stopped +automatically, and gave a funny little click. In a moment he had slid +down on his knees beside that gruesome figure which so impeded his +progress, and slipped his fingers up under the drawer (which was half +full of papers and so allowed him to do so), touched something which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +felt like a button, and <i>was</i> a button. Then the drawer came forward in +his hand, and revealed at back of it another one, which at a touch of +that button had dropped its front panel so that it formed a pigeon-hole. +As he peered into the recesses of this, he saw a bundle of yellowed +papers tied about with a faded piece of pink ribbon, and immediately +drew them forth into the light.</p> + +<p>"Whew! What a beastly dust! Well, I've met this kind of a desk before, so +fortunately you're no closed book to me, my friend," he apostrophized +it, as a powder of dust flew over his fingers as he touched the packet. +"Here's something which wants looking into, so I'll appropriate it now, +and have a squint at it later. Secretive old chap he was, then! With his +secret drawers and all! Looks like a bundle of old love-letters to all +intents and purposes, but written on paper that one would hardly have +called suitable for such tender epistles. Commonest kind of +note-paper—village note-paper." He drew a sheet from the packet and +held it up to the light. "And with a water-mark of a crown and +anchor.... Hello! bit of an illiterate lady, wasn't she, who penned +these lines! For the spelling's pretty shaky. And signed <i>Jeannette</i>.... +H'm. Some pretty little amour which has held such savour as to be +preserved in this form until after death—poor old fellow! Well, I'll +look into it later. Couldn't have been from the first Lady Duggan, for +<i>her</i> name was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Edith. Miss Duggan herself told me that. And ... +Jeannette! Now, I wonder...."</p> + +<p>But what he wondered was never recorded at that time, for just then came +the sound of a soft footstep upon the hall without, the rattle of a +door-handle and the gentle opening of the door itself; and Cleek had +just time to whisk away the packet, and assume an appearance of stolid +nonchalance, when someone came into the room on silently shod feet, +stepped a few paces forward, and then, seeing him, gave out a little +shriek and shut her two hands over her breast spasmodically.</p> + +<p>"Oh!—<i>how</i> you startled me!" gave out Lady Paula breathlessly, as she +recognized who the intruder was. "What can you be doing here, Mr. +Deland? The police ... this awful tragedy."</p> + +<p>Cleek bowed and came toward her with outstretched hand.</p> + +<p>"My dear Lady Paula," he said suavely, "I represent the police myself. +I happen to have taken up criminology many years ago, and came up here +to Scotland upon a little holiday. This terrible thing that has happened +brought me immediately here to do my duty and to give what little help +I could to you all in your bereavement. And so here I am. I beg of +you, don't stay in this apartment now. It is no place for a +lady—particularly a lady so highly strung and nervous as yourself."</p> + +<p>"But how—did you ever—come to hear about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> it?" she demanded, stepping +back a pace or two, with her eyes carefully avoiding that Thing which +lay huddled there before them—mute reminder of all the terrors that had +happened the night before. "How could you have known, Mr. Deland——"</p> + +<p>"I mentioned the fact of my profession to your stepdaughter yesterday, +and she immediately summoned me here. And, of course, I came. Anything +which I can do...."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. But there is nothing—nothing! I came in now because last +night I—dropped my handkerchief, and it was one which I very much +value, because my dear husband gave it to me upon the anniversary of our +wedding-day. Duchesse lace, Mr. Deland, and with my name embroidered +across the corner. And I knew, if the police found it, that I—I should +never get it back again. Everything, you see, becomes a clue, doesn't +it? But it seems not to be here."</p> + +<p>Her agitation was very apparent, and Cleek mentally registered the fact +that the excuse was a tame one, and utterly untrue.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "it isn't here, Lady Paula. And, as you say, if it were, +I could not give it to you. Go back to your room, I beg, and lie down. +You look ghastly pale; and after breakfast I shall have need of your +help, believe me. So go, please. And leave me to this gruesome vigil +alone.... Oh, by the way, do you happen to remember, during last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +night's many and terrible happenings, whether the will which Sir Andrew +was about to alter (I have the facts of the case, you see, from Miss +Duggan herself) was put away by any member of the family? Because it +isn't here, you know."</p> + +<p>He swept his hand out across the desk-top in an expressive gesture. Her +face flushed rosily, and something like a startled light, half of +gladness, half of fear, showed in her wide, velvety eyes. But she shook +her head.</p> + +<p>"It was never touched—to my knowledge," she said emphatically. "And I +happen to remember that fact, for in the confusion of everything that +followed, when we were looking at my poor, poor husband, it fell to the +ground, and Maud picked it up again and laid it over there, under those +other things that my husband had been looking into. I noted the fact, +even in my despair, as one does note these little trivial things in the +midst of a great trouble, Mr. Deland. But it <i>was</i> there— I am +positive. And you can't find it now?"</p> + +<p>"No, Lady Paula."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Then undoubtedly Maud has hidden it away somewhere, in case I might +<i>steal</i> it, I suppose, and so do her precious brother out of his +inheritance, if such a thing were possible."</p> + +<p>The venom in her voice was like the bite of a serpent—positively +poisonous, and Cleek gave her a quick, keen look.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hardly that, Lady Paula. And—well, I don't happen to be well up on +these matters at all, the law, y'know, and all that—only the law of +criminals, and that's an altogether different thing. No doubt one of the +family has put it away. It will turn up in time. Now, please go away +before the rest of the constables arrive. You will want every atom of +your strength to see this appalling thing through, believe me, and +therefore I insist that you harbour it."</p> + +<p>She smiled up at him sadly, and turned upon her heel, her trailing pink +negligée whisking across the thickly carpeted floor like the tail of +some sinuous snake, weighted as it was with one heavy beaded tassel.</p> + +<p>"Very well—if you wish," she said quietly, with an arch glance at him; +but as she went something white fluttered to the ground in the wake of +her, and Cleek, waiting until she had gone, closed the door softly, and +then bent down and whisked it up.</p> + +<p>It was a handkerchief—a mere wisp of gossamer, with Duchesse lace edge, +and the name <i>Paula</i> written in embroidery across one corner of its +fragile square.</p> + +<p>A little twisted smile flitted across his face as he looked at it, and +then suddenly his mouth went grim. This was obviously the handkerchief +in question—and she had had it upon her person every moment of the +time! So <i>that</i> excuse was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> false one, from the start-out. Then, too, +a woman who could look archly at another man over her own husband's dead +body was surely no woman at all, but a harpy in woman's guise. It was +ghoulish, horrible!... And if the excuse were false, what did she come +for—in the early hours of the morning, when servants were only just +astir in the other wing of the house, and she knew that there was that +dead Thing who had been her husband to be confronted? Would a woman face +a murdered man for a mere handkerchief?... She would lose a thousand +such sooner, from what <i>he</i> knew of the feminine sex.</p> + +<p>No, there was some other reason, and that a secret one. Was it the will? +But that was already gone. Was it to remove some distinguishing clue +which she feared might be found to connect <i>her</i> with this crime?</p> + +<p>What was it?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A NEW CLUE</h3> + +<p>It was a silent, horror-haunted breakfast-table that morning at which, +however, every member of the family appeared, as though driven +downstairs for the mere comfort of being among familiar things, and with +one another, in this time of tragedy. Cleek partook of breakfast with +them, but the black looks which Ross directed at him would have made a +weaker man lose his appetite.</p> + +<p>He smiled to himself now and again, missing nothing of what went on +about him, yet seeming, indeed, to see nothing at all but his own plate, +which was plentifully filled in response to a hearty appetite.</p> + +<p>He found Cynthia Debenham a bonny, red-cheeked country girl of the best +type, athletic and muscular as a boy, and very obvious in her +expressions, as just such a normally healthy girl of her generation +usually is. Her cousin, Catherine Dowd, was on the contrary a +black-haired witch with slanting eyes and close mouth and the finely +chiselled nostrils of a thoroughbred mare. He did not take to her upon +sight. There was so much concealed behind those closed lips, so much +that was secretive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> in the whole type of her. But she was obviously very +fond of them all, and upon excellent terms with every member of that +ill-assorted family. So that at least Miss Dowd of the black locks was +endowed with the mixing spirit, which was very much in her favour.</p> + +<p>Cyril, large-eyed and serious, sent his glance roving from one face to +another, as though seeking for the secret of this horrible thing that +had taken place here in the midst of them, and Cleek could not refrain +from a pang of pity for the white-faced boy. He looked so frightened and +miserable, and now and again his eyes roved up into Ross's face with +something of inquiry in them, as though he felt that this big +stepbrother must surely hold the key to the tragic happenings of last +night.</p> + +<p>Ross, indeed, ate nothing and said less, although his fiancée did all in +her power to bring some sort of a smile into his morose face. While upon +the other side of him Maud Duggan sat in a silence which was fraught +with all the dreadful happenings of that dreadful night, showing a face +to the world which spoke mutely of the fact that sleep had not visited +her during the long dark hours. Lady Paula alone tried to make some sort +of desultory conversation, aimed at random at each member of the party, +and missing its mark each time.</p> + +<p>It was as though a pall had been dropped over them, shutting out the +possibility of speech.</p> + +<p>Breakfast at length over, Cleek took the situation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> quietly in hand, and +turning toward them in the open doorway, made his desires known.</p> + +<p>"If you will all be so kind as to step into the library in an hour's +time," he said blandly, "I should like to reconstruct the scene of last +night's tragedy in the presence of all those who took part in it.... No, +Miss Duggan, you need not be afraid. Your father's body will have been +removed by then. But if any one of you have any knowledge whatever to +impart to me—representing, as I do, Scotland Yard in the absence of Mr. +Narkom (who is already upon his way here), I shall be only too pleased +to speak with you in the little ante-room close by. I may use that as a +sort of office, for the time being, may I not, Lady Paula? You've no +objections, I trust?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head at him, flashing him a killing glance from under her +full lids. The flattery of his choice of her as principal of the bereft +family pleased her immensely.</p> + +<p>"None whatever."</p> + +<p>"Thanks very much."</p> + +<p>Then he withdrew to the said ante-room, took out pen and paper, and +began figuring out something upon it which caused him not a little +worry, by the look of his face.</p> + +<p>Five minutes brought a gentle tap upon the door, and without raising his +head from his work he called, "Come in."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>Catherine Dowd stood in the aperture, looking more like the Mona Lisa +than he had ever seen a living person do before. There was something of +the same inscrutable smile lingering upon her lips, the same mysterious +impassivity in her quiet countenance.</p> + +<p>"I've brought you something, Mr. Deland," she said in a soft purring +voice. "Something which I imagine has great bearings upon last night's +tragedy and which I found hidden in the left-hand curtain of the window. +It was stuck carelessly into the inner lining of the green silk, and +hung there. Here it is."</p> + +<p>Cleek was on his feet in an instant, face alert. She handed him the +object, and then nodded at his exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes. A stiletto. And in the face of the fact that Sir Andrew was +stabbed as well as shot, something of importance."</p> + +<p>"I should think so, indeed!" Cleek's face fairly radiated excitement as +he bent over the object that lay in his open palm, touching it with +light, nimble fingers. "Gad! yes! A stiletto—and a South American one at +that! See the curiously square blade? If that isn't the identical +instrument that stabbed Sir Andrew's breast, I'll eat my hat! Miss Dowd, +you have brought me a clue which may lead to the tracing of the murderer +himself—or one of 'em, as there must have been two. Now, tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> exactly +the circumstances in which you found it, and why you kept the fact +hidden until now?"</p> + +<p>She came a little nearer to him and leaned against the edge of the +desk-top, a sort of secretive nonchalance in her attitude.</p> + +<p>"I don't say everything I know, Mr. Deland," she said smoothly. "For a +person who tells everything he knows leaves nothing within to show that +he has anything of interest left for the next person who comes along. It +was shortly after the tragedy had taken place. Everything, as of course +you know, was absolutely in confusion. People rushing about here, there, +and everywhere, as though they had gone mad, which indeed they must +surely have done in such tragic circumstances. I was as bad as the rest, +and with Cynthia searched the room for any clues or anything which might +lead to the tracing of the murderer. I had just gone to the open window +and——"</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, "so the window was open, was +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—about halfway up from the bottom. The centre one, Mr. Deland. +Someone had asked me to shut it—it was Ross, I think, poor distracted +boy!—which I immediately proceeded to do, and brushed against the +curtains—the big green plush ones which hang at the outer edges of the +bay window—when something clattered lightly to the floor. Cynthia was +at the other side, looking out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> into the darkness, everyone else was +occupied with Sir Andrew himself, so I bent down quickly and picked the +thing up. And there it is."</p> + +<p>Yes, there it undoubtedly was. And undoubtedly too, the weapon which had +stabbed Sir Andrew so cruelly, if Cleek knew aught of such things. He +frowned a moment over it, and then looked up into Miss Dowd's dark face +through narrowed lids.</p> + +<p>"And you know to whom it belongs?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say for certain, but I fancy it is Lady Paula's. She had one +similar, I know, but whether it is the same one I am not prepared to +say."</p> + +<p>"Showing yourself a very wise young lady," put in Cleek with a smile.</p> + +<p>She acknowledged the compliment gracefully.</p> + +<p>"And that you are a very gallant gentleman, Mr. Deland—in spite of your +somewhat unusual role," she supplemented. Then, becoming serious again, +"But don't you think it—well, queer, that if this were the instrument +which stabbed Sir Andrew, that there should be no mark of stain upon it, +no blood of any sort? The blade when I found it was absolutely clean."</p> + +<p>"H'm. Yes. Rather extraordinary. Unless the murderer had time to wipe it +upon anything, Miss Dowd, before consigning it to the curtains. And now, +another question: What made you keep the thing secret?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>She hesitated a moment, as though uncertain what to answer, then, +blushing faintly, confronted him.</p> + +<p>"I have often seen that thing in use in the Duggan household. It has +laid claim to many a theatrical bout upon an impromptu stage. It has cut +pages of books, and slit edges of papers, and——"</p> + +<p>"All the more reason why there should have been some significance to +every member of the family in it, Miss Dowd."</p> + +<p>"That's one up to you—certainly. But you see the last person I had seen +using it, the day before yesterday, when I was here with Cynthia, +spending the afternoon, was—really, I'd rather not say, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you must, Miss Dowd."</p> + +<p>Came a moment's hesitation; meanwhile Cleek watched her narrowly. He saw +the colour come and go in her ivory-tinted face, saw the light that came +into her eyes at mention of the name which followed, and drew his own +immediate conclusions.</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, then. There can be no harm in your knowing. It was Ross +Duggan himself. He had been reading a new book which he had sent to +London for—'Poisons and Potions of Other Times', I think it was +called—and used that very same stiletto to slit the pages with. But +that was a couple of days ago, Mr. Deland. Who used it since, I couldn't +tell. Or how it got in those curtains, either."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I see. And that's all you have to tell me?"</p> + +<p>Cleek's voice was normal, though he was not a little startled at the +news she had imparted to him. Ross, indeed—and reading the musty old +book upon "Poisons and Potions", a replica of which stood upon his own +study bookshelf in his rooms in Clarges Street, and every word of which +he knew by heart! H'm. Strange literature for a young man of normal +tastes. And the thing had been in his possession then. Gad! All roads +began to lead to Rome with a vengeance! And surely Ross Duggan had the +greatest motive for the crime of any one of that strange and unhappy +family. And Sir Andrew had been killed, they said, before the name was +altered in that will—which at the moment was missing from its +hiding-place.</p> + +<p>He looked up suddenly into Miss Dowd's eyes. Perhaps this very secretive +young woman who was so deeply in love with Ross Duggan as to spirit away +clues which she felt might incriminate him under the very noses of his +unsuspecting family could enlighten him with regard to that document.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," he said rapidly, "did you see anything of the will—after the +tragedy took place?"</p> + +<p>She nodded.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was lying upon the table in front of Sir Andrew, and when the +lights went up again, I saw it from my place at the back of him. I saw +it distinctly. Why? Has anything happened to it?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Lady Paula picked it +up once, I remember, and glanced at it; then she put it down again, I +think. But my mind was distracted in another direction and I don't +remember anything more concerning it. It's not <i>gone</i>, is it? Surely +Ross can't be done out of his inheritance that way? Oh, if that +woman...."</p> + +<p>The venom in her voice was appalling to Cleek. There was something +inscrutable and oddly snake-like in the methods this young woman +employed. It repulsed while it fascinated. And no doubt she could strike +with a poisoned tongue upon aggravation.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "I didn't happen to see it there this morning, Miss +Dowd, but no doubt it had been put away for safety. I have had no +opportunity of interviewing any one but Miss Duggan—and now yourself" +(he made no mention of his early morning visit from Lady Paula), "and +probably it has a very meek and mild solution."</p> + +<p>"I hope so, indeed. I'll be going now, Mr. Deland. You think I did right +about the stiletto?—knowing the bad blood which lies between Lady Paula +and Ross? It wouldn't do, you know, to place any possible weapon in that +woman's hands. She'd use it for her own ends immediately."</p> + +<p>"As you would do also, my dear young lady," registered Cleek silently as +she left the room. "Gad! Well, here's evidence for us to investigate, +anyhow. She's a strange mixture, that girl, and one who would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> stop at +nothing.... By George! no, but she wouldn't, even for the sort of love +that <i>her</i> kind would give a man! And it was <i>his</i> inheritance which was +in jeopardy, don't forget that!... It's a pretty kettle of fish, indeed! +And this Ross Duggan seems to have half the countryside in love with +him! That's the third woman, including his affianced bride. His is +surely the deadly kind that they all fall for! Well, I'm glad the +inheritance isn't mine, at any rate. There is no fury like the fury of a +woman scorned—and a chap can't marry three women at the same time, and +live within the law.... If he ever did live within the law—in the face +of—<i>that</i>—which I saw in the dungeon! But I can't somehow credit +him—— And yet, who else?... Hello, there's Rhea's bell, and Mr. +Narkom, I'll dare swear. Well, I'll be glad enough to see his rotundity, +bless him!—more glad than I had at first imagined."</p> + +<p>And that's exactly who it proved to be. Rhea's bell was certainly +useful, that was one thing. It did keep tally of every incoming visitor. +And with that huge, high, iron-spiked wall which surrounded the grounds +of Aygon Castle so utterly insurmountable, surely the murderers couldn't +have got away very easily last night. Whew! Cleek whistled suddenly, and +sat up. He hadn't thought of that! Then the murderers must be here in +this household, or in the grounds of the place still—unless Rhea's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +bell had acquainted the family of their entrance or exit through the +great gate.</p> + +<p>But the gate had been ajar last night! And he had met Captain Macdonald +prowling around on that nocturnal visit of his just after the time +when the murder must have taken place. Then <i>who</i> set the gate +ajar? Someone in the house, of course! Someone who knew about the +thing—<i>beforehand</i>.... That opened up another avenue. He'd ask Miss +Duggan. Perhaps it hadn't been opened especially for <i>him</i>, then? +Perhaps it had been opened for—someone else. It certainly gave one to +think, as the French say.</p> + +<p>And he was thinking to such good cause that he did not hear the door of +the ante-room open, nor the voice of the butler Jorkins repeat a name, +and it was with genuine astonishment that he sprang to his feet and saw +the portly figure of the Superintendent standing before him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>CLEEK MAKES A STARTLING ASSERTION</h3> + +<p>Cleek and Mr. Narkom spent a busy fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the +Superintendent learned of the tragedy which had taken place and of what +evidence Cleek had got together for him, had a cursory look round the +library and at the body itself (which they examined more minutely), and +generally took a survey of the whole appalling affair.</p> + +<p>"Cinnamon!" ejaculated the Superintendent for the thirty-third time +since the recital of the thing. "It's a teaser, I swear! If someone in +the house hasn't done it, who the dickens <i>has</i>? When your wire came for +me to run up here, yesterday, I was up to my eyes in work. But I knew +you wouldn't send unless you really wanted me, and when <i>you</i> do +that——"</p> + +<p>He stopped speaking and let the rest of the sentence go by default. But +Cleek had seen, and Cleek <i>knew</i>. The friendliness in their two pairs of +eyes deepened to a fellowship which is rare—and good to see.</p> + +<p>"I know, old chap. But we mustn't go wandering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> down those particular +primrose paths just now. You're a bully old boy, and I'd back you +against every other man in the kingdom. And you've been a sort of a +guardian angel and a blithering idiot all rolled into one! And that's a +combination which I for one, have strong leanings for!... Now, then, +what about it?"</p> + +<p>What, indeed! He swung around in his tracks, hands out-thrown, and +surveyed the Superintendent with tilted head and narrowed eyes. "Any +ideas, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Not a single, at the moment. Have you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh—several. But they're too uncertain at present for utterance. +There's one thing I do know: That if I could find out certain items that +went to the laundry from this household last week I'd know a great deal +more than I do now. And I'd be able to nail—someone—with a good share +in this beastly business. Also.... You saw Dollops, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Young beggar!—he was on tenterhooks. Afraid some ghostly lady had +caught you last night and hugged you to death, or some such rubbish. +Until I assured him that your biceps were equal to all the ghosts in the +world. Yes, I saw Dollops, all right. And he said he'd got work to do +for you, or something. Some constable had called with a note early in +the morning...."</p> + +<p>Cleek looked up quickly from a survey of the window-sill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes—yes. Had he discovered what I asked him to?"</p> + +<p>There was a sort of dumb tolerance in the Superintendent's unimaginative +countenance. He shrugged his shoulders off-handedly.</p> + +<p>"My dear chap," he responded, "here's his identical message, only I +can't imitate his inimitable accent. 'Tell the Guv'ner, sir, as that +there "Crahn and Anchor" wot he wants ter know abaht is an inmate of the +post-office!...' Now, if you can make any sense out of that, Cleek...."</p> + +<p>"Deland, my dear chap, Deland, I beg of you!" interposed Cleek hastily, +whirling about with upraised hands. "Not a soul in the place knows who I +really am. Even Highland fastnesses, you know, have their leaking +spots—and I'll show you one of 'em by-and-by that'll make you sit +up!... But he <i>did</i> get it, the young beggar! Well, well, well! that +points nearer home, anyway, and it'll be something to go on.... What's +that? A clue? Well, perhaps, and perhaps not. Anyhow, it's not clue +enough at present to hang any ideas on. But the stiletto's done the +thing in one instance, and the air-pistol in the other. But how?—but +where?—but——" Then he whirled around suddenly and stood a moment +looking at the spinning wheel as though, of a sudden, it had actually +come to life of its own accord, and then darting forward scanned the +spindle. "H'm. Perhaps not the stiletto—perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> <i>this</i>, and the +peasant-girl story to make a cloak of! The points are much the +same—stiletto or spindle? But—which?"</p> + +<p>"What the dickens are you mumbling over?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture, as Cleek stood surveying this instrument of a by-gone year, +and pinching his chin between thumb and forefinger thoughtfully the +while. "Spindle? You don't suppose the spindle of <i>that</i> thing could +have anything to do with it, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Stranger things have happened, my dear friend, though I'm inclined to +think that in this case they have not!" responded Cleek serenely. "The +spindle theory is thin—deuced thin. But it's often in the thinnest +material that the thickest things are hid.... Now, if we could only find +the bloodstained article with which the stiletto was wiped, we'd settle +that question once and for all. I— Gad! yes, I remember now! I'll ask +her later on what they were. H'm—ah! That's possibly where it is."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Narkom's patience was running a close race with his curiosity, +and both in the same direction. He gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed +the top of his bald head disconsolately.</p> + +<p>"You're the most amazin' beggar," he gave out finally, in a tense voice. +"Mumbling away like a lunatic, of laundry-bills and spinning wheels and +'crowns and anchors' which are 'inmates of village post-offices,' and I +don't know what all! If I didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> know something about you, I'd say +you'd gone suddenly balmy, and light out for little old London before +you turned your hand on <i>me</i>! But you might let a chap have an +inkling——"</p> + +<p>"When you've been in this house as long as I have, you'll have more than +an inkling—you'll probably <i>know</i>," returned Cleek with a little laugh. +"But, look here, my friend, we've got to get the body out of +here—presto!—or we'll be having the ladies fainting away and upsetting +the apple cart with a vengeance! They're due in here inside of a quarter +of an hour, when I'm going to give a little 'turn' of the whole thing +again, and see if we can't reconstruct it a bit. The constable outside +will lend a hand. Here, Peters!"</p> + +<p>"Yessir?"</p> + +<p>"Get your friend from the outside window for a moment and give a hand to +get—This—out of the room before the ladies come. I want to reconstruct +the whole affair in the presence of all concerned. And we'll take away +all the gruesomeness that's possible.... Poor old chap! Poor old +tight-fisted laird! Eh, man, but you've got a sterner judge to face now +than ever you were yourself! And this time Justice has to be done, and +no gainsaying the fact, either!"</p> + +<p>The unpleasant task was barely finished before the sound of footsteps +and the humming of many voices in the hallway without told those within +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> the family were reassembling for the "performance." Cleek, with a +hasty glance to see that all was right, threw wide the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in," he said in a pleasant, friendly voice. "There's +nothing now to be seen but that which all may see, Lady Paula, so +neither you nor Miss Duggan nor any other member of the party need fear. +If you will all kindly take your places exactly as you took them last +night, I'd be immensely grateful. At any rate, Mr. Narkom here"—he +introduced him to the assembly with a slight bow—"will be able to get +some kind of an idea of exactly how things were when the—tragedy +happened. Hello! Where's Miss—Miss—er—McCall? Wasn't she a member of +the party, too?"</p> + +<p>Lady Paula entered the room with a rustling of soft black silk, and came +toward him with sadly smiling countenance.</p> + +<p>"I hardly thought, you know, that you would require her presence, Mr. +Deland, and so I told her she might attend to her duties instead. But of +course if you wish——"</p> + +<p>"I do wish——"</p> + +<p>"Then she shall be immediately sent for. Maud, my dear, will you kindly +call her?"</p> + +<p>Maud, thus addressed, turned silently away and went out of the room, but +in a few moments was back again, the slim, shrinking form of the girl +following closely behind her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cleek came toward her and smiled down into her pale face.</p> + +<p>"If you would be so kind, Miss McCall, as to take up your position as it +was last night when—when the murder was committed, I should be +exceedingly grateful. Thanks very much. You really needn't be so +frightened, you know. It's only a sort of grim dress rehearsal after the +show instead of before. Just to get some sort of idea.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, Sir Andrew, I take it, sat here in this chair"—he seated +himself forthwith at the desk, and looked about him. "And you, Mr. +Duggan, were in the centre, opposite, with your sister here at your +left. You were at your husband's right hand, a little way back, Lady +Paula? Oh, I see—just halfway behind his chair, in case he might need +you. Of course, of course. The right position for a lord's lady to +be.... Now, let me see. You, Miss Dowd, stood at the left hand, right +back against the wall, with Miss Debenham on <i>your</i> left—oh, a little +forward, eh? And Miss McCall on the other side of her. That's it. Now, I +suppose, we are all in our places. Now, Mr. Narkom, if you'd be so good +as to take up my present position and represent the ill-fated gentleman +for one moment, I'll hop up and look about a bit. The scene's set, and +we'll try and reconstruct the drama from anything any one would like to +tell me. I believe one of the windows was open, was it not, Lady +Paula?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>He turned to her so swiftly that she was taken back, and in her +nervousness went a shade pale under her olive tan.</p> + +<p>"I—don't know, Mr. Deland. I really never noticed...."</p> + +<p>"But <i>I</i> did." It was Catherine Dowd who spoke, a note of decision in +her clear voice. "The centre window was open, Mr. Deland—from the +bottom. Wide open."</p> + +<p>"Yes—of course it was," Maud Duggan broke in excitedly. "I remember +noticing how the curtains blew while poor Father was speaking. Don't +you, Ross?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head miserably.</p> + +<p>"I don't remember anything but what actually took place," he returned, +in a low, unhappy voice. "I was so furious, Maud; you must remember the +ignominy of—of Father calling in everyone like this to see my name +struck out of the will! If he'd done it in private, even, it would not +have been so bad, but in front of others, people who were not of our +family"—his glance travelled from Johanna's mouse-like countenance to +the inscrutable Catherine's. "It—it seemed hardly cricket to me, and I +was boiling over. I wish to God I hadn't been! It would have made it +much easier to bear—now!"</p> + +<p>"My poor Ross!"</p> + +<p>Cynthia's voice, very low and tender, crept across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> to him, and he gave +her a weary smile in acknowledgment.</p> + +<p>"Well, now," said Cleek evenly, "let's start away at this wretched +affair. Mr. Duggan, you were the only other gentleman present besides +your father. Perhaps you will tell me how things went. The ladies look +somewhat pale. It's rather an ordeal, I'm afraid, but a very necessary +one. Your father, I understand, seated himself and began to denounce you +in a loud voice, and you——"</p> + +<p>"Retaliated, Mr. Deland. Yes, I'm afraid I did. Poor old Dad! But I was +pretty well strung up. And then, just as he had sat down again—he was +standing up before, waving his fist in the air and calling me all sorts +of names"—his voice broke a tone or two and then recovered +itself—"just as he had taken up the pen and was about to scratch out my +name and substitute my sister's, out went the lights; we were plunged +immediately into utter darkness, and in the midst of it——"</p> + +<p>"We heard distinctly the sound of the spinning wheel, humming just as +the Peasant Girl said it would hum upon the approaching death of any +male member of the family," supplemented Maud Duggan feverishly and with +much excitement. "Hum-hum-hum! it went, Mr. Deland; then there was a +swishing sound as of someone moving hurriedly—a sort of +half-gasp—a—a—oh! how shall I describe it?——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A whizz and a whirr, and then the lights came up and there lay Sir +Andrew in his chair—dead."</p> + +<p>The finale came from Catherine Dowd, who spoke in a low, tense voice, +every note of which sounded in that quiet room, and made the atmosphere +vibrate with the feeling of it.</p> + +<p>"My God!"</p> + +<p>The exclamation came from Lady Paula's and Mr. Narkom's lips +simultaneously, but from very different causes. For the lady had gone +suddenly white as death and fallen back against the wall, both hands +pressed to her face and her shoulders shaking.</p> + +<p>Maud Duggan hastened to her immediately, while Miss McCall, like the +perfectly trained companion she was, produced smelling-salts from the +capacious pocket of her blue serge coat-frock, and held it under her +mistress's nose. A dose of brandy set the lady to rights, and her +Southern emotionalism subsided when she sat down in front of the open +window.</p> + +<p>She looked up into Cleek's downbent face with wide eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry," she said. "But it brought it all back—so +dreadfully—so terribly! Oh, I shall never forget it—never! Miss +McCall, my smelling-salts, again, please.... Thank you. Mr. Deland, you +have still—much more to proceed with?"</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>"A good deal, I'm afraid. In the first place, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> must tell you that we +have discovered one of the weapons—the stiletto which stabbed your +husband, Lady Paula. There remains but the air-pistol—and that will not +be a difficult matter, either, I imagine." He looked significantly at +Ross, whose face went suddenly scarlet.</p> + +<p>"I say—if you dare to accuse—<i>me</i>...."</p> + +<p>"Not so fast, my friend; I'm accusing nobody," returned Cleek serenely, +"and too much protestation often hides a guilty conscience. Please say +nothing until you are questioned. It is the safest way. First—the +stiletto."</p> + +<p>He drew it from his pocket and held it aloft where they could all see +it, the sunshine fighting upon its fine blade and turning it into a +narrow ribbon of brilliancy.</p> + +<p>"Can any one claim this, please?"</p> + +<p>There was an instant's hush of amazement as all looked at the thing, as +of the stillness before the storm, and then Maud Duggan hurried forward +and seized it in her two hands.</p> + +<p>"It is my stepmother's!" she exclaimed emphatically, and at the sound of +her voice Lady Paula sprang to her feet, instantly upon the defence, and +her faintness forgotten in this exciting moment.</p> + +<p>"Mine—mine! Oh, of course it is mine!" she shrilled like a veritable +harpy. "Every one of you would like to accuse me of this terrible crime, +I suppose. Mine?—yes, it is mine. But who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> it last, I ask you? That +is another question to answer. Who but yourself, Maud?"</p> + +<p>"Not yesterday, Paula."</p> + +<p>"The day before, then——"</p> + +<p>"It was I you lent it to the day before, if you remember, Paula," struck +in Ross's voice quietly. "Please try to stick to facts as much as +possible."</p> + +<p>"Well, you, then—or your wretched sister—one or the other of you," she +returned vehemently, stung out of all thought of good-breeding by the +sudden appearance of this thing of ill-repute. "What does it matter, so +long as it was used by one of you?"</p> + +<p>"And you will remember, if you think back, that I myself brought it up +to your boudoir and handed it to you, Paula, and I myself saw you place +it in your top drawer," interposed Ross, still in that ice-cold terrible +voice which is so much more horrible to bear than red-hot anger.</p> + +<p>"You lie!—you lie!"</p> + +<p>"He does not!" It was Johanna McCall who spoke at this +juncture—Johanna, with two red spots of colour in her usually pale +cheeks and her eyes fairly blazing. "I saw him do it, too— <i>I</i> saw you, +Mr. Duggan. Don't believe what she says, Mr. Deland! It is she who +lies— I swear that!"</p> + +<p>To and fro the evil words flew like vultures seeking to peck each +other's hearts out in the combat. In the sudden hush which followed this +last denouncement,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> while Lady Paula was accumulating her forces to +retaliate, Cleek held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Then I take it," he said, "that the stiletto is the property of Lady +Paula, but that it was last used by Mr. Duggan, who returned it to Lady +Paula in the presence of a witness, and she put it back into her drawer. +That is correct, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"A lie—an absolute lie!"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly correct, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Duggan. At any rate, the ownership of the thing is +established, which, by the way, Lady Paula, makes no assertion whatever +as to incriminating <i>you</i> in this disastrous affair. Miss Debenham, +would you mind coming over here for a moment? I would like to look at +your dress——"</p> + +<p>"My <i>dress</i>, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her with disarming frankness.</p> + +<p>"No wonder you think I am mad, but—ah, yes! see, right here on this +panel—I thought I was not mistaken. If you wouldn't mind turning round +a little more toward the middle of the room, Miss Debenham—thank +you—right here; those dark stains." He went down on his knees suddenly +and sniffed them, rubbed them with his fingers, and then beckoned the +mystified Mr. Narkom, who joined him immediately. "You see, Mr. Narkom, +what it is? Rather peculiar, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"What the devil are you driving at?" demanded Ross at this juncture, +striding around the desk and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> taking up a stand beside his fiancée as +though to shield her from the hands of these merciless probers of human +hearts. "I wish to God you and your kind had never showed up here at +all, I do, indeed! You always bring trouble in your wake."</p> + +<p>"<i>Follow</i> trouble, I think you mean, my friend," supplemented Cleek +quietly. "The trouble is generally there first. It is our business to +see that it is thrust upon—the right shoulders."</p> + +<p>"Then Cynthia—what are you driving at now?"</p> + +<p>There was a moment's tense silence. Then Cleek's voice sounded clearly:</p> + +<p>"Simply this. Those three stains there—long, narrow ones—upon Miss +Debenham's gown (I noticed them this morning at breakfast) +are—bloodstains, Mr. Duggan—<i>bloodstains</i>!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>MR. NARKOM VOICES AN OPINION</h3> + +<p>"<i>Bloodstains?</i>"</p> + +<p>Three pairs of feminine lips voiced that sinister word simultaneously: +Lady Paula's, Cynthia's, and Maud Duggan's.</p> + +<p>"But how, Mr. Deland?— But why?— And upon Cynthia's dress, too!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll swear I never had anything to do with it, anyhow!" threw in +Cynthia emphatically and in a voice of astonishment. "How <i>could</i> they +be bloodstains, Mr. Deland? and how could they possibly get on <i>my</i> +frock? Solve that question, if you please, first of all."</p> + +<p>"Quite a simple one, Miss Debenham. Just this: The murderer—or one of +them, as the case may be—entered this room by that middle window, +stabbed Sir Andrew with the stiletto, stolen for the purpose, of +course—then, in a frenzy lest he be discovered, caught hold of the +nearest thing and wiped the bloodstained instrument upon it, and then +made off as quickly as possible. You happened to be the nearest, no +doubt. So you were the person chosen. Did you not feel anything at all +of the action?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Nothing that I remember. We were all so astonished when the light +failed that I don't remember anything at all about it. If it was done, +it was done gently—and my skirt is wide."</p> + +<p>"And you think the murderer, the perpetrator of this wicked crime, was a +man, then, Mr. Deland?" put in the soft voice of Lady Paula at this +juncture.</p> + +<p>Cleek spun around toward her, nodding emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed. No woman could have arranged the thing like this, Lady +Paula. The electricity would have been too difficult a problem for her, +in the first place, and then the shooting——"</p> + +<p>"And how do you account for <i>that</i>, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is a more difficult matter. How? By whose hand? We will get +back to our stage rehearsal for that, I think. Mr. Narkom, would you sit +down again in the chair? Thanks very much. It's only just for a moment. +Now, if you ladies would take up your positions again as they were, I'd +be very much obliged. Let me see. The shot entered the temple here above +the left eye and passed clean through the head into the wall of the room +beyond. An acute angle of fifty degrees. H'm. That would bring it to +about over there and to a level with the top of that wood-panelling. +Then the bullet must be located somewhere in that vicinity, from all +logical reasonings. But where?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> Come, Mr. Narkom, just a moment. Lend me +your keen eyes, will you? And we'll have a look together. It'll want +careful looking, I'll warrant. But the panelling's in fine condition and +shows every mark. I— Gad! and here it is too!"</p> + +<p>His finger paused upon a slight, dark puncture in the darkness of the +wood, and he whirled round and faced them all, eyes alight, face aglow, +and marking the spot with his finger-nail. "Here, lend me your knife, my +friend, and we'll dig it out. That will establish a pretty good clue, I +can promise you. And a soundless pistol-shot—an air-gun. It ought to be +easy to trace the owner of <i>that</i>, in desolate parts like this. Well, +here goes!"</p> + +<p>A moment's careful prodding with the point of the knife, and the thing +was done. The bullet—an infinitesimal thing—fell out into the palm of +his hand. Then, of a sudden, he swung around in his tracks toward them. +His face was grim.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he said, in the sharp staccato of excitement, "what I want +to know is, who of this company possesses an air-gun? For that someone +does I am certain. That shot must have been fired at close range—by the +depth to which it was embedded in this wood. Mr. Duggan, do you happen +to own an air-pistol?"</p> + +<p>The last remnant of colour drained itself out of Ross Duggan's already +pale cheeks. His eyes narrowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> down to pin-points in the frame of his +face. Then his chin went up.</p> + +<p>"I do, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"H'm. I thought as much. And if you were standing there, opposite your +father, and with no one at the right side of you, and only the space of +the bow-window between you and the outside world—taking into +consideration the enormous amount of misguided reason which you might +have to commit such a terrible crime—as I said before, if you moved +quickly over there, side stepping, so that the shot might miss any of +the ladies opposite after passing through Sir Andrew's brain, and—if +the lights failed at a given and arranged moment, and you whipped out +your revolver and fired, it <i>might</i> bring about just this identical +result."</p> + +<p>"I ... my God! man, you're not accusing me of murdering my own father, +are you? You're daft—insane—idiotic!"</p> + +<p>Cleek held up a silencing hand.</p> + +<p>"I'm not accusing anybody, Mr. Duggan; simply reconstructing matters for +the purpose of finding out the true assassins. And, as I told you last +night, every one, according to English law, may be considered guilty +until he be proved innocent. Suspicions seem to point heavily to you, I +must say. But we've got to have more facts, of course.</p> + +<p>"He didn't do it, Mr. Deland! Of course he didn't do it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cynthia shrilled out these words suddenly, rushing toward Cleek and +fastening her hands about his arm. "You're mad to suggest such a thing, +to even think it! My Ross wouldn't stoop to <i>murder</i> for a beastly +inheritance! You don't know him as I do—as all these others do. It's +incredible."</p> + +<p>"Quite true, Miss Debenham. But let's ask Mr. Narkom what he thinks of +it. He's kept his peace during this session, proving himself, no doubt, +a wiser man than I. Mr. Narkom, give us your views, please. Who do <i>you</i> +think has committed this crime, according to present evidence?"</p> + +<p>"That man!" Mr. Narkom pointed excitedly in Ross's direction, his fat +face red with excitement, his forehead perspiring with the heat of his +excitement. "<i>He</i> fired the shot. But the stiletto—that is a more +difficult question."</p> + +<p>"And you think Mr. Duggan actually did kill his father, then? No, no, +sir, I beg of you, let us finish this discussion before you interrupt. +It might lead to something really enlightening. You think that, Mr. +Narkom? Considering the position in which the shot was fired, and the +position in which Mr. Duggan himself stood last night?"</p> + +<p>"Decidedly I do."</p> + +<p>"H'm. I'm sorry. But I'm inclined to agree. But the evidence, I admit, +is at present slight—the actual circumstantial evidence, I mean. You're +not going to—arrest—him on that, I hope?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>Arrest! The fateful word fell upon that assemblage with truly sinister +meaning. Arrest Ross! Arrest him! Impossible! Upon every face these +thoughts might be read—except upon Lady Paula's, where, indeed, a sort +of secret and hidden triumph seemed to glow like a light lit from +within. Cleek flashed his eyes over every face. He paused at Lady +Paula's for one moment, and then went on to Ross's—and ended up at +length upon Catherine Dowd's. It was transfigured! Transfigured with +hate of himself, with love of Ross: the two most intense feelings in +human nature warring with each other upon it to be uppermost. That look +of hatred made him positively shiver. If the woman had had any real +reason for the crime, could she not have been the perpetrator of the +stabbing episode? But she hadn't any reason, at least none that could be +at present discovered. One would have to go deeper than that for motive.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Narkom?"</p> + +<p>The Superintendent was looking frankly uncomfortable. Cleek's direct +action in front of them all had somewhat winded him. He was not used to +such out-and-out tactics, even in the methods of a man who was the most +amazing beggar he had ever struck.</p> + +<p>"I—I—well, hardly that, my dear chap," he responded awkwardly. "We've +got to have more proof than that, you know. A judge won't hang<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> a man +upon the evidence of his possible position in a room when the light went +out. It—it isn't feasible!"</p> + +<p>"Well done, well done!" Cleek laughed the words softly into his ear. +"So, Mr. Duggan, you are free—for the present. But understand, you are +on parole and must not leave this house unaccompanied by a constable or +plain-clothes man. This thing's got to be sifted to the bottom, and, +what's more, it's going to be, too. And whoever has murdered that poor +old man will swing for it, so help me God!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH RHEA TAKES A HAND</h3> + +<p>The silence that followed this last solemn remark of Cleek's was fraught +with unknown, tremendous issues. One could have heard a pin drop in the +still room. Then at last Lady Paula stirred.</p> + +<p>"You have finished, Mr. Deland— Mr. Narkom? I may go now?"</p> + +<p>"In one more moment, Lady Paula. There is simply the matter of the will +now to be thrashed out before you disperse and leave us to work out the +problem as best we may. You have, no doubt, put it away, Mr. Duggan? I +didn't see it here when I investigated early this morning."</p> + +<p>"I've done nothing of the sort, Mr. Deland."</p> + +<p>"Oh!—-is that so? I beg you pardon. Then perhaps you, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. I've never laid a finger upon it!" returned she, with a +shake of the head and amazement written all over her countenance. "I've +never thought about it again from that moment to this! Why, of course it +must have been upon the table when—when poor Father met his—death.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> He +was just about to alter the name when the light went out."</p> + +<p>"Then you were using the electric switch last night instead of the +customary lamp, I take it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Father did use it at intervals, and I suppose in this case he +thought it better for seeing with. For it was certainly on. A lamp could +never have failed as that light did, Mr. Deland. No doubt it would have +been better if we had not used the electricity, for the dreadful thing +could never have taken place then, could it?"</p> + +<p>"And so we must put that down to Ross, and lay the whole blame upon +<i>him</i>, at any rate!" snapped out Lady Paula in an angry voice; and Cleek +thought, for a woman so shortly bereft, she was singularly well +recovered from the shock—if it had ever been one in the first instance. +"For if he had not installed this dreadful thing, then surely, surely my +poor, poor husband would never have met with his death at all!'</p> + +<p>"Oh, have done with your nagging, Paula!" responded Ross irritably as +she ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>And Cleek obtained silence simply by stepping into the breach himself.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said serenely, "the will has disappeared, at any rate. No +servant has touched it, I suppose? Or entered this room last night +before I came, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"None that I know of. It's peculiar, to say the least of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>H'm. Then among this little company around and about him Cleek +registered the fact that one might include a thief and a murderer. Not +any too pleasant a thought, when the guilt could not definitely be fixed +upon any single one. But stay!—there was the boy Cyril, and if that +will had been stolen, why should not he have done it as much as anybody? +He and his mother would benefit more if the will disappeared entirely +than by the simple bequests which Maud Duggan had told him had been left +to them. A widow had always a third share by law, that was an understood +thing; and a third share of this enormous estate meant a good deal more +than one at first imagined. The boy Cyril must be interviewed in due +course.</p> + +<p>Then there was another point to be taken up, the question of Captain +Macdonald's presence in these grounds last night, shortly after the +murder had taken place. That gentleman must account for his movements in +the proper quarter. And if by any chance there were footprints outside +that very window, then—b'gad! he, too, might be included in the circle +of possible criminals.</p> + +<p>He strode quickly over to the window and leaned out of it, looking down +upon the flower-bed beneath it, just a matter of three feet or so, and +the little walled-in courtyard that girt it about. Eh? what? There were +marks in the soft earth, and plenty of 'em!</p> + +<p>Then the assembled company fairly gasped at his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> next action, while Mr. +Narkom, knowing him better than they did, pelted over to the window and +leaned out of it. For Cleek had climbed upon the ledge and had let +himself down—light as a cat—down on to the bed, and stood looking in +through the window at them with serenely smiling face.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he ejaculated excitedly. "Well, and why not? Footprints!... +Constable, just nip along into the village, and fetch me back Captain +Angus Macdonald. I want to speak to him rather particularly. Tell him +it's the Law—and that he's got to come—and he'll come along pretty +lively, I can promise you."</p> + +<p>The constable nipped along forthwith, while of a sudden Maud Duggan's +flushed face went white as a dead face, and her eyes fairly blazed at +him.</p> + +<p>"Captain Macdonald! Oh, it's ridiculous, Mr. Deland!—absurd! What on +earth are you dragging <i>him</i> in for? You must be mad to think for one +moment——"</p> + +<p>Cleek held up a silencing hand before he dropped to the ground and began +peering at the footprints in the soft earth through a magnifying glass.</p> + +<p>"I don't think, Miss Duggan—it's a policeman's business to <i>know</i>," he +retorted; and then set about his task, while those others in the fateful +room crowded about the open window and stood looking down at him with +blank, unhappy faces.</p> + +<p>Carefully he measured their length with his little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> foot-rule and noted +the size down in his pocketbook. Then he fitted one of his own slim feet +into the indentation, saw that it was rather larger and broader, stepped +back upon the courtyard and faced them, all clustering about him, with +serene countenance.</p> + +<p>"A fair-sized boot, ladies and gentlemen," he remarked; "quite a +fair-sized boot! Number tens, if I know anything of sizes. And looks +like hunting-boots, too. Evidently a chap who rides. Now, this Captain +Macdonald, Lady Paula——"</p> + +<p>"One of the finest horsemen in the country," she returned, with a +shrugging of shoulders and an uplifting of brows.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Just so. That was what I imagined when I saw—when I encountered +him here in these grounds last night. Light of foot, and the proper +build, too. He'll no doubt be along in the course of another three +quarters of an hour (if Jameson doesn't have a dickens of a job locating +him), so in the meanwhile, if Mr. Narkom is willing, we'll take a little +turn together and talk over things, and then come back to you here in +the allotted time. Willing, Mr. Narkom?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly willing."</p> + +<p>And so it came about that, arm in arm, the two friends went off together +down by the wide driveway that led to the great doors of wrought-iron +which Rhea so ably guarded, and Cleek, stopping in the pathway, pointed +up to the statue etched out against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> the sky in sinister outline, and +told Mr. Narkom the story of it.</p> + +<p>"Cinnamon! But what a magnificent thing it is!" ejaculated that +gentleman with awe, when the tale was finished. "That's something to be +proud of—eh, old chap? Now, if I had a fellow like that for an ancestor +there'd be no living with me at all! These old families!—there's +certainly something in this thing they call Birth and Race—though for +the life of me I never can make it out."</p> + +<p>"No," thought Cleek, with a smile, "you wouldn't." But he said nothing, +merely passed on toward the iron gates, and seeing that they had been +left ajar, clanged them to sharply behind them.</p> + +<p>"He'll ring his great bell when the latch falls—that's his ceremonious +way of welcoming the coming and speeding the parting guest," threw in +Cleek with a laugh. "I'm going to shove down the latch now, so watch +him, my friend. Here goes!"</p> + +<p>He sent the door clanging to with a vigorous pull, but—not a sound rang +out over the still air. Rhea had failed in his duty for once in his +whole long, dutiful lifetime. Cleek spun round and looked at him, face +gone suddenly blank.</p> + +<p>"What the—that's the funniest thing! It's never failed before, except +last night, when I found it conveniently ajar," he ejaculated, staring +up at the sky. "Unless—perhaps it would have failed last night, too. +There's no knowing. But Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> Duggan assured me positively that the +thing had never been stopped. But if it <i>had</i> been stopped for this very +happening last night, to silence the approach of an unwanted visitor, +what's to prevent 'em from swaddling the clapper up—and not had time to +undo it again? And yet, when the Inspector came it rang all right. +No—<i>that</i> theory won't hold water, my friend."</p> + +<p>"What's that you're mumbling about, Cleek?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture. "Clapper swaddled up? You surely don't think the bell's been +stopped for any purpose?"</p> + +<p>"No—simply to protect the sensitive ears of the housekeeper," threw +back Cleek with a contemptuous laugh; and then whirled around upon him +and caught him by the shoulder. "Forgive me, old friend. My tongue +scampers ahead of my heart sometimes, which is a very poor trait for a +policeman to possess. What I mean to say is simply this: Up to yesterday +that bell rang—even when we came here for the first time—for I have +the evidence of my own ears to prove it. And now—it doesn't ring. So +what's prevented it? I'm going up to see."</p> + +<p>"Cleek, my dear fellow!—to climb that height! And in daylight, too!"</p> + +<p>"What's the harm? say I—if you'll keep watch and tell me of approaching +visitors. Here goes! Keep your eyes peeled upon the high-road, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +Narkom, because it wouldn't do to be seen, y'know and if any one +approaches, whistle 'God Save the King,' and I'll slip into a +hiding-place somewhere until the coast's clear. And don't tell any +strangers who you are, will you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom acceded to all these requests with a quick nod, took up his +post by the gateway leading out upon the road, and let his startled eyes +travel backward now and again at Cleek's nimble, crawling figure +climbing steadily up the sides of the huge gates, like a lizard upon a +wall. Up, up, up he went, scaling the height and clinging here and there +to the twists of iron and bronze that made an easy foot-hold—until, +just as the summit was reached, and he was standing abreast of the +enormous figure and looking up into its great face, with the bell +dangling from the bar of iron upon which he stood, he heard the sound of +"God Save the King" floating up to him in Mr. Narkom's whistle, darted +quickly through the giant's legs, and drew himself up against the back +of him and—hoped for luck. The sound of two men's voices—and one of +them the Superintendent's—reached him where he stood upon the narrow +ledge. He recognized the other as that of the bailiff, James Tavish, +whom he had encountered upon the high-road only yesterday.</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom dallied with him for so long, passing the time of day and +making tactless inquiries about the murder, in his blunderbuss fashion +("Dear old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> bungler!" Cleek apostrophized him inwardly), that he began +to wonder when the man would ever go. Then at length the voices ceased, +and he saw Tavish's fine, well-set-up figure swing off in front of him +up the driveway, and then himself slid back to the outer side of the +statue, lest the bailiff look back, and waited until Mr. Narkom whistled +"Coast all clear" again.</p> + +<p>This done, Cleek swung himself down carefully, clinging on with knees +and feet in a most impossible and seemingly dangerous position which +brought a hasty warning from Mr. Narkom, and—found the clapper of the +bell at last. It wasn't such a big bell—not much bigger than a man's +head, but wrought of solid bronze, which made it almost impossible for +him to swing it up on its chain to the platform upon which he hung +poised above it. But somehow he managed to do the thing, and Mr. Narkom, +watching with his heart in his mouth, saw his hand dive down inside of +the bell and fumble there a moment. Then he heard Cleek's quick whistle +of surprise as he swung the bell silently back again, and came down once +more—empty-handed!</p> + +<p>"Well, what did you discover?" hastily exclaimed the Superintendent as +Cleek came to earth at last and stood dusting himself. "Or wasn't there +anything at all? Was the bell muffled <i>before</i> last night's tragedy, +Cleek—or is it simply a bird's nest that's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> lodged there and stopped +the thing? I'm on tenterhooks to know."</p> + +<p>"And know you shall, old friend," said Cleek, straightening himself from +his self-imposed task and giving his cravat a twitch with nimble fingers +to its correct position once more. "It wasn't a bird's nest—not by a +long chalk! More like a hornet nest, I should say, between you and me; +but that's apart from the question. And it wasn't muffled before the +tragedy, either, Mr. Narkom. It was muffled <i>after</i>! Pretty strange, +isn't it?... Yes, I thought you'd think so. Well, anyhow, I'm coming +to-night to remove the 'muffling' object when the rest of the people are +in bed, and I want you to help me by keeping on the watch-out. We're due +for a full moon to-night, and that'll help matters. So Rhea's in the +mystery, too, is he? Umm. A difficult subject to tackle as well, on +account of his silence. But he's told me something this day that has +unravelled <i>one</i> portion of the riddle, at all events. And when I've +unravelled the remainder, you shall hear what it is.</p> + +<p>"Now for Dollops, and the Three Fishers. I'm anxious to hear that 'Crown +and Anchor' story from his own lips. And I've other work for him. So +come along."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>ANOTHER FLY IN THE WEB</h3> + +<p>It was a full hour by the clock when Captain Macdonald, in the hands of +his burly captor, and looking as furious as it is possible for a man to +look in such circumstances, entered the library at Aygon Castle, where +already Mr. Narkom, Cleek, and all the other members of that +ill-assorted and tragic party were already assembled, and, looking +neither to right nor left of him, pushed past Maud Duggan's detaining +fingers and went straight up to his man on sight.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" he said angrily, as, hat in hand, he stood before Cleek, +his countenance showing a little of what he felt inside his hot young +heart. "What the deuce—what the dickens do you mean by sendin' a +beastly policeman for me? That's what I want to know! I was on my way up +here—the awful thing that has just happened I only heard this morning +through my groom, who met one of the Castle grooms in the village, and +he told him—and I was comin' up to see if I could be any help, when up +comes my lord constable, seizes me by the sleeve, tips his cap, and +says, 'You've got to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> come along with me'—just as if I'd picked a +blessed pocket or something! I'm dashed well furious I can tell you! And +I want an apology at once. Thought there was somethin' decidedly fishy +in your appearance here in the Castle grounds last night, and now I know +what you were about for."</p> + +<p>"But, unfortunately, I don't know what <i>you</i> were about for, Captain," +retorted Cleek with a one-sided smile. "And that's exactly what I sent +for you to find out. After you have explained yourself so fully and +so—so emphatically—in the presence of these ladies, I will now claim a +little of your time and attention for myself.</p> + +<p>"You were perfectly right. I happened to be coming here, upon this very +unpleasant and tragic errand, at the summons of Miss Maud Duggan——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Maud</i> sent for you?"</p> + +<p>"She did. We had a prearranged signal—she'll probably tell you all +about it"—he smiled at her sad young face, a hint of tenderness in his +own. "You see, we happen to be friends <i>through</i> friends, if you can +follow what I mean. Miss Duggan's school-mate and chum chances to be the +lady who has done me the honour to promise to become my wife, and of +course it was naturally a firm link between us."</p> + +<p>"Maud's school-friend?" The Captain's voice was incredulous. "And you? +A—a policeman! Damned funny!"</p> + +<p>"As you say—<i>very</i> funny," returned Cleek, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> an ironical bow. "But +I must beg of you, my good Captain, to curb your language a little +before the ladies. It's not done, you know, in the best society—even a +mere policeman knows that. And as all this is entirely beyond the point +I'm aiming at, let's get down to brass tacks at once. What I want to +know is—what were you doing here last night, when the crime had only +just been committed? And why did I encounter you, running from the +direction of the house as fast as your feet could carry you? That's what +I want to know."</p> + +<p>A sudden gasp of amazement from Maud Duggan, hastily suppressed, brought +Cleek's eyes round to her instantly. Meanwhile, the Captain, going red +and white by turns, started to speak, hesitated, and then commenced +again, looking the very picture of abject discomfort and unhappiness.</p> + +<p>At last:</p> + +<p>"Well, if you want so much to know—find out for yourself," he broke out +in a sulky tone. "For I'm not going to tell you—that's flat! I've had +nothing whatsoever to do with the beastly affair, and you know it. And +if you don't know it, it won't take you long to find out. But what I was +doing here last night is my private affair, and nothing to do with +anybody."</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, arching an eyebrow in Mr. +Narkom's direction. "Still more emphatic, I must say! And 'absolutely +refuse,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> too! The Law takes no refusals, Captain Macdonald, and if you +don't know that fact, you'd better learn it now. And if you and Mr. Ross +Duggan happen to be friends——"</p> + +<p>"We are friends—the best of 'em, eh, old chap?" from Ross himself.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. All I can say is that you are harming Mr. Duggan's +case with your ridiculous silence, and if you're not pretty careful, +might end in driving him into the prisoner's dock."</p> + +<p>It was a "tall order"—and it almost carried, but not quite. For +Macdonald gave out a smothered exclamation of amazement, swung around +and looked at Ross, and then, meeting Maud Duggan's agonized eyes, +tightened his mouth and faced Cleek again with the set expression upon +his face.</p> + +<p>"Ross Duggan's no murderer—and you know it, dash you!" he gave out in a +harsh, curt voice. "And it's no business of yours what I was doing here +last night. I'm a friend of the family——"</p> + +<p>"But forbidden the house, I take it?"</p> + +<p>Macdonald flushed an ugly crimson.</p> + +<p>"You're exceedin'ly well informed upon family affairs, I must say!" he +retorted tartly. "Yes—forbidden the house by the master of it (poor old +chap!) and therefore—well, I'm not goin' to say any more. It may +implicate someone else who's entirely innocent, and you won't get my +mouth open with a sledge-hammer and a nail!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And no necessity for it, either—you dunderheaded young donkey!" +thought Cleek amusedly. "For if you haven't given the whole show away, +and made it perfectly plain to everybody that you were meeting your +sweetheart—or about to do so—then my name's not Cleek—which, of +course, it isn't! And there's no telling but that you're a better actor +than you make out! And this may be a 'blind'—but at present there's no +'cover' to draw, so we'll be off cantering in the other direction until +the scent's a bit stronger in <i>yours</i>." Aloud, he turned to the irate +young man with a slight bow, and spoke in his easy, calm manner.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you won't, you won't. These are not the days of the thumbscrew +and the rack, Captain Macdonald, and a man's tongue cannot be made to +speak by any other means than a little confinement in a prison cell. And +I don't think that's really necessary, in your case, do you, Mr. Narkom? +So we'll let that pass for the present. But I'd like you to understand +that—on account of your refusing to acquaint us with the facts of your +presence here in the grounds of this place last night—we are obliged, +in the maintenance of Law and Order, to put you upon your parole."</p> + +<p>"Thanks very much."</p> + +<p>Captain Macdonald bowed, with much mockery of lip and gesture, and then, +turning to the others in that silent little knot of spectators, made his +way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> over to the side of Maud Duggan, whose face was as pale as a dead +face, and in whose eyes lurked the suspicion of a great fear, and laid +his hand upon her arm.</p> + +<p>They conversed for a moment or two in low voices utterly oblivious of +those others who were searching their faces with curious eyes, while in +the background Ross Duggan fidgeted with his watch-chain and sent his +handsome eyes searching each figure in that still room, as though in an +endeavour to find a clue therein which would lift the pall of hateful +suspicion from his own shoulders.</p> + +<p>Cleek surveyed them critically. It was an abominably personal sort of +case, to say the least of it. And not much to his liking. But the +element of mystery in the whole affair gripped his interest in spite of +these other drawbacks.</p> + +<p>Of course there was no truth in the cock-and-bull story of the Peasant +Girl—that went without saying. But that it had been used as a "blind" +to cover the real perpetrators of the crime was evident to his mind. And +why <i>two</i> of them? For in each case death would have been caused +instantaneously. He looked down at the spinning wheel standing there in +the recess of the window, and tried to link the thing up with it. But +there seemed no peg to hang a clue upon there. Obviously the thing had +been "worked" with just such an idea to disguise its real purport.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he thought of the letters that he had found in the desk, hidden +away and yellowed with Time's fingers, and tied about with faded ribbon. +And of a sudden something flashed across his face which, Mr. Narkom +watching him as a cat does a mouse and knowing to a nicety what those +expressions so often meant, made that worthy gentleman positively jump +with excitement.</p> + +<p>Cleek smiled at him and shook a head over his eagerness. Then he turned +to the rest of them.</p> + +<p>"No need now to prolong this unpleasant and unhappy interview," he said +quietly. "Mr. Duggan has given his parole, and also the worthy Captain +over there. The Yard's men will do the rest. But I must renew my request +that none of you leaves this house to-day, or goes beyond the walls of +the garden, unless under special permission from Mr. Narkom or myself. +Just for to-day, my friends. By to-morrow perhaps the riddle may be +solved, or its end in sight. But for the next twenty-four hours I must +beg your assistance, every one of you, to bring it to a successful and +definite close."</p> + +<p>His request had an immediate and almost eager response. For there was +not one of that little band of anxious people who was not glad to be +released from the unpleasant and searching questionings of the Law, as +represented by this bland gentleman of the fine manner and the polished +ways, who seemed, indeed, as good as they were (if not better),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> and who +met them upon the grounds of an equality which was hardly to be expected +from one of his calling.</p> + +<p>Maud and the Captain walked away together conversing in low voices, +their faces grave. Ross, Cynthia Debenham, and Catherine Dowd—lagging a +little behind, and favouring Cleek with a look of venomous hatred cast +back at him over her shoulder as she passed through the open +door—turned toward the terrace, where they all sat down and discussed +the thing from every point of view within their reach, and came to no +definite ending at all; while Lady Paula, summoning Miss McCall with a +regal gesture, rose from her chair, bowed charmingly to each of the two +men left in the room, and withdrew to the safety and peace of her own +boudoir.</p> + +<p>When the door had shut upon the last of them, Cleek began pacing the +room excitedly, pulling at his chin and gnawing at his lower lip, which +gestures brought Mr. Narkom to the conclusion that he was indulging in a +"jolly good think!"</p> + +<p>"There's more in those letters than meets the eye," Cleek said aloud, +apostrophizing the wall-paper and the fireplace in turn. "H'm. Not a +doubt of it. 'Jeannette.' Something Scotch in the flavour of that, eh, +Mr. Narkom?... Yes, that's my opinion, too. It wouldn't take a hammer +and a nail to drive <i>that</i> fact home, anyhow. And the date of 'em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> some +seventeen years back.... But it's the 'humming sound' which gets me, I +swear. Can't account for that, anyhow. Might be a dynamo, but there +isn't a dynamo in the place, and no need for it, either. Plain stabbing +and shooting upon the face of it. We'll go for a prowl this afternoon, +old friend, and see what new lands we can discover."</p> + +<p>"All right. I'm your man, Cleek—the same as always," returned Mr. +Narkom affectionately, as he slapped Cleek on the shoulder with his +broad hand, and then slipped it about his ally's neck and kept pace with +him up and down the narrow room.</p> + +<p>"Anything that's going—with <i>you</i> in it—will find me on the spot, too. +I'm a bit of a slow-mover, I know—but you're such a lightning-bug of a +creature that there's not a soul on earth can keep pace with you. Have +you looked into that laundry-bill question you were dickering about a +while ago?"</p> + +<p>Cleek threw back his head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"I have. But there's nothing doing there, as yet. The particular maid I +questioned has got a bilious attack this afternoon and can't go over the +lists for me. But I'm to hear to-morrow morning for certain.... It <i>is</i> +rather a teaser for you, isn't it, old chap? But you must bear with me +until I've unravelled the ends myself, and when that's done, I'll put +'em into your hands, and you can wind 'em up for me into a tidy little +ball. Let's get a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> move on now, there's a good fellow. By the way, who's +the guilty party <i>now</i>, eh?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom scratched his head perplexedly and let a full minute elapse +before replying.</p> + +<p>"It's a dickens of a tangle, looking at it any way," he returned +dejectedly. "I could have sworn that chap Ross Duggan had murdered his +father for the simple motive of keeping his name in the will and of +course the name <i>wasn't</i> erased, after all, was it? That's a black point +against him. But this flustery-blustery-Captain-chap with his +lord-high-almighty ways rather took the wind out of my sails. And when +you said you had encountered him last night, Cleek, you could have +knocked me down with a feather. How did it happen?"</p> + +<p>"Oh—caught him running as hard as he could from the direction of the +lawns beyond this window, and fell plump into him as the best way to +attract his attention," returned Cleek serenely. "I thought it strange +that he should be there at such a time. And he looked half-scared out of +his wits, too. Expected me to tell the household, I suppose. Rather +officious young chap, I must say—but I've a sneaking liking for him, +all the same. D'you think he did the shooting, then?"</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt of it!" Mr. Narkom was emphatic.</p> + +<p>"Oh! And why, do you suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Um—ah! Well, that's got to be discovered yet. Never know, Cleek; there +might be some hidden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> business in this affair in which this Captain is +involved. Anyhow, I doubt him—tremendously. Didn't ring true, I +thought. Rather too noisy and all that."</p> + +<p>"And you believe in the adage that 'empty vessels make the most sound,' +I take it?" rejoined Cleek with a smile. "Well, perhaps you're right. +Only I wouldn't call that young gentleman an empty vessel.... Anyhow, +this evening will elucidate matters a little. For I'm going to remove +that muffling for the nonce, and substitute another one. And it ought to +prove quite an enlightening job, too!"</p> + +<p>So saying, he swung out of the courtyard of the house, vaulting the +window lightly, and reaching a helping hand up to Mr. Narkom, who came +through less easily, perspiring at every pore. And suddenly Cleek's +finger went up to his lips, and with a hasty "Hush!" for his wheezy +comrade, he drew back into the screen of the bushes, standing as still +as a statue, all eyes, while the amazing thing came to pass!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>"TENS!"</h3> + +<p>"Did you see that, Mr. Narkom? Did you see that?" rapped out Cleek +excitedly, when—a few minutes later—he stepped free from the detaining +bushes and beckoned the Superintendent from his hiding-place. "Recognize +the cut of <i>that</i> lady—eh? And notice anything else about her?"</p> + +<p>"Only that she looked like that Lady Paula Duggan who was here a few +minutes ago," rejoined Mr. Narkom breathlessly. "But what had she got +that black thing over her head for?—sort of veil, wasn't it? Couldn't +see her face through—and gad! but how lightly she stepped!"</p> + +<p>"Rubber shoes, my dear fellow! Where were your eyes?" snapped Cleek with +a hasty exclamation. "Off somewhere where she doesn't want to be seen. +I'll swear. And as this courtyard leads out into the backwoods of the +place, to that forest ridge which girts it about, and thence on to the +Great Free Road as it's called, she's meeting someone whom she doesn't +want any one to see—and doesn't want to be discovered in the act, +either....<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> Hello! here's Dollops at last! Just the very chap I was +wanting. Here, lad, there's work for you. Run along and track down that +lady in black who is disappearing so rapidly up there by the right-hand +side of the hedge—and keeping pretty close to it, too, for shelter from +the watching eye in the household. Gad! lucky thing we came out this +way, Mr. Narkom, and caught her napping. She never thought of <i>that</i>, I +suppose. Seems a woman of one idea all through, doesn't she? The +beautiful, sleepy-eyed cat-creature! I've met her kind before. All purr +and softness when she's a friend—and a perfect she-devil when an enemy. +Now, then, Dollops, your legs are nimble, so slip up after her, but +don't on any account let her know you're doing it. And I'll follow in a +moment or two. But don't let her get away without discovering where +she's going to. Mr. Narkom, you wait here, will you, and keep watch in +case she returns, or any one else in the know follows after, while I nip +up to the lady's boudoir, and enquire where she has gone to. I'll dare +swear she's 'lying down with a headache and has given orders not to be +disturbed.'"</p> + +<p>And his imaginings proved to be correct, for that was exactly the case. +For Miss McCall, encountered in the outer passage from her lady's room, +with coat and hat on, and pulling on a pair of neatly darned cotton +gloves, met him, blushed like the timid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> little thing she was, and +answered him in all faith that what she spoke was true.</p> + +<p>"Lady Paula? I believe she's lying down, Mr. Deland. She told me on no +account to disturb her and to let everyone else know that she wished a +couple of hours' quiet," she said in her soft, gentle voice, lifting her +timid eyes to his face. "It's been a shock, I suppose"—her face and +voice hardened—"but she'll get over it—as she gets over everything +else that happens to worry her. She said she'd be down for tea, however; +and Master Cyril has gone off with Mr. Duggan and his fiancée for a walk +round the laboratory. It's—it's all very sad, Mr. Deland, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Very," rejoined Cleek. "Very sad, indeed. For a house divided against +itself, Miss McCall—you know the rest of the biblical quotation. And +I'm afraid that is exactly what will happen in this case.... Oh, well, +lying down, is she? Then I won't disturb her. Going out?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Just along to Mr. Tavish's cottage, at the bottom of the drive," +she responded a trifle drearily. "Mr. Tavish and I, you know, +are—engaged. I have tea with him sometimes, and try to do some of his +mending. It's hard for a man to live alone, as he does."</p> + +<p>"Indeed it is. Engaged? Then may I offer you my congratulations, Miss +McCall? I won't detain you any longer, as I know you must be anxious to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +get along. A little freedom in the fresh air will do you good. We shall +meet again later, I've no doubt. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>She nodded to him brightly and disappeared down the hill, and Cleek +could hear her soft feet beating upon the carpet as she passed down the +stairs.</p> + +<p>Once out of sight of her, he darted into the room which he knew was Lady +Paula's, and closed the door softly behind him, turning the key in the +lock. It was just the sort of boudoir he would have imagined her +choosing—a place all soft pillows and low divans, and hung in silks of +Eastern colourings, so that it resembled nothing so much as the home of +a sultan's favourite, from the low Turkish stool standing by the +couch-side, with the little filigree box of cigarettes upon it, +accompanied by a match-case <i>en suite</i>, to a tiny jewelled inlaid holder +bearing a half-smoked cigarette in it. Cleek picked it up, smelt it, +smelt it again, and then pursed his lips up into a low whistle of +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"My lady indulges in a delicate drug now and again, does she?" he told +himself, examining the thing with some distaste. "And for that reason +one may find excuse for the hysteria of this morning. That lends fresh +colour to the case, certainly. For a drug-fiend in plain parlance is +little more than a fool, and a half-balanced fool at that.... I'll take +a peep at those drawers in that secretaire, my lady, and see if you have +anything to reveal to me. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> an <i>ambitious</i> drug-fiend would stop at +nothing to gain her own ends, and if those same ends should happen to be +such a heritage as <i>this</i> for her son and herself.... Hello! what's +this? Tablets, eh? But the bottle unmarked."</p> + +<p>He drew one out of the little phial and laid it in the palm of his hand, +and with the other thumb as piston, ground it down to fine powder and +then, sniffed it, recollecting that story which Maud Duggan had told him +of her suspicions with regard to the poisoning of her father. But after +he had touched the tip of his tongue to it, he smiled a little.</p> + +<p>"H'm. Nothing but aspirin. I thought as much, certainly, when she told +me the story. So that explodes <i>that</i> little theory once and for all—if +there was anything in it from the beginning.... Nicely appointed +chamber, I must say." He walked leisurely about it, lifting a pillow +there, and dropping it back into its place, and straightening the set of +a chair, pushed out of its usual position by a very obvious hurry of the +room's occupant.</p> + +<p>And he was just in the act of doing this trivial thing when he came upon +a little screw of paper lying in a twisted ball beneath a chair which +stood close up to the Turkish stool, and evidently dropped by accident +(which undoubtedly was the fact). Cleek stooped to pick it up, smoothed +it out in his fingers, and then of a sudden sucked in his breath, and +every muscle in that well-organized frame of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> went taut as iron. For +the paper—innocent as it looked—contained news which certainly was +enough to startle the most unsuspicious police-constable in existence. +For, written across its surface, having neither name nor address nor +date, and in a calligraphy which was undoubtedly foreign, were the +words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Meet me at three o'clock by the G. F. Road. Everything +successfully carried out. Muffled clapper. Must see you. +Utmost importance.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">A. M.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Hello! Hello!" rapped out Cleek in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"Then she <i>did</i> have something to do with it, after all, did she? Gad! a +dollar to a ducat that there's someone else in this affair whom we've +never even hit upon yet! What a bit of luck Dollops turned up at that +moment—when <i>she</i> was just on the way! Let's see—what's the time? +Three o'clock. Gad! I'll nip along myself, and come in at the finish, +and hear what I can hear from the good lady's lips herself, and see who +the dickens it is who's meeting her. There's more in this than meets the +eye, Cleek my boy, and don't you forget it!"</p> + +<p>Following the direction shown him by Mr. Narkom (who was still standing +like a monument of Patience in the little shrubbery where they had first +caught sight of her wandering ladyship), Cleek pelted off in the +direction of the woods, every faculty alert,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> and in the hastily donned +rubber-soled shoes proving himself a silent if a fleet-footed pursuer.</p> + +<p>But he was doomed to disappointment upon his quest. For halfway toward +the Great Free Road as that portion of the country was called, through a +belt of thick trees which entirely hid the landscape from view, he met +Dollops, looking disconsolately upon the ground, hands in pockets and +face dejected, and cannoned into him as they came abreast of each other.</p> + +<p>Dollops's face went crimson at sight of Cleek, and then paled off +suddenly. His voice was tragic in the extreme.</p> + +<p>"Missed 'er, Guv'nor!" he declared laconically. "Missed 'er for the +first time in all my existence upon this 'ere plannit! Give me the slip, +strite she did, but <i>'ow</i>, is a question as 'as fair diddled me. I +follered 'er up to 'ere as good as you please, and then of a suddint +'eard voices to the left of me, did a bunk after 'em, as I knowed you'd +wish me to, sir, and—that there she-devil 'ad disappeared as smooth as +you please! A fair ghost she were, Guv'nor, strite—an' if she ain't the +Peasant Girl wot 'aunts these parts, then I'm a Dutchman!"</p> + +<p>But Cleek had not the heart to smile at the boy's excited preamble. He +was too disappointed at losing his quarry so easily when this new thing +had been thrust right into his hands in this fashion, and the chance of +elucidating the mystery so incredibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> easy—judging by the crumpled +note in his breast-pocket. Another such opportunity would never occur +again—one could not hope for things to happen in duplicate.</p> + +<p>"Dollops! Dollops!" he exclaimed, with a shake of the head. "Where is +your training in Apache quarters gone to, I'd like to know? Letting a +mere woman elude you, as though she had been Margot, Queen of the +Apaches, herself. And doing the ventriloquial trick so successfully upon +you, too! And at the very crux of the case, just when I'd found the clue +of all others which was likely to establish the truth of the whole +appalling affair! I'm disappointed. But it can't be helped, so put away +your crestfallen countenance, and come back to the house with me. We'll +have to wait until evening now, and see what comes to pass to-night. Did +the lady actually see you by any chance?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, sir." Dollops's voice was dejected. "Suppose she must 'er +done, by the way she slipped the leash on me, so ter speak. Why, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Because, my young jackanapes, if that is the case, the scarcer you make +yourself the better," returned Cleek rapidly. "For it's no use your +allying yourself to me in her ladyship's presence, for the fat would be +in the fire with a vengeance. And now, about that other affair.... You +did what I told you? And what did your bit of private 'detecting' bring +forth, may I ask?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a second Dollops's glum face lit up, and his eyes shone. Here at +least he had found something with which actually to help. There was a +hint of triumph in his tones.</p> + +<p>"Got 'em 'id in the shrubs, sir," he returned enthusiastically. "Done up +in brahn paper, they are, and ready for examination on sight. 'Untin' +boots, Mr. Cleek, sir—gent's 'untin'-boots, and that thick wiv mud as +ter look like blessed gardings too. Fit fer growin' a crop of taties in, +I swear, sir. An' fahnd 'em 'idden in a bush er laurels as large as +life."</p> + +<p>"Whew! Is that all, then? Nothing under-ground?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. Not a blinkin' thing."</p> + +<p>"Um. Pity. You must show me the hunting-boots, Dollops; they may prove a +clue—though just how they would be connected with this particular case +remains to be seen. Very muddy, eh? Any name inside?"</p> + +<p>Dollops nodded.</p> + +<p>He looked hastily from side to side to see that no one was listening. +Then he bent toward Cleek with a mysterious manner and spoke in a bated +voice.</p> + +<p>"Yessir. Belongs to a gen'leman as is sweet on the young leddy we come +along wiv yesterday from Lunnon," he replied weightily. "Or so they tell +me up at the Three Fishers. Name of Macdonald—Captain Angus Macdonald. +Writ inside 'em as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> large as life and twice as nat'ril. Eh?—wot's the +matter, sir?"</p> + +<p>For Cleek had whirled about suddenly and struck his hands together, and +was laughing, laughing like a man gone suddenly daft. He stopped +abruptly and put one hand upon Dollops's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Matter?" he said rapidly. "Why, simply this: Get a line on this young +Captain's handwriting, Dollops, and report to me this afternoon. And if +it tallies with this note, as I somehow fancy it does—well, we'll see +the fur fly so quickly that you won't be able to say Jack Robinson. +Happen to notice the size of the boots, by any chance?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir. Tens."</p> + +<p>"Good lad. And the footprints outside of the window in that little +courtyard are tens, too! The net's closing in upon you, my gallant +friend, and you won't get a chance to do much more spluttering and +exclaiming before I've found out what your little move in this +Inheritance Game is, and—nipped it in the bud!... Gad!—Captain Angus +Macdonald! And—tens!... Now, who the dickens would have thought it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A PAIR OF BOOTS</h3> + +<p>Who, indeed? That King's Evidence was beginning to prove itself against +still another member of this unhappy household—or, to be more literal, +a would-be member—was clearly to be seen. What if the Captain's story +of shielding someone else were a mere "blind," as he had thought once +before? What if he was in league with Lady Paula herself, and using a +pretended affection for Maud Duggan as a wedge to get into the graces of +the household? Who knew? Stranger things had happened. But if he was +scoundrel enough to steal the heart of a good woman, such as Miss Duggan +undoubtedly was, a good, honest, straight woman, then he were a +blackguard indeed!</p> + +<p>Cleek had come across just such things in his varied experience in Yard +matters, and found his faith in human nature apt to be shaken by the +least wind that blew upon it. And for the will to disappear—after Sir +Andrew had declared that he would disinherit Ross and substitute the +name of his sister instead—and not that name which Lady Paula had hoped +he would substitute, the name of Cyril<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Duggan, as all her imaginings +had led her to believe—what if, on the strength of this fact, the +murder had been committed to get the old man out of the way, and then to +snatch the will itself, and—see what the Law would do for the widow and +the progeny? Who knew anything of Lady Paula but that she was the +daughter of a famous criminal who had paid the last penalty for his +crime? And a graceless but fascinating woman at that. The whole thing +might be a gigantic plot to wrest more from the estates than that will +of Sir Andrew's was likely to leave to her and her immediate family.</p> + +<p>Captain Macdonald and the good lady might share things between them, and +then make off together when things had righted themselves and start +again in another country. It seemed incredible after what Maud Duggan +had said of him, and yet.... Love blinds a woman's eyes even more than +it blinds a man's, and the good Captain was a handsome devil, to say the +least of him.</p> + +<p>The web of his imaginings spun itself on and on during that brief walk +back to the house alone, with the parcel containing those tell-tale +hunting-boots under his arm, Dollops having been left on the outskirts +of the wood to "keep his eyes open and see what he could see." It was +remarkable how one thing led to another, tightening the chain all the +time. Here was possible motive, surely, and what if that note had been +written by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> worthy Captain? H'm. That certainly was possible. And +the initials were the same. Gad! it gave one to think, as the French +say. It did indeed! For the Law gave a widow a third share of +everything—and in the case of no will her son had an equal share with +the other children of the first family. And Maud Duggan had told him +that Sir Andrew had left her enough to live upon for herself and +Cyril.... But all these estates in Scotland, that were not part of the +entail, well, a third would certainly bring them more than <i>that</i>.</p> + +<p>He didn't trust Lady Paula. He'd met her kind too often before to take +her upon face value. But the Duggans themselves came of far different +stock. H'm. That might be it. And the air-pistol stunt simply used to +throw the blame upon Ross. Gad! it grew more credible as one went on +thinking about it. But there were loop-holes to be filled up before one +could be even sure. The condition of Captain Macdonald's affairs would +assist considerably. Maud Duggan had said he was poor. Another link. He +might even be in debt. Possibly was. Well, that must be looked into, +too.</p> + +<p>But if the thing had actually gone so far as murder, why had there been +two of 'em—when one would have done? And Lady Paula had stood upon her +liege-lord's <i>right</i> hand, and not upon his left. And it was through the +heart that that little poignard had pierced. And Catherine Dowd stood +there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> And it was she who had brought him the poignard in the first +place! It was the devil's own doing, any way you looked at it. And not +only Catherine Dowd, but Miss Debenham and Johanna McCall as well.</p> + +<p>He reached the house at last, and stepping in through the French window +that led to the great drawing-room by the back way, rang a bell there +and waited for the maid who answered to come and speak to him.</p> + +<p>"I want Miss Duggan, please."</p> + +<p>The maid withdrew with a discreet, "Yessir," and it was not many seconds +later when Maud Duggan herself appeared, looking pale and distraite and +exceedingly unhappy.</p> + +<p>"You wanted me, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>"I did. Just for a moment," replied Cleek gently, noting her dark-ringed +eyes, and in the present state of his mental peregrinations feeling more +than a little sorry for her. "I've something to show you. And I want you +to tell me exactly to whom they belong and how you think they got where +my boy discovered them."</p> + +<p>Then he pulled the wrappings from his bulky parcel and set the +hunting-boots in front of her upon a little marquetrie table.</p> + +<p>She gave a sudden start, went pale as death, and shut her hands against +her heart as though to stop its unruly beating. Her pale lips trembled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Angus's!" she exclaimed in a wrung voice. "Where—did you find them?"</p> + +<p>Cleek turned his head away, not to see her evident distress. It hurt him +miserably to hurt her. It was like whipping a faithful dog that trusted +you.</p> + +<p>"I thought so. The name, you see, is inside. My man found them hidden in +the shrubbery, just near the gates, and brought them along to me at +once. Do you know anything about how they got there, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head vigorously.</p> + +<p>"No. Not a single idea of it, Mr. Deland. That I swear," she returned +with emphasis. "Those boots are undoubtedly Captain Macdonald's, of that +I am sure. And see, as you say, there is the name inside. But they have +not been used by him for a long, long time. It was nearly six months +ago, I think, that he left them here, after a meet in our grounds, and +before Father had found out anything about our—our caring for each +other. He stayed the night, Mr. Deland, and Ross lent him some sleeping +things, and then one of the men-servants carried his hunting togs over +to his place the next day."</p> + +<p>"And these boots?"</p> + +<p>"Were left behind by mistake. He called for them, but I asked him not to +take them away. You see, I—liked to have them here, for silly, +sentimental reasons, no doubt. But I told him I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> loved to see them with +the other men's boots—Ross's and Father's and Cyril's and Mr. +Tavish's—in our harnessing-room, where the groom, Jarvis, always takes +care of them and keeps them oiled, when not in use, to prevent them +cracking. And so Angus laughed at me, and said they might stay, as he'd +another pair at home—and teased me terribly over my babyishness. It may +sound silly to you, Mr. Deland, but it meant a lot to me to see those +boots there—<i>belonging</i>—where I belonged. It was like—a peep into the +future.... And when the trouble with Father came, I wanted them there +more than ever, to keep my heart up. To my knowledge they have never +been moved."</p> + +<p>"And yet my man Dollops found them under the shrubbery and in this +condition this morning—after last night's terrible affair, Miss +Duggan," put in Cleek quietly, keen eyes upon her face.</p> + +<p>"It certainly looks black for Angus, Mr. Deland," she replied in a +frightened voice. "But I'll swear he never used them. I'll swear it in +court, if need be."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>She stopped a moment and sucked in her breath, and then a sudden look of +determination came over her face.</p> + +<p>"Because," she said steadily, "he was coming to meet <i>me</i> in the grounds +last night, as he had come often enough before. We could never see each +other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> in daylight, as Father had forbidden him the house and so we +stole our meetings at night, under the old oak tree at the bottom of the +first lawn. You can't see it from the house, as that hedge of yew hides +it entirely."</p> + +<p>"And you saw him last night? You'll swear upon that?"</p> + +<p>"I—I—that is—<i>yes</i>, I saw him last night," she replied, with flaming +cheeks and upthrown chin. "First Ross, and now Angus! You're cruel, Mr. +Deland, cruel as detectives can so often be! I thought you were going to +help me—truly—and, instead, you cast suspicions upon the two people I +love most dearly in the world! How can I possibly put you upon other +clues? <i>Anything</i> to lead you away from such a false and utterly +unworthy scent!"</p> + +<p>Cleek laid a hand upon her arm, and bending his head, looked down at +her, a great sadness upon his face.</p> + +<p>"Justice is so often cruel, Miss Duggan," he said quietly, "and to men +in my profession we have so often to be cruel to be kind. I wouldn't +hurt you for the world, believe me. But I must do my duty to the Law +that employs me at all costs. I am not indicting your fiancé—truly—and +there may be still another way out. Men have borrowed each other's boots +before now. And if you can tell me the size of the feet of the men in +this household, it will be a considerable help."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>She lifted her eyes and looked at him, filled with a sudden hope.</p> + +<p>"I can tell you Ross's this minute," she said quickly. "He takes eights. +He has a small foot, like poor old Father had. And Cyril's, of course, +is just a boy's foot—sevens, I think."</p> + +<p>"Any one else?"</p> + +<p>"The butler, Jarvis. Our groom, Batchett, and the old gardener, +McGubbins—and Mr. Tavish; but he's a huge man, and would take elevens, +I should imagine—if not bigger. Anyhow, I'll make inquiries, and be +back with you in ten minutes, if that will do."</p> + +<p>"Make it twenty minutes, <i>here</i>—for I've other things to attend to," +returned Cleek with a smile. "And don't worry more than you can help. +Things will right themselves in time, you know; and there are lots of +blind alleys in the pursuit of Justice which we often imagine to be the +royal road to Rome. In twenty minutes, then. By the way, who attends to +your laundry, may I ask? The sorting and counting of it I mean."</p> + +<p>"You amazing man! What on earth do you want to know that for? Why, the +laundry-maid, supervised by Miss McCall. One of her endless stream of +duties."</p> + +<p>"Thanks.... One more question. What do you know of Miss Catherine Dowd?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Only that she is Cynthia's cousin," she returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> uncertainly, "and +that she has been staying down here on and off all through the spring. +She—she's rather fond of Ross, I believe, Mr. Deland—though for +mercy's sake don't whisper it aloud! We call her 'La Gioconda,' you +know. She's so odd and inscrutable."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. I nicknamed her that myself. And I'll tell you another secret, +too. She brought me this morning the stiletto which so obviously stabbed +your father. She says she found it sticking in the curtains. Have you +ever discovered that the young lady lies, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>She gave a quick, uneasy laugh, and shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Ross always says he wouldn't trust her on sight," she paraphrased, with +a nervous gesture. "We've tripped her up—on purpose—lots of times, you +know, as girls do to one another. But to men, it seems a mean trick, I +expect, Mr. Deland. Only, she elaborates so frightfully, you know. About +her family and their money, and all the rest of it. And that's such +frightfully bad form. If people really 'belong,' they don't have to +advertise the fact, do they? And Catherine advertises it rather too +much. But I don't know anything actually against her."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. And what of this Johanna McCall? Where did she originally come +from? Do you know?"</p> + +<p>Her face softened visibly. You could see that Miss McCall held a warm +place in her heart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. I can tell you at once. Her foster-father used to be a bailiff +of my father's in the good old days when money wasn't so hard to get, +and even land seemed to yield a richer harvest. The old man died at +his work, and as he was a widower, with this little adopted daughter +living with him, he begged Father to see that she came to no harm. +And Father promised. And when she grew old enough, he gave her work +in the house. Sort of secretary—Mother's help, you know. But when he +remarried, Paula changed all that, and took her for her own sort of +companion-lady's-maid. I believe she would have left us before now, +after the treatment she has had, if it hadn't been for Father being her +guardian, so to speak. But none of us can ever forgive Paula for the way +she has treated her. It's disgraceful."</p> + +<p>"And yet your father never complained?"</p> + +<p>"My father never <i>saw</i>. But the girl has been made a pack-horse from the +minute Paula set her foot in this house. She seemed to have marked her +down for her own, and Johanna has had to suffer in consequence. Such a +nice little thing, too! It's common knowledge that she is engaged to Mr. +Tavish—though we've heard nothing definitely. But it will be an +excellent match. More in her own station of life; and they're both such +dears.... Anything else, Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing else, thanks."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then I'll be off. And back again in twenty minutes. And in the +meantime, Mr. Deland, you won't—you won't think too hard of my Angus +will you? Even if he had done such a terrible thing whatever reason +would he have had to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Has he any debts, Miss Duggan?"</p> + +<p>She laughed a little and shrugged her shoulders. "Heavens, yes! Heaps of +them. That was what Father had against him. Father used to say that a +poor man should own nothing, because there was little chance of paying +it back. But so have I, for the matter of that. Over a hundred +pounds—and bridge debts. But it's my only recreation, Mr. Deland, and I +can easily pay it back, so that it's nobody else's business, is it? But +I wouldn't have Paula know for worlds! She'd make my life misery."</p> + +<p>"As she'd make any one's—who stood in her way," thought Cleek, as the +girl left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. "So the worthy +Captain is a debtor, is he? H'm. A very uncomfortable state of affairs, +I imagine. And that poor girl has only thrown fuel upon the smouldering +fire, and helped to bank it up. For a man who is dogged by debts would +stoop to a good deal, and if he is already in correspondence with her +stepmother, by way of this little clandestine note, why shouldn't he do +other things? There's a good haul, at any rate, bigger than that for +which many a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> worse crime has been committed. And, besides, he must have +hated the old man for forbidding him the house. So he might have worked +off a bit of that, too. And yet—gad, it's a puzzler! I'll nip after Mr. +Narkom and have a little talk with <i>him</i>! And—no!—I'll see the +laundry-maid first. Perhaps by now she will have remembered something +with regard to that missing handkerchief."</p> + +<p>Acting upon that impulse, he rang the bell once more, summoned the maid +to him, and had a little talk with her there in the shaded drawing-room, +and elicited a few facts which surprised him not a little in the +puzzling mesh of conflicting clues which seemed to surround him upon all +sides.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>ENTER CYRIL</h3> + +<p>Within the space of a half-hour Miss Duggan was back again in the big +drawing-room, and Cleek, having had a short confidential talk with Mr. +Narkom, and gleaned a few of that good gentleman's ideas, entered the +room by the French windows that led on to the terrace just as she came +in by the hall door.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he said with a smile. "Brought your bootmaker's department with +you, eh? Now we'll really be able to establish somebody's innocence on +<i>that</i>! Come, let's have a look at it."</p> + +<p>She brought the paper to him, a sort of blank wonderment written in her +eyes as they scanned his face.</p> + +<p>"It's the strangest thing," she said with a shake of the head, "the very +strangest! But every single man in this establishment has the same-size +foot, Mr. Deland. There's nothing but tens among them. It seems a queer +coincidence, surely!"</p> + +<p>Cleek pursed his lips up to a whistle of amazement.</p> + +<p>"Gad! it certainly does. Every man-jack of 'em,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> then? Jarvis, and +Batchett, and your bailiff Tavish, and McGubbins? Every one of them?"</p> + +<p>"What a memory you have!" she countered amazedly. "Yes, every one of +them. Except Mr. Tavish. And his are elevens, he tells me."</p> + +<p>"Didn't give away any reason for asking, I hope, Miss Duggan?" put in +Cleek at this juncture, with an arching of the brows and a keen look +into her upthrown face.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I didn't. In fact, I threw them off the scent most successfully +by taking a pair of Ross's boots along with me and pretending I didn't +know whose they were. Batchett soon put me right. 'Them's Mr. +Ross's—Sair Ross, if ye please, m'm,' he said, using Ross's new title +(poor old boy! He won't like it a bit, either. He thinks titles are +anathema!). But Mr. Tavish, of course, didn't know whose they were, nor +did the old gardener, McGubbins, nor Jarvis, either. Only they said they +weren't <i>theirs</i>. And then, of course, told me the sizes they took. So, +you see, Mr. Deland, you can't blame Angus for <i>that</i>, can you?"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"You've missed your vocation. You ought to have been a lady-detective, +using those methods," he replied lightly. "But it's odd—deuced odd! +I'll take a look at their feet whenever I get the chance. Don't bother +any more, Miss Duggan. I'll get to the bottom of this thing somehow or +other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> before the next few days, and don't make any mistake about that. +That's all you can do for me. So go along, and lie down and have a +proper rest. I'm going to interview Mr. Narkom again. What time is tea, +by the way?"</p> + +<p>"Half-past four. If you'd like it sent to your rooms with Mr. +Narkom——"</p> + +<p>"No, thanks; we'd prefer to take it with <i>you</i>." ("And use our eyes for +ourselves," he supplemented silently.) Then, without more ado, bowed and +left her, and went off in pursuit of the Superintendent, who had been +spending a quiet hour investigating the scene of last night's tragedy, +and trying to solve the riddle of it.</p> + +<p>Halfway there Cleek encountered young Cyril, wandering disconsolately +about, hands in pockets and head downthrown, and at sight of Cleek he +fairly ran up to him, his brows black as thunder, his young mouth set +into an ugly line.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he demanded, in his shrill young voice, planting himself in +Cleek's way and looking up into his face, "they've been telling me you +suspect my stepbrother Ross of murdering my father last night, and I've +been waiting to catch you and to tell you it's a damned lie!"</p> + +<p>"Easy, easy, my young enthusiast," returned Cleek, with a throb of +admiration for this fearless young person, nevertheless. "They'll never +make a detective of <i>you</i> if your methods of attack don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> improve +hastily. Let's hear what you're worrying over. Now, then, all over +again. I'm going along this way to see the Superintendent, and you can +come with me if you like."</p> + +<p>Cyril's face went a dull brick-red at Cleek's bantering tone, and his +lips twitched. He swung into step beside Cleek as they traversed the +long hall toward the library.</p> + +<p>"They've been telling me," he reiterated, "that you think my stepbrother +Ross killed Father last night, and——"</p> + +<p>"Who's 'they,' may I ask?"</p> + +<p>"Oh—Mother—Miss Dowd, Cynthia—the whole bally lot of 'em. Said you'd +threatened to arrest Ross and put—put him in prison. But it isn't true, +sir, is it?"</p> + +<p>Cleek looked down at the eager young face, and sighed.</p> + +<p>"Partly," he returned, "and partly not. I've made no accusation, Cyril, +but—things point very blackly to your brother, and it will take pretty +strong evidence to say he is innocent at this juncture of the case, at +any rate. There are—others—whom I doubt, but at the present moment +doubts are all that can be expected of me. Certainties will follow +later.... Now, look here, you can help considerably. Tell me, who's been +tinkering with the electric switches in the library lately?"</p> + +<p>Of a sudden the boy's face went red and whity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> by turns. Then he averted +his head and pretended to inspect a fly that was crawling upon the +opposite wall.</p> + +<p>"Er—I don't really know," he replied in a confused voice. "I haven't +the faintest——"</p> + +<p>"You do!" Cleek had caught him by the shoulders and whirled him around +so that eye met eye squarely, and he saw that the boy dropped his. +"Come, now. Play the game. I can't expect to find the true murderer +unless you tell the truth. Listen to me, Cyril. Was it your brother +Ross?"</p> + +<p>Came a long silence, followed by a quickly drawn breath. Then:</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> have."</p> + +<p>"You? What the dickens did you do? Tell me all about it, quickly. I +found a bit of flexible wire upon the carpet yesterday morning when I +was looking over the house with your stepsister, and came to the +conclusion that someone had been altering the lights. And it was you, +was it?"</p> + +<p>Again the flushed cheeks and quickly drawn breath. Oh, this quixotic +family!—that muddled a decent man up in trying to do his duty by their +perpetual affections and efforts to shield one another.</p> + +<p>"Yes—and no. It was the day before yesterday. Ross and Mr. Tavish were +in the library going over some land accounts and looking at the weekly +wages bill, which is part of Ross's work for Father that he's been doing +the past two years.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> I was there, too, mending a damaged switch which +wouldn't go right, and Ross had promised to help me when his business +was finished. Well, when it was done, and they had smoked a cigarette +together— Mr. Tavish is awfully popular with the whole place, you know, +Mr. Deland, and Ross liked him immensely—well, as I was saying, when +they'd done, they came over to me, where I was tinkering away at the +switch by the wall, and while Ross explained to me what exactly was the +matter, Mr. Tavish stood over us and made remarks."</p> + +<p>"Can you remember what any of those remarks were?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He said he thought I was growing to be a clever youngster, with a +turn for electricity which ought to drive my father nearly mad, and then +he shook his head, and Ross laughed sort of uncomfortably, and agreed +with him. And then Ross asked Mr. Tavish if he knew anything of +electricity. 'Not a blessed thing!' Mr. Tavish said, with a loud laugh. +'I don't know the difference between a short circuit and a Bath bun.' +And of course we all laughed again, and then Ross explained a little of +it to him, and he seemed to catch on awfully quick, and asked some jolly +interestin' questions."</p> + +<p>"And what were the 'jolly interestin' questions,' may I ask?"</p> + +<p>"Oh— I've really forgotten. Whether one could get a shock from that +sort of thing when you were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> working at it, and Ross said you could; and +electricity could kill a person instantly. And then they began to talk +about electrocution and the electric chair which criminals had to sit in +instead of being hanged, as they used to do in the old days. And Ross, +who simply loves anything to do with the subject as much as I do, Mr. +Deland, began to explain how a man could be killed by leaving a live +wire somewhere near where he could grasp hold of it, and then taking a +long piece of flexible wire in his hands, he wired it along the edge of +the room from the ground plug to the window, just to show what he meant +by it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he did, did he? And what colour was the flexible wire?"</p> + +<p>"Crimson. Usual shade. Mr. Tavish was awfully interested at what Ross +did, and Ross got so enthusiastic that he carried the piece of wire up +to the window and left the raw edge of the wire exposed, and when he put +a piece of stuff against it, it singed up immediately, and, my word! +there <i>was</i> a stink!"</p> + +<p>"Naturally. And then?"</p> + +<p>"Ross said a lot of things about the power of electricity that seemed to +interest Mr. Tavish, and of course <i>I</i> was frightfully struck, as you +can imagine, and kept my ears open. And just then, who should come in +but Mother, and of course Ross and all of us stowed the conversation for +the time being, and Ross nipped off the length of unnecessary wire with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +his pincers and left Mother with Tavish to discuss some changes she +wanted made in the poultry runs. She's rather interested in chickens, +you know, sir."</p> + +<p>"I see. But this was a bird of another colour, eh? What's that? No, my +lad, you've said nothing to incriminate anybody, and I'll keep your +confidence about this conversation, if you're worrying about it. Now, +then, you'd better nip along, as it's nearly tea-time, and when I was +your age clean hands were an absolute necessity even in +the—er—austerity of my home! I've no doubt they're the same in yours."</p> + +<p>"But I haven't said anything to—to incriminate Ross, have I, sir?" +reiterated Cyril anxiously. "That thing about shooting a chap with the +aid of electricity—of course it couldn't be done, I suppose, and Mr. +Tavish didn't know enough about it to contradict Ross—and anyhow he was +only gassing and not really meaning it at all. I—I'd give my right +hand, sir, for Ross. He comes next to my mother in my estimation. And +that's saying a good deal!"</p> + +<p>"Not so much as you might think—if you know that lady as well as I do, +my lad," apostrophized Cleek as the boy sped down the passageway and +left him alone. "Gad! here's a new outlook altogether. And that +conversation actually took place! He wasn't lying, the straight young +devil. And he never realized that he was plunging that precious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> brother +of his deeper and deeper into the mire!... I say— Cyril!"</p> + +<p>The boy turned at the end of the passage and came slowly back to him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir?"</p> + +<p>"By the way, what size shoes do you take? Gad! your foot's pretty hefty +for a sixteen-year-old, I must say! What's the number of those delicate +little trotters?"</p> + +<p>Cyril laughed self-consciously.</p> + +<p>"They are rather huge, aren't they?" he replied. "But they're tens. Same +size as Ross, you know, so that I can often borrow his shoes—and +Captain Macdonald's as well. Funny we should all be the same size, isn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—deuced funny," returned Cleek, sucking in his lips suddenly and +his face gone grim. "Tens—eh? Thought it was sixes for you and sevens +for your brother."</p> + +<p>"Who the dickens told you that fairy-tale, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nobody particular. I must have dreamt it, I suppose," returned +Cleek with a shrug of the shoulders. "And— I say, Cyril. Your man +Jarvis seems to have trotters, too. What size are his boots now, I +wonder?"</p> + +<p>Cyril's eyes flew wide.</p> + +<p>"You must have made a mistake," he said in a surprised voice. "For +Jarvis's feet are awfully small. Eights, I believe. Anyway, I can't get +'em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> on because I tried once. Stole his dress clothes and dressed up in +'em. But the mater was furious! Hello! there's the tea-gong. I must be +off!"</p> + +<p>Then he went off forthwith. Meanwhile Cleek, with his finger upon his +chin, stood stock-still in the middle of the hallway and pinched up his +brows.</p> + +<p>"Now, why the dickens did she lie to me—unless she wanted to shield her +precious brother?" he said ruminatively. "And why in heaven's name are +they all so anxious to pervert Justice and to deny truth?"</p> + +<p>But there was no one to give him any answer to that most difficult +question, and he had perforce to possess his soul in patience for the +present.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>DOLLOPS MAKES A DISCOVERY</h3> + +<p>The rest of the day passed comparatively uneventfully for all those +concerned in the drama of a night's doings, and save for a searching +scrutiny of the library by Cleek, carried out under the noses of the +village policeman, with Inspector Campbell very much to the fore as +being in command of the local constabulary and anxious to make a good +impression upon the Yard's Superintendent (with an eye to future +promotion), and the discovery of one or two minor details which had +passed even his searching eye before, Cleek's time hung fairly heavily +upon his hands.</p> + +<p>Dollops, keen as mustard upon any task which involved the imagination of +his beloved master, spent the rest of the afternoon and a goodly part of +the long twilight in scampering over the countryside in pursuit of +various "facts," by the aid of a borrowed bicycle, which Mr. Fairnish +had charged him seven-and-sixpence for in advance, being obviously +doubtful as to whether the young man would return it or not, for +Dollop's Cockney countenance was not one to breed immediate trust on +sight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>His efforts in this direction proved fairly fruitful, for after having +scraped acquaintance with one of the grooms at Captain Macdonald's +stables—the worthy Captain meanwhile champing furiously at the "bit" +which kept him tethered to his present quarters for another night, when +there were other affairs at his own place that wanted looking into—and +in his own inimitable fashion managing to wangle an old letter written +by his master to himself from the groom, Dollops, whistling +vociferously, came spinning back again to Aygon Castle to present his +find to Cleek, and receive the reward in Cleek's instantly spoken +pleasure.</p> + +<p>But to see Cleek was a different matter altogether. He had been told to +"lie low" where Lady Paula was concerned, and not poke his nose in +anything within reach of her ladyship's sharp eye. And as he did not +possess Cleek's marvellous birthright by which he was able to alter his +countenance in the space of a second, and become to all intents and +purposes another man, Dollops was certainly "floored."</p> + +<p>"Better try rahnd the servants' quarters, an' see what I kin see there," +he decided after a brief survey of the land from an adjacent laurel bush +which immediately faced the Castle. "The Gov'nor'll be ready ter split +my nob open if I ups and goes inter the plyce by the front door, bless +'is 'eart! And it's shorely the back door for the likes o' <i>you</i>, +Dollops me lad! So here goes!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<p>So to the servants' quarters went Dollops forthwith, and scraped +acquaintance with Jarvis, the butler, by offering him an impossible +cigar, and asking off-handedly for Mr. Deland in the meanwhile.</p> + +<p>"Dunno where 'e is at the moment," replied Jarvis, with a wink and a +smile. "Seen 'im talkin' to the lydies only a few moments back, in the +drorin' room. But since then.... Lunnon chap, ain't yer?"</p> + +<p>"Yus!" Dollops's voice rang with pride of birthplace. He threw back his +narrow chest and stuck his fingers in his waistcoat and surveyed his +interlocutor with upthrown chin.</p> + +<p>"Well, so'm I. Come dahn with the family last January from their Lunnon +'ouse. Park Mansion, it's called. Big plyce in Eton Square. Know those +parts, I'll lay."</p> + +<p>"Every inch of 'em," vociferated Dollops with emphasis. "Luvly plyce, +ain't it? They tells me yer got a ghost in this 'ouse, and blimey! I'm +that frightened ter meet 'er, me backbone's almost come rahnd ter me +front. 'Ugs the gentlemen at night, don't she?"</p> + +<p>Jarvis threw back his head and let his hearty laugh ring out over the +rafters of the servants' hall.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't 'ug <i>you</i>, young 'un, not for nothing—if it were light enough +ter see yer face by," he retorted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> with heavy wit. "But it's truth. And +the wimmenfolk is that nervous at night there's no managing with 'em +nohow. Some sprightly feller in a by-gone century went and man-'andled a +girl from these parts an' carried 'er 'ere by force. Then 'e got 'er +into trouble, so the story goes, an' she up and stabbed 'erself with the +spindle of her spinning wheel—that there contraption wot stands in the +library terd'y and makes a rare job er dustin' fer Minnie the under +'ousemaid. She don't 'arf kick at it, I kin tell yer! Anyway, that was +'ers! And we 'ad a footman 'ere last May wot fancied 'imself very +partickler as a braive bloke. Well, he says, says 'e, 'I'll sit up +ternight and go dahn by the dungeon door, where she's supposed ter come +from, and see wot I kin see.' 'Course we laughed at him, and there was a +bit of friendly gamblin' done—<i>you</i> know—an' I backed the blighter for +a pound-note."</p> + +<p>"An' what 'appened?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's the scrub of it, as Shakespeare says, me lad. Young fool sat +up there, and then abaht three o'clock in the mornin' we 'eard 'im come +a-screamin' ter 'is quarters, lookin' as pale as death. 'E said 'e'd +'eard the Peasant Girl rustlin' abaht in her room, and the chink o' +chains, and then the iron grille door began to open, and an unearthly +voice called out,'Avaunt ye, varlet, or I'll break yer bones!' and +then.... 'E was off like a pea from a catapult,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> and that was the last +we ever 'eard of 'is bravery. 'E gave notice next day, and forfeited a +month's money ter get away from the plyce. And I lost me money, of +course! That's wot comes of backin' a bad starter—mostly orlus loses +yer money I find."</p> + +<p>During this enlightening recital Jarvis had been polishing the table +silver, pausing between his task to relate the story, while Dollops's +pale face went the colour of ivory, and the hair at the back of his neck +began to prickle with fright.</p> + +<p>"Gawd's troof!" he ejaculated, stung to some show of feeling by this +gruesome tale. "Ain't that orful! 'Oo'd 'ave thought it? I wouldn't +spend a night down there fer a mint of money—would you, Guv'nor?"</p> + +<p>"Not if I knows it. But no one never does go dahn very often, only ter +the wine-cellar. See that door there? Open that and you'll find a set o' +stairs leadin' right down inter the cellar, and the rest of the pleasant +little dungeon-places where they used ter put bad men like you an' me, +my boy. Orl right in daytime, er course, an' nothin' much ter see. And +perfectly safe. 'Ave a squint, won' yer?—while I send a maid ter find +yer gentleman. Quite a nifty little 'idin'-place 'twould be fer any one, +but as safe as 'ouses in the daylight. <i>Go</i> on. Ain't scared, are yer?"</p> + +<p>Now, if there is one thing in the world which is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> likely to upset a +nervous man more than anything, it is to be designated "scared" in that +precise tone of voice. It is from such efforts that heroes are made. +Dollops, whose heart had turned to water within him, found it instantly +hardening at the butler's joking tone, and the bantering look upon the +man's rosy face settled the matter. He squared his shoulders and threw +back his head, though his jaw was chattering like a chimpanzee's.</p> + +<p>"Course I ain't—stoopid!" he said stammeringly. "Show us the way, and +I'm orf at once. Any other entrance but this one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Through the courtyard and down the stone steps. But it ain't never +used. Your gentleman went dahn yesterday mornin' with Miss Maud, just +for a bit of fun like. I'm needin' a couple er bottles er best port up, +if you've a mind ter fetch 'em fer me, an' when yer gets back I'll give +yer a swallow er Burgundy ter warm yer. 'Ere's the keys. Bottom of the +steps and first door ter yer right. You'll see a lot of others, but I +wouldn't meddle with them if I was you. Them's <i>'er</i> preserves. I +believe you're scared stiff—even at this time of day?"</p> + +<p>Dollops favoured him with a withering look, being perfectly unable to +find his voice, and then proceeded to the door with steady step, flung +it open, and straightway began to descend the staircase to the cellar, +his rubber-soled shoes making no sound upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> the wooden stairs with +their carpeting of thick felt and with his heart literally in his gaping +mouth. Down, down, down the stairs led him, and then he heard a laugh +from the top of them, turning suddenly to see Jarvis's smiling face +above, framed in the open doorway, heard the door slam loudly, and the +key grate in the lock, and realized that he had been the victim of a +pleasant little practical joke.</p> + +<p>The palms of his hands went wet. He felt a mad impulse to bound up the +stairs again and hammer upon the door until he gained admittance, but +his pride held him back.</p> + +<p>"No, I'll see 'im in 'ell first, the blinkin' practical joker!" he +apostrophized the absent butler in tones of blackest rage, and then, +curiosity getting the better of him, seeing that there was no other +alternative but to go down and then return by the <i>other</i> way, "which +was scarcely ever used," proceeded on his journey into blackness, which +grew each second more black, until he was stepping carefully, with one +hand pressed against the stone of the wall and his eyes goggling through +the darkness from sheer fright.</p> + +<p>He reached the bottom of the stairs at last, and paused to take breath. +He was as winded as a spent runner, and as white as a sheet, and +trembling in every limb. The place was as black as a pocket, save for +where, through a grille-door on the left-hand side of him (which was +actually supposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> to be her door, if he had but known it, and led +through to the torture-chamber which Cleek himself had traversed), a +single candle shone with a pale, sickly light, sending a tiny shaft in +his direction, though, with peering through at it, he could only just +see its vague outline in some room beyond.</p> + +<p>"Gawdamassy!" he ejaculated, his eyes fairly popping out of his head at +this sight. "Someun's 'ere, that's a fact! And from what I knows er +ghosts, they shine wiv a more unearthly light than wot comes from a +candle in a bottle. Now, 'oo the dickens——"</p> + +<p>But his searchings after light on this subject were cut off short by the +sound of softly speaking voices creeping to him through that grilled +door, and coming from some long distance away within it. He darted back +against the wall and, groping with his hands, found a cupboard door +ajar, slipped into it, and drew himself up taut against the inner wall, +and waited for that which might come to pass, every nerve a-tremble, his +eyes fixed upon the crack of the door, which at present showed black as +a pocket.</p> + +<p>The soft voices continued—men's voices, too, and one with the changing +inflections of the foreigner.</p> + +<p>"Blinkin' German!" thought Dollops excitedly. "Or a Chink! Don't know +the difference between their parley-vous meself, but it's orl alike wiv +<i>foreigners</i>. But the other 'un—'e's English orl right.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> Never 'eard +'is voice before, that's certain! Gawd! they're comin' out now, an' I +prays 'eaven they ain't a jossin' ter fetch nuffin' from this 'ere +cupboard, or little Dollops's number'll be up with a vengeance! I don't +fancy bein' done in by a blinkin' pigtail, neither! Nah!—then! Keep +still, Dollops, me boy, and stop yer tremblin'. You'll 'ave the 'ouse +a-shakin' in a minit, an' they'll fink it's a earfquake instead of a +boy-quake—strite they will!"</p> + +<p>Having wrestled himself into some sort of quiet of heart and brain, +Dollops continued to lie in wait until the strangers had come out +through the grilled door, and stood a moment with the candle between +them, talking in low tones, and glancing occasionally up the flight of +stairs by which he had only just descended. One of them had his back to +him, but the other's face was in full view. It was a dark, +swarthy-skinned face, with black eyes and crisp black moustache curling +upon the upper lip, the slim nose and aquiline features revealing to the +watching lad the very evident fact that here was a genuine Italian.</p> + +<p>And the other? He'd seen that tweed coat before, surely—but where? +Where? He racked his brains to think. Somewhere that tweed coat had +crossed his vision once before during that day, and in some +unaccountable manner it was associated in his mind with Sir Ross Duggan +himself....</p> + +<p>The men moved quietly, blew out the candle, and then opened the door +opposite and began to climb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> up the stone stairway into the fresh air, +creeping about like mice.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Dollops, afraid no longer, and all his being afire to get to +his master with news of this new development—and so make up for his +slowness this afternoon, when the lady had so successfully given him the +slip right here within his reach—stood stock-still, raking every corner +of that fertile young brain of his for the clue which eluded him.</p> + +<p>And then—quite suddenly—he <i>knew</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>"PINS AND NEEDLES"</h3> + +<p>Twenty minutes later he presented himself once more at the back door, +and asked in scathing accents for Mr. Jarvis, dangling the keys of the +wine-cellar in one careless hand.</p> + +<p>That gentleman appeared to him, changed for his evening duties in the +dining-room, and with one eye upon the clock, clapped him upon the +shoulder and guffawed into his face.</p> + +<p>"Blinkin' idiot!" thought Dollops, as he grinned back. "Might er +frightened me into foamin' at the mouth like a bloomin' 'oss, he might." +Then, aloud: "Nice practical joke ter play upon a feller, eh, Mr. +Jarvis? Nah! if I'd been sufferin' wiv me nerves and 'avin' calisthenics +wot's so fashionable just at presint, you could of sent me to my +coffin—strite."</p> + +<p>"But you're alive an' kickin' now, me 'earty!" returned Jarvis, with +another guffaw, "an' lookin' in the pink, I must s'y. What about them +bottles of port?—or didn't yer stop ter look into the wine-cellar? +Didn't bring 'em up, I notice."</p> + +<p>"No." Dollops's smile was catching. "But I nearly brought up sumthink +else, I kin tell yer—an'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> that's me 'eart, for it were a-sittin' in me +mouf like as though it would choke me! I've 'arf a mind ter cut you out +of me will, Mr. Jarvis. But, seriously speakin', where's my gentleman? +I've a note fer 'im if 'e's engaged, and if not, I'd like ter see 'im. +Say it's important."</p> + +<p>"News from the Front, eh? Fahnd out 'oo committed that there crime last +night, I don't think," said Jarvis, with his heavy humour. "Well, I'll +send along Minnie after him. Dinner's bein' prepared, and no doubt your +boss'll be dressin'. If 'e ain't nosin' round after clues, with that +there fat Superintendent. Wot's 'e, anyway?—your Mr. Deland? Amachoor +detective?"</p> + +<p>Dollops nodded.</p> + +<p>"That's the line. Tell 'im I've got summink ter say about his blue +trousers wot I've been a-pressing at the Three Fishers. An' it's most +important."</p> + +<p>"Oh!—very. Blue trousers is an important matter when a man's been +murdered in 'is own 'ome, I take it. Orl right, orl right; don't lose +yer temper, sporty. I'll see to it at once. Like ter go up to 'is room, +would yer?"</p> + +<p>"No. Rather wait 'ere for 'is message."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Sit down and make yerself comfortable, and no doubt there'll +be a bite er dinner fer yer, if you're patient. Won't say 'no' to a +nibble er chicken, I lay, follered with a dash er Peach Melba?... I +thought not."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>So saying, the garrulous Jarvis proceeded kitchenward to summon Minnie +and entrust her with the message for Mr. Deland, and then returned to +the servants' hall and passed the rest of the time with Dollops, talking +of London—a subject which appeared to be dear to both their hearts, and +which certainly gave them something in common with each other.</p> + +<p>Minnie returned in ten minutes bearing a little note upon her silver +salver, which she presented to the smiling Dollops with a mock bow and a +courtesy. She was a pert little country thing, with a trick of the eye +that took a man's heart.</p> + +<p>"'Ere's a note fer yer lordship," she said smartly. "Your gentleman says +'e's sorry 'e can't get down, and it don't matter about the blue +trousies a particle. And 'e don't need you this evenin', so that you kin +explore the countryside if yer want to. Wot say to a little walk, Mr. +Ginger-'Air? It's my evenin' out, and I don't mind if I do."</p> + +<p>Dollops winked and nudged her with his elbow.</p> + +<p>"You're a pretty piece, <i>you</i> are, and if we was in Lunnon I'd be takin' +you to the pickshurs," he returned with a grin. "But I've an appointment +rahnd about ten o'clock up in the village. I'm yer man till then, +Saucer-Eyes. No, Mr. Jarvis, a bit of dinner, as you s'y, wouldn't go +quite amiss. I'm that 'ungry me insides rattle."</p> + +<p>And while Jarvis was carving the chicken for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> servants' hall, and +giving him a generous portion, and Minnie was off to her room to prink +up and change for the evening, Dollops opened his master's letter and +scanned the few lines written upon it.</p> + +<p>"Be under the big gate by twelve o'clock to-night," it said. "Hear all +news then. Burn this."</p> + +<p>So when Jarvis returned Dollops was lighting a cigarette from a twist of +note-paper, which, upon sight of the big plate of steaming-hot chicken +that awaited him, he promptly threw into the fire, watching +absent-mindedly until it had become a charred fragment, and then set to +upon the feast with a vengeance.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>Meanwhile Cleek, dinner at last over—a meal passed in sober silence, +with the shadow of that dead Thing still hanging over the diners and +wiping the joy of life from their faces—went with Mr. Narkom out upon +the terrace, cigars alight, and discussed with him the probabilities and +possibilities of the whole affair, comparing notes with the +Superintendent and jotting down in his business-like way any ideas that +occurred to him as they talked together, until his cuff was covered over +with pencil scrawls and the furrow between his eyes had deepened +considerably.</p> + +<p>Slowly the evening wore itself away, the presence of the silent-watching +constabulary in the house making all friendliness between hosts and +unwanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> guests a matter of impossibility. Women and men drew together +in little knots, discussing the affair in low-pitched voices, and even +Maud Duggan's eyes held something of accusation now when they dwelt upon +Cleek's face, so that at length he took Mr. Narkom by the arm and drew +him toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Come, old friend," he said quietly. "We are intruders here, you and I. +These other poor folk cannot be at rest in our presence. Come along to +the library once more, and have a look about it. The place draws me, I +must say. For I still believe that the secret of the whole terrible +thing lies there. To-morrow afternoon is to be Coroner's Inquest—a +hateful proceeding, to say the least of it—and I've given myself just +that time to solve the mystery."</p> + +<p>"Cinnamon! And you don't imagine you're going to, do you, Cleek?" +returned Mr. Narkom excitedly, as they passed down the passage together +and entered the room. "That's rather a tall order, I must say. Seems as +if we'd scoured this room from end to end."</p> + +<p>"And yet, from what I heard from Master Cyril a short while ago, that is +exactly what we have <i>not</i> done," rejoined Cleek, dropping to his knees +and examining the wall plug which had interested him before. Meanwhile, +Mr. Narkom strolled to the other side of the room, leaned against the +spinning wheel in an attitude of ease, and then ... as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Cleek's fingers +began to trace an invisible path along the edge of the carpet, the +Superintendent gave out a sudden little cry and jumped as though he had +been shot.</p> + +<p>"Eh?—what's the matter, old friend?" Cleek was on his feet in an +instant, for the Superintendent had gone a little pale, and was running +his hands up and down his back in a curious fashion.</p> + +<p>"Pins and needles! Funniest sensation I've ever come across. Brrh! Just +like a slight electric shock."</p> + +<p>Electric shock! Cleek was beside him in an instant, his face suddenly +alight, and his hands searching over the instrument, here, there, and +everywhere. Electric shock, eh? That was peculiar, to say the least of +it.</p> + +<p>Then he stopped suddenly and sucked in his breath, and, whipping round +upon his heel, clapped the Superintendent upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"And it takes <i>you</i>, after all, to lead us to the actual secret!" he +said affectionately, smiling into Mr. Narkom's astonished face. "For +here's the thing in a nutshell. What a blind fool I've been all the +time, old friend. Here's the murderer, the perpetrator of last night's +crime—the mechanical means of doing away with human life in such a +perplexing manner. Here—right here. See?"</p> + +<p>"What the—what are you driving at, my dear chap?" ejaculated the +Superintendent excitedly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> stooping at the pressure of Cleek's arm upon +his shoulder. "This—spinning-wheel thing? You don't mean to tell me +that <i>It</i> murdered Sir Andrew, do you? Because I'm not fool enough to +believe <i>that</i> story—and not dunderhead enough to be taken in by a +practical joke. What <i>do</i> you mean, old chap? I'm on pins and needles to +know."</p> + +<p>"And it's just those particular pins and needles of yours which have +found the thing out," returned Cleek in the sharp staccato of +excitement. "Look here! It's as easy as A B C—once you've +got the hang of it. And that sensation of yours <i>was</i> an electric shock +all right. And it was just this spinning wheel which gave it to you. The +thing's wired—see? Devilishly well done, too, and disguised very +successfully. But here it is. Under the wheel. And see that funny +box-like thing attached, which looks as though it belonged to a part of +the machinery?—and doesn't. That's a battery, by all that's good! Now, +what the dickens does that battery do, I'd like to know?... 'A whirring +sound'—'hum-hum-hum!' That's how they described it to me this morning, +do you remember? Gad! And this is the thing that produced that +supernatural sound, then! Just a touch of a switch somewhere, and the +thing sets in motion. Now let's follow this wiring along to its +destination, and that will tell us a good deal."</p> + +<p>He traced the line of palish flexible wire—so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> nearly the colour of the +old wood as to be hardly discernible unless one really knew of its +presence, round the wheel, and down on to the floor—the thing stood a +mere matter of inches from the window-sill—and then disappeared up +through a narrow piece of oak-coloured woodwork which was entirely +unnoticed from the panelling it covered, until it reached the +window-ledge and ended at the extreme right-hand corner of the middle +window, and vanished in a cluster of ivy which clung about the outside +of it, sending its tendrils right up to the edge of the sill itself.</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom followed the thing with fascination, poking a finger here and +there to help discern its threadlike and imperceptible progress, and was +almost as quick as Cleek in leaping out through the low sill to the +flower-bed below upon which those tell-tale footprints had made such a +strong impression. Then, of a sudden, they both stopped and stared +blankly at each other. For the end of the thing lay beneath the ivy +covering, in a little home-made switch which, touched by the finger, +obviously set the whole contraption in motion.</p> + +<p>Cleek hopped back into the room to see that no one was about, but the +constable in charge stood outside the door, not in it, and they had +closed that door carefully behind them upon entrance. Then he leaned out +over the top of the window-sill and spoke softly to Mr. Narkom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Put your finger upon the switch when I say 'Go,'" he said in a tense +whisper, "and I'll stay inside here and watch how the thing works. Now +then.... <i>Go!</i>"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom applied his finger forthwith, while to Cleek within came a +soft whirring, drumming sound, and then—an almost imperceptible "click" +and—the most amazing of all these amazing matters came instantly to +pass! For as he leapt out of the path of it, led by some mysterious, +intuitive impulse, a bullet sped rapidly past his ear, and lodged itself +in the woodwork, just a fraction of an inch below the spot where that +other bullet had lodged, and—the secret was out at last!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>"A LUNNON GENTLEMAN"</h3> + +<p>"By all that's good!" he ejaculated, as Mr. Narkom jumped into the room +somewhat heavily at sound of his hastily spoken ejaculation. "See that +mark there in the woodwork, above the spot where we dug the bullet out +this morning? Nearly shot me through the head, old friend, and made an +end of your troublesome ally at last! Gad! the ingenuity of it! The +devilish ingenuity! So <i>that's</i> how it was done, eh? We'll look into the +thing a bit closer, but from what I have already seen I'd say there was +a pistol hidden inside that wheel, but the thing's so perfectly done +that it must have taken a master-hand to have done it. And where's the +master-hand here? Ross Duggan?—with his hobby for electricity? He's not +got the face of a man who could contrive a thing like that, and carry it +out to such a pitch of perfection. And yet—it's a soundless pistol, all +right, that did the deed. But the patience of the manipulator! the +straightness of vision, to be certain of the moment to operate it! That +man would be a useful adjunct to Scotland Yard's force, Mr. Narkom, with +knowledge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> such as that. It's the most diabolically clever thing I've +ever encountered!"</p> + +<p>"It is—by James! it is!" returned the Superintendent, mopping his +forehead in his excitement and going very red in the face. "Sure it +isn't a woman, old chap? Women are pretty tricky people in affairs of +this kind. And the contrivance of it, too!... So <i>that's</i> how it is +done, is it?" as Cleek's agile fingers slid over the wheel and stopped +upon a faint line which showed how the thing had been cut out and then +stuck in again after the pistol had been lodged in its hiding-place. +"Here; use my knife and dig it out, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Never! The time for doing that will be after I have given a +demonstration of its prowess before the assembled company. I'm no master +at intricate woodwork and mechanism such as that, Mr. Narkom, and I want +to keep it in perfect working order for the crucial moment. If I +extracted it now, ten chances to one I'd never get it back again. The +thing to be discovered is to find out the man in this establishment +whose fingers give him away as a delicate worker. And there's just one +I've noticed that——"</p> + +<p>And it was just as the name formed itself upon his lips that Cyril +Duggan burst hurriedly into the room, despite the detaining hands of the +constable on duty outside the door, and beckoned hastily to Cleek.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your man wants you, Mr. Deland," he said breathlessly. "Says it's +awfully important and must see you at once. He wouldn't come in, but +asked me to tell you, would you come round to the servants' quarters as +soon as you could? He's waiting in the outer courtyard. Ginger-headed +chap by the name of Dollops. I'd only just gone out for a breath of +fresh air before Mother packed me off to bed—ten o'clock is the latest +hour I'm permitted to sit up to. But he seemed so anxious to see you +that I promised to come along at once. It's gone ten now, I think, and +Mother will be after me if I'm not off—she's frightfully particular on +little matters. But the policeman here said you and Mr. Narkom were busy +and were not to be disturbed.... I say! What's the matter with the old +spinning wheel, eh? You seem to be frightfully interested in it!"</p> + +<p>"I am—as you say—frightfully," returned Cleek with a smile. "But +nothing of any more consequence than an outsider's interest in something +he knows nothing about. Ever looked at the thing, my boy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—heaps of times. And experimented upon it, too! Tried all sorts of +ways to make it go, until Mother put a stop to my touching it, and said +I should probably hurt myself with the spindle and break the thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she did, did she? Well, perhaps you might. It's more harmful than +people give it credit for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> All right, Cyril; many thanks for telling +me. I'll be along in a moment or two. You'd better get off to bed now, +or Lady Paula will be on your track, I'll swear. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Mr. Deland; good-night, Mr. Narkom."</p> + +<p>He was off again like a shot, and Cleek could hear his light steps +running down the hallway and up the stairs, like the big child he was.</p> + +<p>"Funny thing," he said to Mr. Narkom as the two left the room together +and walked down the corridor toward the servants' quarters, "but that +young gentleman always seems to turn up in the most unforeseen moments. +Notice <i>his</i> fingers, did you, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, they are as +delicate as a woman's and as strong as a man's. Curiously strong for a +fifteen-year-old, I must say. Now, if I didn't know better, I'd lay a +ducat to a dollar that that lad is a good sight cleverer than either you +or I give him credit for, and with his mother's blood in him and a +portion of his rascally grandfather's, too, there's no telling just +exactly where he will end up.... Hello! is that you, Jarvis? I'm told my +man wants to see me very particularly. Know where he is by any chance? +It's probably about that blue suit of mine. He worries more over my +clothes than any woman. In the courtyard? Thanks, very much. You coming +along, too, Mr. Narkom?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't mind if I do," returned the Superintendent off-handedly, "seeing +that there is nothing more to be discovered to-night. My man's in +charge, so we might go over to the Three Fishers and have a quiet smoke +in your rooms. That is, if you'd care about it?"</p> + +<p>"Love to, my dear chap, love to. Through this door, eh, Jarvis? Nice +snug place you've got here, I must say. Family do you well, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir," Jarvis's voice bordered upon the confidential. "Tight-fisted +where the money is, sir, but—that's Scotch, you know."</p> + +<p>"And you're London, eh?—and naturally generous! I understand. Well, +here's something to buy yourself a drink with." And Cleek dropped +half-a-crown into the butler's hands.</p> + +<p>As the two men disappeared through the kitchen door and out into the +courtyard, the highly elated Jarvis turned to his fellow servants with a +genuine sigh of admiration.</p> + +<p>"Amachoor detective or not," he apostrophized the absent gentleman, "an' +queer in the top story though 'e may be, that's what I calls a +right-down Lunnon gentleman!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>DAMNING EVIDENCE</h3> + +<p>They found Dollops waiting in the little squared-in courtyard which led +down to the dungeons, and in a state bordering upon hysteria from the +excitement of all those exciting things which had just come to pass.</p> + +<p>He blurted out his story of Jarvis's practical joke and its ultimate +consequences in a helter-skelter fashion, anxious to get on to this new +development, and except for a "By James!" from Mr. Narkom and a nod of +the head from Cleek, pursued his course without interruption.</p> + +<p>"And when we'd walked a mile or so over them 'ills and dahn inter the +dales, Minnie ups and says ter me, 'Come an' 'ave a drink, Ginger-snap!' +And er course I was nuffin' loaf, as they s'y (though what bread 'as to +do with it I niver could tell). So we comes upon a pub in a little bit +of a shanty built of timber dahn in the nest of the 'ills, and she tykes +me by the arm and pulls me inter it."</p> + +<p>"And what did you find there, Dollops?" put in Cleek, with a smile for +the lad's poetical expression.</p> + +<p>"A bit of a bar full of Scotties wot looked as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> though they'd come 'ome +from a funeril, from the h'expression of their fyces," he returned +emphatically. "Them Scotties do take their pleasure sadly, not 'arf! Not +a blinkin' one of 'em got a bit er jollyin' left in 'em. ''Ello, +Minnie-gairl,' they s'ys to 'er wen we come in, 'who's the noo mon ye +ken?'—talkin' in their silly langwidge wot an Englishman can't +unnerstand. 'Pal o' mine,' s'ys Minnie, pert-like, 'come ter visit fer a +little time. Gen'leman's st'yin' at the Castle.'</p> + +<p>"'Where that there wee beetie o' crrime has taken place?' puts in a +sandy-'eaded feller wiv beetling brows an' a complexion like a bit er +red granite. 'Yes,' says Minnie. 'Then better give 'im a wee drappier +ter warrm 'is freetened hearrt!'"</p> + +<p>Dollops paused a moment, and Cleek threw back his head and gave vent to +a smothered laugh.</p> + +<p>"You'll be the death of me yet, lad," he remarked merrily, "with your +Cockney and 'Scotch' rolled into one. But let's hear the end of the +story. What happened then?"</p> + +<p>"They giv me a drink, Guv'nor, of very strong whisky it were, an' when I +asked 'em where it come from an 'oo made it, thinkin' I'd lay in a +bottle or two fer when we gets back ter Clarges Street, a feller wot +just come in (an' a bit tight 'e were, too) slaps me on the back and +says, 'Hoo noo, laddie? It's frae the valley, under the little brookies +and amangst th' gravel.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And what did you say, Dollops?"</p> + +<p>"I told him in good old English ter go tell that ter the marines and +stow the gaff, and he ups and larfs at me, and he says, says 'e, 'I'll +show ye if I speak the truith or no.' And then a lot o' 'em says, +'Hoots' and 'toots' and 'nah,' as though they was monkeys in the zoo, +and set up such a gabbling as you never 'eared of, and the end of it was +that ole Barmy tykes me by the arm and pushes me through the door. 'Come +from Lunnon, does yer?' he says ter me. 'Well, then, never any tellin' +but ye can gie us a han' wi' disposin' of our wares.' And with that he +ups and pulls Minnie along with him, in spite of them uvvers, and off we +goes dahn th' 'ill inter a deep sort of gravel-pit, and there—the +blinkin' thing was, sir, as large as life and twice as nateril!"</p> + +<p>"My dear chap!—what the dickens does he mean, Cleek?" threw in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture.</p> + +<p>"Simply what he says. And it was there, was it, Dollops?"</p> + +<p>"It were, sir"; Dollops's tone was portentous with mystery; "and what's +more, there was that black-eyed Dago feller wiv the chase-me look and +the hearf-brush moustache, talkin' fifteen ter the dozen in sevin +different langwidges, and makin' more noise than all the rest of 'em put +together."</p> + +<p>"Gad! you've surely found out something, Dollops, and done a good day's +work, bless your heart,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> said Cleek admiringly, slipping his arm +through the boy's on one side and through Mr. Narkom's on the other. +"Well, it's to the gravel-pit with the lot of us this evening—at least +for you and me, Dollops. You had better remain here at the Castle, Mr. +Narkom, while we're gone. And meet me at midnight under the big gate. +But let's not be seen, Dollops, else the fat will be in the fire with a +vengeance. Anything else?"</p> + +<p>Dollops bent nearer to the man he loved best in all the world, and put +his mouth close up against Cleek's ear.</p> + +<p>"One uvver fing, sir—an' wot I calls the piece of resisters," he said +in a low voice. "As I comes aw'y, 'oo should I see a-runnin' dahn the +'ill, side by side with Dicky-Dago, but that there young feller as they +calls Cyril (sickenin' sissy sort er nyme ter give a chap, too!), an' I +jumps back inter the bushes wiv Minnie clinging ter me arm, an' waits +till they've gorn parst. An' I 'ears the youngster s'y you nyme—'Mr. +Deland,' he says, an' 'clever'—and then summink else, wot I didn't +'ear, but wot made Dicky-Dago give out a sort er garsp and gurgle in 'is +froat, an' says something which sounded like a Russian patent medicine, +an'—that's all."</p> + +<p>"And a very good 'all', too, Dollops," ejaculated Cleek, giving the +boy's arm a squeeze. "You have surely done your share of unravelling in +this case,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> at all events. What do you say about it, Mr. Narkom?... +There'll be a nice five-pound note to add to that growing account of +yours for this night's job, I promise you.... And so Cyril is mixed up +in it, too— <i>Cyril!</i> That boy! Gad! what does it mean, eh? And in +league with those scoundrels.... 'Ten o'clock for bedtime,' says he, so +frankly. Ten o'clock! And the young underhanded rascal roaming the +countryside just before that in company with an Italian of questionable +character! Looks bad, every way you look at it. And with Lady Paula's +actions and secret meetings taken into account as well, puts a pretty +black face upon <i>their</i> little share in last night's tragedy. Now, I +wonder if this Dago, as Dollops calls him, is a lover of the lady's or +what?... Gad! Mr. Narkom, what's your opinion?"</p> + +<p>The Superintendent waited a moment, and cleared his throat, and when he +spoke his voice was emphatic and a trifle bored.</p> + +<p>"No two questions about it, to my way of thinking," said he quietly, as +they traversed the darkness together. "That Captain Macdonald did the +thing—because of those footprints of his outside the window—and as he +couldn't or wouldn't give the reason of why he was in the grounds here +last night at that identical time. And the person he was shielding was +obviously Lady Paula. She, too, has been involved in this, though +whether in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> actual murder or not, I'm not prepared to say. And Ross +Duggan, too. I imagine the whole thing is a put-up job; don't you, +Cleek?"</p> + +<p>"I can't rightly say," returned Cleek in an uncertain tone. "Sometimes +it points one way and sometimes another. And I'm inclined to agree with +you where Lady Paula is concerned. She knows a good deal more than she +says, and is wily—deuced wily, as all drug-takers are. And the motive +would be there all right, judging from what Maud Duggan told me was the +share which Sir Andrew had apportioned out for his widow and her boy. +She'll double that easily enough. But to <i>kill</i> for such a thing seems +incredible—though I've known of worse crimes for less reason than that. +But Ross Duggan's is the greatest motive of all, taking into +consideration just when the thing happened—<i>before</i> his name was +erased, you must remember, Mr. Narkom, and as he's a dabster at +electricity and the only person with an air-pistol in the house ... +well, circumstantial evidence looks pretty black against him, doesn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly does." Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle apologetic. "Well, +I hardly know what to think, Cleek. And you're such a beggar for +stringing evidence together, and never forgetting it! And there's such a +dickens of a lot of evidence in this case that a chap gets horribly +involved, and his memory is likely to play him tricks. And then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> that +Italian chap whom Dollops has seen such a lot of to-day—where does he +come in?"</p> + +<p>"Right into the midst of the whole caboosh," returned Cleek +enigmatically, "and don't you make any mistake about that, my friend. +Dicky-Dago, to use Dollops's name, is one of the prime movers in this +little inheritance game, and in another one also. A dollar to a ducat he +knows the whole thing, and Tweed Coat's with him."</p> + +<p>"Who the dickens is Tweed Coat?"</p> + +<p>"The gentleman whom Dollops so aptly described a few moments ago," +returned Cleek quietly. "Perhaps you didn't notice Ross Duggan's coat +this morning, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, it was made of a very sweetly +smelling cloth called Harris tweed; and when Dollops described the one +he saw to me this evening, I recognized it at once."</p> + +<p>"Then Tweed Coat is Ross Duggan, Cleek?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle shrill. Cleek's eyes met his squarely, +and his eyebrows went up.</p> + +<p>"Who else?" he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A STARTLING DÉNOUEMENT</h3> + +<p>And so it came about that Dollops and Cleek, both wearing dark suits +(procured in Cleek's case at the Three Fishers, and from his own +dressing-bag), and with caps pulled down over their faces and false +moustaches decorating their upper lips as a protection against +unforeseen discovery, made their way out in the clear moonlight toward +that "gravel pit" of which Dollops had spoken, and padded soft-footedly +down the hill toward the little "shanty" to which Dollops guided them, +and after a quick glance at it, pushed on into the darkness of the +night; down, down, down into the valley—to the thing that lay there +revealed in the moon's rays, and which in the face of the to-morrow's +sun would have vanished like the picture upon an exposed camera film.</p> + +<p>But to-night—to-night they could see the whole panorama of it, lying +close to the earth, concealed behind a huge furze-bush upon the +hillside, stomachs flat against the face of it, eyes sharpened upon that +identical spot which told so much to them of what they sought. Perhaps a +dozen men worked there—perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> more—coats off, shirt-sleeves rolled +up—big, bonny men of brawn and muscle, come of a stock as tough as the +granite of the hillside itself and hardened by the keen winds and the +keener air of the Highlands that had given them birth.</p> + +<p>"Giants!" whispered Dollops awe-inspiringly, his lips close against +Cleek's ear.</p> + +<p>"<i>Thieves!</i>" responded Cleek, with a quick intake of the breath. "Gad! +they're a lot, Dollops! And if they caught us up here, hidden away, our +chances would be exactly nil. Where's your friend Balmy, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Dahn there—under that big flare, sir—'im wiv the blue shirt and the +red neck-cloth. Likely lookin' blighter, ain't 'e?"</p> + +<p>"H'm. Not very. Not a sound, boy! There's a couple of 'em coming this +way. Got it in barrels, have they? Gad! I'd like to have a look at one +of those homely articles. I'll swear there's a false bottom to it, if I +know anything of this kind of trickery.... Hello!—there's Tweed Coat!"</p> + +<p>"Tweed Coat," thus named, passed a stone's throw in front of them, his +arm linked with another man's, his head downbent. But Cleek had seen the +moonlight upon his face, and knew his man at last. Ross Duggan had worn +that coat this morning, or one so like it that even he, hawk-eyed +detective that he was, could have told no difference between them. The +moonlight struck upon the white bosom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> of his evening-dress shirt, +making it shine like a strip of ivory, and at something which his +companion said to him, he caught it close together, and turned the +collar of the jacket up about his throat.</p> + +<p>First the handkerchief so plainly marked "R. D." and now this! But that +such a man should be mixed up in a thing of this sort, an illicit thing +which was against all laws and regulations of the land that had borne +him, made Cleek's mouth go grim. The handkerchief, the coat; and +now—the man. That little chain was completed, and every link welded +together. At least some part of the mystery was clear at last.</p> + +<p>The pair passed close against them where they lay in the darkness, so +close that Cleek's fingers might have reached out and caught at the +other's trouser-leg and tripped him. But the time was not yet ripe for +arrests. Better let the thing go unsuspected until to-morrow afternoon, +and then, when the Coroner's Inquest was at hand, rally them all +together in the library once more, and make the final settlement.</p> + +<p>Here was only a part of the thing, not the whole thing itself, and if he +knew one of his men, he did not yet feel certain of the other. The night +should bring that uncertainty into clarity if possible.</p> + +<p>The darkness hid the couple from view at length, and when their +footsteps had died away into silence, Cleek touched Dollops upon the +shoulder and commenced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> wriggling upon his stomach down toward the next +furze-bush, and out into the open, lying flat as Indians do, until they +had slid the distance between the two clumps of shrubs, and lay +concealed, some twelve feet nearer to the scene of operations.</p> + +<p>"See anything of your Dago friend?" whispered Cleek, after they had +watched for a while in silence at this hive of living industry which, +when the dawn had penetrated through the veil of night, would have +passed out of sight and vision as though it were a mirage of their own +imagining.</p> + +<p>Dollops's voice was barely above a breath.</p> + +<p>"Yessir. Just dahn there ter the right. Feller wiv the big black +moustache. Slim-'ipped Johnny in the dark suit. Got blinkers on 'im like +black velvet from wot I sees. Proper furriner—the dirty dog! Find 'im, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. Oh! yes, I see! H'm. An <i>Italian</i> all right. But what the +dickens is an Italian doing in these outlandish parts? And what +attraction can this perishing climate have for people of their ilk? +First the Lady of the Castle—and now this one. Unless.... Gad! there +might be some connection between 'em. Did you find any trace of Captain +Macdonald's handwriting, Dollops, to show me?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir. Got a letter from 'is groom. Pinched it while we was a-talkin'. +'E showed it ter me, an' it's in me pocket. Summink wrong <i>there</i>, +Gov'nor?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So wrong that it will take more than a little explaining upon the +gentleman's part to put it right, my lad," responded Cleek in a whisper. +"I want to see that letter—badly. But it will have to wait until we are +back again at the house. And we'll be back in a jiffy. I'm satisfied +with the result of this night's work, in this direction, at any rate, +Dollops. You've done well—better than I could have done in similar +circumstances, and I'm downright pleased with you!"</p> + +<p>"Lor', sir!" Dollops's voice was choking with joyful emotion. "If yer +goes and frows any more buckets at me, me chest will expand that big wiv +pride as they'll be spottin' us in a trick—strite they will! But I'm +glad I've made up for that footlin' mistyke over the lydy.... Gawd! +Look, Guv'nor—look! 'Oo's this a-comin' now? A woman—strike me pink, +if it ain't! And a lydy, too, from the cut of 'er. Now, 'oo in 'eavin's +nyme is <i>she</i>?"</p> + +<p>His pointing finger brought Cleek's eyes instantly into the line of it, +and Cleek's face in the moonlight went suddenly pale. Dollops's eyes +rested on the grim mask of his face, palely visible from the moon's +rays. Then, at a sign from Cleek, he ducked his own head into the grass +and lay motionless, as his master had already done.</p> + +<p>And by the sound of the soft footsteps, coming from somewhere behind +them, Cleek and his companion knew that the woman had reached the spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +where they were lying hidden under the great clump of gorse. Then a hand +reached down and touched Cleek softly upon the shoulder, and a woman's +voice spoke into the darkness with a tender inflection; and at sound of +it every nerve in his body tightened like wire for the tensity of the +situation.</p> + +<p>"Ross," said the woman's voice tenderly, "Ross dear, get up—get up! I +followed you here to-night, because I—I wanted to talk with you— I +<i>had</i> to talk with you, to tell you something! I simply had to. But I've +been a fool to break parole, as you have done, with that man with the +hawk eyes in the Castle even at this minute. But so much hangs upon +it—Ross, so much! Look up and speak to me, and, whoever your companion +is, tell him to go away until we have had a word together. Look up, look +up—<i>do</i>!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>HARE AND HOUNDS</h3> + +<p>To say that Cleek was startled was to underestimate the matter +altogether. Here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed! It took exactly +three seconds for him to act, and to act in such an extraordinary +fashion as to call forth a gasp from Dollops, whose head was still half +ducked, with one arm upthrown to hide it from the woman's eyes, and to +register in his loyal heart the fact that this master whom he served was +a miracle-worker indeed.</p> + +<p>For Cleek's hand had flashed up in the darkness and taken the moustache +from his lip, and as the woman still continued to plead with him in her +soft voice Dollops, peering through the upthrown arm, saw the features +of the man he loved writhe suddenly as though they had been made of +rubber, saw him twitch up his hand and muffle his coat-collar about his +neck, and then realized with a gasp that here at his side lay such a +fair representative of Ross Duggan as might even be mistaken for that +gentleman in this dark hour of the night.</p> + +<p>And from the lips of this astonishing person<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> proceeded Ross Duggan's +voice, with its curious clipped Scotch inflection and the little habit +of clearing the throat which was so indicative of the man, and which +Dollops—trained as he was by Cleek's quick observation—had already +noticed for himself in the couple of times he had seen and listened +unseen to the gentleman.</p> + +<p>He saw Cleek get to his feet, and twitch his shoulders up and his cap +down, as he faced the lady in her thin dark wrap through which the +glimmer of some light satiny material showed like a line of fire.</p> + +<p>"My dear girl," said Ross Duggan's voice a trifle testily, "what a fool +you are to come out here at this time—if you'll excuse my saying so! +Sit down, for heaven's sake, if you must be here, and don't let those +men down there see you. I'm—I'm making some observations on my own, but +at any minute someone may come up here—and I wouldn't answer for the +consequences. You've fallen into a hornet's nest, Catherine, and only a +woman with some desperate plan of action would do that. Don't you know +what's being carried on down there?"</p> + +<p>She shook her dark head, and dropped instantly into a little heap of +satin and dark-coloured velvet beside him in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"No," she whispered softly. "I wondered what you were doing, and who +your companion might be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> Send him away, Ross. I <i>must</i> speak with you +alone!"</p> + +<p>"All right." The inflection of voice was so identical with that of the +new lord of the manor as to make Dollops fairly jump at sound of it. He +would hardly have been able to believe the evidence of his own ears if +he had not seen this thing done before in those old Apache days, in the +Inn of The Twisted Arm, when the notorious Margot and her crew had run +them to earth and this was the only way out: "Get along there, Parsons. +There's nothing more to be seen now. You can meet me some time next +week—if things go all right with me and I'm not already swinging at the +end of a long rope! And we'll have another confab together. But you'd +better make yourself scarce now. There'll be a dickens of a kybosh if +they find we've broken parole, and I don't want you hauled into the +beastly thing. So long. And <i>listen—listen</i>: be careful—do!"</p> + +<p>Dollops nodded his head forthwith, and by dint of wriggling and +scrambling made his exit from this astonishing pair, and, free of the +bare moorside at last, broke cover and started off at a good run, +wondering what the dickens they had stumbled into <i>now</i>.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the erstwhile Ross and his lady friend sat on behind the +furze-bush in their somewhat ridiculous predicament, and talked in +whispers.</p> + +<p>"What is it you want to say to me?" said "Ross,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> a hint of sharpness in +his low-pitched voice. "That you should run this risk—it is madness, +Catherine—madness!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing is madness that I could do for <i>your</i> sake," she responded +passionately, putting a hand over his as it rested upon the brown earth, +and bending toward him. "Don't you know, Ross, haven't you guessed my +secret yet? Surely you must have seen it? I have tried to tell you with +my eyes, time and time again, and when I have caught that odd look in +yours when you looked at Cynthia. I felt my heart bound with gladness +that you did not care for her. And that has made me brave. Oh, my +dear—my dear! Listen to me, and do what I ask of you. If you <i>did</i> kill +your father, Ross, that man down there at the Castle will make you swing +for it. I know it—I feel it here—here! Those penetrating eyes of his +can see beyond the veil of deception right down into your heart. If you +have done this dreadful thing, tell me, and I have made all arrangements +that you can escape at once. I've a car waiting in the lane. I 'phoned +for it at the garage by the station only a bare two hours ago—and I had +a difficulty, too, as you can imagine, with the whole house full of +policemen and our every action watched. But I was desperate—desperate! +I couldn't see you arrested for <i>that</i>! And so, while there is yet +time.... Oh, don't you see? It's your liberty I'm offering you! And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> we +could start away together and make our lives afresh in a new country. +Ross, Ross, don't you hear, don't you <i>see</i>? Every minute is precious +while that man is in command at the Castle. He looks a fool—but he is a +clever fool at that. I don't trust him. I'm not a weak woman, Ross, to +be afraid of a murderer—pshaw! what is that? If a man has need to do +it, and the courage, I can even <i>admire</i>! And I love you! Don't speak +now, Ross—just come, and let us slip away together. In this wild +country we can soon be lost—slip down the coast and get away on the +first steamer to—anywhere! I've money on me—see here. Plenty of it! I +sent Hilda down to draw it all out of the bank this morning. (Thank God +for the comfort of your telephone!) She'd do anything for me—that +girl—since I caught her stealing Cynthia's pearl necklace, and +threatened her if she didn't return it to tell the whole sordid story to +the family. And she swore to help me any time I needed her. So come, +Ross—come now—come quickly! but come—come!"</p> + +<p>Her whispered words trailed off into silence at last, and Cleek, +catching his breath for a moment at the whole audacious plot which she +had laid so successfully, could not help but admire, even as he felt the +rush of contempt that a man must feel for every woman who can cheapen +herself thus in his eyes. But here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +What to say to her? what to do? It took time to think, so he merely +caught her hand and squeezed it, and felt all sorts of a beast for +making such use of her confession as to lead her on to even deeper +things.</p> + +<p>She reached a hand out at the pressure of his fingers, and wound it +about his neck.</p> + +<p>"You'll come?" she whispered close against his ear.</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders. The issue must be faced, and faced now.</p> + +<p>"Let's get out of this danger-zone, where we can talk in a little more +comfort and less fear of our lives," he responded quickly, casting his +eyes about him to see if the coast was clear. "Quick! draw your dark +wrap over your head and make for cover. That furze-bush over there! Get +behind it, and drop down, and I'll follow. From there, there is a chain +of bushes behind which we can make for the high-road at last. Quick! the +men are coming this way, some of them. And if we're caught...!"</p> + +<p>Her face was fearless. She acted instantly upon his suggestion, +gathering her dark velvet cloak about her and pulling it up over her +face and head, and then sped out suddenly across the open space like a +fleet shadow, until a shaft of moonlight, penetrating through the +clouded sky, fell full upon her hurrying figure, etching it almost as +clearly as though it had been day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cleek sucked in his breath and, half-crouching, half-running, sped after +her. God! what if the men had seen! He glanced back quickly over his +shoulder, and then redoubled his pace. For, of a sudden, with the speed +of a lightning-flash every flare in that valley had gone out—zip!—like +that. Every voice had dropped to stillness, and the night was a hideous +thing of running footsteps, pelting, he knew only too well, up the +hillside after them—those watchers who had seen the secret of the +night, and to-morrow might give it forth to an unsuspecting world. Their +lives wouldn't be worth much if <i>this</i> crew caught them, that was +certain.</p> + +<p>Panting, he reached her side, caught hold of her elbow, and pinning it +close in his fingers hurried her forward, every faculty alert, every +nerve a-tremble. Her panting breath was like the breath of a spent +runner; she wouldn't last far in those high heels, he knew; the going +was too hard. It was only a matter of time now. The hurrying footsteps +seemed to be coming nearer and nearer.</p> + +<p>He bent his face down to hers.</p> + +<p>"The motor-car? Where?" he said in a quick, panting voice.</p> + +<p>She managed to stammer out a reply, stumbling feet falling over the +rough ground, tripping in clumps of heather, bruising themselves against +harsh stones.</p> + +<p>"In the lane—beyond—over there! I've been a fool—leave me and go +yourself!" she panted out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> in disjointed sentences that were ringing +with despair.</p> + +<p>"Never! We'll get there yet. Gather up your skirts.... Gad! you're +done!" It was his own voice that spoke to her, and for a sudden moment +he had forgotten the part he played in the exigencies of this +distressing situation. He heard her gasp suddenly, send startled eyes up +into his face, and then sway against him, and realized his folly—too +late. The shock of the thing had unnerved her. In the darkness she could +not see his face clearly but the voice had been—different. He'd brought +the whole structure about his ears by one foolish momentary mistake. +Then quite suddenly she fainted against him.</p> + +<p>"Fool!" he apostrophized himself. "Blind fool!" and, stopping instantly, +caught her up in his arms just as the lane hove in sight, and throwing +her across his shoulder, took the added burden in his best athletic +fashion, and ran.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE MAN IN THE BLACK MASK</h3> + +<p>They reached the motor only just in the nick of time, for already the +darkness behind them was rent with cries of "There they are! Head them +off!—there they are!" making the night hideous with the noise of them, +and the stampede of feet seemed to grow more dense with every minute.</p> + +<p>Cleek flung his unconscious burden in the car, leaped in after it, and +tapped the chauffeur upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Extinguish your lamps and make for Aygon Castle—as quick as you can!" +he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. "And the quicker the +better! There's trouble here, and if those men catch up with us to-night +I'll not answer for the lady's safety."</p> + +<p>"Yessir."</p> + +<p>Then with a whizz and a whirr the car was off, rocketing down the lane +and taking the corners upon two wheels, so that Cleek had hardly a +breath left in his body, and the rush of air that swept them as they +sped away began to revive the unconscious form of Catherine Dowd who lay +upon the seat beside him.</p> + +<p>A drop of brandy, rather uncertainly administered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> because of the +darkness and the jolting of the car, revived her still more, and in +another moment she had opened her eyes and let them dwell upon his face. +In the darkness they glowed like two lamps. And her face was very +frightened.</p> + +<p>"My God! Not Ross!" she broke out uncertainly, shutting her hands +together across her breast in her agitation. "Then—who are you?"</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" he responded with a touch of gallantry. "It was your +mistake in the first place, remember, not mine. A friend in need, +perhaps, who has been able to save you from the consequences of a very +foolish action. You know what those men were doing?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head dumbly.</p> + +<p>"Then you will learn to-morrow from the lips of a man whom you have +learned to distrust, because he has proved more than a match for you +already. That is so, isn't it? Your Mr. Deland up at the Castle. From +what I heard, you have broken parole, and to do that——"</p> + +<p>"You won't tell?—oh, surely you won't tell!" she gave out in a low, +wrung voice. "How you could mimic Ross Duggan as you did is beyond me. +But you stole my confidence, and I demand its return: that you tell +nothing of to-night to a living soul. Will you promise me that?"</p> + +<p>He paused a moment and looked down at her with frowning brows. Then his +face cleared.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well, then. That is a bargain. But I don't think you realize just +how near to actual danger you ran to-night in your mad pursuit of Ross +Duggan. What made you think I was he?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Only I had followed him from the Castle down the lane, +and then lost sight of him at the edge of the little burn which skirts +that particular valley. And then I saw—you. And somehow, to my +untrained eyes in the darkness, you looked like him—perhaps I was so +anxious to find him that I willed myself unconsciously to think that you +were he—but be that as it may, I made the profound mistake, and—now +the mischief is done with a vengeance. What shall I do now? What <i>shall</i> +I do?"</p> + +<p>"Return to Aygon Castle, my dear young lady, by the route by which you +left it, and leave things in Higher Hands than yours," Cleek returned +gravely, as they whizzed past in the darkness, the motor thrumming a +purring accompaniment to his low-pitched voice. "Never urge a criminal +to flee from justice, for as surely as he remains alive justice will +find him—and make him pay the penalty all the more severely for his +pains! Justice must be done in a civilized country, my dear young lady; +that is what we pay our taxes for—to uphold those same judges who will +mete out justice in a proper, unprejudiced fashion."</p> + +<p>"But Ross—you think he is guilty?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Who knows? Time alone will tell. And his innocence will be better +proved if he is not urged to fly away from the outcome of his actions. I +must ask you, too, a favour. Rather, I must exact a promise. Please +leave Ross Duggan alone until after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"If I know aught of anything, he will be beyond the power of your +assistance—and perhaps not in need of it," he replied quietly. "Here is +the Castle. Slip in, now, through that wicket-gate that the tradesmen +use, I believe, and get back to the house as quickly as you can. I'll +give your orders to the chauffeur."</p> + +<p>She got out unsteadily, and then stood looking up at him, her eyes +glowing darkly in the frame of her pale, serious face.</p> + +<p>"And you won't tell me who you are? Something—somehow—seems familiar +about you, but I cannot place it. You won't help me?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Better let this night's doings be buried in the Limbo of Forgotten +Things, dear lady," he said, his hand resting for a moment upon her +shoulder. "And if you know not who the sharer of your—er—adventure may +be, surely it is better that way. Good-night and good-bye. You will keep +your promise?"</p> + +<p>She gave him a sudden inscrutable look from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> beneath her dark brows. +Then she flung up her head.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Thank you for what you have done."</p> + +<p>"That is nothing. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night."</p> + +<p>Like a shadow she was fleeing up the wide drive, her feet barely making +any sound upon it; then, even as she disappeared from view, Cleek turned +swiftly to the chauffeur who sat in the front seat of the car, goggles +hiding his eyes from view, and clapped him upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Well done, Dollops, well done!" he rapped out with a soft laugh. "I +thought it was you the minute my peepers rested upon your Cockney +countenance, you little bundle of indefatigability! How did you do it? +You caught my meaning, of course? Deuced keen of you, I must say!"</p> + +<p>Dollops grinned, and slipped his goggles into his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Yus," he returned, with a vigorous nod. "I caught the signal orl right. +'<i>Listen</i>,' you said, didn't you, Guv'nor? So I listens, and then I +makes a little plan all on my lonesome. 'The Guv'-nor's up to summink,' +says I ter me, 'an' I'll lay 'e wants me ter tyke a little 'and.' And so +I ups and makes fer the road, and there I find the shuvver a-waitin' in +this 'ere little snortin' machine."</p> + +<p>"He was there, then, was he?"</p> + +<p>"Large as life and twice as nat'ril. 'Now, then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> me lad,' I says ter +me, 'git on the right side o' 'im, an' if yer can't git on the right +side, git on the wrong side, s' long as yer gits 'im out of 'is seat.' +But a couple er bob to a Scotsman is as big as a legacy, sir, an' I soon +puts 'im strite wiv a message from 'is missis. 'Snoop along an' send a +wire ter town,' says I, <i>Comin' later in the day, wait fer me</i>, an' +address it ter the Commander-in-Chief of the Generil Post Office, +Lunnon.' An' he looks at me an' swallows the gaff like as it were +plumduff. I could 'er larfed, sir—strite I could! And I gives 'im the +tip ter get a drink, and before I'd finished speakin', 'e'd gorn!"</p> + +<p>"Good lad! good lad!" Cleek's laugh was merry if low-pitched. The London +address of the telegraph message tickled his sense of humour immensely. +"And what did you do then?"</p> + +<p>"Drove dahn the road a little just ter keep me 'and in, and then, when I +'eard you call out ter the lydy, and knew you wuz in danger, sir—why, I +slipped in the clutch and come rocketing toward yer as farst as I +could."</p> + +<p>"Oho! And you were nearer than the lady had arranged, then?"</p> + +<p>Dollops drew a long breath before replying; and his voice was solemn.</p> + +<p>"That little distance of a quarter of a mile might 'ave done for yer +entire—an' I weren't tykin' no risks," he replied heavily. "An' if +anyfink was to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> 'appen to <i>you</i>, sir—well, it's me fer the river 'fore +you kin wink an eyelash. Dollops ain't a-stayin' 'ere wiv you on the +uvver side of the sky, sir, an' don't you myke no mistake abaht <i>that</i>. +Where you goes, I goes, too—if it's to 'eaven or 'ell. An' I'm thinkin' +I knows the w'y the ayngels'll tyke <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>"Well, they're not taking me yet, dear lad, so don't worry your ginger +head about it!" returned Cleek, with a little gulp of emotion for so +staunch an adherent as this wisp of Cockneydom who stood before him. +"But it's friends like you and women like Miss Lorne that keep a man +straight and strong and true, and don't let him turn down the wrong path +instead of the right. Come, now, there's still more work to be done. Mr. +Narkom will be waiting, and I told him midnight under the big gate. Slip +up the driveway and see if you can see him while I go round by Rhea's +gate and see how the coast lies."</p> + +<p>Dollops disappeared forthwith, and it was but a moment or two later that +he returned in company with the Superintendent looking a little +round-eyed and scared until he saw Cleek standing in the shadow of the +big gate, and going up to him flung an arm about his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You've frightened me into forty fits and out of 'em again," he cried +with a little sigh of relief, "for I'd made up my mind that something +had happened, and was on the way down here to see if you'd kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> your +appointment, and if you hadn't—well, every man-jack of 'em at the house +would have made an all-night search for you, till we'd found you, +Cleek."</p> + +<p>"And now that you have, you bundle of fussydom, you see I am still all +of a piece and, as Dollops says, as large as life and twice as natural," +returned Cleek with a smile. "Gad, but there's not much moon about now, +is there? And it will be dark work climbing——"</p> + +<p>"But you intend to do this mad thing, Cleek?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my friend. And it's not the maddest I've done this night—by +a long chalk. I'll tell you all about it later on, when there's more +time and less chance of being overheard. Now, then, step softly, you +two. If there's any one there, we don't want to let 'em think an army's +approaching. You gave Inspector Petrie the word if we needed him? That +I'd ring Rhea's bell in case of immediate help required?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. And that one toll would mean one man, and <i>two</i> tolls, +three; and three tolls, as many as they could spare from the duty of +guarding the house and letting no one go out or in."</p> + +<p>"And they've already let almost every inmate of the place roam about at +their leisure this night—to prove their trustworthiness!" threw in +Cleek, with a short laugh. "A fine lot of disciplinarians up in this +part of the world, I must say—though of course the country's difficult, +and you want about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> fifty men up here to one in London. I'll have a word +with the Inspector before I leave—with your permission, Mr. Narkom."</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"We'll get along now, Dollops. You stand here under the gate, and keep +watch <i>toward</i> the Castle; Mr. Narkom, you stand here, and guard the +road-end, and make the usual signal of a night owl's hoot if you see any +one approaching. I'll slip on my rubber sand-shoes to grip with, and +shin up in a moment."</p> + +<p>And suiting the action to the word, that was practically what he did +do—though the climb up there in the darkness was certainly more than +momentary. For with no light and very little moon it was a more +difficult task than Cleek had anticipated, and he had to tread carefully +to avoid slipping on the narrow shelves of stone and iron that girt it +about.</p> + +<p>Up, up, up he went, like some dark fly crawling across the face of the +night, and to those watching below, their hearts in their mouths at +sight of his perilous progress (which at times they could not follow for +the pitchy darkness, and knew not if he were safe or not), those moments +seemed hours indeed.</p> + +<p>But Cleek had been in tighter corners and more difficult places than +this in the course of an adventurous lifetime, and the poise and +sureness of the man were amazing. Up, and along the stone parapet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> he +went, sliding face toward the stone wall of it, until he could lean back +a little and look up at Rhea standing out against the midnight sky like +a monstrous splotch of black ink in a lake of indigo-blue. The bronze +bell swung beneath him. He knelt cautiously upon one knee, preparatory +to whipping out his electric torch, and even as he did so, heard the +sound of other footsteps stealing round from the <i>other</i> side and coming +toward him with the soft tread of a cat.</p> + +<p>Instantly he stopped short—stock-still, as though made out of marble, +and leaned back against the parapet while those sliding, soft, creeping, +cat-like footsteps came steadily on. He became conscious of a black +shape, slim as a woman's, against the midnight sky, that moved with +panther-like precision across the face of the parapet. He could actually +hear that other person's laboured breaths, and as the Thing steadily +approached felt it fan against his cheek.</p> + +<p>If Cleek had been in a less precarious position the soul of the man +would have relieved itself by laughing outright. For the situation +seemed almost funny. But this was no time for humour. The moment he +stirred and made himself known, upon that moment the creature—whoever +and whatever it was—would pounce upon him, and dash them both down to +sure death upon the stones below, and in full sight of the +Superintendent's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> watching eyes. But what to do if he stayed where he +was? Detection was certain in any case. There remained only a moment of +moments before it actually would come. And in that moment, to be +prepared for—what?</p> + +<p>The creature came on steadily, picking its way stealthy as a cat across +the rugged stone parapet upon which Rhea stood, until it stopped a few +inches away from him, face averted, one tense hand clinging to the very +stone to which Cleek also clung. Then slowly it turned, knelt upon one +knee, reached down a long hand toward the bar from which the great +bronze bell swung, made as if to find a foot-hold with one slim black +foot, and—Cleek's hand shot out over that other hand, and Cleek's voice +whispered in its ear:</p> + +<p>"Damn you! what are you doing here?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 381px;"> +<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="381" height="600" alt="With a low-pitched exclamation of fury, the man closed +with him and fought like some mad thing" title="" /> +<span class="caption">With a low-pitched exclamation of fury, the man closed +with him and fought like some mad thing</span> +</div> + +<p>Instantly all was pandemonium! For the man—for man it was—sprang round +quickly, showing the lower half of a white face to Cleek's watching +eyes, and then with a low-pitched exclamation of fury closed with him +and fought like some mad thing, spitting out furiously and clawing and +scratching with his free hand to gain hold of the other.</p> + +<p>Cleek realized the danger even as he met it, and knew what it ultimately +meant. But the thing had to be done. And in the doing he had wound one +foot round a stave of iron which rose up out of the parapet to form the +base of Rhea's bronze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> throne, and so steadied himself for the nonce. +But it was a difficult task indeed to free himself from this clutching, +scratching, biting Thing, and it took all his powers of resistance to +combat him successfully.</p> + +<p>"Stop it—damn you!—stop it!" he gave out furiously, in an angry +whisper which at least reached Mr. Narkom's ears, and sent the +night-owl's hoot creeping eerily out over the silence of that black +night to tell Cleek that he would come to the rescue if necessary. And +Cleek hooted back. He couldn't do this thing alone—it was too much for +him. The space upon which they wrestled was a mere foot and a half in +breadth, and at any moment one or both of them might pitch down into the +darkness to certain death.</p> + +<p>He peered into the man's fury-ridden face, trying to distinguish the +features of it, but the upper half was covered with a black mask through +which the eyes gleamed like slits of fire, and the strength of him +seemed superhuman, to say the least of it. It was merely a matter of +moments now—something would have to be done—when, of a sudden, the man +leapt away from him, reached down an arm again, and—lithe as a +cat—swung himself down upon the perilously narrow ledge of the great +bronze bell. Here was Cleek's chance. In an instant his hand had shot +out toward the man's leg and caught it in a vice, while with the other +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> steadied himself by a firm hold of the wrought-iron stave that had +saved him a moment or two before.</p> + +<p>The creature spat out his vindictiveness in a string of Italian oaths, +and Cleek, paying not the slightest attention to him, merely hung on +tighter to the ankle and prayed for help. Another few moments of this +strain and—the fight would be lost. His arm muscles were strained to +their utmost, his whole body upon the rack. He sent forth the summons of +the night-owl again and again, and was rewarded by the sound beneath him +of a hasty exclamation from the Superintendent, a muttered "My Gawd!" +from the hoarse throat of that little bit of Cockneydom who had served +him and saved him many times before, and then the whispered words, +"Comin', Guv'nor—there in a tick!" came with their ring of comfort, and +he exerted himself to the last ounce to retain his hold of the biting, +clutching furious Thing that lay twisting itself, save for that +unfortunate leg in Cleek's grasp, upon the narrow confines of the ledge +of Rhea's bell.</p> + +<p>.... The moments seemed like hours, and Cleek had all but let go, with a +strained wrist and a dislocated finger which was giving him agony, when +he saw the dark shape approaching him, and knew that his rescuer had +come.</p> + +<p>"In the nick of time, lad," he breathed, as he released his hold in +favour of Dollops. "God knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> who the beggar is, but he's like a +wild-cat. My hand's done in completely. Hold him and, if you can, get +him back again upon this ledge. The pair of us will be too much for him, +I vow! Then we'll have to hold on and ring the great bell for help. It's +the only way. But we must unmuffle the clapper first. Here—your torch! +Gad! <i>that's</i> what the blighter's doing, is he? Unmuffling it for +himself!... I say, my Dago friend, keep quiet a little, will you?—or +you'll find yourself in the next world in the space of another minute. +This isn't a table-top, you know. And there's about two inches between +yourself and eternity. And if <i>you're</i> ready to go, I'm not!"</p> + +<p>The creature thus addressed pulled itself up uncertainly, still +muttering in Italian, and as Dollops's hold slid from ankle to knee, +from knee to thigh, and then—like a flash—to arm and shoulder, in +proper jiu-jitsu grip, whirled round upon them, something white showing +in the clenched fingers of one hand, and ground his teeth at them, as +though he would eat them alive.</p> + +<p>"Curse you!—damn you! What are you doing here, hell-hogs!" he spat out +in a low, vehement voice. "My friends will be here any minute—and then +your game will be up!"</p> + +<p>"But not before yours has beaten it by a moment or two," gave back Cleek +rapidly, in a low-pitched voice. "Here!—give me that thing in your +hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> I'm anxious to see what it is that muffled the bell so +successfully last night. And if you don't stand still while I'm taking +it, my lad here will hurl you down into perdition. Now, then—give it +up.... Got him, Dollops?... Hi! there, Mr. Narkom! I want you to take +hold of that rope on the right-hand side of the gateway—and pull it for +all you're worth. We've got to have help to secure this thing in man's +guise we've fallen foul of, and got to have it quick!"</p> + +<p>And so it came about that the silence of that still night was broken of +a sudden by deep-throated pealing as Rhea's great bronze bell gave +tongue. Once—twice—three times, until those above it were well-nigh +deafened with the sound, and those below and beyond it knew, by that +prearranged signal, that they were wanted—and wanted at once.</p> + +<p>Instantly the night became hideous with shouting voices and running +steps. The door-keeper hurried out of his cottage with lantern lit, and +made his way toward them; constables appeared from every corner of the +grounds; meanwhile, Cleek, with the crackling paperish thing that had +muffled the bell in his hand, and the other lending what support to +Dollops he could give in holding the man down, called out their +requirements in the sharp staccato of excitement.</p> + +<p>"A net, boys—quick! or a great-coat—anything!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> Only spit out your +torches and hold it firm-stretched, and we're going to throw something +down to you which will want a lot of holding, for it's as slippery as an +eel," he gave out sharply. "Now, then—are you ready? Mr. Narkom, see +that the lights are strong enough; I don't want him 'missing fire' and +landing with a broken neck until we've done with him. Ready, Dollops? +One—two—three——"</p> + +<p>Came a scratching and a fighting and a furious sound of rending material +as the man wriggled to be free of those three detaining hands that held +him. Then of a sudden a startled gasp, a muttered oath, and—a flying +black shape came hurtling down in the darkness to that little circle of +light where the upturned, expectant faces of the constables showed in +Rembrandt-like light and shadow, and—the shape landed in the folds of +the outstretched great-coat with a <i>thwack</i>, and was muffled up in it in +a moment, kicking and clawing and scratching furiously as the thick +folds went over his head.</p> + +<p>Ten men removed him from it eventually and set him upon his feet, just +as Dollops, slithering and sliding down from the dangerous height, with +his heart in his mouth for his master's safety with that injured hand of +his, landed with a <i>plomp</i> upon the soft ground, and gave Cleek the hand +that had helped him all the way down that perilous journey, until he, +too, was in safety at last.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gawd's troof, Guv'nor!" he ejaculated, as he whipped out his +handkerchief and bound it tightly and professionally over the finger and +down on to the strained wrist. "You're 'urt proper, ain't you? That was +a narrer squeak, I don't fink!... That's better, ain't it? I weren't +a-goin' ter let yer git orf without that bit of bandages to 'elp the +pain, not if we loses the blinkin' murderer 'isself! Let's 'ave a look +at the chap, sir."</p> + +<p>Cleek's good hand swung up across the boy's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said simply. "Hello! here's Mr. Narkom. Yes, let's have +a look at the blighter, men, before you carry him off to the lock-up. +I'm interested to know what he looks like beneath that mask of his. Just +to get a line on his features, you know."</p> + +<p>Speaking, he went up to the group of constables and, flashing out his +torch, sent its spotlight upon the man's scowling face.</p> + +<p>And it was just as he did this that Dollops let out a yell of amazement, +and stared at him—mouth open, eyes wide.</p> + +<p>"Gawblimey! and pink sossidges!" he exclaimed, whirling round upon Cleek +in astonishment, "if this 'ere ain't the giddy limit! Why, that's ole +Dirty Dick the Dago 'isself!"</p> + +<p>"And this," said Cleek, as he glanced down at the crumpled bit of +parchment which he still held,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> and smiled into Mr. Narkom's serious +face, "is the missing will, or I'm a Dutchman! Quite a little bit of +excitement for one night's entertainment, I must say! Who says anything +about killing two birds with one stone? Men, I'm coming along with you +to the lock-up. It's a bit late in the evening, or early in the morning, +to be more literal, but I'm going to have a conversation with your +prisoner which is going to elucidate many things for me. Mr. Narkom, I +should advise you to go back to bed and take a rest. To-morrow is likely +to be a heavy day."</p> + +<p>Then, smiling, but still a trifle pale, Cleek swung into step with +Dollops behind the little cavalcade which was wending its way slowly +through the great gateway and out upon the road beyond—toward the goal +of many imaginings and the proper elucidation of the riddle at last.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE END IN SIGHT</h3> + +<p>Cleek spent an hour in the "lock-up" with the man they had captured, and +had what he scathingly called a proper heart-to-heart talk with him, +coming away with the contemptuous feeling in his heart which all clean +men must find there upon discovering a fellow creature who, to save his +own skin if possible, is willing to split upon a pal.</p> + +<p>He wended his way toward the Inn of the Three Fishers, with Dollops +beside him, head downward, every faculty concentrated upon the proper +unravelling of the riddle that confronted him. If two and two made four, +then he had the answer pretty well elucidated at last. One had to fill +in the gaps with a bit of imagination, but—he patted the pocket where +the missing will lay, lying close against that packet of love-letters +that he had found in Sir Andrews's' desk. Funny how papers so often +proved things where human flesh-and-blood failed. Clues—both of 'em. +Strong clues. And likely to give surprise to one or two people he knew +of. Lady Paula, for instance—and Ross Duggan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dollops," he said quietly, as he let himself into the little hostelry +with his latchkey, just as the dawn was striking the sky with rosy +fingers and rending aside the dark curtains of night, "this is going to +be a heavy day for us. I don't relish the task in front of me, and +yet.... It's no use funking the issue. Justice must be done—and if it's +going to hurt some people pretty badly, it isn't my fault, is it?"</p> + +<p>"It is not, sir," gave back Dollops emphatically. "But you come on up to +yer room and let me attend to that there 'and. 'Urtin' pretty nasty, +ain't it? I thought so. A bit er cold water'll 'elp some, an' I'm a dab +'and at the First Aid stunt since I took them lessons in Lunnon larst +winter. We'll put yer right in a jiffy. But I carn't 'elp wishin' it was +<i>my</i> paw, all the same. Miss Lorne'll be that worried when she 'ears.</p> + +<p>"Then the best thing to do is not to tell her, you little Worry-Box," +returned Cleek with a laugh. "It's luck it's my left one, so the writing +won't be affected. A week or two will see it right. I wish I could cure +all the heartbreak and unhappiness in this old Castle-keep as +effectively in such a short time.... Thanks very much. That'll do +nicely, I think. And it's a good deal easier. Now, be off to bed, boy, +and try to make up for the loss of that beauty-sleep which you've +missed. To-morrow, or rather, to-day, is going to keep us all fairly +busy, I imagine. I shall want you to come up to the Castle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> with me in +the morning, you know—and I mustn't be later than ten o'clock."</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>And so it came about that in the morning Cleek, looking rather pale, +with one hand in a roughly contrived sling, and with Dollops in close +alliance with him, and Mr. Narkom bringing up the rear, made his way to +the great door of Aygon Castle, rang the bell coolly, and nodded +pleasantly to the door-keeper who admitted him as though nothing out of +the ordinary had happened in the night that had just passed. As he +passed through the gates with his companions and heard them clang to +behind him, he laid a hand upon the gate-keeper's arm and spoke in a low +voice.</p> + +<p>"Heard nothing at all after we left, Burns? Saw no one, I suppose, this +morning?"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul, sair. Aiverybody seems to have overslept themsailves and +never a word has even come to me over the telephone in my lodge."</p> + +<p>"Good! Excellent! Well, keep your mouth tight-closed and know nothing if +you are questioned. Not even to the master of the Castle himself. To +<i>nobody</i>. Simply nothing untoward happened at all last night that you +know of. Follow me?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely, sair."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. Come, Mr. Narkom, we'll make our way up to the Castle +now. Fine place, isn't it? Wonderful bit of stone-work in that +balustrade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> round the tessellated tower. Never noticed it so plainly +before. Perhaps it's the fine day."</p> + +<p>Speaking, he led the way up the drive, followed by a wide-eyed Dollops +and a panting Superintendent who had not long finished his breakfast of +bacon and eggs, and had missed his usual ten minutes' perusal of the +newspaper after it.</p> + +<p>Jarvis opened the door to them, bowing low over Cleek's cap as the +latter proffered it, and giving Dollops a friendly wink behind his +master's back as he led them into the little ante-room and went to +summon his mistress.</p> + +<p>As they sat waiting, Cleek saw Tavish, clad in riding-boots and +trousers, and making a fine figure of a man, swing past the half-open +door. Cleek nodded to him as he glanced in.</p> + +<p>"Good morning. I say—come in a moment, won't you? I've got a perfectly +astonishing piece of news!"</p> + +<p>Then, as Tavish, with a nod and a smile, came into the tiny room, +seeming, in his enormous stature, to fill up every nook and corner of +it, and shook Cleek firmly by the hand, that gentleman leaned a little +forward and whispered something in his ear.</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom saw the flare of eye and the slackening of jaw which betoken +amazement as Tavish opened his mouth to speak. But Cleek held up a +silencing hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hush! I don't want the thing made public yet, y' know, my dear chap. +Only I thought perhaps you'd like to have a look in and see the final +round-up of the villains. Take a back seat, you know. There's no harm in +that. And I've the most amazing bit of evidence by me which I've traced +it all to. Stolen will among other things. Bring it home to <i>her</i> as +smart as you please. Ought to be worth watching when you see her face."</p> + +<p>"Gad!—yes." Tavish struck one hand into the open palm of the other, and +his nice face went grim. "The woman's a devil from the first letter to +the last. And if you knew the things she's done to my future +wife—Johanna McCall—well, it fair makes a man's blood boil. I'd +tighten the noose round <i>her</i> neck, I can promise you, and with my own +hands, too. The earth is well rid of <i>her</i> kind."</p> + +<p>"In which I profoundly agree. And—hello! here's Miss Duggan. At +half-past ten, then. I'll make arrangements for you to slip in +unnoticed. It's going to be as sensational as a first-rate London +melodrama. And—not a word, old chap?"</p> + +<p>"Not one of 'em."</p> + +<p>"Thanks very much. I'll rely on you, then. And we might even want you to +lend a hand. What's that, Miss Duggan? Lend a hand for what? Oh, simply +in capturing a somewhat wild mare that has got loose in this part of the +country and has been kicking up a pretty shindy all over the place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> Mr. +Tavish's strength and knowledge of horse-flesh ought to be a real help, +eh, my friend?"</p> + +<p>Here he winked broadly at the vanishing Tavish, and brought up a chair +for Maud Duggan after she had greeted Mr. Narkom and given Dollops a +little forlorn smile as Cleek introduced him to her notice.</p> + +<p>"And have you followed up any of the clues which you discovered +yesterday, Mr. Deland, to the utter desolation of all my hopes and +fears?" she asked him wearily, sitting down with her hands lying loosely +in her lap, a very picture of despondent womanhood.</p> + +<p>He bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I have. Several of them. And yet—I don't know. Anyhow, I +want you all to come along to the library again this morning—and for +the last time. After to-day you ought not to be put to any further worry +and inconvenience, my dear young lady. But what I want <i>you</i> to do is to +assemble all the members of the immediate household together for me, and +tell them I've discovered a perfectly new clue altogether—and from a +perfectly new person—someone who, so far as you or I know, has never +even entered the house at all, at any time. So you see, that's not such +bad news, is it?"</p> + +<p>At these words her head came up upon the slim column of her neck, and +she looked into his face with suddenly bright eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You mean to say that—you mean to say that you can prove that neither +Ross nor—Captain Macdonald is guilty of that terrible crime?" she gave +out in a shrill voice, shutting her hands together in her emotion, and +breathing hard. "Oh, Mr. Deland, if you have only found out <i>that</i>——"</p> + +<p>"Not quite so fast, please," he responded a trifle sternly. "I'm afraid +I can't give you any of the facts yet. Only I want you to know that—in +one direction, at any rate—you may have some cause to hope. That is, of +course, if my deductions are correct. It all depends. Even a policeman +can make a mistake—isn't that so, Mr. Narkom?—and find himself led +away upon a false scent. It depends a lot upon the wiliness of the fox +he's in pursuit of. And in this case, when there's a—animal's a female, +one has the disadvantage of the woman's intuitive faculties and natural +gifts of deceit. 'The female of the species'—you know what Kipling +said, of course? That sounds rude, doesn't it? But it's amazingly true, +all the same—yourself, I'm sure, always excepted."</p> + +<p>She made no answer to the little sally other than to pass a pale hand +across a paler forehead, and pat a piece of dark hair into place, with +that little gesture of forlornness which went straight to Cleek's heart.</p> + +<p>"Then you have nothing more to tell me, Mr. Deland? Nothing for me to +build my hopes on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> save that a new element has entered the case——"</p> + +<p>"Together with an old element—yes," responded Cleek softly, with a stab +at his heart for her pathetic appearance. "Just that. No more. I can +tell nothing until I have you all there before me, and then—well, +perhaps I shall be able to unravel the mystery for you, and put an end +to your sufferings in <i>that</i> direction, at any rate. Would you be good +enough, as you're passing, to ask the constable on duty outside the +library door to come to me a moment? Mr. Narkom and I want to question +him about one or two things. There's another one <i>inside</i> the room, so +there's no chance of any one getting in and falsifying clues while he's +away. Thanks very much."</p> + +<p>She passed out, pale-faced, utterly forlorn, and the sagging droop of +her shoulders sent another stab of pity through Cleek's heart, while Mr. +Narkom—tender-hearted as a chicken, as he himself often put it—blew +his nose loudly and passed the handkerchief surreptitiously across his +eyes, and turned a sad face to his famous ally's.</p> + +<p>"Poor girl, Cl—Deland, poor, poor, unhappy girl! It goes to my heart to +see any woman so desolate as that. And a good-looking woman, too! She +feels the whole wretched affair keenly. And if you'd only explained to +me some of those wonderful theories of yours and given me some inkling +of what you're going to say to 'em, I might have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> a bit of help to +her, you know. Human sympathy's a comforting thing——"</p> + +<p>"But not always so comforting when it emanates from the police, who will +probably wring her heart dry," returned Cleek with a twisted smile. "No, +no, my friend. Bless your tender heart for the kind thought, but in this +case it's up to me to tread warily. And the least suspicious glance cast +at a guilty party, the least flutter of eyelid or brow in expression of +one's knowledge—and the cat would be out of the bag, and all our +trouble taken for nothing. I'm going to play 'possum to-day and lay low. +And you've just got to forgive me beforehand and put up with it. I've no +doubt your own theories coincide with mine but—— Here's P. C. Mackay. +Good morning, Constable. Mr. Narkom and I just wanted to have a few +words with you, with reference to what arrangements you made for me last +night. You followed out my instructions?"</p> + +<p>P. C. Mackay, who was a slight, wiry, light-rooted chap, and so chosen +by Cleek for the very work he had been given to do, nodded his head, and +his hand came to the salute.</p> + +<p>"I did that, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good. No names mentioned, Constable ... but you found some clues there, +I take it?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir. <i>This.</i>" He looked from side to side of the room, as though +uncertain how to produce the clue in case of discovery. But the door was +shut,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> and only they four were within the confines of the small place. +Then he put his hand into his breast-pocket and drew forth a little bit +of crimson-covered flexible electric wire.</p> + +<p>Cleek's face fell a little.</p> + +<p>"That all?"</p> + +<p>"Yessir—except for a photograph of a young wummun. It was hidden in a +carved wood box on the dressin' table. I brought it along in case you +might find some use for it. Here it is."</p> + +<p>Speaking, he drew the bit of pasteboard from his pocket and handed it +across to Cleek, who bent his eyes upon it, gave a little start at +something which was written across it in bold capitals and underscored +three times, gazed a moment at the pictured face, and then promptly +opened his pocketbook and placed it within.</p> + +<p>"Very good, Constable. Mr. Narkom, you will do me a personal favour if +you arrange for P. C. Mackay's promotion. He did good work last night, +and it must not be forgotten. You may go, Constable."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir."</p> + +<p>The man saluted smartly, grinned all over his ruddy Scotch face at the +word "promotion," and went back to his position outside the library +door, his head in the clouds and his heart longing for the time when he +could impart this wonderful knowledge to his Maggie, and see her blue +eyes brighten.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Cleek, the door shut once more, dived down into his pocket and +produced the little bit of red electric wire which he had picked up in +the library that first day before the tragedy had taken place, when Maud +Duggan was showing him over the house. He fingered it idly, and then +showed Mr. Narkom the two pieces spread upon his open palm.</p> + +<p>"Not much in that, I'm afraid. Just the ordinary kind of wire which +everyone uses, and with nothing to show any peculiarities," he said, +speaking half to himself and half to the Superintendent. "Both cut with +a sharp knife, obviously. Now, if they mated evenly—and gad! they <i>do</i> +mate!" He brought them together and dovetailed the two frayed ends one +against the other until the edges met in a perfectly even line. "That's +a funny thing! A deuced funny thing! But they belong to each other as +much as two twin souls belong. They're one and the same piece. Gad! and +with the photograph of the estimable young woman—it proves it without a +doubt!"</p> + +<p>"Proves what, my dear chap?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle testy. The whole affair of that morning +had got upon his nerves. In the first place, he had had to get up too +early after a broken night, and in the second, Cleek hadn't given him +time to digest his meal, and then the whole higgledy-piggledy of Cleek's +words, from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> which he could make neither head nor tail, served to +irritate him still further.</p> + +<p>Cleek laid a hand upon the Superintendent's arm, and spoke in his most +coaxing voice.</p> + +<p>"Have patience with me, dear friend, as you have done before, and as you +will have to do again," he said softly. "It isn't that I don't trust +you—haven't I trusted you with life itself before now, and never found +you wanting?—but it is that at present my theories are in somewhat of a +muddle, and it's only keeping my own counsel that's going to help me to +disentangle them."</p> + +<p>"I know, I know, old chap," returned the Superintendent, casting aside +his rancour at this apology from the man who was his best friend, with +his usual heartiness. "I'm a slow-thinking old beggar, and somehow your +lightning sketches get the better of my patience. But I'll back you to +unravel the knot every time. Think you've come to the end, then?"</p> + +<p>"I fancy so. With a little bit of bold guesswork thrown in to make equal +measure. That must always be reckoned in the bargain, you know. But if I +haven't found the person or persons who have murdered Sir Andrew in that +cold-blooded and diabolically clever manner, then my name's not—Arthur +Deland. And I know as much about the methods of sleuth-hounds as my old +boot!"</p> + +<p>So saying, he fell to examining the photograph<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> again, and tossing the +two pieces of flexible wire up and down in the palm of one hand, and +muttering to himself like a lunatic, while Dollops and Mr. Narkom, in +silence, could do nothing more but wonder and look on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LIBRARY</h3> + +<p>It was exactly eleven o'clock, and the various clocks in the house were +chiming the hour out from every nook and corner of the Castle when +Cleek, followed by Dollops and Mr. Narkom, made his way to the library, +and found assembled there all the members of that ill-fated family—as +well as those others who had perforce been obliged to stay there +over-night at his orders—and with a polite "good morning" and a stiff +little bow, took his place in the midst of them and glanced around.</p> + +<p>They were a wan, white-faced lot. Lady Paula's black eyes were ringed +with violet, Maud Duggan's face was pinched and old-looking in the +morning light, as though the night had seen no sleep for <i>her</i> (which +was true), Johanna McCall's little peaked face was pale as ivory, and +her eyes looked heavy-lidded, as though she had cried overmuch in the +still watches (which was true also), while Cynthia Debenham and +Catherine Dowd sat with set faces and angry eyes, watching him as though +deadly afraid of what he might say or do next. Ross Duggan's countenance +was as lined as an old man's;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> Captain Macdonald showed by the flare of +nostrils and flash of eye that his temper was still as hot as his +tongue, and not improved for the keeping; and little Cyril—who slipped +in a moment or two late, with Tavish bringing up the rear—had the look +of a boy who was scared half out of his wits.</p> + +<p>And scared badly he was, too. Trembling hands showed it; trembling lips +showed it still more. Cleek's eyes narrowed down as he glanced at the +boy's set face, and he found it hard to give him even so much as a +welcoming smile. Like mother like son—that boy. As wily as you make +'em. And untrustworthy, too. He was not so fond of Master Cyril, now +that he knew more of him, as he had been at first meeting.</p> + +<p>When they were all seated, with P. C. Mackay keeping watch over the door +and another constable on the outside of it, Cleek turned to them and let +the queer little one-sided smile so indicative of the man travel up his +face.</p> + +<p>"Well, my friends," said he in his smooth, low-pitched voice, "I +promised you something when I saw you again, and I'm here to fulfil that +promise. The riddle of Sir Andrew's death is a riddle no longer. If you +will have patience for a short time I shall explain a few things to you, +and then——"</p> + +<p>"You know who killed my husband, then? You know?—you know?" bleated out +Lady Paula, starting to her feet with white face and hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> clasped +close against her breast. "You have found out the secret of his murder, +Mr. Deland?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—and I know who his murderer was, too, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +sharply. "Sit down, Mr. Duggan, I beg of you. The door is guarded, as +you can see—both outside and in—and perhaps it might be as well if I +added caution to care and turned the key in the door—so." Speaking, he +crossed the room in rapid strides, locked the door, and dropped the key +into his pocket. "Prevention is better than cure, you know. Yes, Lady +Paula, I know who murdered Sir Andrew, and I know how it was done. A +dastardly deed at best—an abominable crime upon humanity in return for +a family wrong. The old question of a vendetta—though of so recent a +date as to be a mere matter of seventeen years back. You have been +married that long, have you not? You are surprised, I see. Well, I +confess it, so was I. And when you mix up such other unpleasant +ingredients as a woman's ill-timed ambition, a blackmailer, and the +green-eyed god jealousy, you find a very unpleasant mess of pottage +indeed."</p> + +<p>He spoke in his own way, unravelling the riddle in that leisurely +fashion for which he was famous; but to those over-charged minds and +hearts that surrounded him he seemed much like a cat playing with a +mouse—and enjoying its fruitless efforts at escape.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But the murderer—who?—who?" gave out Maud Duggan in a suddenly shrill +voice, as a little silence held for a moment in that still room. "Tell +us that, Mr. Deland, I implore you——"</p> + +<p>"In good time, Miss Duggan. First of all, the ways and means. Look!—see +that spinning wheel. There stands your guilty party in that innocent +guise. The hand that guided that wheel killed Sir Andrew as surely as I +am standing here. And how? An air-pistol. And who owns an air-pistol in +this place but Mr. Ross Duggan?"</p> + +<p>"It's a lie—a damned lie! And I'll have you to law for it, too!" Ross +Duggan started to his feet, face crimson, hands knotted, eyes flashing +at this plain implication of himself. "Damn you, whoever you are!—it's +a lie! I did not kill my father! I swear it upon the sacred book itself! +I did not kill him!"</p> + +<p>Cleek held up a detaining hand.</p> + +<p>"And who, may I ask, said you did, my fiery young friend?" he returned +suavely. "If you will give me a little time to tell my story in my own +way, I shall be extremely obliged. You stand self-confessed as the owner +of an air-pistol. That we have proof of. The rest will follow in due +course. But here is the instrument of death—this simple little spinning +wheel, which, wired by electricity as it is, and with the pistol hidden +inside that wheel with diabolical ingenuity, caused the death of your +father. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> who among you, may I ask, has such a perfect knowledge of +electricity as to equip the thing like that?"</p> + +<p>Again there was silence; meanwhile each looked at the other and the same +name framed itself unconsciously upon every lip ... Ross Duggan. It was +not spoken aloud, but Cleek could read it as he looked about him. Then +Lady Paula spoke.</p> + +<p>"Then—it was Ross? It was that unfilial and cruel son of an unknowing +and innocent old man, just as I knew it to be?" she shrilled excitedly, +jumping to her feet and turning to Ross and seizing him by the shoulder +as though she would tear him limb from limb. "Oh, <i>sacremento</i>! +I knew it! I knew it! Wicked, cruel creature that you are! +Ungrateful—beast——"</p> + +<p>Cleek caught her sharply by the arm and spun her around as though she +had been made of paper. His face was grim.</p> + +<p>"One moment," he cried in a sharp staccato. "This lady is going to give +trouble. Well, then, the moment can be delayed no longer. +Constable—bring in your prisoner."</p> + +<p>He gave a shrill whistle, strode across the room, fitted the key into +the lock, and in an instant there was pandemonium.</p> + +<p>For of a sudden there was a stifled scream from somewhere in the room—a +hurried breath and a woman's voice shrilled out, "Oh, I cannot bear it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +any longer— I cannot! I cannot!" Then the door flashed open to admit of +two policemen, who had slung between them the stooping figure of a man, +closely handcuffed, and with a dark scrub of beard showing upon his +unshaven chin. Came another scream; a boy's shrill voice lifted +excitedly, "Uncle Antoni!" followed by a scuffling of a man's footsteps. +Cleek took a quick step forward in the midst of all the confusion, +caught at someone's sleeve and held it in a grip like a vice, rapped out +in a sharp voice, "Catch him, Dollops! Catch the beggar before he slips +out through the open door and gives us the 'go-by'—the beastly +blighter!" Then, all in a moment, he was fighting and twisting and +doubling to regain his hold upon the man who was trying to escape; there +was a muttered curse, and a flying foot came out and caught the leg of a +delicate table, sending it toppling over with a crash in the midst of +them; the grating of a key in a lock, and—the end had come!</p> + +<p>Brushing a piece of dust from his sleeve as P. C. Mackay snapped the +bracelets upon still another prisoner, Cleek turned and surveyed the +room with flushed cheek and flashing eye.</p> + +<p>"Friends," he said blandly, "your man—your murderer. Caught as +red-handed as one could wish—and as innocently as a babe, too!"</p> + +<p>And pointed toward the manacled, fighting figure of James Tavish!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SECRET OF THE SINGING WHEEL</h3> + +<p>The scene that followed this startling announcement can well be imagined +rather than described. For even as the man stood glowering at them, his +mouth muttering the curses that his heart held, came a new diversion +from another quarter. For Catherine Dowd had called out sharply, "Quick! +quick! some smelling-salts here—and brandy!" and as the women of the +party endeavoured to produce one item, while the men more successfully +produced the other, it was seen that Johanna McCall was the object of +this aid, for she half-lay, half-sprawled upon the floor, mouth open, +face twitching, eyes already glazing over, and the white froth forming +about her pale lips.</p> + +<p>Cleek leaned down and lifted her head in his uninjured arm; and looked +down into her upthrown ghastly face.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he said under his breath, "and now the other one—self-confessed! +Who'd have thought it?—who, indeed? And for what reason, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"For him—for Ross—for the man I love," the pale lips framed the words +brokenly as the strength<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> of the girl sagged and ebbed slowly away. "He +would have disinherited him—disinherited Ross, turned him +out—penniless! Cruel—wicked—I stabbed him with—the stiletto—the +light went out—caught it off the table—wiped it on <i>her</i> dress—must +have been mad—mad—but you can't get me. It's poison—arsenic. I had it +ready. And I needn't have done it—after all!"</p> + +<p>Then she sighed a little, opened her eyes suddenly and closed them +again, and then slumped forward in Cleek's arms—dead.</p> + +<p>Cleek caught at a cushion, pushed it under the sagging head, slipped his +own arm out from under it, and got slowly to his feet. His face was +pale, his lips set.</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," he said quietly, pointing a hand at the still +figure, so pitifully small and childlike, huddled together upon the +floor, "the other—murderer. Poor, misguided little creature! Of such +folly can Love only be held to blame. A hopeless passion, a breaking +heart, a suddenly maddening resolution made and carried out in a red-hot +moment, and—another soul gone to meet its Maker with the red blot of +death upon it. Tragic, is it not?... Lady Paula, take a seat. There is +so much more to tell, and this has slightly precipitated matters. +Tavish, my friend, you will do better not to glower and struggle like +that. The Law has you, and <i>the Law will make you pay</i>—in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> spite of all +your efforts to fix the blame upon someone else. I think, my friends, if +we might adjourn to the drawing-room, the rest of the riddle would make +easier and better telling. It is hardly fitting—here and now."</p> + +<p>"You're right, Mr. Deland, perfectly right," threw in Ross at this +juncture, jumping to his feet and catching his fiancée by the arm. +"Come, all of you. Out of this room and into the next. I want to hear +the end of the tangle, Mr. Deland, and find exactly how you implicated +<i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>Cleek looked up suddenly with a slight smile.</p> + +<p>"Not Deland, my friend, just Cleek—Cleek of Scotland Yard, at your +service," he made reply smoothly, smiling at the amazed faces which +greeted this statement. "So you see, Tavish, you had greater odds +against you than you knew. We'll have your other prisoner, please, +Constable. The worthy Antoni Matei shall tell us something before the +day is out. Of that I am certain. And I have promised him a good price +for his loose tongue. Tavish, never trust a lying comrade. This is the +friend who saw you through—and then split afterward upon you. Choose +birds of another colour next time you practise such tricks—only, I'm +afraid it is a trifle late to start new methods—<i>now</i>."</p> + +<p>Speaking, he passed out of that tragic room, waving his hand with a +gesture which was almost theatrical to the others to follow him, and +when they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> were all assembled around him in the drawing-room, went on +with his amazing story.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>"You want to hear the whole story from start to finish? Well, it will +make long telling, I'm afraid," he said, as Maud Duggan put the +question, glancing a trifle anxiously at the slumped figure of the +Italian which stood manacled between two burly constables, waiting his +turn to speak up and tell what he knew. "To begin with, I must confess I +was a little mistaken in my calculations. <i>To begin with.</i> +Circumstantial evidence does not always prove guilt, Miss Duggan, +although it's generally a good pointer in a broad way. And your brother +had many pieces of evidence against him. That bit of red flexible +electric wire, you know, that I picked up in the library that first day +you showed me around. I admit I thought it belonged to him, particularly +when young Cyril here told such an excellent story of how Sir Ross (I +must give you your proper title, you know!) wired the room temporarily, +just to show James Tavish how it could be done. But it didn't, you see. +That fragment was found in Tavish's own bedroom. Then, when I went down +into the dungeons, I discovered—something else."</p> + +<p>His hand dived into his pocket and brought forth a crumpled +handkerchief, slightly bloodstained, and handed it to her. "Can you +identify that?"</p> + +<p>She looked up, startled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course. It's yours, Ross, isn't it? See, here are your initials. And +yet you found it down there—with something else, Mr.—Cleek?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did, my dear young lady. With a syphon of soda, a tumbler +and a bottle that smelt of very good raw whisky. Rather strong for <i>my</i> +liking, but still—we'll let that pass for the present. I'll have +something to say about that later which may interest you, Mr. Narkom. I +found it there—and, as you say, I found something else, too. And when I +saw the initials I naturally thought of your brother—which just goes to +prove that human nature is apt to make mistakes, even when it thinks +itself pretty expert upon certain subjects. As a matter of fact, Miss +McCall had borrowed that handkerchief—she supervises the laundering, +you told me, Miss Duggan—for James Tavish when he cut his finger, and +he had never given it back, obviously. When I discovered that, that was +the first pointer in his direction. The others followed fairly +rapidly.... Then the air-pistol, you know. You yourself told me your +brother had one—and then regretted the telling afterward, like every +loving and foolish woman who wants to preserve her kin from possible +blame, even in the face of her own suspicions. That was Number Two +against him. Number Three came from this young lady here—Miss Dowd—who +brought me the stiletto that had been used to stab your poor father, and +admitted,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> strictly against all her scruples, that, as far as she knew, +it had been last used by Sir Ross to cut the edges of a book upon +Poisons which he had been reading. I don't much admire your taste in +literature, Sir Ross, but that is hardly to do with me. A man can choose +his own companions and his own library, thank God, although Life itself +chooses almost everything else for him. But I must confess that the +spinning wheel got me guessing, as our American cousins say. I've Mr. +Narkom to thank for that discovery. And he made it in rather a +remarkable way. Leaned against the wheel and experienced a slight shock. +After that, the thing was as easy as A. B. C. We simply traced the +wiring to the window-sill, where we discovered a switch hidden in the +ivy, turned it on, and—there you were! I nearly got potted by the +devilish contrivance myself, only some sixth sense told me to get out of +the way in time. But the aim was amazingly accurate. The second bullet +fell a matter of half an inch below the first. A perfect marvel of +ingenuity, contrived by a man who had obviously made electricity his +study for years—in spite of his confessed ignorance of it. Worked out +to a nicety. The failing lights were his idea also, and quite simple to +manage, really. The drumming dynamo made a very good imitation of the +'singing of the wheel,' in accordance with the old story. And a less +enlightened household than yours, Sir Ross,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> might have put all sorts of +constructions upon that—except, of course, the right one.... That, my +friends, was how the diabolical thing was done."</p> + +<p>For a moment a silence held, fraught with mute astonishment; then +exclamations of amazement fell from every one of that little company, +and Ross Duggan was just about to speak when Lady Paula broke hurriedly +in.</p> + +<p>"And my brother?—my poor unfortunate brother?" cried she in a wrung +voice. "He had no share in the crime, I'll swear it, Mr. Cleek. Even +your magic cannot prove that."</p> + +<p>"Not in the crime actually, Lady Paula, but in—other things," he +replied a trifle grimly, glancing again at the flushed face of the +prisoner. "For as a blackmailer I fancy he is something of an artist. +That fact you already know—to your cost, I fancy. And I think I'm not +wrong in saying that it was he who suggested to you the stealing of the +will and——"</p> + +<p>"I begged him not to, Mr. Cleek! I implored. I did— I swear it. And I +never stole the will, that I can promise!" she broke in distractedly, +beating her hands together. "Antoni suggested—yes—he wished to destroy +it, so that my share of the estate might be greater as widow than that +which had been apportioned to me, and of course he would have a portion +of that, too. But I implored him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> not—that is true, is it not, Antoni? +You can answer to that? I begged you, and you promised! And he +threatened me even with exposure if I did not agree to the preposterous +idea! I complied, only upon the promise that it should not be destroyed. +But who took it I do not know."</p> + +<p>"But I think I can pretty well guess," responded Cleek serenely, with a +quick look at Cyril's suddenly flushed face. "Your son, Lady Paula, has +much of his uncle's blood in his veins. And he acted, no doubt, upon +<i>forceful</i> advice, and carried the thing through quite successfully. +Perhaps he will tell us just when he decided to steal his own father's +will—at the instigation of an unscrupulous relation."</p> + +<p>Came a slight pause in the telling, meanwhile a startled exclamation +broke from Ross Duggan's lips, while every eye in that little assembly +fastened upon the unfortunate boy. He broke into quiet sobbing, darting +his eyes here and there for possible sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I took it, sir—when Uncle Antoni told me," he broke out between +sobs. "It was—just after it had happened. I heard Mother's scream, and +then she ran into my room and told me of—the dreadful thing that had +happened! About half an hour afterward Uncle Antoni appeared at the +balcony which opens out from my bedroom window, and told me I must steal +the will for him. I was terrified—oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> I was!—but he threatened me +with—with a pistol——"</p> + +<p>"That's a lie!" gave out the prisoner with a maledictory eye upon his +unfilial nephew.</p> + +<p>"It isn't—it isn't! You told me to get it—just how to get it. That it +was lying upon the table-top; and so I slipped down in my stockinged +feet, and waited in the passage until I saw Ross slip out of the room +after everyone else had gone back to bed, and—and <i>you</i> had come out, +Mr. Cleek, and were talking to Maud in the ante-room. So I crept into +the room—oh, it was dreadful, with Father lying there—like +that—snatched it up and fled back to my bedroom in terror. Uncle Antoni +was still waiting on the balcony, and when he got it he climbed down the +balustrade again and—and—that is all I know. Oh, I wish—I wish I'd +never had anything to do with it!"</p> + +<p>Cleek nodded.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you do," he said quietly. "So it was really not your fault, +Cyril. You acted under considerable pressure. That I'll admit. But it +might have been better if you had confided in—someone else after the +deed was done. It would have helped clear up the mystery sooner, at any +rate. But that cannot be helped now. To proceed with the story. Here, by +the way, is the missing will, Lady Paula. I found it muffling the +clapper of Rhea's bell—a very ingenious hiding-place—and in the +finding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> discovered your—er—worthy brother at the same time. That was +how I happened to get hold of him. He gave me a few tips of quite useful +information afterward, upon promise of a light sentence, and helped to +lead me finally to the true murderer. So we will hold that in his +favour, at any rate. Sir Ross, I'd prefer you to keep that document +until it can be placed in the hands of your family lawyer. We don't want +any more disappearing tricks for the present, do we?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly. Gad! it's amazing, positively extraordinary how you've found +all this out!" threw in that gentleman with deep emphasis. "Please +accept my apologies now for those unforgivable things I said to you, Mr. +Cleek. But when a chap's just been practically accused of killing his +own father——"</p> + +<p>"You must expect a little heat. That's all right, my friend. Don't +bother about it further. Only, I was obliged to throw the scent upon +someone other than the real man—or we'd have lost him. You understand +that, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Only tell us how you traced the murder to its proper source, +and <i>why</i> James Tavish should have done such a thing."</p> + +<p>"That I will, and in the shortest way possible. But you must let me tell +my story in my own particular manner," replied Cleek, with a slight +smile and a warmth of feeling toward this very impetuous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> and +generous-hearted young man. "There's still a good deal to be cleared up +before you can understand, and I'm afraid some of it won't make +particularly good hearing. But that I cannot help. Men are frail things, +Sir Ross, where temptation is concerned. And when there is a pretty +woman in the question ... it's all right, Lady Paula; it all happened +long before <i>you</i> entered your husband's life, so that there is nothing +for <i>you</i> to forgive—but, as I say, when a pretty woman enters at one +door, a man's discretion very often flies out at another.</p> + +<p>"I found, among other things yesterday, when I was looking for the will +in your father's desk, after having appropriated his keys first, a +bundle of old love-letters, written upon paper which I ascertained had +been bought in the village, and bearing a post-mark which was local, and +signed with the name 'Jeannette.' I confess I did not know just where +these entered into the case at all, but something told me that they were +a big factor. My intuition—policeman's sixth sense—call it what you +will. I looked into the matter, and then discovered, after some probing +through my man Dollops (who, by the way, Mr. Narkom, deserves high +commendation in this case), that they were actually written by James +Tavish's sister, Jeannette, and that—to put it baldly, for which I +trust you will forgive me—that your father had been carrying on a +secret liaison with this girl for some years, upon promise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> marriage, +and had, in fact, got her into very unfortunate trouble."</p> + +<p>"But he never married her—he married <i>me</i>— I am his legal wife, I +swear that!" struck in Lady Paula, in a high-pitched, terrified voice. +"I knew nothing of this woman at all—everything in our marriage was in +order——"</p> + +<p>"Of that there is not the smallest doubt, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +gravely. "I said only 'under <i>promise</i> of marriage.' That is where man +is unfortunately so unfaithful. He merely left her to bear her trouble +alone—after, of course, providing for her and the possible issue of +their unhappy union—and, being a faithful woman, it broke her heart, +and both she and her child died as a consequence of this neglect. When +the wish to live is gone, there is little else to bind one to this earth +at such times, my friends, and so she and her unwanted little one passed +out to a happier realm. Much of this I have gleaned from those same +letters; much I have deduced in the natural course of events. The final +clue was discovered in James Tavish's own room, where this photograph, +bearing the date of her death and that of her child, and having one word +written across the face of it, was discovered in a box on his +dressing-table."</p> + +<p>He handed the piece of pictured pasteboard across to each of them in +turn, watching their faces to see the effect of it upon them +individually. Mute astonishment,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> dull grief showed in Ross and Maud +Duggan's eyes as they looked upon it. It was as though they had +discovered suddenly that their idol had feet of clay. For across the +front of the pictured face was written one word in heavy black scrawl, +and the word was "<i>Avenged!</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>"AS A TALE THAT WAS TOLD"</h3> + +<p>"My God!" It was Ross Duggan who spoke. "Just to think of it! Just to +think! That <i>my</i> father——"</p> + +<p>"Don't forget he's dead, Ross, and beyond all chance of your +remonstrating with him, and that the dead cannot speak up for +themselves!" cried Maud Duggan, in a wrung voice. "Don't say anything +you will be sorry for, I beg of you! Mr. Cleek, this has come as +something in the nature of a shock to my brother and me, and—and it's +going to take some time to let this part of your story sink in. It seems +dreadful that one's own father...."</p> + +<p>"And yet there are many who have done worse—far worse," threw in Cleek, +with uplifted hand, as she paused and looked at him out of anguished +eyes. "Youth must learn to forgive, Miss Duggan. That is a lesson which +both you and your brother have got to learn, and don't forget, will you, +in the learning, that this thing took place more than seventeen years +ago—before your father was married to his present wife. Raking up dead +ashes is a poor sort of game, and an unprofitable one. I would never +have spoken only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> that therein lay the motive of James Tavish's crime, +and for seventeen long years he has worked for it. The unutterable +patience of the man! the appalling sense of revenge! For at the end of +that time his bitterness to the man who had wronged his sister was even +greater than when the thing itself took place. How long has he been in +your father's employ?"</p> + +<p>"Twelve years."</p> + +<p>"And I take it he was well known locally before that?"</p> + +<p>"The family was certainly an old local one, Mr. Cleek, and, in fact, I +have heard the story go that they were descendants of the original +Peasant Girl on her mother's side."</p> + +<p>"Oho! Well, that may or may not be. Vendettas are not only carried out +in southern climes, Miss Duggan. I've learned that lesson to my cost +many times since I took up this profession. And the Scotch temperament +is a dour one, and not forgiving. A grudge is a grudge, even if it lasts +through several centuries—and who knows but that this belief lent +colour to his hatred of your father? At any rate, whether it is true or +not, James Tavish killed Sir Andrew because he was the betrayer of his +sister—and took seventeen years to bring his vengeance to full +maturity. Gad! what a character to bear! It makes one's blood run +cold!... Constables, I think you may remove your prisoner now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> to the +nearest lock-up. We've done with him for the present, thanks."</p> + +<p>So saying, he waved his hand toward the door, opened it, and waited +until the little cavalcade had taken its dismissal; meanwhile those +within the room of that house of discord sat silent as dead people, +thinking back over the doings of seventeen years ago, and of a dead man +who had betrayed an innocent woman. It was an unpleasant thought at +best. They were glad when Cleek came back into the room, closed the +door, and took his seat among them again. His pleasant voice dispelled +the repellent weavings of their own brains.</p> + +<p>"And now," said he, "to continue with our story. It is nearly done, +but there are points which I know each one of you would like to have +cleared up before I take my leave. What's that, Lady Paula? How did I +come to suspect your brother in the first place? Ah, that involves a +long story with which I will not bore you, for you have had enough +already of this distressing affair, I'm sure. Only this: That I happened +to go up into your boudoir yesterday, when you were making your way up +the Great Free Road"—he paused a moment as she coloured, and gave a +significant smile. "You see, I know more than I tell, eh? Well, I +discovered a note screwed up on the floor, and signed 'A. M.' Antoni +Matei, we now know it was. Once I suspected Captain Macdonald—simply +because the footprints outside of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> the window of the library were made +by his hunting-boots—discovered afterward by my man, mud-caked and +hidden in some shrubs near Tavish's cottage. Which leads me, Miss +Duggan, to that very particular point of the size of the gentleman's +boots. You remember? I won't call that incident to your mind further. +Only—you were a little mistaken, that's all. But let that pass. Every +woman acts upon the dictates of her own heart, and if those dictates are +a trifle mistaken—yes, that was how I found out, Lady Paula. After +seeing Captain Macdonald's handwriting I knew that he had <i>not</i> written +that note. A further investigation upon the part of my lad Dollops and +myself last night led to the elucidation of who it was who <i>had</i> written +it. Your brother himself disclosed his relation to you last night, after +we had our talk in the village lock-up. After that, the thing was as +easy as A B C.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Duggan? And where exactly did Captain Macdonald +come in! Why, when one meets a man running agitatedly away from the +particular part of the Castle where the crime had taken place—and just +<i>after</i> it—one is inclined to be a little suspicious of that man. It is +only natural. Though, thank Heaven, my suspicions were soon quieted, +after I discovered that your gallant Captain had really come into the +grounds—with your having left the gate ajar for him so that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> Rhea's +bell would not sound—to meet <i>you</i> clandestinely, as he had been +forbidden the house. Love will always find a way, you know. Only, it was +unfortunate at the time that he should have chosen that night of all +others to have come to meet you. You knew of the crime, then, Captain? +Or what was it that sent you pelting away so hard from the house that +held your affianced bride?"</p> + +<p>"Simply because I had heard a woman's scream, had seen the lights all +over the Castle switch up, and did not want my meeting with Maud to be +discovered—lest a more certain means should be taken to keep us apart +ever afterward," returned the Captain, a trifle heatedly. "And I must +confess that I was a bit nonplussed and—and angered when you mistook +<i>me</i> for a murderer and held me under suspicion."</p> + +<p>"For which you might readily give your apology, as a better mannered man +has already done," apostrophized Cleek inwardly. "Still, we can't help a +man's nature, and he seems a likely enough chap, as men go. <i>And</i> she +loves him. And it's no affair of mine as to how he behaves himself—so +long as he was not the guilty party." Then, aloud, "I see. Well, Miss +Duggan will explain to you how your hunting-boots came to be here, and +to lead to your being suspected along with the other. Just ask her +afterward—eh, Miss Duggan? And love her still more for her womanly +sentiment, if I may be permitted to tender any advice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think that is really all. Only, I should like just a word with Sir +Ross and Cyril alone, if I may be granted the favour? And then I must be +going. Mr. Narkom and I have other affairs to attend to in this +neighbourhood which are very pressing and will want a lot of careful +handling to bring home to their proper destination.... Thanks very +much."</p> + +<p>He got to his feet instantly as the women arose, followed by Captain +Macdonald, and quietly left the room. Only Sir Ross, Cyril, and Mr. +Narkom remained. As the door closed behind them, Ross Duggan spoke up.</p> + +<p>"What is it that you wish to say, Mr. Cleek?" he said quietly. "I'll be +glad if you will go easy with Cyril. He's not a bad boy, you know. Only +a trifle misguided, and I shall make it my duty in future to keep a +sharper eye upon him. The boy has had no other companions but his books +of adventure and his own imagination."</p> + +<p>"And a very unfortunate mess those two things have made of him," +returned Cleek quietly, crossing over and laying a hand along Cyril's +shoulder. "School, and boarding-school, is the best place for <i>him</i>, my +friend, and good healthy companionship with others of his own age. It's +just the devil of that reading which made him act as he did. I found him +out, late last night in company with his uncle, doing some very +nefarious work on the hillside below here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>What?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Gently, gently, my friend. Don't forget, will you, that Cyril has not +been given the same chances as other boys. And his is an active brain. +The work in question was illicit whisky-stills—in fact, the very thing +for which I originally came down here, Mr. Narkom. James Tavish and +Antoni Matei and Cyril have all had a hand in it. And the still itself, +you will find, if you go down to your own dungeon, Sir Ross, to where +the Peasant Girl is supposed to have her haunts o' nights."</p> + +<p>"Cinnamon! Cleek!"</p> + +<p>"Yes—and, by James! Mr. Narkom. And that's the actual truth, too. I +discovered it first of all. A little looking on the part of Dollops and +me brought the thing to light, through a susceptible maid-servant at +present in your employ, Sir Ross. She fell for my Cockney lad's 'ginger +'air.' And he made use of his opportunity. And it was then—even as late +as last night—that my suspicions were finally pinned upon James Tavish +as the murderer of your father. For I saw him, in company with the Dago, +wearing your tweed coat, which I noted hanging on a hook in the passage +earlier in the day, and had even seen you wearing during the morning, +before you changed into that dark suit yesterday afternoon—and if it +hadn't been for <i>me</i> that same tweed coat might have led you into some +rather unfortunate feminine revelations from one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> ladies who are +at present in your house. But let that pass.... Mr. Narkom, we must go. +There's a gang to be rounded up, and unfortunately, through a foolish +woman, some inkling of our presence here has become known, and it will +take us all our time to trace the rest of the participants in this +pleasant affair before they have had time to show nothing more than a +very clean pair of heels for our benefit. We must be making tracks. Sir +Ross, take an older fellow's advice and fight for that boy's rights to +go to a decent English school. I've no doubt that the house will be +divided now, since these revelations have been made. One could hardly go +on living with a woman for a stepmother who—who had even contemplated +such things, although she did it for the benefit of her own boy. +But—fight for him. And get him away from—unfortunate influence if you +can. Or you'll be losing for the Empire an otherwise good little +citizen. There's no doubt about the presence of the uncle now—with that +whisky-still business on hand, and that's what brought the two men +together, no doubt. But get this boy clear of it all. Try a public +school where his <i>moral</i> outlook will be as well cared for as his +physical, and—get him there <i>quick</i>.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Cyril—shake hands, won't you? And you might write a line to +me now and then, to let me know how you're getting on. I'd have had a +boy of your age myself, no doubt, if—if I hadn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> made a fool of myself +earlier in life, and I've got to make up for it now. But it makes me +rather soft for youngsters. Good-bye, Sir Ross, and good luck. Clear out +of this ill-fated inheritance for a time, until things blow over. You'll +find there'll be a different aspect of affairs when you come back with +your vision cleared. Mr. Narkom, come along. At least we've beaten the +Coroner at his own business, and that's always a feather in a +policeman's cap, eh, old friend?"</p> + +<p>And, so speaking, he passed out of that house of discord, which, +however, he was to visit later, many times, as friend and confidant of +the new owner of it, out into the clear sunshine of an early noon, and +the paths that lay ahead.</p> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Popular Copyright Novels</h2> + +<h3>AT MODERATE PRICES</h3> + +<p class="center">Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of</p> + +<p class="center">A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.</b> By Frank L. Packard.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Affinities, and Other Stories.</b> By Mary Roberts Rinehart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>After House, The.</b> By Mary Roberts Rinehart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Against the Winds.</b> By Kate Jordan.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ailsa Paige.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Also Ran.</b> By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Amateur Gentleman, The.</b> By Jeffery Farnol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Anderson Crow, Detective.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Anna, the Adventuress.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Anne's House of Dreams.</b> By L. M. Montgomery.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Anybody But Anne.</b> By Carolyn Wells.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.</b> By Arthur Stringer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Around Old Chester.</b> By Margaret Deland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.</b> By John T. Mclntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.</b> By John T. Mclntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.</b> By John T. Mclntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.</b> By John T. Mclntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Athalie.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>At the Mercy of Tiberius.</b> By Augusta Evans Wilson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Auction Block, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Aunt Jane of Kentucky.</b> By Eliza C. Hall.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Awakening of Helena Richie.</b> By Margaret Deland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bab: a Sub-Deb.</b> By Mary Roberts Rinehart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bambi.</b> By Marjorie Benton Cooke.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Barbarians.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bar 20.</b> By Garence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bar 20 Days.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Barrier, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bars of Iron, The.</b> By Ethel M. Dell.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beasts of Tarzan, The.</b> By Edgar Rice Burroughs.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beckoning Roads.</b> By Jeanne Judson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Belonging.</b> By Olive Wadsley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beloved Traitor, The.</b> By Frank L. Packard.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beloved Vagabond, The.</b> By Wm. J. Locke.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beltane the Smith.</b> By Jeffery Farnol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Betrayal, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beulah.</b> (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Beyond the Frontier.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Big Timber.</b> By Bertrand W. Sinclair.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Black Bartlemy's Treasure.</b> By Jeffery Farnol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Black Is White.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Blacksheep! Blacksheep!</b> By Meredith Nicholson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Blind Man's Eyes, The.</b> By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Boardwalk, The.</b> By Margaret Widdemer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bob Hampton of Placer.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bob, Son of Battle.</b> By Alfred Olivant.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Box With Broken Seals, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Boy With Wings, The.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Brandon of the Engineers.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bridge of Kisses, The.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Broad Highway, The.</b> By Jeffery Farnol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Broadway Bab.</b> By Johnston McCulley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Brown Study, The.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Bruce of the Circle A.</b> By Harold Titus.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Buccaneer Farmer, The.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Buck Peters, Ranchman.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Builders, The.</b> By Ellen Glasgow.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Business of Life, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cab of the Sleeping Horse, The.</b> By John Reed Scott.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cabbage and Kings.</b> By O. Henry.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cabin Fever.</b> By B. M. Bower.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Calling of Dan Matthews, The.</b> By Harold Bell Wright.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cape Cod Stories.</b> By Joseph C Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper.</b> By James A. Cooper.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cap'n Dan's Daughter.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cap'n Erl.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cap'n Jonah's Fortune.</b> By James A. Cooper.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cap'n Warren's Wards.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Chinese Label, The.</b> By J. Frank Davis.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Christine of the Young Heart.</b> By Louise Breintenbach Clancy.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cinderella Jane.</b> By Marjorie B. Cooke.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cinema Murder.</b> The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>City of Masks, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cleek of Scotland Yard.</b> By T. W. Hanshew.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cleek, The Man of Forty Faces.</b> By Thomas W. Hanshew.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cleek's Government Cases.</b> By Thomas W. Hanshew.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Clipped Wings.</b> By Rupert Hughes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Clutch of Circumstance, The.</b> By Marjorie Benton Cooke.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Coast of Adventure, The.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Come-Back, The.</b> By Carolyn Wells.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Coming of Cassidy, The.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Coming of the Law, The.</b> By Charles A. Seltzer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Comrades of Peril.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Conquest of Canaan, The.</b> By Booth Tarkington.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Conspirators, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Contraband.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cottage of Delight, The.</b> By Will N. Harben.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Court of Inquiry, A.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cricket, The.</b> By Marjorie Benton Cooke.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Crimson Tide, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cross Currents.</b> By Author of "Pollyanna."</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cross Pull, The.</b> By Hal. G. Evarts.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cry in the Wilderness, A.</b> By Mary E. Waller.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cry of Youth, A.</b> By Cynthia Lombardi.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Cup of Fury, The.</b> By Rupert Hughes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Curious Quest, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Danger and Other Stories.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Dark Hollow, The.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Dark Star, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Daughter Pays, The.</b> By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Day of Days, The.</b> By Louis Joseph Vance.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Depot Master, The.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Destroying Angel, The.</b> By Louis Joseph Vance.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Devil's Own, The.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Devil's Paw, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Disturbing Charm, The.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Door of Dread, The.</b> By Arthur Stringer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Dope.</b> By Sax Rohmer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Double Traitor, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Duds.</b> By Henry C. Rowland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Empty Pockets.</b> By Rupert Hughes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Erskine Dale Pioneer.</b> By John Fox, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Everyman's Land.</b> By C. N. & A. M. Williamson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Extricating Obadiah.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Eyes of the Blind, The.</b> By Arthur Somers Roche.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Eyes of the World, The.</b> By Harold Bell Wright.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fairfax and His Pride.</b> By Marie Van Vorst.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Felix O'Day.</b> By F. Hopkinson Smith.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>54-40 or Fight.</b> By Emerson Hough.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fighting Chance, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fighting Fool, The.</b> By Dane Coolidge.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fighting Shepherdess, The.</b> By Caroline Lockhart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Financier, The.</b> By Theodore Dreiser.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Find the Woman.</b> By Arthur Somers Roche.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>First Sir Percy, The.</b> By The Baroness Orczy.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Flame, The.</b> By Olive Wadsley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>For Better, for Worse.</b> By W. B. Maxwell.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Forbidden Trail, The.</b> By Honore Willsie.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Forfeit, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fortieth Door, The.</b> By Mary Hastings Bradley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Four Million, The.</b> By O. Henry.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>From Now On.</b> By Frank L. Packard.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Fur Bringers, The.</b> By Hulbert Footner.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.</b> By Frank L. Packard.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Get Your Man.</b> By Ethel and James Dorrance.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girl in the Mirror, The.</b> By Elizabeth Jordan.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girl of O. K. Valley, The.</b> By Robert Watson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.</b> By Payne Erskine.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girl from Keller's, The.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girl Philippa, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Girls at His Billet, The.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Glory Rides the Range.</b> By Ethel and James Dorrance.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Gloved Hand, The.</b> By Burton E. Stevenson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>God's Country and the Woman.</b> By James Oliver Curwood.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>God's Good Man.</b> By Marie Corelli.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Going Some.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Gold Girl, The.</b> By James B. Hendryx.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Golden Scorpion, The.</b> By Sax Rohmer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Golden Slipper, The.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Golden Woman, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Good References.</b> By E. J. Rath.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Gorgeous Girl, The.</b> By Nalbro Bartley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Gray Angels, The.</b> By Nalbro Bartley.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Great Impersonation, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Greater Love Hath No Man.</b> By Frank L. Packard.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Green Eyes of Bast, The.</b> By Sax Rohmer,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Greyfriars Bobby.</b> By Eleanor Atkinson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Gun Brand, The.</b> By James B. Hendryx.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.</b> By Sax Rohmer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Happy House.</b> By Baroness Von Hutten.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Harbor Road, The.</b> By Sara Ware Bassett.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Havoc.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Heart of the Desert, The.</b> By Honore Willsie.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Heart of the Hills, The.</b> By John Fox, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Heart of the Sunset.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.</b> By Edfrid A. Bingham.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Heart of Unaga, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hidden Children, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hidden Trails.</b> By William Patterson White.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Highflyers, The.</b> By Clarence B. Kelland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hillman, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hills of Refuge, The.</b> By Will N. Harben.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>His Last Bow.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>His Official Fiancee.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Honor of the Big Snows.</b> By James Oliver Curwood.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hopalong Cassidy.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hound from the North, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>House of the Whispering Pines, The.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.</b> By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Humoresque.</b> By Fannie Hurst.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>I Conquered.</b> By Harold Titus.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Illustrious Prince, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>In Another Girl's Shoes.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Indifference of Juliet, The.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Inez.</b> (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Infelice.</b> By Augusta Evans Wilson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Initials Only.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Inner Law, The.</b> By Will N. Harben.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Innocent.</b> By Marie Corelli.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>In Red and Cold.</b> By Samuel Merwin.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.</b> By Sax Rohmer,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>In the Brooding Wild.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Intriguers, The.</b> By William Le Queux.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Iron Furrow, The.</b> By George C. Shedd.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Iron Trail, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Iron Woman, The.</b> By Margaret Deland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Ishmael.</b> (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Island of Surprise.</b> By Cyrus Townsend Brady.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>I Spy.</b> By Natalie Sumner Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>It Pays to Smile.</b> By Nina Wilcox Putnam.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>I've Married Marjorie.</b> By Margaret Widdemer.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Jean of the Lazy A.</b> By B. M. Bower,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Jeanne of the Marshes.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Jennie Gerhardt.</b> By Theodore Dreiser.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Johnny Nelson.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Judgment House, The.</b> By Gilbert Parker.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Keeper of the Door, The.</b> By Ethel M. Dell.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Keith of the Border.</b> By Randall Parrish.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Kent Knowles: Quahaug.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Kingdom of the Blind, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>King Spruce.</b> By Holman Day.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Knave of Diamonds, The.</b> By Ethel M. Dell.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>La Chance Mine Mystery, The.</b> By S. Carleton.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Lady Doc, The.</b> By Caroline Lockhart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Land-Girl's Love Story, A.</b> By Berta Ruck.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Land of Strong Men, The.</b> By A. M. Chisholm.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Last Straw, The.</b> By Harold Titus.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Last Trail, The.</b> By Zane Grey.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Laughing Bill Hyde.</b> By Rex Beach.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Laughing Girl, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Law Breakers, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Law of the Gun, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/33279-h/images/ill_001.jpg b/33279-h/images/ill_001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d14c104 --- /dev/null +++ b/33279-h/images/ill_001.jpg diff --git a/33279-h/images/ill_002.jpg b/33279-h/images/ill_002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6b3052 --- /dev/null +++ b/33279-h/images/ill_002.jpg diff --git a/33279.txt b/33279.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16a9d1f --- /dev/null +++ b/33279.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8194 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. Hanshew + +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 Riddle of the Spinning Wheel + +Author: Mary E. Hanshew + Thomas W. Hanshew + +Release Date: July 28, 2010 [EBook #33279] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIDDLE OF THE SPINNING WHEEL *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire + + + + + + + + +THE RIDDLE OF THE +SPINNING WHEEL + + * * * * * + +By MARY E. and THOMAS W. +HANSHEW + + * * * * * + +AUTHORS OF + +"Cleek, the Man of Forty Faces," "Cleek's Government +Cases," "The Riddle of the Frozen Flame," "The +Riddle of the Night," "The Riddle of the +Purple Emperor," "The Riddle of +the Mysterious Light," etc. + +[Illustration] + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers +New York +Published by arrangement with Doubleday, Page & Company + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Girl from Scotland 1 + II. Cleek to the Rescue 13 + III. The Castle o' Dreams 21 + IV. The Morning Call 38 + V. A Startling Discovery 57 + VI. When the Sword Fell 65 + VII. The Summons 76 + VIII. When the Blow Fell 85 + IX. A Double Tragedy 95 + X. The Woman in the Case 108 + XI. A New Clue 117 + XII. Cleek Makes a Startling Assertion 128 + XIII. Mr. Narkom Voices an Opinion 142 + XIV. In Which Rhea Takes a Hand 149 + XV. Another Fly in the Web 159 + XVI. "Tens!" 170 + XVII. A Pair of Boots 180 + XVIII. Enter Cyril 192 + XIX. Dollops Makes a Discovery 202 + XX. "Pins and Needles" 212 + XXI. "A Lunnon Gentleman" 221 + XXII. Damning Evidence 226 + XXIII. A Startling Denouement 233 + XXIV. Hare and Hounds 239 + XXV. The Man in the Black Mask 247 + XXVI. The End in Sight 265 + XXVII. What Happened in the Library 278 + XXVIII. The Secret of the Singing Wheel 284 + XXIX. "As a Tale That Was Told" 297 + + + + +THE RIDDLE OF THE +SPINNING WHEEL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GIRL FROM SCOTLAND + + +Mr. Maverick Narkom, Superintendent of Scotland Yard, looked up from the +letter he was perusing, a wrinkle in his brow and one hand spread out +over the sheet to keep it open, as the sound of a soft knock broke +through the stillness, and with an exasperation born of the knotty +problem upon which he was at work, called out an irritable "Come in." + +Inspector Petrie's head appeared in the aperture, stiff hand at the +salute. + +"I know you wasn't to be disturbed, sir," he began apologetically, "but +there's a leddy come to see you. Seemed distressed, and said it was +urgent, and begged me for the love of 'even to let her in." + +"And, being a religious man, you succumbed, of course," rapped out Mr. +Narkom in a tone of exasperation. "Oh, well, where's her card? What with +one thing and another, this morning's work has practically gone to +blazes. Not a minute's peace, by James! What's the lady's name, Petrie?" + +Inspector Petrie came forward, a strip of pasteboard in his hand upon +which was engraved a name and something written in a woman's hand +underneath. + +"_Miss Maud Duggan._ H'm. Scotch, I take it. And what's this! _School +friend of Miss Ailsa Lorne._--Ailsa Lorne, eh? Haven't heard from her in +a month of Sundays. Said her business was important--eh, Petrie?" + +"Very important, sir." + +"Oh, well, then, show her up. This cipher business requires entire +quiet, and so long as I can't seem to enforce that, I might as well +attend to the matter in hand." + +"Very good, sir." Bowing, Petrie withdrew. Meanwhile Mr. Narkom slipped +his arms into his coat--it was June, and the heat-wave had London in its +grip, and allied with an equally warm problem he had thought himself +fully justified in shedding it--and sat at his desk, drumming his +fingers upon the top of it to the tune of "God Save the King." + +A moment later "Miss Maud Duggan" was standing before him--a slim, +pale-faced woman with dark-ringed eyes and a twitching, nervous mouth. +She came toward him, hands clasped over heaving breast, entire body +aflame with the intensity of her quest. Mr. Narkom, waving her to a seat +with none too much cordiality, mentally labelled her "highly strung," +and seated himself with an effort to interest himself in what she had to +say. + +"Miss Duggan, I believe?" he began, with a creditable attempt at +cordiality. "Friend of Miss Lorne's?" + +"That's right," she said in a hesitating voice, with just a trace of +Scotch accent that told of the part of the British Isles which gave her +birth. "I _am_ a friend of Ailsa's--an old school friend--although we +haven't seen each other for a matter of five years. But I wrote to +her--when the trouble began--and she told me to come to you. Here is her +letter, if you care to see it." + +"I prefer to listen to your version of the story first, my dear young +lady," returned Mr. Narkom, with a reassuring smile. She was palpably +nervous. "You are in trouble, of course? No one ever visits these +offices for any other reason. Now just set yourself at ease and tell me +all about it. Is it a family matter, or what?" + +"Yes, it is a family matter. And a very serious one at that, Mr. +Narkom," returned Miss Duggan in her rapid voice. "And I am so worried I +don't know which way to turn--and so, in desperation, I came down--all +the way from Scotland--to consult you. You will help me, I know. It is +about my father. His life is in danger, in very grave danger, and I am +afraid that even now, while I am away, something may happen to him, and +that woman practise her cunning successfully at last." + +"In danger?" Mr. Narkom sat forward in his chair, his professional +instincts awake at the word. "Who is the woman of whom you speak, Miss +Duggan, and why should she have designs on your father's life? Begin at +the beginning and tell me where you live, and all about it. There's +plenty of time, you know. Things don't happen so rapidly as a lot of you +young people imagine. You are Scotch, are you not?" + +"I am. And my father is Sir Andrew Duggan, of whom you have no doubt +heard. He--he has large possessions in Scotland. A big landowner, you +know----" + +"And a hard one," said Mr. Narkom mentally recalling certain paragraphs +about the gentleman which appeared from time to time in the Scotch +papers. + +"Our home is at Aygon--Aygon Castle, in Argyllshire. And there are two +of us by our father's first marriage--my brother Ross and me. Ross, as +you know, is heir to the estates, of course, as eldest son of the line +(that part of them which is entailed); but some seventeen years ago my +father married again, an Italian woman whom he met upon one of his +periodical journeys abroad." + +"And this is the woman in question?" + +"It is!" Her voice ran up a tiny scale of excitement. She shut her +hands together and breathed hard, and leaning forward in her seat, let +her big dark eyes dwell a moment upon his face. "That woman is a +would-be murderer, a fiend incarnate, prompted to heaven knows what +awful action by her ambitions for her son Cyril!" + +"Your father's child?" + +"My father's child. Cyril is sixteen this birthday--a nice lad, but with +all the Latin traits of his mother's race--those traits which mix so +badly with our Scotch character, Mr. Narkom. Paula has planned this +thing from the beginning--slowly, secretly, steadily. She has planned to +wrest the estates from Ross, to turn his own father against him, so that +at the last he will remake his will and leave all that he possesses to +Cyril--and rob Ross of his rightful inheritance!" + +"My dear lady, have you any foundation for believing this?" put in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture, as she paused. "An ambitious woman is not +necessarily a potential murderess, you know." + +"But this one is. One can see it in her eyes when she looks at Ross, and +one can read it in every gesture--every thought that passes across her +face. She is a dangerous woman, Mr. Narkom, who will stop at nothing. +Her own father, I believe, had a career that was shrouded in mystery, so +far as we can trace, but there was theft in it, and crime, too--that +much I have ascertained. His daughter is the fitting descendant of the +family. I repeat, there is nothing she will stop at--nothing!--and now +that Ross has taken up with this electricity installation--he has been +mad on engineering ever since he was big enough to toddle, but Father +would not permit him to go in for it--Lady Paula has used it to her own +desperate plans, and has practically succeeded in turning Father against +Ross, so that the two hardly speak when they meet, and avoid each other +as much as possible in the daily round of life." + +"And what, my dear young lady, makes you think that--er--Lady Paula +would wish to murder your father?" + +"My eyes--and my ears, too. Both of which are sharper than one might +imagine. When Paula mixes my father's food--he is an old man and full of +whims and cranks, Mr. Narkom, and he has been much attached to his +second wife and trusts her absolutely--and at night he takes +bread-and-milk for supper, nothing else. And no one but Paula must make +it. She has a little sitting-room of her own just off my father's study, +where there is a little gas-stove and all the necessary paraphernalia +for mixing an invalid's food, and last week I made a point of going in +to watch her--found an excuse to get some note-paper and stepped into +the room quietly. She was stirring the milk in the saucepan, and in her +hand was a little phial of some whitish powder which she was just about +to empty into it when the sound of my step startled her. Instantly she +swung round, went as pale as death, and clapped her hand to her heart. +'How you startled me!' she exclaimed. 'You should not enter the room so +softly, Maud. It is dangerous.' 'Not more dangerous than what you are at +present doing,' I wanted to answer, but I dared not. I had no proof, and +to accuse her without it might only make Father turn entirely from Ross +and me in his quick-tempered, irascible fashion. But she slipped the +phial into her pocket and finished making the bread-and-milk while I +fumbled in the stand where the house paper is kept, all the time +watching her from the tail of my eye. And I could see how her hands +trembled, Mr. Narkom, so that she slopped the milk over into the saucer +from the cup. It's poisoning she is practising upon him-- I know it, +intuitively!" She clenched her hand, and sent an agonized look into the +Superintendent's face. "And all because she is determined to get the +estates for Cyril, and then kill poor Father, and take _everything_, and +turn us all out of our rightful home!" + +Mr. Narkom took out his handkerchief and wiped the beads of perspiration +from his brow. The day was warm, and this excitable and evidently very +much upset young woman only made matters warmer. + +"Come, come," he said in his paternal way. "Isn't that going a little +too far--to accuse a woman of poisoning upon such slight evidence? How +is your father's health?" + +"Failing every day. Every day he grows weaker, but he will see no +doctor--does not believe in them and will never let one enter his house +if it can be avoided. But he is weakening steadily. And it is not +because of his seventy-six years, either, for a haler and heartier man +never lived--until Paula started this wicked thing upon him, and began +making him bread-and-milk for supper. She says he eats too heavily; that +it is not good for him. And Father takes every word as law." + +"A somewhat unwise course with any woman--begging your pardon," put in +Mr. Narkom with a smile. "And now tell me what arrangements your father +has made for the future of his second wife and her son. Or don't you +know?" + +"As it happens, I do. Father is a great stickler for inheritance--or was +until Paula got hold of him--and upon his marriage with her, when my +brother and I were only children (I am twenty-seven and Ross is +twenty-nine), he made this point quite clear to her, I understood, +assuring her upon the birth of Cyril of a sufficient income for her own +and Cyril's needs when death should claim him for its own. + +"Paula, however, has always wanted Aygon Castle; always envied us as its +rightful owners; always said what _she_ would do with it if it belonged +to _her_. And now that Ross has taken up with this electrical hobby (an +extravagant one, as you no doubt know), he has installed a complete +lighting plant in the Castle instead of the musty old lamps which we +used to use, and has thereby frightened all the old tenants of the place +nearly out of their wits. For they have never seen such a thing before!" + +"And yet we live in modern times, and in the year of grace +Nineteen-Twenty-Two," said Mr. Narkom quietly. + +"But you must remember that our village is miles away from anywhere," +she returned quickly. "It is a sort of rock-bound fortress which is +almost as impenetrable as the fortresses of old. Miles of +heather-covered hills and crags surround us, and the nearest +town--Cragnorth--is a three hours' journey away. Many of the villagers +have never even seen a train, so that this modern installation of +electricity into the old castle is like some witchcraft that terrifies +them. Paula has made a tremendous fuss, too, saying that the place is +ruined, that it is vandalism, and has so inflamed Father that quarrels +take place all the time between him and Ross, and he has threatened to +disinherit him if he continues in such mad practices." + +Mr. Narkom nodded vigorously several times. + +"Aha! now we have come to the root of the affair altogether," he said +with some satisfaction. "That was the point I was waiting for. Your +father has actually volunteered that statement, Miss Duggan?" + +"He has. And in my presence." + +"And how does your brother Ross take it?" + +"Ross has the family temper, Mr. Narkom. Ross said hot words which he +should never have uttered, and then dashed off to his fiancee's house, +three miles distant--a sweet girl, whom we all love--and did not come +back until the next afternoon." + +"I see, I see. A very unpleasant affair altogether. And you, naturally +loving your brother, Miss Duggan, have pieced things together, and have +now come to me to see what I can do for you? I must have a few minutes +to think this over." A finger touched the bell at his side. Almost +immediately a head appeared and Mr. Narkom gave his orders. "Tell Mr. +Deland to come here, Petrie. I want to speak to him." + +"Very good, sir." + +"And now, to look the thing straight in the face. You can bring me no +actual proof of guilt upon your stepmother's part but your own love for +your brother and your woman's intuition, added to what you have seen. +One can bank upon a woman's intuition very often--but not in a case of +this sort. That you will readily understand. However, something is +obviously wrong and wants looking into. So I've sent for one of my best +men, Miss Duggan, and if he thinks enough of the case to take it up, I +will entrust the matter entirely to him. He happens to have looked in +this morning, luckily, and--here he is!" + +Even as he spoke, the door opened, and Mr. Deland came in. He was a +tallish, well-set-up man, with eyes neither green nor gray, but with +that something in the bearing of him which mutely stands sponsor for the +thing called Birth. And he was dressed in the trappings of the average +young-man-about-town. Anything more unlike a police officer or a private +detective would be difficult to imagine. + +Mr. Narkom crossed over to him and, drawing him aside, with a muttered +apology to the anxious-faced girl who watched him, spoke a few words in +a low tone into his ear. Mr. Deland's expression changed from feigned +interest to the real thing. The two men spoke again for a few moments in +the same low-toned voices, and then Mr. Narkom addressed her. + +"Miss Duggan," he said, rather pompously, she thought--"Mr. Deland has +promised his interest in the case. I have given him but the barest +outlines. It is for you to fill in the story in the manner that you have +filled it in for me. Sit down, Mr. Deland. Now, Miss Duggan, please +begin all over again." + +She looked into this strange man's eyes with her own anguished ones, and +bit her lip a moment to keep back the tears that had been impending +since the beginning of her story. Her lips trembled. But the eyes were +kind--and understanding. Something in the face spoke to her as lips can +never do. She leaned forward in her seat, shutting her hands together +one upon another in her distress. + +"Mr. Deland," she said brokenly, "help me, please--_please_! I am in +despair; every moment that passes! I am terribly afraid for Father's +life, even as I have told Mr. Narkom here. But there are some things +which a woman cannot tell. Those things which she feels in her +heart--and has no concrete facts with which to explain them. Father will +die if you do not come to my rescue immediately. He will die, and by no +natural means. I tell you, my father is being poisoned slowly, and +because of his very taciturnity none of us can save him! Even now, as I +sit here, something tells me that things are not right with him, or with +Ross, my brother! All my life long I have had these premonitions. There +must be gipsy blood in me, I think. But there it is. Oh, help me to save +him, to save my brother Ross's inheritance. And my blessing will go with +you to the end of your days!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CLEEK TO THE RESCUE + + +She stopped speaking suddenly and choked back a sob, covering her face +with her gloved hands, and for a moment Deland sat looking at her, eyes +narrowed, and the curious little one-sided smile so characteristic of +the man travelling up his face. Here was very evident distress indeed. +And real, too, if he knew anything of women. And yet--where was the +evidence, the intention to murder, as she had suggested? There was +absolutely nothing to go upon but a woman's intuition--and that, +strangely enough, very rarely went wrong. He'd bank a good deal upon a +woman's intuition every time, and feel he'd get good credit. + +"Listen, Miss Duggan," he said, leaning forward in his seat and +surveying her with keen, critical eyes. "You are very grieved, I know, +but, as Mr. Narkom has just told me, you have nothing to go upon +but--_actually_--your own intuition. My friend here does not always bank +on that. I do. A woman's intuition is often a great deal safer than a +whole chain of circumstantial evidence. That is where Mr. Narkom and I +differ--eh, old friend? At any rate, as there is another case besides +yours up in Argyllshire awaiting my investigation, I'll tell you what +I'll do. I'll come up to Scotland to-morrow--to-night, in fact, by the +midnight train--and look into both cases at once. And if I can find +anything requiring my assistance I'll gladly give it. How will that do?" + +Mr. Narkom stifled an exclamation of surprise. Here was an interest +which he had never dreamed of awakening. Cleek (for such was the +admirable gentleman in his admirably cut clothes) rarely, if ever, +showed such immediate interest unless there was more in the thing than +met the eye in the first place. And although this Miss Duggan was +obviously in earnest, he himself would be inclined to put the thing down +to a woman's natural jealousy for her rightful possessions, and a +natural love for the man who was beloved to her by all the ties of flesh +and blood and for whom she would fight, if necessary, to the bitter end. +He had seen this sort of thing before--and paid very little attention to +it. The poison story was weak--undeniably weak--though no doubt Miss +Duggan firmly believed in it. A thousand things might have been +contained in the phial other than the poison to which her jealous mind +had instantly leapt. Powdered aspirin, perhaps, or whatnot. And for +Cleek to take such an immediate interest--_Cleek_! + +He sucked in his breath noiselessly. + +"Gad!" thought he, "there _is_ more in this than meets the eye; of that +I'm sure, or he'd never take such an interest in it. Of course, there's +those illicit stills in the same county, but ... well, anyhow, I was +right in sending for him, by James! It was worth taking a chance over." + +Then he turned his eyes to where Miss Duggan had leaned forward +suddenly, her wet eyes alight with gratitude and face instantly +transfigured. + +"Oh, will you?--will you? How good of you, how very, very good!" she +ejaculated with a little half-sigh of utter relief. "That is all I ask, +Mr. Deland. Someone will come and _see_--see for themselves how things +stand at Aygon Castle. I tell you my intuition is very rarely wrong, and +if harm does not come to my poor father before this week is out, then I +have made the first mistake in all my life. But I'm not mistaken. Of +that I am positively, absolutely _sure_!" + +"Well, let's hope you are, my dear young lady," said Mr. Narkom, in his +practical fashion, getting to his feet at a sign from Cleek, to show +that the interview was over at last. "You are lucky to have the help of +Mr. Deland, I must say. Personally I never thought for an instant that +your case would interest him, but as it _has_, you'll no doubt meet on +the midnight express--eh, Deland?--and travel up together? And now, as I +have a lot of business on hand, I'll wish you a very good morning and +good luck." + +"Thank you." She got to her feet and put her gloved hand into his. "You +have been very, very kind. And I hope, too, that you are right +concerning my intuition. But I am afraid not. Thank you so much +for--everything. And you, too, Mr. Deland. Shall I expect you to-night, +then, by the midnight express, or would you prefer to travel alone?" + +Cleek bowed. + +"Certainly not. I shall be glad of your company, if you will permit me +to travel with you, Miss Duggan," he responded gallantly--feeling, +however that he would have preferred to travel alone, if politeness +permitted him to say so. "There will be a good deal of reading that I +shall have to do, but if you'll pardon that.... To-night, then, by the +midnight express. I shall look for you outside the Third booking-office, +at 11:40. And I shall already have secured two corner seats. Back to the +engine, or not?" + +"Back, please," she made answer, giving his hand a grateful squeeze on +parting. "How kind you are! I feel hopeful already! Somehow, you inspire +me with confidence, Mr. Deland. In your hands I know things will not go +amiss. If we can only get there in time----" + +She shrugged her shoulders, and let the rest of the sentence go by +default, and then, bowing slightly to each in turn, took her departure, +a graceful, elegant figure, bearing in every line and look the mark of +the noble ancestors of one of Scotland's noblest families. + +As the door closed behind her, Cleek wheeled round, and striding over to +Mr. Narkom set a hand upon each of his podgy shoulders, and stood a +moment looking down into his face. Then he gave a short, sharp laugh, +and let his hands drop. + +"A dollar to a ducat but there's more in that than meets the eye," he +said, with a lift of the shoulders and a twitch of the lip. "There's a +woman who has sincerity written upon her soul, but hasn't a jot or +tittle of actual evidence to offer us. Your method would be to send her +home again, until she brought you the poison bottle or the cork of it, +or the bread-and-milk into which the stuff had been poured--eh, old +chap?... And mine--what?" He spread out his hands, and shrugged his +shoulders, and swung upon his heel with a laugh for the rueful +expression upon Mr. Narkom's face. + +"Oh, I say, old fellow----" began the Superintendent excitedly; but +Cleek's uplifted hand silenced him. + +"Familiarity breeds--the best of comradeship!--my friend. And a little +dig in the ribs now and then should never be read amiss. I owe all I +have to you, Mr. Narkom. You know the deeps of my gratitude. And if I +am not permitted sometimes to tease.... Oh, you silly old booby! You'll +never be a policeman to the end of your days. There are too many +sensitive nerves running round underneath that plump and portly exterior +of yours. And your heart's too soft! But don't let us stray from our +business in this ridiculous fashion, for time slips by and the hour +isn't half long enough for what must be done in it. Tell me briefly what +she told _you_, and in as near her own words as you can remember, and +then I'll be off and away to make arrangements for to-night's journey. +If there's nothing in this thing, I'll send you a wire: 'Empty.' + +"You'll understand. If there _is_, then the word 'Full' will answer +quite satisfactorily, without giving away our plans to any interested +persons. As for the whisky-still business, what more perfect harbour for +it than those craggy, heather-covered hills of Scotland? I'll have news +for you, my friend, never fear; and immediately I hit upon anything, +Dollops shall send it travelling over the wire in our own special code +to you." + +"What a man you are, Cleek! What a fund of restlessness, untiring +interest and intelligence!" said Mr. Narkom, as he laid a fond hand upon +Cleek's sleeve and looked up into his smiling face. "Gad! The Yard would +go to pieces without you nowadays. You saved us from collapse in the old +days of that Maurevanian business, when the whole country seemed to +have run amuck--and blamed the police for it! And you're saving us every +time now. What we'd do without your brains and your pluck and your +wonderful birthright, which disguises you so successfully that even I, +your best friend, don't know you, when you choose--well, I can't say. +But my blessing with you, Cleek, and the best of luck! You'll find what +you're looking for, I haven't a doubt." + +"Yes, I'll find what I'm looking for, Mr. Narkom; I'm certain of that," +said Cleek quietly, the queer little one-sided smile travelling up his +cheek once more. "I don't wish to sound egotistical, but there are few +things can beat your humble when his mind's made up. Else how would I +have travelled back from the underworld into such a position of trust +and uniqueness as this? Only that a woman's eyes lit the way for me, and +a man's great heart opened the door--and the crook determined to become +the gentleman, and pitched into it forthwith all he was worth. +Cussed--that's me!" + +"And _clean_! And with those two attributes Hercules was enabled to +clean out the Augean Stables and prove himself ready for anything that +came," supplemented Mr. Narkom, with a noisy sigh. "Cussed and clean! +That's your motto. I'll back it every time.... Now, then, to business. +We've thrown enough bouquets at each other to last for a lifetime! +There's a dickens of a cipher case which is tying me into knots at +present, so I need all my faculties to untie myself again! Here are the +facts, Cleek. Nothing much, but you will make more than I can of them; +so here goes." + +And so it came about that when Cleek left the offices in Scotland Yard +that afternoon, and strolled leisurely down toward his diggings in +Clarges Street, he was in possession of the full story, just as Maud +Duggan had told it to Mr. Narkom, and had gleaned therewith one or two +incidental conclusions upon his own account. + +The journey to Scotland was likely to prove a fruitful one. And he was +to see the gaunt crags of that most majestic and rugged country under +more interesting conditions than he had at first bargained for. + +But _how_ interesting and how tragically enthralling, even Cleek himself +was not able to foresee. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASTLE O' DREAMS + + +To say that Cragnorth--that little unknown village of the Highlands +which lies like an eagle's aerie upon the crest of the hills, scattering +its few dwelling-places like seed over the hillside and down into the +valley below--stood half-an-hour's distance from the station was to +underestimate the fact. For it took Cleek and Dollops and Miss Duggan +two mortal hours of driving in the station hack before they came in +sight of it. + +And it was just as they reached a bend in the hill-road and came out +upon a deep ravine, moss-covered and still wreathed with the mists of +the morning, that Cleek saw Aygon Castle for the first time, and felt +the whole true meaning of what it meant to these lairds of the Highlands +to live here, generation after generation, giving to their children the +right of ownership in the ancestral homes; it was just then that Miss +Duggan turned in her seat and pointed with one arm out-thrown toward it. + +"That's the Castle. Isn't it too magnificently beautiful for words, Mr. +Deland?" she said, with a suggestion of a catch in her voice at sight +of it. "With those mists wreathing it about, and all its dear, gaunt, +worn turrets piercing the top of the world like that! Now you can +imagine how I feel toward the--the woman who would wrest all this from +Ross, take what is his rightful inheritance from him and give it to a +boy who is only half a Scotsman, and with the blood of another country +running in his veins! Now you can understand why I came all the way to +London to see Mr. Narkom. Look on it, Mr. Deland, and drink in its +beauty. The sight of it is like heaven itself to me." + +Cleek did look on it to his heart's fill, and drank so deep of its +majestic beauty as to be well-nigh intoxicated with it. The artist's +soul of the man was afire with the chill grandeur of the place. From +turreted towers rising through the gray mists, like the towers and the +turrets of the Holy City itself, Aygon Castle was like some enchanter's +palace, like some figment of the mind's weaving in those hours of +day-dreams which lie between the dark and the day. + +To the left of it a huge watch-tower reared its monstrous head to the +blue-flecked Highland sky, set atop of which stood the figure of a man, +gigantic and wrought in bronze, with the plaid of the Duggans sweeping +across his shoulder and eddying out into a marvellous real billow behind +him, one huge forearm raised in the hand of which was a battle-axe, +standing out black and menacing against the early morning sky. + +Cleek swept a hand out to it, while Dollops, silent up to the present, +gave forth the feeling of his Cockney soul in one long-drawn "S'welp +me!" of utter enthusiasm. + +"Who is the gentleman of the axe, Miss Duggan?" said Cleek, turning +toward her, his face alight with interest. "What a magnificent thing it +is! And how he stands out against this Highland sky of yours--menacing, +victorious, utterly sublime! Some ancestor, no doubt?" + +"_The_ ancestor. The greatest of all that great line of Duggans, or +_Mac_duggans, as it was then," she responded in a hushed, exultant +voice. "Chief of the greatest and most powerful clan of all Scotland, in +those days when Scotland was a country apart, and the Scottish chiefs +were little kings in their own dominion, ruling in absolute monarchy +over their subjects. Rhea du Macduggan. That was his name, Mr. Deland. A +great and powerful and just man. And when this Castle was built over the +spot where his camp had been in those by-gone glorious days, the +Macduggan who had it built caused that statue to be erected, and had it +wrought in finest bronze, to endure throughout the centuries. You can +see for yourself how well Rhea has withstood the bludgeoning of time. +And, too, you may understand a little, at sight of him, what this place +means to my brother and me, and how loath we are even to entertain the +thought of letting it get out of the family." + +"And is the estate not entailed?" + +"Unfortunately not this portion of it. That part which follows the +entail comprises a couple of the adjacent villages and a lot of +farmsteads out there across the valley. But the Castle--no. In olden +days each son of the family fought for it against the surviving holder +of it, fought a personal battle of strength to prove himself worthy of +it, and then, upon victory--or proved worthiness--the will was made. The +line has never been broken, Mr. Deland. And to-day my brother and I are +as willing to fight for it as were our ancestors of old." + +"And I don't blame you, either," said Cleek with alacrity, sighing a +little, as though some thought of all this magnificence awakened an echo +in his heart that would not immediately be stilled. "I know a little of +that feeling, too. When a man loves his ancestral home, and his country, +he will fight for it and die for it rather than that an alien hand shall +take possession of either. That is the gift of Race, the inherent +something that Family breeds in us. The clanship which belongs to an old +and unbroken line. I know--I know.... Heigho! But it is an inheritance +indeed. I am more in sympathy with you than ever before, Miss Duggan, +for I, too, would fight for this against the hand of an enemy, and die +fighting rather than that it should slip out of my reach.... And you +mean to tell me that your brother Ross has installed electric lighting +_here_?" + +She smiled a little, and nodded her head as one might smile at thought +of some child's deliciously childish and foolish action. One could see +that she worshipped her brother. + +"Yes, Mr. Deland. A complete installation, which is both the envy and +the desire of every other landowner for miles around." + +"And why the envy, may I ask?" + +"Because the fortunes of many are lower than ours. The Duggans were +always the wealthiest clan in this part of the country. The other clans +were poor. They are still poor. And we, too, are poorer than we were. +The land takes nearly all our income to wrest something from its +wildness besides the heather and the stretches of gorse-covered moor. We +herd the flocks on those parts, Mr. Deland, but cultivation of the rest +is very difficult. It is too wild, too barren. And the other big houses +are indeed envious of our wonderful lighting arrangements. It has been +the root of much friendly quarrelling among us. But the villagers are +_terrified_!" + +"I can well understand that--in this uncivilized quarter," put in Cleek +with a smile. "Many, I have no doubt, still use the old rushlight of +former days.... Ah, here is the village. My man and I had better put up +at the local hotel, Miss Duggan, as a couple of fishermen-- I'll be +bound your salmon is wonderful in these parts, and I for one love the +sport--and then we can effect an introduction by the aid of our mutual +friend, Miss Lorne, and perhaps to-morrow I might be permitted to call +upon you. How does that satisfy your mind?" + +She put out a hand to him with an impetuosity that was foreign to her. + +"It satisfies me splendidly. You are more than kind to take such an +interest. Put up at the Three Fishers, by all means, Mr. Deland. The +landlord is a kindly soul, and will give you every attention, I know. +And then, if you will be good enough, call to-morrow morning--unless I +have to send for you before then. And if so, how shall I do that?" + +The hack drew up in front of the Inn of the Three Fishers and Cleek and +Dollops dismounted, the latter entering the inn with their baggage, +while Cleek stood at the side of the carriage, leaning over the edge of +it to speak to its sole occupant. Beyond him, directly opposite to them, +the village street broke off into a slope that led down into the valley, +rock-bound and lichened over with heather-bells and the outstretched +arms of prickly gorse-bushes. While on an adjacent hill directly in +front and rising out of the valley itself up a steep mountainside stood +Aygon Castle, its many windows commanding a distant view of the village, +and practically upon a level with it, so that some of those same +windows faced upon those of the inn, with the street and then the valley +and the hillside on which it stood between. + +Cleek waved a hand toward it now. + +"Which is your own window?" he asked softly. + +She pointed. "Fourth from the left. That tall, narrowish slit-like one. +It has mullioned panes--see? There are only three others like that on +this side. The fourth from the left is mine. Why?" + +"Because," said Cleek meaningly, "if you want me, put a light in that +window--a red light, for preference, as at this distance it would be +easier to see. And light and re-light it three times. I shall be on the +watch. And if not I, my man Dollops. Until to-morrow morning, when I +shall call. Remember--three times, if you want me, and I shall come +immediately--in my professional guise or not, as you like. And keep up +your heart, Miss Duggan. Things may not be as black as you think. Fourth +from the left, isn't it?" + +"Fourth from the left. How kind you are! I shall never be able to thank +you for all your interest. And I have a little disused bicycle lamp in +my cupboard. It has a red slide. I will flash that--if I need you. +Good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Cleek, smiling, and standing bareheaded in the early +morning sunshine. + +The carriage drove on up the hill, turning at the corner and winding +down again into the valley, and from the outer wall of the street upon +the opposite side one could watch its progress as one watched the +movements of a fly upon an adjacent bank. Cleek crossed the road and +stopped there, head bent, arms folded upon the low stone top of the +wall. Round along the tortuous hill road it went creeping along, at an +incredibly slow pace it seemed from his position above it, on and on and +on into the valley, and then up, up, up, the opposite hillside, through +bushes and shrubs that screened it now and again from view, and betwixt +immense boulders, until eventually it came abreast of the huge +wrought-iron gates of the place and passed between them out of sight. + +And as it disappeared Cleek turned upon his heel with a deep-drawn sigh. + +"Gad! what an inheritance!" he mentally commented as he crossed the road +and entered the portals of the inn itself. "Enough to fight for, indeed! +Mr. Narkom, old friend, this is one of those subtle things which your +middle-class upbringing could never understand. One of those things +which belong to the few and the chosen. Heigho! And Esau bartered his +birthright for a mess of pottage. She'd fight for it--and so would I! A +nice girl--hysterical, high-strung, but full of the pride of race. The +fourth window from the left, she said. I'll put Dollops on the job, +while I snoop around a bit for myself, and see how the land lies. Mine +host might possibly put me wise to a good deal, as our American cousins +say." + +So he strolled into the bar-parlour, and ordered a tankard of ale, and +over it made the acquaintance of that particular specimen of rugged +Scotch manhood who was for the time being to be his host. + +"Fine views in these parts," said he, conversationally, and in the +man-of-the-world-tourist-idiot voice which he affected upon occasions. +"My man and myself want to put up here for the fishin', doncherknow. You +can fix us in all right, I suppose?" + +"Cairtainly, sair. Therre's plainty of rume in th' Three Fishairs," +responded Mr. Fairnish, with a smile of welcome, and in that inimitable +accent which is Scotland's own, and which rings like rugged music upon +the ear of the stranger to those parts. "We've a nice bedroom facin' th' +Castle. It'll be a grrand view in the mornin' wi' yer tea. And yer +man--we'll find him a shake-down nearr-by, if ye so wish ut." + +Cleek liked on sight this genial host with his mellow accent. + +"Well, I'd prefer for him to be within reachin' distance of me, +doncherknow," he said, with an inane grin into the red-whiskered +countenance, blue-eyed and lined with exposure to wind and weather, that +glowed above him. + +"Cairtainly. If ye weesh it; Mrs. Fairnish will show ye yer rume, and +anything ye may want----" + +Cleek raised a detaining hand. + +"Please don't be in any hurry," he said pleasantly. "I've all day here +before me. Come down to do a bit of fishin', doncherknow. Fine sport in +these parts, they tell me. And that's Aygon Castle, is it? I know the +young lady, Miss Duggan, slightly. Grand place it looks, to be sure." + +Mr. Fairnish raised his eyes ceilingwards. His hands followed them. + +"It's a heavenly spot indeed," he said piously, as one might speak of +some religious place of worship. "One of the grrandest in our whole +country, sair. You'll be visitin' there, no doubt?" + +"Oh, possibly. A friendly call, doncherknow. What's the old chap like +who owns it?" + +Mr. Fairnish cast a hurried look on either side of him. The canny Scot +showed uppermost in his visage. But the coast was clear. Only a boy of +ten or twelve played at the other end of the bar with a roughly made +engine of wood, dragging it to and fro over the tiled floor. + +"Sair Andrew's a harrd mon--a dour, harrd mon is Sair Andrew," he said +in a low, harsh voice, and with a wrinkling of face muscles which spoke +volumes. "I wudner cross his path unless I could help it. Harrd, sair, +harrd as nails. And wi' a grrasp on him for every penny!" + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones. "Mean, is he?" + +"Mean wi' ye call it? Mean? There's no worrd ter expraiss what Sair +Andrew is at all. Not in the language, sair. But he's got a fine bailiff +ter manage th' land, and 'tis wi' him the people deal. Not wi' Sair +Andrew. Mistair Tavish, now--he's a fine chap, wi' a greeat hearrt an' a +helpin' hand for aiverybody. Mistair Tavish, now, he's a gentleman, +sair. Not a block er grranite, like th' old landlorrd!" + +Cleek smiled. So even in these rocky fastnesses of the silent Highlands +a man liked his bit of gossip, and loosened his tongue to pass the time +of day with every stranger. + +"Very interesting, Mr.----" + +"Fairnish, Robairt Fairnish." + +"Mr. Fairnish. And what about the rest of the family? Mean also?" + +"Aw no, sair. Not Mistair Ross, at any rate, nor Miss Duggan, either," +supplemented Mr. Fairnish, lighting his pipe with one horny hand and +leaning out over the bar the better to address Cleek. "Another ale, +sair?--cairtainly. Mr. Ross, now. A fine fellow, in spite of his +strrange ways and his wonderful apparatus. He's lit th' whole Castle +with electricity, sair; and Sair Andrew has no got ovair the effect o' +it yet. He does nought but grrumble and growl at Mistair Ross for th' +expainse and th' noosence of it, until, so I haird, th' Castle be no +pleasant spot to live in. And his wife, Lady Paula Duggan----" + +Mr. Fairnish raised his hands and eyes in a very expressive gesture. + +"You don't like the lady of the Castle, then, Mr. Fairnish?" interposed +Cleek, tossing off his ale and setting the empty tankard down upon the +bar in front of him. + +"Like her, do ye say, sair? Like her! Show me th' pairson in th' whole +deestrict that does, and I'll tell him he's a liarr--if ye'll pardon my +language. There's nought in the countryside that does like her--a +black-haired, weecked foreigner like hersai'f--though ye'll no repeat my +worrds, I pray, or 'twould go harrd with Robairt Fairnish when next +rrent-day comes round. But never a bairnie that has ought to say that's +plaisant o' her--th' black-eyed witch-wummun! An' that's a fact. She +speaks a heathen tongue, sair, an' I never trusts a foreigner. They're +suspeeshus characters, the best o' them." + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed--laughed heartily. + +"Well," said he, with a shake of the head, "perhaps you're right. Though +I won't say that my experience has always been just that. However, the +lady does not seem to find favour in your eyes. Mr. Ross Duggan I +haven't met." + +"A fine upstanding gentleman, sair, wi' ne'er a mean bone in his body." + +"And Miss Duggan?" + +"A gentle, kind creature wi' a hearrt o' gold. She'd do nought to harrm +anny one, sair, and I've proof o' that--bless her! Nor Miss McCall, +either." + +"Miss McCall?" + +"Lady Paula's companion and handy maid, sair. A leddy, if I knaws one. +Engaged to Mistair Tavish, I unnerstand--though 'tis not yet given out +to the gran' folk. But the' have th' saft look in their e'e for one +anaither. And 'tis juist that it means. A puir freeted creatur' wi' an +e'e fer the ghost o' the Castle. She'll have a fine mon in Mistair +Tavish, I assure ye. And now 'tis time ye saw yer rume, sair, or I'm no +a guid host ye'll ken." + +So saying, Mr. Fairnish moved away from the bar reluctantly, as one +stung by duty into doing something for which he had no relish, for bar +and Fairnish were as synonymous as the Dawn and the Day--and almost as +inseparable. + +Cleek watched him with upflung eyebrow and keen eye. Then he followed, +and set a hand upon the garrulous fellow's sleeve. + +"Mr. Fairnish," he said quietly, "you've interested me immensely. My own +fellow-folk, you know--what is it that Pope says?--'The proper study of +mankind is man.' Well, it's like that with me. Perhaps I'm +over-curious--there are a lot of us like that in this world. But you +mentioned a ghostly visitant of the Castle just now. You were speaking +in jest, of course?" + +An imperceptible something passed like a shadow over Mr. Fairnish's +rugged face. He gave a shiver. + +"In jest ye tak eet?" he said a trifle huskily. "Weel, 'tis in airnest +that I spoke. For nevair a step near the grounds will ought o' th' +countryside go at night. 'Tis a lang story, and I've no time to be +tellin' it thee noo, sair, but here's a leetle. 'Tis a peasant-gairl +that a Sair Andrew of the sixteenth century, I ken, abducted from her +propair parents (they lived in the Lowlands, so I've heard tell), and +brought to th' castle and locked up--for his ain pleasure! 'Tis a sorry +tale, for the puir maid deed o' a broken hearrt an' a broken speerit, +too, I tak' it, nigh on to twelve months latair, wi' a leetle one juist +come ter gladden her sore hearrt." + +"Indeed? And what became of the child, then?" + +"No one knaws. 'Twas said 'twas stealed at night by the granfer and +speerited awa'. And 'twas said th' de'il himsaif cam' an' claimed eet. +No one knaws that parrt o' th' story, but there's a mony who says they +du. Only the peasant-gairl hersaif haunts the Castle tu this day, sair, +and stalks th' whole place over from top tu bottom, an' inside and out, +a-lukin' fer her sheel." + +"Poor girl!" There was genuine sympathy in Cleek's low-toned voice, and +at sound of it Mr. Fairnish spun round and looked at him, his own face +brightening. + +"Then ye believe in eet?" he said. "Fer yer voice tells me so. And so +du I--an' aiverybody in these parrts. And wi' a mon so harrd as Sair +Andrew as laird, ye ken what a puir time the gel must have had long +ago--wi' another of 'em th' same. You're a sympathetic gentleman at +hearrt, sair, I knew it on sight uf ye, so ye'll be takin' a worrd of +advice from me, and no be out in the grounds at nicht, when there's no +mune. 'Tis said she twists the neck of every man she sees at nicht-time +in the grounds after dark, as a revenge for what she suffered at the +hands of one. Ugh! but it's a sorry tale and no prettier fer the +telling, I ken.... If ye come this way, sair, I'll introduce ye to my +ain leddy, and she'll tak' unco' care o' ye." + +"Thanks." + +Cleek swung into step behind him and mounted the wide shallow oak stairs +of the place to the tune of Mr. Fairnish's deep-pitched voice calling +for "Mary! Mary!" In the fullness of time "Mary" appeared, and resolved +herself into a buxom, high-bosomed, rosy-cheeked Highland lass, whom Mr. +Fairnish had taken to wife (the second for him) last January. She +appeared almost as garrulous as her husband, and while she showed Cleek +his room--a long, low-ceiled bedroom overlooking the Castle and with +windows across one end of it--she regaled him with tid-bits of gossip of +neighbouring parts, and incidentally added to his already plentifully +filled store of knowledge of the "Castle-folk" the fact that Miss +Duggan herself was secretly engaged to a Captain Macdonald--one of the +poorest land-owners of those parts--who, because of his poverty, was +forbidden the house by Sir Andrew, and promptly sent about his business. + +"A harrd mon," she said, as her husband had done, standing in the frame +of the open doorway with arms akimbo, and looking the true Scots lassie +she undoubtedly was. "And sich a nice gentleman, tu--that Captain +Macdonald. Reel gentry, Mr. Deland, sair. I've often thocht what a peety +it was tu see 'em pulled apart like thaat. Ye'll be wanting some hot +water, sair, I ken." + +"Thanks. I'd like some, certainly. And my man----" + +"He's made himself at home already," she responded, beaming at him. "And +he's in my keetchen th' noo, eatin' an airly lunch. He towld me ye'd +come fer the fishin', sair. We've a-mony come fer that to these parrts. +That'll be all, I tak' it?" + +"That'll be all." + +At which the good woman withdrew her tongue and herself, and left Cleek +a trifle dazed by the positive fount of garrulity at which he had been +drinking this past half-hour, and a good deal interested in the +Castle-folk to boot. + +He walked to the window and stood looking out of it at the magnificence +of Aygon Castle that rose like some dream-palace before his admiring +eyes. And as he looked he counted the windows across that part of the +building which faced upon the village. + +The fourth from the left. Well, she'd possibly never need to signal, and +yet--one never knew. And there was a ghost, too, and a horny-fisted and +hard-hearted landlord, just as the penny novelettes would have had it. +Quite interesting; quite. But the arrival of hot water set every other +thought but that of cleanliness out of his head, and he gave himself up +to his ablutions like a schoolboy on holiday. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MORNING CALL + + +No red light showed itself at Miss Duggan's window that night--though +Cleek sat up until the soft fingers of the dawn were wreathing the sky +with lavender veils and the face of the morning peeped through, like +some goddess stepped down from Olympus to smile upon her lesser fellows. +And it was then, and then only, that he sought his bed and the comfort +of cool sheets at last. + +Dollops, knowing his plan, did not disturb him. And so it came about +that the clock upon the mantel had chimed out ten before he opened an +eye and looked about him, sleep still dimming his vision and making the +unfamiliar room doubly strange. + +"What the--how the--Gad! if it isn't ten o'clock, and I've been sleeping +like a noodle ever since dawn," he said, springing out of bed and +donning dressing-gown and slippers to have a first glimpse out of the +window at that "fairy sight" which Mr. Fairnish had promised him with +his cup of tea. "Well, she _is_ a beauty and no mistake! Good morning to +you, fair Palace of the Mists. What secrets are locked away in your +breast this morning, I wonder? Well, the night has passed tranquilly +enough to be sure, and that poor girl's terrors are stilled for the +present twelve hours, at any rate. I'll call there after breakfast and +scrape acquaintance with the lot of 'em, and judge if Mr. Robert +Fairnish is as good an observer as he is a talker." + +And directly after breakfast that was exactly what he did do. Dollops, +armed with fishing-tackle and rods, received his marching orders in full +sight and sound of the inn's proprietor, knowing full well that within +five minutes of that time all that he had said and done would be ablaze +over the village, if he knew aught of that garrulous tongue of his. + +"Be off with you, Dollops, and have a look at the river," said Cleek +from the shelter of the open doorway, as Dollops wended his way slowly +down the path to the wicket-gate which led out on to the road. "And see +what fish be in those waters. And if you don't come home with a +twenty-pounder, you're no angler, my lad!" + +Dollops nodded and winked. + +"Right you are, sir. As Mr. Asquith says, better 'wait and see.' And if +I don't bring 'ome a twenty-pounder, I'll bring 'ome a twenty-yarder, at +any rate. Fer I'm a fair dabster for eels every time." + +"Sounds more like boa constrictors and the jungle than Highland rivers +and modest eels," retorted Cleek, laughing heartily. "And I'm paying a +call at the Castle and making my respects to Miss Duggan. So if I'm not +back for lunch, Dollops, don't fancy dreadful things and imagine I've +been consumed by the ghost-lady who haunts those lovely turrets and +towers, but come home and wait for me." + +Dollops stopped in his tracks and sucked in his breath hard, and the +freckled brown of his Cockney countenance took on a queer drabbish +shade. He came back again along the path and stopped in front of his +master, mouth hanging open, eyes wide. + +"Ghosts, sir! Did I 'ear you use the word _ghosts_?" he ejaculated with +a perceptible shiver. "Br-r-rh. I doesn't mind dealin' wiv any kind of +_'uman_--but wiv them in'uman species I'm a reg'lar goner! You ain't +arskin' me ter meet the lidy, are yer, sir?" + +"Not yet, my boy," returned Cleek, with a laugh and a shake of the head. +"So you needn't worry yourself about that. And if I do ask, you may be +sure I'll be asking nothing that I would not--and will not--partake of +myself. Get along with you, and don't bother your head. When I want you +to call, I'll come, too. You can count upon that." + +"Well, so long as I don't 'ave to call alone I doesn't mind so much," +retorted Dollops. Then, swinging round in his tracks, he went off down +the pathway, whistling that very hackneyed but popular tune, "Pack Up +Your Troubles in Your Ole Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!" While +Cleek, watching him for a moment, felt a sudden warmth of feeling +toward the rough-mannered but warm-hearted youth who had followed +him--willy-nilly--ever since they two had met upon that memorable +far-off day when Cleek had made himself responsible for the boy's +safety. + +A leisurely cigarette smoked in company with the worthy host, and then +Cleek took up his soft "squash" hat, seized hold of his blackthorn +stick, and with a nod and a smile to Mr. Fairnish, swung out into the +roadway, monocle screwed into left eye, well-cut tweeds setting off the +splendid figure of him, and looking for all the world like the leisured, +perfectly turned-out exquisite who journeys so far out of his beaten +track only in pursuit of a sport which vastly amuses him, and to whom +Bond Street and the very outer edge of the Western Highlands are all one +and the same thing, so long as he can get a day's amusement out of them. + +The walk to the Castle was not as long as he expected. It was, in fact, +but a brief fifteen minutes over a rough, hilly road which in parts was +little more than a track, and which swung up and down so unevenly over +the moor that walking was at times difficult. Halfway there, as Cleek +turned the corner of a little ravine and came out upon a full view of +the valley, with the Inn of the Three Fishers to the left of him and +the Castle to the right, he heard the _thud-thud_ of a horse's hoofs, +and in a moment more, drawing up against the bank to allow whoever was +coming to pass, he saw a rider approach from the right and go through a +gate which led apparently to the Castle grounds. As the rider passed, +Cleek stepped out into the path with a sudden impulse and raised his +hat. + +"I say," said he in his London drawl, as the rider dismounted and, +removing his hat, stood before him--a fine figure of a man in Scotch +tweeds, measuring a good six-feet-two of staunch muscle and bone, with +the shoulders of a giant and a big-featured, kindly face, and the blue +eyes and high hooked nose of the typical Scotsman; the all-observing eye +of Cleek noticed that one of the stranger's fingers was bandaged, as if +it had recently been cut. Cleek instinctively liked him. "Can you tell +me," he said--"awfully sorry to stop you and all that--but can you +possibly tell me if this is Aygon Castle? Looks like it from the +pictures, b' Jove, but photography's frightfully deceptive--what? Friend +of mine--a Miss Duggan--Miss Maud Duggan, I think the name is--lives +there, doesn't she? I happened to come up here yesterday for the +fishin'--awfully fond of it and that sort of thing--and promised to call +whenever I was out this way. I'm right, am I not?" + +"Perfectly right." Cleek liked the deep, ringing voice which answered +him, as he liked the shrewd blue eyes that travelled so rapidly over his +tweeds. Liked, too, the hard, grim mouth which broke into such a +charming smile, transfiguring the whole face as though a light had been +set behind it. "And Miss Duggan does live here. You're keen on fishing, +I take it. Well, so am I. It's a man's sport, and there's few Scotsmen +who don't like it. My name's Tavish--James Tavish--and I'm agent for Sir +Andrew Duggan's estates. We'll possibly meet each other up the river +some time, for I spend most of my spare time there." + +"Thanks. I'd like it immensely. Fishin's a lonesome game alone. And +though I've brought my man with me, and he's a dab hand with the tackle, +one gets a bit bored sometimes. I'll probably see you up at the Castle, +Mr. Tavish, and we'll improve our acquaintance. Many thanks for your +courtesy." + +So saying, Cleek passed on up the rough road, while his new friend +remounted the little chestnut mare he rode so magnificently, and went +galloping off up the incline, making a fine picture against the rugged +scenery of which he seemed such an inseparable part. + +Cleek reached the Castle gates at last, rang the huge bell, and waited +while the lodge-keeper unfastened them for him and inquired his name, +went with him up the long sweep of gravelled driveway with its +bordering of yews and young pine trees lending an air of picturesque +gloom to the place even upon that bright morning. And having reached the +great oaken front door--a monstrous affair scarred by the ruthless hand +of Time as much as by the mailed fists which must have thudded upon it +in far-off days, or by the spears and battle-axes of past Duggans who in +this fashion had left something more definite than a memory for their +ancestors to cherish--pulled the chain of the bell, and waited while the +jangling echoes of its noise died away into silence before his summons +was answered. + +At length the door opened. He caught a glimpse of a dim interior, lofty +as a church and dark with the panellings of old oak which flanked it +upon all four sides, and then gave his name to the pompous old butler, +and was taken into a little ante-room redolent of age--that mothy, +curtained odour as of a room but rarely opened and still more rarely +used--and within a moment or two Miss Duggan was standing there before +him. + +"Mr. Deland! How good of you to have come so soon--how very good!" she +said warmly, extending a hand to him in greeting. "You must surely stay +and lunch with us, now that you have come all this distance. And I want +you to meet my father." Her voice dropped a tone or two. "Paula is with +him now, going over the housekeeping accounts--it is a daily matter upon +which he is very insistent. Ross is in the laboratory, tinkering over +something to do with the lights, but he'll be out in a minute. I told +him I had met you on the train, and that we had got into conversation +and found we were congenial friends through Ailsa Lorne. You know her +well, don't you, Mr. Deland?" + +He smiled, and for a moment his eyes softened. + +"Rather well, I fancy, as she has consented some day to throw in her lot +with me and marry me," he returned in a happy, low-pitched voice. "And +that is why any friend of hers, you know, must be a friend of mine as +well. I'd like very much to have a look at the Castle, if I might be so +permitted. Architecture interests me immensely. It's a hobby of mine. +And this is surely one of the grandest old stately homes that Scotland +possesses!" + +"Isn't it?--isn't it? I can see you have the love of Home and Race in +you, too, Mr. Deland, just as I have it in me," she responded, with a +little happy sigh. "And if only I had not this other trouble which hangs +over me like the sword of Damocles itself, life would be a very happy +thing, indeed. For when one loves and is loved----" Her voice trailed +off into silence, and she stood a moment looking out of the window, eyes +alight, face aglow. + +"Oho!" thought Cleek, with upflung brows. "So Love finds its way even +into these Highland fastnesses. First James Tavish and Lady Paula's +companion (if what Mr. Fairnish said was true), and now Miss Duggan +herself." + +"Who is the happy man?" he said smilingly, as she sighed and turned +toward him. + +"How did you know there was one?" + +"How does any one know that any one loves any one else--when oneself +loves?" he returned enigmatically. "Remember I, too, belong to the happy +band. He lives close here, Miss Duggan?" + +"Yes. Only a couple of miles away. But, alas! my father will hear +nothing of him, and has even forbidden him the house." + +"And may I ask why?" + +"Certainly. Because he is poor. Father's god is Mammon, Mr. Deland. He +knows and acknowledges no other. And Angus Macdonald has received very +little at the hands of that god." + +"But a good deal at the hands of the only God that matters, I take it," +put in Cleek softly, with a smile at her. "Well, they say that Love +laughs at locksmiths, and always finds a way. Time will give you your +chance, Miss Duggan, and you'll have to be brave enough to take it.... +There's someone coming, I think." + +There _was_ someone coming, for even as Cleek spoke the door swung open +and a tall, gaunt, white-haired old man, with a back like a ramrod and a +face of granite, and with eyes that shone like pin-points of steel in +the smooth pallor of it, came into the room, followed by a dark-eyed, +dark-haired, sallow-complexioned woman with the long nose of the Italian +and the brand of the true coquette stamped all over her. + +Cleek recognized them at once. Here were the chief actors in the little +comedy of what was at present a girl's imaginings, and which he +sincerely hoped would never become anything else. What a hard face the +man had! What a trap-like mouth! What a merciless, seeking eye! And the +woman with him--all soft curves and roundness, with those luminous eyes +of southern Italy looking out at him from the frame of her pale, +ivory-tinted face, with already a hint of coquetry in their velvet +depths for any well-dressed, well-apportioned specimen of mankind. +Beside the something rugged and clear-cut in Maud Duggan's +personality--the something Scotch and enduring which is the birthright +of those born beyond the boundary-line of England--this woman's pale +suavity fell into a kittenish foolishness, became instantly trivial and +beyond recognizance. + +At sound of their approach Maud Duggan turned hurriedly and waved a hand +toward Cleek. + +"Father," said she in her low, level-toned voice, "this is Mr. Deland of +whom I told you last night. Mr. Deland is engaged to Ailsa Lorne, my old +school friend at the convent in Paris--and he has come down for the +fishing, and did me the honour to call upon me the very first thing. I +have asked him to stay and lunch with us." + +Sir Andrew bowed stiffly and then extended a blue-veined and tremulous +hand. Cleek took it and bent over it like a courtier. + +"Very pleased indeed to see you, Mr. Deland," said Sir Andrew, in a +deep, full-throated voice that spoke more of the man he had been than of +the man he was now. "You are welcome to our hospitality now and at any +other time." + +"I am deeply grateful, sir, and during my short stay in these parts I +shall hope to make fuller acquaintance of you and your family--your +wife? How do you do, Lady Paula? I am enamoured of your charming +surroundings and your glorious home. May I be permitted to congratulate +you upon both?" + +A fleet look flashed from her eyes, a swift warmth of friendship for +this stranger who made her so much _one_ of them who had never yet been +made one by the family themselves. + +"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Smooth as velvet her voice, warm, subtle, +alluring as the country that gave her birth. "I love it--_how_ I love +it! Even though I am not of the Scotch blood, yet have I that birthright +of my nation--home-love. Maud, dear, take Mr. Deland round, won't you? I +have still some matters to arrange with your father, so you must do the +honours in my stead. And when Sir Andrew and I have finished with our +little _personal_ matters"--she smiled suddenly, showing a flash of +snowy teeth between the warm red lips which Time had not yet cooled to +the more even tenor of England's blood--"then we will join you upon the +terrace. And be sure and show Mr. Deland the electric-lighting plant, +dear. He will be interested." + +Maud Duggan flashed her a look of absolute hatred at this, for she saw +the darkening shade upon her father's face, and noted the sudden +clenching of the hand upon his stick. + +"Cursed modernism and all its extravagant ways!" said the old gentleman +in a bitter voice. "Spending that which he should have saved, sir, upon +a ridiculous experiment which has ruined the atmosphere of the place +entirely. Wayward fool!" + +"But it has improved your reading faculties, anyhow, Father," put in +Miss Duggan in a quiet, resolute voice. "Paula is not nearly so busy +nowadays, when you can read your own papers----" + +"As though I _ever_ wanted to do anything but wait upon him--dear man!" +struck in Lady Paula reproachfully, and with an arch glance at Cleek +which did not go unrewarded. "Your father is not so old a man as to be +in his dotage. And if there _is_ twenty years between us, Maud, it is +hardly kind of you to bring the matter up like this. Perfect love should +have no age nor yet youth. It should be as ageless as Eternity, as +boundless as the sea, as high as Heaven itself.... Are you ready, +Andrew dear?" + +She bent toward the flattered and fluttered old man with that something +in her gesture which has been the gift of every woman of her type all +down the long ages since Scylla tempted Ulysses and Charybdis sent his +head whirling with her lure. + +Maud Duggan led Cleek from the room at that, and once out of earshot of +this ill-assorted pair, whirled round upon him, a spot of anger showing +in each cheek. + +"You see, Mr. Deland, you see?" she rapped out excitedly, "how she +misleads everything we say, and turns it all to her own ends? Oh, how I +hate her--hate her! and have done so ever since she first set foot in +this dear old home of ours. And Father--did you notice how worn and ill +he looks? How his hand shakes so that he cannot steady it? Three months +ago his hand was like a rock; his colour was as healthy as yours or +mine. And yet your Mr. Narkom would say that a woman's intuition leads +to nothing but her own foolish imaginings!" + +"Hush, my dear young lady--have a care!" threw in Cleek quickly, at the +sound of footsteps hurrying toward them, his lips tightening in a way +that suggested that he, too, thought there might be "something in it." +"We don't want the whole place to suspect my mission. That is our +secret, if you please. Now, show me the Castle, if you will--and +whatever of interest which you think has bearing upon the case. Where is +Lady Paula's son? Does he live here, or is he away at school just now?" + +Miss Duggan shook her head. + +"No--Cyril is a delicate boy, and the doctor has advised Father to let +him stay home for a year and just run wild. He is generally with Ross." + +"With _Ross_?" + +"Yes, the two are sworn friends. Cyril's heart is wrapped up in Ross, +Mr. Deland. He never for one moment suspects what his mother is trying +to do--wrest Ross's inheritance from him so that he, Cyril, should have +it instead. It would break his heart, I think. Wherever Ross is to be +found you may be sure Cyril will be there also." + +"Damon and Pythias, eh? Strange that the son loves what the mother +hates, isn't it? I should like to meet this boy." + +"You shall--when we reach the laboratory. He's sure to be there helping +Ross. He is like his shadow, that child." + +"And he is sixteen, you say?" + +"Next October. And a firm believer in our ghost, Mr. Deland." + +"Then you have a ghost and all complete?" + +"Of course. Hasn't Mr. Fairnish of the Three Fishers told you the story +yet? He is usually to be relied upon to impart every bit of village +gossip within the first five minutes of one's acquaintance!" + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed. They had entered a long, +low-ceilinged room, panelled in Spanish leather, with casement windows +which gave upon a little walled-in enclosure surrounded by flowering +shrubs and white-starred syringa-bushes that sent their pungent odour +upon the air in one long waft of perfume. + +"He's told me a good deal, it is true, but----What a delightful room! A +library, I take it? And what a curious old instrument that is! I haven't +seen a spinning wheel like that since I was in Wales and one stood in +the corner of the room where I slept at the village inn. A sort of +heirloom, I suppose?" + +She nodded, and Cleek crossed over to the thing to examine it, touching +a part here and a part there with reverent fingers. + +"Yes, I suppose you _would_ call it that," she responded, crossing over +to him and looking down at the thing in question. "Though, really, why +Father has it here I cannot imagine. Its history is certainly not a +credit to the line. For it belonged to the very girl I was going to tell +you about. It belonged to the Family Ghost. Here is the story. The +villagers believe it to this day, and couldn't be persuaded to enter the +Castle grounds at night upon any pretext whatever. But of course the +educated folk don't. Early in the sixteenth century a wild head of the +Macduggan clan abducted a young--and I imagine beautiful--peasant-girl +when she was sitting at her wheel, spinning, and ran away with +her--wheel and all--and brought her here, so legend says, to this very +room. The girl, whose name, I believe, was Dhurea, or something like +that, stabbed herself with the sharp-pointed spindle of the wheel, and +in doing so laid a curse upon the Macduggan clan. She--she was going to +have a child, Mr. Deland, and as she was dying, she swore that in every +generation a Duggan should die a violent death, and that the sound of +her spinning wheel should predict the moment when death was near." + +"Oho!" said Cleek, in two different tones. "That differs a good deal +from the story Mr. Fairnish tells. There was a child, I understood, and +this child was stolen by the grandparents. That's not correct, then?" + +"There are various interpretations of the legend. No one knows the +truth--only that she killed herself and cursed the family in that +unpleasant manner." + +"And has the curse come true?" + +For a moment Miss Duggan hesitated. Then she sent startled eyes up into +his face. There was the look of a dog at bay in them. + +"I don't believe the story, Mr. Deland! I don't believe a _word_ of it, +for such things cannot possibly be, in this civilized country," she +answered in a scared tone. "And yet--ever since that day, one at least +of each generation has died unnaturally. And now--in _this_ generation +there is only Father and Ross.... This peasant-girl is supposed to haunt +our dear Castle, and after midnight to stalk the place over, looking for +the man who dishonoured her and who has been dead these many generations +past." + +"H'm! I see. And so, naturally, she cannot find him. A weird story, and +more pleasant in the daylight than in the dark. And this is the lady's +spinning wheel, I take it? Your father has it by his writing-table, I +see. Rather in the way, isn't it?" + +"It used to stand over there, in the corner, but Paula declared that it +was too dark there, and that it did not show to its full beauty. So she +moved it. Father lets her do whatever she wishes. And of course it does +show better there, by the window, doesn't it? And as it's Father's +_left_ hand that comes beside it, Mr. Deland, I don't really see that it +much matters." + +"No, I suppose not.... Hello! we've been a long time here, haven't we? +And I haven't seen the half of the place yet. Isn't that the luncheon +gong? Or is it just your tangy Highland air that makes me hungry enough +to imagine it?" + +"Neither," said she, laughing. "That's Rhea's bell. It hangs just under +the bronze statue of Rhea--you remember the one I showed you yesterday +as we came home together?--and it rings upon the entrance of any one +through the great gate. A clumsy contraption, which has never been +altered in all these years." + +"But quite useful--with unwanted visitors," he replied, stooping +suddenly and picking up something off the carpet. "Hello, what's this? +Looks like a bit of flexible electric wire. Something of your brother's +hobby, no doubt." + +He held it out to her in the open palm of his hand. It was just a little +scrap of crimson-covered flexible wire, and she barely noticed it. + +"And ... hello, hello! No electricity used in here, either. I suppose +that's because your father doesn't approve?" + +"Yes. Ross wired the room--or had it wired with the aid of an +electrician--and then installed the light. But Father was so angry that +he would rarely ever use it. Sticks to the musty old lamp over there, +for most things." + +"And is the room still wired?" + +"Yes. There's a wall plug over there by the door. Why, Mr. Deland?" + +"Oh, nothing. Then that would account for this fragment of flexible +wire, wouldn't it? H'm. Yes. I see. I see." + +But what he saw he did not at that moment mention, and Miss Duggan had +to guess at his meaning. + +"But it was done ten days ago-- I must really speak to the servants and +tell them to keep the place cleaner than they do. Fancy leaving odd +pieces about like that!" she ejaculated, sensitive to any suggestion of +poor management upon the part of Castle authorities. But Cleek did not +hear. He was standing over by the wall-plug, looking down at it, and +then kneeling, began to examine it minutely. She watched him in +amazement, unused to his methods. + +"Why, Mr. Deland--" + +"Oh, just looking at how your brother does his work. Quite a good +workman, isn't he?" said Cleek, rising slowly to his feet, and pocketing +the bit of flexible wire forthwith. + +And that was the last word she could get out of him upon the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A STARTLING DISCOVERY + + +Within one short hour Cleek had explored the Castle from end to end, in +company with a tireless girl for whom every stick and stone of the grand +old place held a memory that was as sacred to her as the church is to +the priest who has passed all his days in the service of it. But they +met no other members of the family just then. Only, as they passed +through the left wing, where the servants' quarters lay beyond, Cleek +was introduced to Johanna McCall--paid hireling and companion of Lady +Paula, and not too pleased with her job, either, if all he read in that +frightened face of hers was true. + +He found her a little pale slip of a thing, with wide, anxious eyes set +in an ivory-tinted, utterly colourless face, and with hair that was +"mousey" and straight, and a mouth that might tremble at an unkind word +as a child's does. + +She bowed to him timidly and extended a slender hand. + +"How do you do," she said, in a soft, toneless sort of voice which +matched her poor, toneless, utterly downtrodden personality. "Your +stepmother, Miss Duggan? She is in the study, I suppose? I have her +embroidery silks, and she wanted them immediately. But it took such a +time to get them disentangled. Master Cyril was playing with them last +night. I--oh, I do hope she won't be angry!" + +"Don't worry, Miss McCall. Rome won't fall, you know, even if she does +speak an unkind word to you in her hasty fashion," gave back Maud +Duggan, with a kindly pressure of one hand upon the frail girl's arm. +"And she's busy just now with Sir Andrew. Looking over some accounts, I +believe. I should wait for her in her boudoir, if I were you. She's +bound to ring if she wants you." + +"Yes, perhaps that would be better." + +Miss McCall hurried down the corridor, silent-footed, as a paid +companion should always be, and Cleek shook his head as she vanished +through an open door at the end of the passage. + +"Poor little frightened thing!" he said softly. "And all for a pittance +which, in her sort of profession, must necessarily be small!" + +"Yes, and she works like a black for it, too," gave back Maud Duggan +heatedly. "Slogs away all the day long, running errands +for--_her_--sewing, darning, mending, writing interminable letters which +Paula tears up afterward and decides not to send. And gets not a crumb +of comfort for her pains. Paula is terribly hard upon her, Mr. Deland. +I wonder the girl stands it; only--there's an attraction." + +"And you women are endurance personified--in those circumstances!" he +responded with a little significant laugh. "When your hearts are +involved, your common sense vanishes to make room for it. I've seen it a +thousand times before.... Really, Miss Duggan, you have been an +indefatigable guide. I don't believe there's a nook or cranny of this +place which I haven't seen, is there?" + +"Only the cellars--or, properly speaking, the dungeons. And they're of +no interest to anybody. Father keeps the wines down there, of course, +and anything that does not require too much storage. But, excepting for +the cellar, the place is never entered from one year's end to another. +Not a servant would go down into them for double wages. The peasant-girl +is supposed to stay there when she is not out on her nightly prowl for +the man who abducted her!" + +"Indeed? That's interesting. I suppose I couldn't go down? Dungeons are +a perfect passion with me, for I've an insatiable curiosity, and always +want to go poking my nose where no one else does. Sort of brand of my +profession, I suppose. Do you think you could find energy enough to take +me down?" + +"Certainly." + +She led the way down an L-shaped passage, which led past the kitchens +and the servants' hall, and gave out upon a little stone courtyard set +apart from the house and bounded about with a high wall through which +arrow-slits gave the true mediaeval touch, and then down to the right of +this through a huge oaken door which opened noiselessly, showing a +flight of steep, uneven stone steps leading down into a dark, +damp-smelling interior. + +At the top of the steps she paused and looked back at him over the curve +of her shoulder, making a wry face. + +"You still want to go?" she asked jestingly. "I'm a brave woman, Mr. +Deland, but I wouldn't undertake this journey alone for anything! +There's--_rats_!" + +"As well as ghosts? But this is morning, and Scotland, and the twentieth +century--so lead on, Macduff," he answered her in the same jesting +spirit. "Or would you like me to go first?" + +She shivered and twitched up her shoulders. + +"No; I'll do the honours properly. This way. If you've a torch on you, +you'll need it at the bottom of these stairs. It's as dark as pitch." + +"I have." + +Cleek produced it, and they proceeded upon the uncanny journey. The +steps led down, down, into what seemed the very bowels of the earth +(which indeed they were), until they reached a little square opening +from which iron-grilled doorways looked out upon them from every side, +saving for one oak door on the left, which Miss Duggan pointed out as +the wine-cellar. + +"H'm! And smells like it, too," put in Cleek, with a sniff--"What's +behind that door is worth a fortune, I'll be bound. Hello! here's a +candle-end stuck in a bottle! Now, who the dickens uses that, I wonder?" + +"The servants, I suppose. They come down through their own stairs, Mr. +Deland--over there on the left--you can see them if you look hard +enough. They're wooden ones, and were put in by my father's grandsire, +for the convenience of the house. The servants don't like this way at +all. They prefer to come through the butler's pantry." + +"And those stairs lead up there? I see. Hello! Here's a chain attached +to this iron post. What's that?" + +"The prisoner's chain. This room here"--she pointed to the grilled door +opening next to the cellar "was kept for political prisoners, I believe. +And those two across the way were for personal enemies of the family." + +"And are there any others?" + +"Yes--through that first door on the right--but you won't get _me_ to go +into them," she responded with a laugh. "It's horrible in there. There's +a rack and one or two thumbscrews and other articles which belong to the +Spanish Inquisition period; as well as rats innumerable. My bravery +vanishes at this point. I'll not go a step farther!" + +"But you don't mind if I do?" + +"Not a bit. I'll wait here. But there's nothing to see--really. And it's +getting perilously near lunch-time." + +Cleek cocked his head persuasively at her. + +"I won't be a minute--really. But that thumbscrew has got me guessing, +as our American cousins say. I suppose there's no lock on the door? Gad! +but it opens easily enough. Been fairly recently oiled, I take it?" + +"Not that I know of. In fact, I don't believe any one's been in the +place since Ross came down here, three months ago, to show a friend +round. Perhaps he oiled it then." + +"Perhaps. I won't be a minute, really. And I've another torch, if you'd +like it. Here." He tossed it to her, and, keeping his spotlight ahead +of him, entered the dark, dank, evil-smelling place, his footsteps +ringing upon the stone flooring and sending the echoes scampering into +the corners, together with more tangible--and verminous--things. There +was nothing in the first room, but beyond it he came upon the Torture +Chamber and all those instruments of cruelty which marked a less kindly +period of the world's history. And this Chamber was larger than the +other cell. Rusty hooks hung from the ceiling, of incredible size and +suggesting unthinkable horrors, and over all hung the odour of damp and +decay, mingled with something more modern, which caused Cleek to stop +suddenly and sniff like a terrier scenting a rat. + +"Strange!" he said to the silence and the solitude of that awful place, +"but she said the cellars were over there! But if someone hasn't been +drinking spirits here a short time ago, I miss my guess! And, what's +more, someone _has_! A solitary debauch, I suppose. Now, who the dickens +would have thought it?" + +His torch caught a glimmer of something that shone like glass--which +_was_ glass, in fact, and resolved itself into a cracked tumbler beside +which stood a syphon of soda and an empty bottle smelling strongly of +whisky. + +"Whew! Nice little place for a quiet read and a smoke--I _don't_ think!" +he apostrophized it. "With rats in the corners and ghosts all +around--brrh! He's a strange fellow who likes this sort of company, I +must say. But there's nothing to be nosed out here in this pleasant +little den. I'll just take a glimpse through the next one, and then get +back to Miss Duggan, or she'll be getting the creeps and run." + +He had started back, and had just swung his torch through the doorway +beyond, when of a sudden he stopped, sucked in his breath, and fairly +ran into the place, head down, nose to the ground, like a dog, every +faculty alert. + +What he saw there is not recorded, for just at that moment he heard +Miss Duggan's clear voice calling him, and he had perforce to answer. +But he had time to stoop suddenly and swoop down upon something white +but slightly bloodstained which lay on the ground before him, dart a +hasty glance at it, and cram it into his pocket, before swinging round +upon his heel and answering her summons; and all the time saying to +himself: "Who'd have thought it? Now who the dickens would have thought +it?" + +Meanwhile he fingered the slightly bloodstained handkerchief which he +had picked up, and upon which by the light of his torch he had remarked +the initials "R. D." embroidered in one corner. And he laughed softly +and joyfully clapped his hands together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHEN THE SWORD FELL + + +Luncheon at Aygon Castle resolved itself into a somewhat dull and +ceremonious affair, and although there were a good many of them round +the festive board, conversation languished and laughter was noticeable +by its absence. + +"What a devil of a family to live with!--sitting as though there were a +cold-water poultice on top of 'em," mentally registered Cleek as he +surveyed the company and tried his best to add to the general interest +by anecdotes of a recent tour in Ireland; but his conversational efforts +evoked only an occasional "Indeed?" from Sir Andrew. Entertaining these +people ought to be a paid task in itself, he decided. They hadn't got +any further with civilization than the hired-jester period. Gloom was +glory to the atmosphere of that room during the interminable meal. He +looked from one to another keenly. + +First the old laird, solemn as a judge, and concerned only with what was +put before him, with the strange greed of the very old; and at the foot +of the table, his lady, offering a contrast that was as darkness to +day. Cleek sat on the right of his host with Maud Duggan beside him, and +opposite her brother Ross--a big, broad-shouldered, hawk-nosed chap with +the small blue eye of the Scot, keen as a knife-blade, and showing in +the winged flare of nostril the blood that ran in his veins. A likable, +clever fellow. Cleek warmed to him on sight. And yet--his eye swung on +him again. Next to Ross sat Miss McCall, eyes downcast, speaking only +when spoken to, very patiently the servant of a mistress who would +instantly quell any attempt at familiarity or breach of position upon +her part; and next to Miss McCall, little Cyril, black-haired, +brown-eyed, wide-lipped as any other Italian boy, with the soft olive +bloom upon his cheeks that is youth's own birthright. + +"And they called him Cyril!--a wishy-washy name like that!" thought +Cleek disgustedly, looking long at him. "What a perfectly beautiful boy! +And looks delicate, too. No wonder the mother loves him. There's +something appealing in those pansy eyes of his that would lure blood +from a stone. I must have a chat with him later on. He'll tell me much +of this strange family, if I get the right side of him to begin with." + +He commenced tactics right away, and caught Cyril's boyish fancy in a +wonderful story of a heroic and marvellous engine-driver whom he had +known. + +"And I'll tell you some more about him, too--after lunch is over--if +you'll take me out and show me the grounds of this beautiful place," he +promised, with a nod and a smile which won Cyril's hero-worshipping soul +instantly and gained for Cleek an ally who, if handled in the right way, +might prove more useful than he had at first imagined. "There's one +story I remember about the Calais express, and how that chap got the +better of a pack of Apaches who were after the mail-bags. +Gospel-truth!--it's wonderful! We're goin' to be good pals, Cyril, I can +see." + +"Only, please, _please_ do not fill his mind up with any more +imaginings, Mr. Deland, than he has already got for himself," threw in +Lady Paula, with an arch glance at Cleek and a little self-conscious +laugh. "He is already filled to the brim with his stepbrother's +electrical madnesses. Ross has woven a spell over him, I think, in +which--what do you call it?--flex and tungsten and short-circuits and +all the rest of that impossible jargon of these light-fiends are +inextricably mixed. I sometimes fear for Cyril's sanity! He talks in his +sleep all night long of these things, and then wakes in the morning, +pale as death. But I cannot make him do other than spend all these +beautiful, long summer days in that stuffy laboratory with Ross, +watching him at what he calls his experiments." + +She flashed a smile into Ross Duggan's suddenly flushed face, as though +the words she spoke bore no intended sting and innocence alone had +prompted her to speak her mind thus freely. But the timed shaft had its +desired effect, for Cyril turned quickly upon his mother with darkening +brows. + +"So silly of you, Mater, not wanting me to learn all about that ripping +electricity. And Ross knows such a lot, too, and I love to sit and watch +him. And he lets me help sometimes--don't you, Ross?" + +"Yes, old chap." + +"Well, then, I can't see what all the fuss is about, Mater. I really +can't. Why, that light in my room's ripping for reading at night, +instead of the fuggy old lamp we used to have there, and----" + +An agonized look from Maud Duggan sent his brave words trailing off into +nothingness. But already the mischief was done. The black cloud had +settled upon Sir Andrew's face, and the sluggish blood was clotting in +temple veins and cheeks, telling of the anger within. The pin-point eyes +under their beetling brows were more steel-like than ever. He rose to +his feet suddenly, and brought one shaking fist down upon the table-top +with a force that sent the glasses jangling and the table silver +rattling to the tune of it. + +"Have done!" he thundered furiously, trembling in a rage that had become +an old man's obsession, and which responded to the constant playing upon +it like a deep-throated viola in the hands of a musician who understood +it; "have done with all this extravagant nonsense! Haven't I threatened +Ross enough as it is, to take his time-wasting, money-eating experiments +out of my house?--and now he not only disobeys my spoken word, but +actually causes the illness of my youngest son himself. Pale?--of course +the boy is pale! Hanging about indoors in a stuffy room, watching his +father's money poured out like water to tickle the fancy of a fool who +is old enough to know better! I'll have none of him--none of him! He may +sing for his bread and butter in future!--go out into the streets and +beg for it, as better beggers than he have done! But he'll leave the +house--he----" + +"Father!" + +It was Maud Duggan who spoke, rising quickly and hurrying round to him, +to put an arm about his shaking shoulders. "We have a guest--a +stranger----" + +"This is no time for guests or strangers! The moment has come, and I'll +have done with it once and for all!" he thundered back at her, with an +old man's persistence, and the single-mindedness of the ill and aged. +"Mr. Deland will pardon what must seem an extraordinary outburst, but +Mr. Deland will not stop it. I am master here, and my will is law. I +mean to enforce it. My mind is made up. Shall I watch my boy Cyril grow +up into just another such maniac, think you? Until he has not rested +content but that the whole Highlands be lit with his precious +electricity--at the price of his father's fortune?... Paula, my +dear--m-my medicine----" He shook slightly, and then an ague took him +and he trembled. He dropped back into his chair, a huddled, shivering +old man in whom the power of his anger had burnt the frail spirit into a +mere husk of its former strength; and in an instant Lady Paula was upon +her feet, running round to him, and fumbling as she ran with her fingers +in her bodice. + +"My dear!--my dear! You must not so excite yourself. It is not good for +you. Not right," she said soothingly, taking his head in her arms and +pillowing it against her breast; meanwhile with her other hand she +deftly unscrewed the top of a little bottle she had drawn from her +blouse, and shook out one tiny pellet, which she placed between his +trembling lips. "Take this, dearest, and you will feel better.... A +light drug, Mr. Deland, which the doctor orders at such times. Poor +dear!--poor dear! it is such a constant worry to him, this continuous +quarrel with his own flesh-and-blood. If you had really loved your +father, Ross----" + +"As _you_ love him, no doubt I should be able to emulate your methods of +attack better," he returned, stung suddenly out of his bitter silence by +the reproach. "But I have been brought up in another school, Paula, +where we deal square blows that do not strike below the belt, and where +we do not let our ambitions play upon a flattered old man's affections +quite so cleverly or so perceptibly as you do!" + +"Stop!" + +The mischief was out, the damage was done, and in one moment that dull +and insignificant luncheon-table had been transformed into something +that was more like a third-rate melodrama than a family quarrel among +people of the better class. But the thing had been thrashed out so many +times before that politeness had worn thin, and each one spoke his mind +with a bitterness which left nothing to the imagination. Here was the +actual canker of a family's innermost heart, with all the outer covering +worn thin by constant bickerings and the whole ugly reality of the thing +starkly revealed. + +Cleek's face went grim as he watched the blanched faces about the table. +The stammering, broken voice of Sir Andrew tore into the sudden silence. +The old man was struggling up out of his chair, and from the detaining +arms of wife and daughter, face livid, lips twitching, the vein in his +transparent temple standing out like a piece of blue whip-cord. His +clenched hand shook in the air, trembling with the force that he put +into it. + +"Stop it! How dare you say such words to my wife--how dare you! You +shall pay for this, Ross Duggan, and pay dearly! To-night I alter my +will--to-night I strike your name from it forever and make the estates +over to someone else. But your name goes out of it--as you +do--_to-night_!... Paula, your arm." + +He swung toward his wife with all the dignity of his years and his +inheritance, and took the arm she held out to him, clinging to it as a +child to its mother's skirts, and falteringly left the room, where his +words had fallen upon those remaining like the sword of Damocles itself. +Ross had gone white--deathly white, as had Maud Duggan herself--and all +the indignity of this thing before a stranger to their household showed +itself in his tense countenance. + +"Gad! I'll go--and go _now_!" he rapped out, in a very fever of fury and +outraged pride. "And glad to get away, too! Such an infernal hell-nest +of a place as _she_ has made out of a decent British home!" + +"Ross! She's my mater, you know." + +"Sorry, old chap! I forgot for a moment. But it shan't occur again. I'll +be off, Maud, and get along to Cynthia's. She'll have something to say +about this, I daresay, and her Guv'nor will probably give me a leg-up in +finding a job. I'm better out of this. Mr. Deland, you've been the +unwilling victim of an unpleasant scene--and a family scene, which is +most unpleasant of all. I must apologize to you. Had I foreseen anything +of the sort, we would have postponed your luncheon until a later date. +It might have been more agreeable for you. Good-bye, and I'm sorry I +shan't see more of you. I'm clearing off now, Maud--you can send along +my things later." + +Maud Duggan's eyes searched his face, a look in them of agonized +question, as if she was unable to believe the evidence of her own ears. +Then she ran to him and caught him suddenly by the arm. + +"Ross, dear, you mustn't be so hasty! You mustn't!" she entreated, +squeezing his arm in her two hands as he looked down at her with his +set, angry face. "You know Father, dear. He'll wish in half an hour, +he'd bitten his tongue out sooner than spoken to you like that. You know +he will. You're his first-born and his favourite--as you have always +been. Try and see this thing clearly. Don't act in a hurry, dear. Just +wait--wait until this evening, for my sake if not for your own. Don't +leave me here to stick the thing out by myself. It isn't fair to me." + +That last plea seemed to strike home better than all the others had +done, for the anger faded suddenly from his countenance, and he laid a +hand against her cheek before swinging upon his heel. + +"Well, I'll think about it, and see what Cynthia says, anyhow," he +replied, after a pause. "Only, I've reached the end of my tether, and +human nature won't stand too much. Sorry, Miss McCall. Did I tread upon +your foot? I'm so blithering angry I don't really know what I'm doing, +so you must forgive me." + +And for the first time the company seemed aware that Johanna McCall had +been a silent spectator of this family scene. For she had kept, as +usual, as quiet as a mouse, only, Cleek observed as he looked at her, +her eyes had blazed with that one light which no fire can quench, and +she had shut them for a moment, as though to hide the secret they +revealed from Ross Duggan's troubled face. + +"It's all right, really. And I'm so--awfully sorry, Mr. Duggan," she +said in her soft, monotonous voice. "It is so unfair, so unjust! And +please don't go--without saying good-bye--to me." + +Then she, too, turned upon her heel and fled out of the room. And +suddenly Cleek saw one thing startlingly clear. Miss Duggan had +mentioned "an attraction" in Johanna McCall's eyes. That was why she +stayed on here at the Castle and endured so much. But she had given him +to understand that it was Tavish. + +But it was _not_ Tavish who had inspired that unquenching fire in those +pale eyes; it was _not_ Tavish who had set that hero-worshipping +expression upon the plain, unattractive face. + +It was the disinherited heir to the estates himself! + + * * * * * + +That afternoon, after he had left the Castle and its inhabitants behind, +he wired Mr. Narkom, as he had said he would. The enigmatic words which +flew across the wire to Scotland Yard, in their own particular code, and +made Mr. Narkom fairly jump in excitement, were these: "_Full up right +to the brim. Come along. Cleek._" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SUMMONS + + +Cleek left that house of anger in a strange frame of mind, rather glad +to be back again in his own sunny room at the Three Fishers, and away +from an influence which seemed somehow horribly malign. The pitched +battle that had taken place between father and son--egged on by a +designing woman who did not mind to what depths she stooped so that her +ends were eventually reached, gave him an eery feeling. There was +something venomous about the whole affair, something that reminded him +of an asp about to strike. He could not shake that feeling from him. The +premonition held firm hold of his faculties. + +A walk with Dollops over the moors certainly acted as a refresher, for +the lad's ready humour had the true Cockney bite in it and he had seen, +with his keen eyes, how the master he loved and reverenced was brooding +under the shadow of something he sensed although he could not see. And +so his comical faculties were put to good work. Until--tea-time at +length reached--Cleek returned to the Inn of the Three Fishers, a little +less clouded in heart and brain, and with some of the moody depression +shaken from him. + +He spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening reading and +thinking by the open window of his room, looking out now and then at the +whole massive structure of Aygon Castle, with its great gateway, above +which Rhea du Macduggan stood everlasting guard. Gad! anything might +happen there--and the world be no wiser! It was an appalling thought at +best. What secrets had that place held in the past and never revealed to +the light of day? What secrets might it not hold in the future? + +And those dungeons. The thing he had seen there.... And that +handkerchief--so obviously belonging to Ross Duggan, and which now lay +in his inner pocket. He fumbled for it and brought it out to the light, +examining it minutely. Fine linen, finely monogrammed. Very obviously +the handkerchief of an extravagant gentleman. But what on earth _he_ +should be doing down there, amidst _that_, was something which sent the +grim lines fleeting about Cleek's mouth and eyes. It couldn't be he--the +son of a proud old house like this one! The thing seemed impossible. And +yet--there was the handkerchief to prove that fact; and then this +electricity business, which obviously ate up a good many private funds. +H'm. It would want close looking into, if nothing further proceeded with +Miss Duggan's part of the affair. + +For an hour or two he sat pondering and dreaming there, the book he had +caught up absent-mindedly from the billiard-room book-case lying open in +his lap. + +The dinner-gong sounding through that quiet house brought him quickly to +his feet, a sense of sharpened appetite lending pleasing colour to the +thought of what the dining-hall afforded, for mine host believed in +setting a good table, and his hospitality was by no means frugal. + +Dollops was already standing by his table, expectant eye upon the trim +maid who waited upon them, for during this little sojourn in the +Highlands Cleek had expressed a wish for the lad's company during meals, +and old Fairnish had told his spouse that "Misthair Deland were an unco' +queer pairrson tu wish the company of his mon wi' 'im at meal-time, but +so lang as he paid his bill prampt, 'twere nought of hees business." + +And that was why Dollops was waiting now with that hungry eye of his +upon the plate of steaming soup which the maid was bringing to the +table. Only his respect for the man who had raised him to his present +status kept him from dropping into his seat and gulping the stuff down +straightaway. + +Cleek smiled as he saw the lad's eager eye. + +"Sit down, sit down, Dollops, and set to," he said with a laugh, laying +a hand upon the boy's sleeve with something of tenderness in the +gesture. "Your eyes are like hard-boiled eggs, they're popping out of +your head so. Hungry, I'll be bound." + +"'Ungry--I means hungry, sir? ... starved's more like it!" gave back +Dollops between mouthfuls of hot soup. "Why, I'm that 'ungry me +backbone's well-nigh come rahnd to me front! Nuffink since tea--although +I must say as I nabbed a roll from the kitchen table when the cook +wasn't lookin', and there was a cold sossidge fairly talkin' ter me from +the plate in the larder. And so, as there weren't no one around, I just +whistled to 'im, and he 'opped off his platter quite tame-like. But fer +anything else!..." The last spoonful went down with a gulp. + +"Dollops, Dollops! You'll be eating the wake up at your own funeral, you +young gourmand!" threw in Cleek laughingly. "You've a constitution like +an ostrich. I'm sure, if you were actually starving, you'd manage to +gnaw an umbrella--spokes and all!... Heigho! This is a queer world, +isn't it? Here's me sitting here in this little inn-place, on the top of +the Highlands, with the heart of me wandering away in other places, and +the soul of me sometimes hungry for the sight of other worlds across the +sea--to which I've closed the door of my own accord and shut the sight +of their dear blessedness forever from me! And there's those people up +at Aygon Castle. Bitter, cruel, hard to each other. Pulling this way and +that, until their hearts must break with the strain of the fray--and +with the whole structure of their dear inheritance forever with them, so +that they need never hunger and thirst for a sight of it as--as others +do. Heigho! but it's a topsy-turvy, crazy sort of a world we live in, +isn't it?" + +Something in the tone of Cleek's voice caused Dollops instantly to +pause. Eyes wide, mouth open, face gone suddenly pale, he set down his +knife and fork and reaching a shaking hand across the table laid it upon +Cleek's. + +"Guv'nor," he said, in a scared, hushed sort of voice, "you ain't +a-wishin' ter go back--to all them Maurevanian royalties, are yer? Wiv a +throne an' a crahn and a bloomin' spectur in yer 'and? You ain't +a-pinin' fer the Crash Pots, I 'opes? For as sure as I know anyfink of +anybody, they'd never let sich folks as Mr. Narkom an'--an'--me come +within twenty miles of yer. And you ain't--ain't wishin' ter l-lose us, +are yer, sir? It would fair break my 'eart if I thought _that_." + +Cleek put back his head and laughed, laughed heartily, with his eyes +wet. There was a sob in the boy's voice as he spoke, and the look of +injured worship in his eyes would have wrung tears from a stone. Cleek +stopped laughing suddenly, and sat forward and looked straight at the +boy. + +"Dollops," he said quietly, "I wouldn't barter _this_ inheritance--of +Love--which the good Lord has given me, for all the thrones and +'specturs' and 'crash-pots' that the world could hold. For true +friendship is the best inheritance of all. But there are times when a +man must be allowed to go down into the deeps of his memory and take a +maudlin joy in counting over the hidden pearls there. I've no doubt you +do it yourself, lad--and shed a tear in solitude for the days when you +had a mother to care for you, and you weren't just a frightened little +sinner of an orphan boy." + +"An' that's where you're dead wrong, sir," gave back Dollops with a +vigorous nod of the head. "Fer I never does anyfink of the sort. Me +muvver--Gawd 'elp 'er!--were a bruiser an' a footballer in one, an' +there weren't an inch o' me poor little body which didn't 'ave a score +of bruises upon it. As for me farver--well, I doesn't remember 'im, and +no doubt it's a good fing, too.... No, sir, you've bin and gone and +missed the bull's eye this time. I ain't no Wistful Willie, I ain't. +You've been Muvver and Farver and Big Bruvver and all the whole darn +Fambly ter me, an' if ever I finks o' the blinkin' parst, it's just that +I didn't live clean and strite an'--an' _decent_, so's I could be a bit +more worvy uv yer precious kindness.... Lord! listen ter me a-torkin' +like a bloomin' sermonizer! But them's my sentiments--strite! An' so +long as yer ain't wishin ter go back to--_them_----" + +"No, I'm not wishing that at all, boy," said Cleek quietly, with an odd +little smile. "So don't you worry your ginger head over such fool +notions as that. The day I want to get rid of you all--Miss Lorne, +yourself, and Mr. Narkom--is the day that sees me in my grave. And then +I'll only be waiting to wring your hands across the Big Beyond. And if +you ever mention royalties and 'specturs' and 'crash-pots' to me again, +Dollops, I'll--I'll cut you out of my will.... Finished?" + +"Yessir." + +"Well, then, come along upstairs and smoke a weed with me. Unless you've +something better to do. I've need of a man's company to-night, for my +mood's maudlin, and a chat over old times will straighten things out for +me." + +"_Rar_ver!" Then to himself: "Missin' Miss Ailsa, like any uvver +bloomin' lovesick strain," thought Dollops to himself, with a shake of +the head. "Well, orl I kin s'y is, Dollops me lad, it's a good thing you +ain't in love yerself. You love yer tummy better'n the gels--and a +fairer deal it is, too. Fer yer _can_ tell when you're proper fed up, +and starve a bit in consequence. But the lydies!--well, they never lets +yer leave 'em alone! 'E ain't 'ad no letter this mornin'--that's wot the +trouble is, bless 'is 'eart!" + +So Dollops followed Cleek upstairs to his room, and in the short +twilight of the summer evening sat with him, curled up on a cushion at +his feet, and smoked and talked and gazed at the great Castle in front +of them, almost lost in the twilight mists, like the true little +_gamin_ he was, until the lonesomeness had gone from Cleek's soul, and +the night had thrown her mantle over the sky. + +Then: + +"Time for you to be getting into your little 'downy', old chap," he +said, with a stretch and a yawn and a smile down into the eager young +face that rested against his knee, as a dog might do, faithfulness in +the attitude. "Or we'll be having no salmon-fishing to-morrow, for +you'll be over-sleeping yourself, and the fish will have swum to other +waters, getting tired of waiting for you. Cut along now, there's a good +boy." + +"Orl right, Guv'nor. Thank yer, sir, for this--this rippin' fine +evenin'. And fer lettin' me pertend I was for the moment, like, a real +pal to yer. I shan't never ferget that. Good-night, sir, and pleasant +dreams." + +"Good-night, Dollops. Close the door softly behind you. There's an old +lady in the room beyond, and I fancy she's just gone off to bed. I'll +sit here a few minutes longer, and then nip in between the sheets +myself." + +But the few minutes lengthened into an hour before Cleek, about to rise +from his chair by the open window to knock out the ashes of his pipe +upon the sill, happened to glance up and out of it. Then he stopped of a +sudden, sucked in his breath, and stood stock-still, staring out in +front of him as though he had gone suddenly mad. + +For the darkness of that dark night had been cut suddenly by a ray of +red light swung to and fro several times from the particular bit of +darkness which Cleek knew was Aygon Castle; extinguished; re-lit; sent +swinging across the darkness again like an arc of crimson light; and +when this was done for a third time, Cleek knew that it was a signal--a +signal from Maud Duggan to him--a signal, too, which meant distress. +Something had happened out there in that grim darkness beyond the rim of +hill and valley in that great, gaunt edifice of mediaeval stone, +something so serious that she had signalled for him to come, as she said +she would. + +He drew out his spotlight, and sent it zigzagging in the direction of +the red light, just to let her know she had been seen and understood. +Then, swinging round swiftly, he caught up his dark overcoat, slipped +his arms into it, drew a cap low down over his head, and was off into +the shadows and pelting away down the narrow tortuous lane as fast as +his swift feet could carry him. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WHEN THE BLOW FELL + + +It was not an easy road Cleek traversed, for in the darkness and in the +utter absence of lamps of any sort the lane became a thing of stones and +pitfalls for the unwary traveller, and there were many times when he was +down upon his hands and knees in the soft, sweet-smelling, +heather-thatched hillside, having lost footing with the road altogether, +and only his pocket-lamp kept him from absolute downfall and disaster. +But the great gates were reached at last, and he saw that they had been +set ajar, so that he could slip in undisturbed, if he wished--a little +forethought on Maud Duggan's part for which he silently thanked her. + +He slid in between them, glanced a moment up at Rhea's great bronze +figure etched out against the moonlit sky and taking on a supernatural +lifelikeness which was eery beyond words, and then darted up the +driveway, groping his way in the shadows toward the great house which of +a sudden seemed to be blazing with light from every window, as though +the soul of it had suddenly been awakened out of its sleep and it had +come to life in one huge simultaneous effort. + +Under the tread of his light feet the gravel barely moved, and having +got his bearings that same afternoon, he pelted up in the darkness +toward the front door, stopped suddenly, listened, darted leftward +toward the lawns, and came--_phut!_--up against somebody who was running +in the opposite direction, swift-breathing like a man pursued, and who, +having met the impact of Cleek's tautened body, stationed there for just +such a purpose, bounded back again and gave out an involuntary gasp of +astonishment and ill-concealed irritation. + +"Whew! I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said this stranger, as Cleek +flashed on his lamp and sent its rays travelling up the man's slim +figure from top to toe. "Who the--why the--what the----?" + +"Awfully sorry, I'm sure," responded Cleek, with a light laugh, in his +best blithering-idiot manner, "but I happened to be strollin' up in this +direction to pay a call upon Miss Maud Duggan, and fell into you. So +beastly dark in these parts, doncherknow. After London, a chap is likely +to lose his bearin's. Exceedin'ly sorry and all that." + +The man stopped suddenly and, bending forward, peered up under Cleek's +tweed cap into the face beneath it. Cleek saw him as a slim, handsome +fellow of the leisure classes, lithe of limb and athletic of body, and +in that small ray of torch-light, augmented by the moon's pale gleams, +liked the look of him, though he was startled by the meeting--that was +obvious--and a little shaken as well. + +"Eh? What's that? Miss Duggan, did you say? Then what's your name, may I +ask? You're a stranger to these parts, I suppose?" + +"Yes. Up for the salmon-fishin', doncherknow. Strollin' back to the +Castle, are you? We'll go together. My name's Deland--Arthur Deland. Am +I permitted to know yours?" + +"Certainly. But I'm not--going to the Castle to-night. I've--I've +just--come from there, you see, and was on my way home again when we +cannoned into each other. My name's Macdonald, Angus Fletcher Macdonald. +I'm a--particular friend of Miss Duggan's.... But time's getting along, +and I've a good distance to go. So I'll be off, if you don't mind. +Good-night." + +"Good-night." + +Cleek nodded to him in the half dark, then as the man swung away from +him down the wide drive, turned in his tracks and watched him till the +moon, hiding under a cloud, hid him, too. + +"Macdonald, eh? The unfortunate lover whom the father will not +countenance. H'm. Wonder what he was doing here at this time of night? +Rather nervous, I should say, at our encounter. And why the dickens--if +anything's happened--didn't he know something about it? It's a good +twenty minutes since she signalled to me, and if he's just come from +the house----" + +Of a sudden he stopped short and sucked in his breath as a new thought +penetrated itself into that perfectly pigeon-holed and regulated +mentality of his. "Gad! surely _he_ hasn't---- Well! I ought to have +detained him and brought him back on some pretext--if anything really +_has_ happened to cause her to want me at this hour of the night.... +Well, I'll nip along and find out. And if anything's really wrong, I +shan't forget _that_ gentleman in a hurry." + +He reached the house without further adventure, and rang the door-bell +with a steady hand. But he was hardly prepared for its response. For at +the sound of it Maud Duggan came running toward him, her face white as a +dead face, her eyes wild, her hair untidy, and clutching him by the arm +fairly hauled him into the hallway, just as the butler--stung out of his +calm demeanour by the happenings of that night--appeared from the end of +the hall and came toward them. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you came, so glad, Mr. Deland!" she shrilled out in a +high-pitched, terrified voice. "It was lucky you turned up as--as you +promised. But I'm afraid our game of c-cards cannot take place. +Because--oh, how can I say it? How? A terrible thing has happened, Mr. +Deland, and that which I feared has come to pass, only in a much more +awful manner! My--my f-father has been murdered, in full sight of us +all, right there in the library, just as he was about to draw up a new +will to disinherit Ross. Foully ... murdered ... poor darling!" + +Then the sobs caught in her throat, and she turned away a moment and hid +her face in her handkerchief, while Cleek, mastering his curiosity and +amazement at this curious and amazing statement, waited a moment for her +to regain her composure. Then: + +"My dear young lady!" he cried in a low-pitched, even voice. "Murdered! +And in the presence of you all! Then of course you know who his murderer +is." + +"I don't, I don't! We none of us know! None of us!" she ejaculated, +shutting her hands together and lifting a tear-stained, haggard face to +his. "Oh, Mr. Deland, that is the terrible, the mysterious part of it +all. It happened in a flash. Suddenly the lights went out; we heard the +wheel humming, just as the Peasant Girl said it would hum, and then ... +then ... the lights came up again, and there he lay, shot through the +temple and stabbed to the heart, quite, quite dead!" + +"Whew! Rather a marvellous happening, I must say," gave out Cleek, +laying a hand upon her shaking shoulder and edging her tenderly toward +the open door of that little ante-room into which he had been shown +only that morning, when the old laird himself had entered upon their +conversation, with his lady in attendance. And now he was dead! +murdered! It seemed indeed hardly credible. "Sit down awhile, and then +tell me at your leisure all the happenings which took place. Got any +brandy in the house? Or have you had some? No? Well, I've always a flask +handy. Now, take a pull at this, and then lean back in that chair and +close your eyes. You'll be a different person, I assure you. Here's my +flask. Make it a good peg, too." + +Dumbly she did as she was bidden, acting as a sick child does, without +question, and thankful only for a directing hand. Meanwhile, Cleek stood +over her, watching how the colour ebbed slowly back into her pallid +cheeks and the red crept again into her blue lips, and congratulating +himself that he had been just in time, and no more, before she would +have fainted. + +She shut her eyes as he had told her, and when a few minutes had +elapsed, Cleek leaned forward and touched her gently upon the wrist. + +"Now let's hear all about it--if you're able. Where is your stepmother?" + +"Upstairs in her room--prostrate." She spat the words out with positive +venom. "Ross is with his father, bowed down with grief, poor old boy; +while his fiancee, Cynthia Debenham, who came back with him, and her +cousin, Catherine Dowd, are in the house somewhere, seeing to the +necessary household arrangements." + +"And you've telephoned the police?" + +"Yes. And then signalled to you. They'll be along presently, I suppose?" + +"Possibly--yes. I'd have brought my own man if I had only known. Mr. +Narkom will be here in the morning to take charge of affairs. I sent for +him to-day. And the rest of the household?" + +"Cyril is with his mother. Wakened up out of his sleep, poor boy, by all +the commotion, and of course hardly aware yet of what a terrible tragedy +has happened here in his own home. The servants are huddled together +like frightened rabbits, and the women refuse to put in any appearance +at all. Miss McCall has been trying to get them in hand--she's so quiet +and yet so resourceful, you know, Mr. Deland--and she has helped us such +a lot in that way." + +"And that accounts for every one, then? No one left the house since +the--the thing took place?" + +"Not a soul. There was no reason to, you see. And no one has been here, +either. Callers to Aygon Castle are few and far between, Mr. Deland, as +you can imagine. We're so very far from civilization." + +"I see. And no one's been to the place at all, you say? Beyond the +immediate family, and this Miss--Miss Dowd and your brother's fiancee? +They returned with him, I suppose, after having persuaded him not to +take such a foolhardy view of the case which I heard this morning? Well, +I'm glad he came back, if only--for this. Poor chap! it will ease his +conscience, at any rate. And those are the only people who have entered +this place to-night, Miss Duggan? You are positive of that?" + +She lifted wide eyes to his face. There was conviction in every line of +her own. + +"Absolutely positive, Mr. Deland." + +"Well, that's all right, then." Cleek nodded slowly at her but his lips +were grim. Either _she_ or Macdonald had lied. For he had heard him say, +in that broken, staccato voice of his, "I've just--come from there, you +see, and was on my way home again." And a dollar to a ducat that _she_ +was not at fault. Well, the man Macdonald would want watching. And if he +_had_ "done a bunk," as the boys say, he would know his man instantly +and scout all Britain over for him--though at present his motive for +connection with the crime was certainly unknown. + +He sent his keen eyes over her wan face, and came to his own +conclusions. Here was no liar, if he knew the signs. Then he leaned +toward her. + +"Now," said he, "just tell me--what happened. All about it. Don't leave +anything out--not the veriest little thing. How did you all happen to be +in the library in the first place?" + +"As I told you, Father had summoned us all there for the purpose of +disinheriting Ross by crossing his name from his will, and in the +presence of witnesses substituting another instead." + +"And whose name, may I ask?" + +She bent her head suddenly, and put one hand against her cheek. + +"Mine, Mr. Deland." + +"_Yours?_... Oho! And not young Cyril's, then?" + +"No. Upon that Father was adamant. He said justice must be done to the +elder family--that is Ross and me, as you know--and he would see justice +done. If Ross could not have the rightful inheritance because of his +unfitness (poor Ross!) then it was to come to me, unless I saw fit to +marry Captain Macdonald. In that event it all went to charity. +Naturally, I protested with him." + +"Why?" + +"Because, don't you see? I hoped he would perhaps relent and leave +Ross's name where it was. The ignominy to the poor boy would have been +so terrible--if he had struck his name out. Ross would never have got +over it--never! He is so proud of his house, so wrapped up in it in +every way." + +"And did your father manage to destroy the will then before +it--happened?" + +"No. He had it in his hands. I was wrestling with him, trying to get it +away, and Paula had caught me by the shoulders and was endeavouring to +get me away, too, when the lights suddenly went out, and--and came up +again. And there he was in his chair--_dead_!" + +"And you say that you heard the sound of the spinning wheel 'humming' in +the darkness? You really did hear that, Miss Duggan?" + +"Yes--I would swear to it on my oath." + +"And how then did your father die? By what means?" + +"By a shot through his temple, I suppose (though he was stabbed as +well)--although there was no noise, Mr. Deland, nothing to tell us that +the awful thing was happening, save the failing of the current at that +moment." + +"H'm. I see. A soundless pistol--in fact, an air-gun. Any one in the +house got such a thing, do you know?" + +She shook her head. + +"Not that I know of, unless ... but he gave his away long ago." + +"Who, may I ask?" + +She sent suddenly startled eyes up into his face, as though she realized +that she had unguardedly been trapped into a damaging admission. + +"Why--why--my brother Ross, Mr. Deland," she said in a hoarse, +frightened voice. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A DOUBLE TRAGEDY + + +Cleek sat forward in his seat suddenly, every nerve alert at this +somewhat startling piece of news. Oho! So Ross Duggan was the only +person possessing an air-pistol--and the laird had been killed by means +of one, shot through the head in a dastardly fashion. Gad! it certainly +wanted looking into! And the moment had been chosen with such precision +that the alteration in that self-same will had never been made, and Ross +Duggan still stood as chief heir to his father's estates! + +That was a queer thing--a very queer thing! He flung up his eyebrows and +twitched the corner of his mobile mouth. + +"Your _brother_, Miss Duggan? I see. And how long ago was it that he +bought that pistol, may I ask? And for what purpose?" + +She gave an uneasy laugh which ended in a little sob that brought a look +of pity to his eyes. + +"Oh--ages and ages! Quite a couple of years ago, I think. Ross and a +fellow-officer who was here for the fishing got it together. Ross had +thought of a new idea for killing the big salmon after they had been +played so long, and though exhausted were brought to shore alive. +Everyone laughed at him, of course, and the thing never turned out to be +anything; but Ross's idea was to shoot them as soon after swallowing the +hook as was possible, and the soundless pistol wouldn't frighten the +other fish. It was a ridiculous idea--but Ross imagined it would be more +humane, though not nearly so much sport from the fisherman's point of +view, as you know, Mr. Deland--and he tried it only once. He was teased +out of it after that." + +"And the pistol?" + +"I really don't know ... what became of it. I never saw it again, and, +in fact, forgot all about it. But of course, Mr. Deland, Ross +couldn't--_couldn't!_--oh, I beg of you, don't think of such a terrible +thing for one instant! Ross adored his father _always_, in spite of the +bad blood between them of later years." + +"Quite so. Only, naturally, in the pursuit of duty one must ask all +manner of irrelevant questions. You understand that, Miss Duggan, I +hope? Of course your brother Ross would not think of such a thing. But +if he is the only possessor of an air-pistol, well, naturally, +circumstantial evidence will be rather unpleasant for him--unless +something else turns up. I'd like to see your brother, if you please, +and have a little chat with him. And then he will show me the--your +father, and let me make a little perfunctory examination.... By the way, +how far away is the nearest police-station?" + +"A matter of three miles. But the men have motorcycles, and should be +here at any moment. Hark! that's Rhea's bell, isn't it? No doubt they +have already come. Oh, Mr. Deland, _what_ shall I say to them? I don't +feel as though I could face a stranger _now_!" + +Cleek laid his hand upon her shoulder as he rose to his feet. + +"And you're not going to--have no fear of that," he replied kindly. +"Remember, I represent Scotland Yard, Miss Duggan. This thing lies in my +hands, and I am in command of it. I shall see the police-sergeant and +make all necessary arrangements. The formalities will have to be +observed, of course, for to-night, at any rate. No one must leave this +house under any pretext whatever--neither servant nor guest. All doors +and windows must be locked, and I shall set a guard about the place. But +that will be my duty to attend to--not yours. So go and rest a little, +if you can--and emulate your worthy stepmother (who, by the way, I want +to see as soon as possible), after you have taken me to your brother, +and we have had a little talk together.... Would you mind conducting me +to him now?" + +She bowed her head dumbly, and passed out in front of him, down the +long narrow passage with its armoured figures standing out in niches cut +into the wall and its air of brooding mystery which so well fitted this +tragic affair and lent still further colour to it. At last they reached +the library. At the door of it she paused, hesitated, put her hand upon +the handle of it, and then drew back with an involuntary shiver. + +"I can't--I can't!" she said brokenly. "It's asking too much to go in +and see him now--not until he has been placed as he ought to be, poor +dear old Daddy! But Ross is in there with him, Mr. Deland. So if you +just knock, and then enter, and tell him who you are, that will be all +right.... Those men are coming in, I know. I can hear them at the door +now. Oh, please, please don't let me see them-- I don't feel as if I +could!" + +"And you shan't--have no fear of that," he replied. "So be off with you +as quick as you can, and lie down for half an hour, at any rate. And if +I have need of you I'll send someone along with a message.... Ah! +they're coming.... Good evening, Sergeant. You've been exceedingly +prompt in coming along, I must say. And brought four men with you, too? +That's good. We shall want 'em in this place. There's been a murder +here--old Sir Andrew Duggan has been done to death in a mysterious +manner--shot and stabbed at the same time. I've not yet looked at the +body, but shall do so presently. Mr. Narkom will be down in the +morning." + +"Mr. Narkom? The Chief Superintendent, eh? Then--then may I ask who +_you_ are, sir?" responded Sergeant Campbell, in a deep, ringing voice +which exactly fitted the huge figure of him. + +Cleek bowed. He looked keenly into the gray eyes under the beetling +brows, came to the rapid conclusion that here was a man who could keep +his tongue in leash if required, and then with a glance over the four +police-constables standing behind him, handed him a card upon which he +had scribbled one word, and then watched the effect of it with dawning +amusement as the knowledge soaked into the Inspector's consciousness. + +"Name's Deland," he said with a knowing wink, speaking in the nick of +time, before the Sergeant in his astonishment and admiration for this +man who stood before him, and whose name was a household word upon the +tongue of every policeman the world over, had quite given the show away +to the rest of his followers. "Arthur Deland. You've probably heard of +me, Sergeant, if you follow the doings of Scotland Yard at all. Came up +here under Mr. Narkom's orders to handle another case, and then +dropped--_plop!_--upon this one. Better come along now. I want you to +set a couple of men before the library door, where the thing took +place--nothing to be moved, of course, or touched in any way, until Mr. +Narkom arrives--and then send another of your men back to fetch ten more +reserves, and stand guard all round the house from the outside. Tell 'em +to report to you every half hour, and if there's anything doing bring it +along to me at once. You understand?" + +"Yessir. Certainly, sir." + +"Then come along." + +He led the way through the long hall, past the gaping butler to whom +this stranger, whom his master had entertained at lunch, and who was now +so mysteriously in charge of affairs, seemed suddenly to have assumed a +principal part in the affair, and to be showing his "nerve" in a good +many ways; and with a quick order to him to see that all doors and +windows were securely bolted and locked, so that no one could get in or +out of the house save at the instigation of the Law and the Law's +minions, Cleek passed on to that chamber of death where the old laird +lay, and turning the handle softly, led the way in. + +There was a light shining in the centre of the room from an +old-fashioned lamp which stood upon the desk-top and sent a soft +effulgence round and about it that lay like a halo upon the peace of +that silent place. At the desk sat Ross Duggan, head in hands, shutting +out the sight of the Thing that faced him in all the majesty of death, +that Thing which so short a time back had been his own father, and now +sat huddled forward in a fallen attitude in the swing-back office chair +opposite Ross, transparent hands lying aimlessly upon the desk-top, head +downthrown, jaw dropped, and with a little sinister blackened puncture +in the temple telling the tale of the air-pistol's accurate aim only too +well. + +Cleek went up to the desk and laid his hand upon Ross's shoulder. In an +instant the young man sprang to his feet, eyes ablaze, face chalk-white, +startled and not a little displeased at this intrusion upon him and his +dead by a man whom he had met only casually a few hours back, and who +had witnessed that never-to-be-forgotten quarrel between him and his +father which would sear his memory now forever. + +"I-- I---- This is hardly the hour and the time, Mr. Deland," he began +in a hushed voice; but Cleek silenced him, the queer little one-sided +smile travelling up his cheek, and his eyes serious and not a little sad +as they rested upon the haggard face of this heir to an unhappy +inheritance. + +"That's all right, my dear chap--really," he said in his clear, +low-pitched voice. "You see, my profession happens to be that of a +detective, and I stand at present as official representative of Scotland +Yard. The Sergeant here has come to do his unpleasant duty, and place a +guard over the body. It would be better for you, really, to go and lie +down. After such a terrible shock...." + +"I'll go, and gladly!" returned Ross with a grim nod of the head and a +sudden warming of colour in the pale cheeks of him. "It's not been the +pleasantest task sitting here with--him--like that, Mr. Deland. And as +you happen to have jumped up from nowhere and taken matters so entirely +in hand, I'll relinquish my trust. But I didn't somehow like to +leave--him--alone. After what's happened--the strange method of his +death--and all the rest of this ghastly affair, I meant to keep the rest +of the world away from him, if possible, and if the murderer should +chance to come back!"--a sudden light flashed into his eyes and +involuntarily his body stiffened--"then I should be ready for him." + +"Spoken like a soldier and a gentleman," said Cleek softly, with a nod +of understanding. "Now I want to have a look at your father, Mr. Duggan. +And I'd like it if you could just find it in your heart to stay here +with me for a moment or two, and acquaint me with the facts. Your sister +has told me the rough outline, and----" + +"My sister?" His voice showed the surprise which this news elicited. +"How did you see her, then?" + +"That is a long story, which you shall hear some other time. At present +she simply sent for me in a very quick and excellent manner, and I came +at once. The worthy Sergeant and his men followed.... Now, Sergeant, +place your men as I told you, and I'll get on to the business of +examination. I only want to get a rough idea of the true method of +death, and glean what clues I can for Mr. Narkom, who will arrive in the +morning.... And, gad!" He glanced up at the huge clock which was ticking +away the minutes and hours with sonorous voice. "It's getting on that +way now. Now, Sergeant, if you can get one of your men to give me a hand +with the body----" + +Speaking, he moved it gently, until it lay half upon the pedestal +desk-top, so that the light shone full upon the ghastly face, and rolled +it tenderly over. There was a thin trickle of blood still oozing thickly +from the left side of the breast, where the fine puncture of some almost +needle-like instrument showed how successfully it had done its horrible +duty. Cleek tore away the coat and waistcoat, stripped back the shirt +from the frail body, and examined the wound through his little glass. In +size it was no more than what might have been caused by a heavy bodkin, +and in depth--so deep that it had no doubt punctured the inner walls of +the heart, and, if successful in this method, caused immediate death to +its victim. + +He looked up quickly into Ross's downbent face, his own rather grim. + +"A stiletto wound," he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"See that fine, clean-cut edge? I've seen similar ones in Italy and in +the southern parts of America. The blade's squarish, not flat as in the +cases of most daggers. And it is amazingly sharp. That blow would cause +a death-wound, undoubtedly. But I understand there was a shot fired as +well--from an air-pistol, I imagine, as there was no sound. Now, the +question is, where is that bullet, and from what direction was the shot +fired? That'll tell us a lot." + +Ross Duggan's face changed suddenly, as though a shadow had passed over +it. + +"That's the question, Mr. Deland," he replied in a tense voice. "If we +could find out that, we could find out a good deal. But why this double +crime should have been committed, Heaven alone can tell. My father had +many enemies--but none who would have stooped to kill him--of that I am +positive. And it is obvious that two have tried to do so. Look, here is +the wound in the temple, just above the left eye. And it has gone clean +through the head. Poor old Dad! Poor, misguided old Dad! How I hate that +woman Paula and all her wiles and ways! If any one's at fault in this +dastardly business, Mr. Deland, you can count upon _her_! Her father +swung for a similar crime (she doesn't know I know that) and if she has +done this terrible thing she, too, shall swing, as he did! Whoever has +done this cruel, wicked thing, Mr. Deland, shall be brought to justice, +if I have to scour the world over for the murderer." + +"Ah--who? That is the question, my friend," returned Cleek quietly, +stooping over the bowed white head with its thatch of snowy hair, and +tracing the path of the bullet through it in his mind's eye. "H'm! Went +through here and came out-- Gad! here's the puncture! Right here! So +that somewhere in this room that bullet has lodged itself, and when that +is found we shall have our finger upon the pulse of this dreadful +tragedy more surely than we know.... Heigho! It's two-thirty, and in +this semi-darkness little to be done until the morning sends us its +kindly rays. So we must leave things as they are for the present, and +later go over the whole thing with clear heads and rested minds.... +Sergeant, I put you in charge. A man outside of the window there, +please, and another one in this room, and still another outside the +door, and if any one tries to get in or out, blow your whistle and I'll +be with you in a jiffy.... Come, Mr. Duggan. You're looking terribly +white and fagged. Let's have a whisky-and-soda--if you'd be so good as +to extend your hospitality so far--and then I'll make myself a +shake-down in the next room, if you've no objection. I've given orders +for no one to be allowed to leave the house until morning and until +parole is given to do so, so you need have no fear of one of the +murderers escaping." + +"I-- I---- What's that you say?" stammered out Ross, swinging round and +looking at Cleek with drawn brows and flashing eyes. "You've given +orders in _my_ house! I say, you know, this is a bit thick; and--and who +the dickens do you think would have done the thing in this place, may I +ask? You're rather overstepping the bounds of common hospitality, Mr. +Deland, in your role of private detective. And I must ask you to leave +the ordering of things to _me_." + +"And that, I am afraid, is exactly what I can't do, my friend," replied +Cleek serenely, with a crooked smile. "Simply because, according to your +somewhat one-eyed and one-sided English law, every one is a suspect +until he is proved innocent. You, your sister, your stepmother, even +your fiancee--who, I suppose, is spending the night here with her cousin +Miss Dowd, under the present circumstances as my orders were issued a +little earlier in the evening--every member of this household comes +under the unwilling stigma of a possible perpetrator of this crime." + +"Damn it!-- I say--how dare you----" + +"We policemen dare everything, Mr. Duggan, because that is our duty, you +know," he responded smoothly. "And, besides, there's one thing more. +Someone here has an air-pistol, and the owner of that has got to be +found. I've an inkling, supplemented by a few words dropped by your +sister, but we'll let that pass. Only, the owner of the air-gun is not +going to escape this house to-night. That's all, I fancy. Sergeant, +good-night. Or, rather, good morning. You'll call me if necessary, won't +you? I shall be in the very next room. And-- Mr. Duggan, if you don't +happen to have that whisky handy, you needn't bother. I've a flask in my +pocket." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WOMAN IN THE CASE? + + +There was no call during the long watches of the night, no untoward +happenings of any sort. Cleek, sleeping with one eye open, rose now and +again and crept silent-footed out into the passage, doing a little bit +of listening in upon his own account. But nothing of any moment +happened. And so when at length the house was astir, and the sound of +servants with their brushes and brooms began to make their usual +early-morning clamour, he shook himself awake, got to his feet, and went +off into the bathroom, where Ross Duggan's safety-razor worked wonders +with his over-night beard, and a wash under the cold-water tap still +more. + +Returning, he stopped at the door of that chamber of tragedy where the +one-time master of all this vast inheritance of stone and moorland lay, +Death wiping from his aged face every line and leaving it as smooth as a +child's. + +"I want to have a little poke round for myself," he told the constable +on duty outside the door, who instantly let him in, as became a +representative of Scotland Yard. "You might send someone up to the Inn +of the Three Fishers with this note, and see that it gets delivered +immediately into the hands of a chap named Dollops. It's important." + +"Very good, sir." + +"And in the meantime, I'll see that no one enters this room, I promise +you. Inspector Petrie himself will be around presently. And +Superintendent Narkom should be with us at twelve o'clock or +thereabouts." + +Left alone, therefore, in the early morning sunlight of that perfect +June day, Cleek made his way into the still room, closed the door behind +him, and then, glancing up, caught sight of the stolid back of the +constable on duty outside of the courtyard window, and not being wishful +to enter into conversation with him, began to poke about of his own +accord. + +But the room held little or no clues for him to go upon. Not in the +first rough glance, at any rate. Over by the window, where it had stood +upon the previous day, when Maud Duggan had shown it to him, stood the +spinning wheel, innocently incongruous indeed in this room of Death. He +gave it a casual glance, and then turned to the desk-top where a pile of +papers lay scattered in some disarray upon its leather surface. + +Cleek ran his fingers quickly through these, glancing at each of them in +turn. + +"He was just about to alter the will, was he? Well, if that were so, the +will should be here now--and it isn't," he said to himself, with +suddenly upflung brows. "Queer thing! Unless someone put it away. I'll +try the drawers. There should be no secrets from a detective, my poor +misguided friend, and if the drawers don't answer to my fingers, I'm +going to search your pockets for the key--though to steal from the dead +is a ghoulish business at the best of times.... Hello, hello! Locked, of +course! Brrrh! I don't fancy the task at all, but I mean to have my +little look-in before any of the other members of the family get +downstairs for their breakfast. So here goes." + +Still mentally talking to himself, Cleek went over to the Thing that had +once been Sir Andrew Duggan, and plunged his hands in the trousers' +pockets without more ado. A bunch of keys rewarded the search. He ran +them over adroitly in his fingers; chose one which he thought would fit +the lock of the drawers, found it didn't fit, chose another, and this +time was more successful. For the top left-hand drawer of that +handsomely carved desk slid noiselessly open for him, stopped +automatically, and gave a funny little click. In a moment he had slid +down on his knees beside that gruesome figure which so impeded his +progress, and slipped his fingers up under the drawer (which was half +full of papers and so allowed him to do so), touched something which +felt like a button, and _was_ a button. Then the drawer came forward in +his hand, and revealed at back of it another one, which at a touch of +that button had dropped its front panel so that it formed a pigeon-hole. +As he peered into the recesses of this, he saw a bundle of yellowed +papers tied about with a faded piece of pink ribbon, and immediately +drew them forth into the light. + +"Whew! What a beastly dust! Well, I've met this kind of a desk before, +so fortunately you're no closed book to me, my friend," he apostrophized +it, as a powder of dust flew over his fingers as he touched the packet. +"Here's something which wants looking into, so I'll appropriate it now, +and have a squint at it later. Secretive old chap he was, then! With his +secret drawers and all! Looks like a bundle of old love-letters to all +intents and purposes, but written on paper that one would hardly have +called suitable for such tender epistles. Commonest kind of +note-paper--village note-paper." He drew a sheet from the packet and +held it up to the light. "And with a water-mark of a crown and +anchor.... Hello! bit of an illiterate lady, wasn't she, who penned +these lines! For the spelling's pretty shaky. And signed _Jeannette_.... +H'm. Some pretty little amour which has held such savour as to be +preserved in this form until after death--poor old fellow! Well, I'll +look into it later. Couldn't have been from the first Lady Duggan, for +_her_ name was Edith. Miss Duggan herself told me that. And ... +Jeannette! Now, I wonder...." + +But what he wondered was never recorded at that time, for just then came +the sound of a soft footstep upon the hall without, the rattle of a +door-handle and the gentle opening of the door itself; and Cleek had +just time to whisk away the packet, and assume an appearance of stolid +nonchalance, when someone came into the room on silently shod feet, +stepped a few paces forward, and then, seeing him, gave out a little +shriek and shut her two hands over her breast spasmodically. + +"Oh!--_how_ you startled me!" gave out Lady Paula breathlessly, as she +recognized who the intruder was. "What can you be doing here, Mr. +Deland? The police ... this awful tragedy." + +Cleek bowed and came toward her with outstretched hand. + +"My dear Lady Paula," he said suavely, "I represent the police myself. +I happen to have taken up criminology many years ago, and came up here +to Scotland upon a little holiday. This terrible thing that has happened +brought me immediately here to do my duty and to give what little help +I could to you all in your bereavement. And so here I am. I beg of +you, don't stay in this apartment now. It is no place for a +lady--particularly a lady so highly strung and nervous as yourself." + +"But how--did you ever--come to hear about it?" she demanded, stepping +back a pace or two, with her eyes carefully avoiding that Thing which +lay huddled there before them--mute reminder of all the terrors that had +happened the night before. "How could you have known, Mr. Deland----" + +"I mentioned the fact of my profession to your stepdaughter yesterday, +and she immediately summoned me here. And, of course, I came. Anything +which I can do...." + +"Thank you. But there is nothing--nothing! I came in now because last +night I--dropped my handkerchief, and it was one which I very much +value, because my dear husband gave it to me upon the anniversary of our +wedding-day. Duchesse lace, Mr. Deland, and with my name embroidered +across the corner. And I knew, if the police found it, that I--I should +never get it back again. Everything, you see, becomes a clue, doesn't +it? But it seems not to be here." + +Her agitation was very apparent, and Cleek mentally registered the fact +that the excuse was a tame one, and utterly untrue. + +"No," he said, "it isn't here, Lady Paula. And, as you say, if it were, +I could not give it to you. Go back to your room, I beg, and lie down. +You look ghastly pale; and after breakfast I shall have need of your +help, believe me. So go, please. And leave me to this gruesome vigil +alone.... Oh, by the way, do you happen to remember, during last +night's many and terrible happenings, whether the will which Sir Andrew +was about to alter (I have the facts of the case, you see, from Miss +Duggan herself) was put away by any member of the family? Because it +isn't here, you know." + +He swept his hand out across the desk-top in an expressive gesture. Her +face flushed rosily, and something like a startled light, half of +gladness, half of fear, showed in her wide, velvety eyes. But she shook +her head. + +"It was never touched--to my knowledge," she said emphatically. "And I +happen to remember that fact, for in the confusion of everything that +followed, when we were looking at my poor, poor husband, it fell to the +ground, and Maud picked it up again and laid it over there, under those +other things that my husband had been looking into. I noted the fact, +even in my despair, as one does note these little trivial things in the +midst of a great trouble, Mr. Deland. But it _was_ there-- I am +positive. And you can't find it now?" + +"No, Lady Paula." + +"Oh! Then undoubtedly Maud has hidden it away somewhere, in case I might +_steal_ it, I suppose, and so do her precious brother out of his +inheritance, if such a thing were possible." + +The venom in her voice was like the bite of a serpent--positively +poisonous, and Cleek gave her a quick, keen look. + +"Hardly that, Lady Paula. And--well, I don't happen to be well up on +these matters at all, the law, y'know, and all that--only the law of +criminals, and that's an altogether different thing. No doubt one of the +family has put it away. It will turn up in time. Now, please go away +before the rest of the constables arrive. You will want every atom of +your strength to see this appalling thing through, believe me, and +therefore I insist that you harbour it." + +She smiled up at him sadly, and turned upon her heel, her trailing pink +negligee whisking across the thickly carpeted floor like the tail of +some sinuous snake, weighted as it was with one heavy beaded tassel. + +"Very well--if you wish," she said quietly, with an arch glance at him; +but as she went something white fluttered to the ground in the wake of +her, and Cleek, waiting until she had gone, closed the door softly, and +then bent down and whisked it up. + +It was a handkerchief--a mere wisp of gossamer, with Duchesse lace edge, +and the name _Paula_ written in embroidery across one corner of its +fragile square. + +A little twisted smile flitted across his face as he looked at it, and +then suddenly his mouth went grim. This was obviously the handkerchief +in question--and she had had it upon her person every moment of the +time! So _that_ excuse was a false one, from the start-out. Then, too, +a woman who could look archly at another man over her own husband's dead +body was surely no woman at all, but a harpy in woman's guise. It was +ghoulish, horrible!... And if the excuse were false, what did she come +for--in the early hours of the morning, when servants were only just +astir in the other wing of the house, and she knew that there was that +dead Thing who had been her husband to be confronted? Would a woman face +a murdered man for a mere handkerchief?... She would lose a thousand +such sooner, from what _he_ knew of the feminine sex. + +No, there was some other reason, and that a secret one. Was it the will? +But that was already gone. Was it to remove some distinguishing clue +which she feared might be found to connect _her_ with this crime? + +What was it? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A NEW CLUE + + +It was a silent, horror-haunted breakfast-table that morning at which, +however, every member of the family appeared, as though driven +downstairs for the mere comfort of being among familiar things, and with +one another, in this time of tragedy. Cleek partook of breakfast with +them, but the black looks which Ross directed at him would have made a +weaker man lose his appetite. + +He smiled to himself now and again, missing nothing of what went on +about him, yet seeming, indeed, to see nothing at all but his own plate, +which was plentifully filled in response to a hearty appetite. + +He found Cynthia Debenham a bonny, red-cheeked country girl of the best +type, athletic and muscular as a boy, and very obvious in her +expressions, as just such a normally healthy girl of her generation +usually is. Her cousin, Catherine Dowd, was on the contrary a +black-haired witch with slanting eyes and close mouth and the finely +chiselled nostrils of a thoroughbred mare. He did not take to her upon +sight. There was so much concealed behind those closed lips, so much +that was secretive in the whole type of her. But she was obviously very +fond of them all, and upon excellent terms with every member of that +ill-assorted family. So that at least Miss Dowd of the black locks was +endowed with the mixing spirit, which was very much in her favour. + +Cyril, large-eyed and serious, sent his glance roving from one face to +another, as though seeking for the secret of this horrible thing that +had taken place here in the midst of them, and Cleek could not refrain +from a pang of pity for the white-faced boy. He looked so frightened and +miserable, and now and again his eyes roved up into Ross's face with +something of inquiry in them, as though he felt that this big +stepbrother must surely hold the key to the tragic happenings of last +night. + +Ross, indeed, ate nothing and said less, although his fiancee did all in +her power to bring some sort of a smile into his morose face. While upon +the other side of him Maud Duggan sat in a silence which was fraught +with all the dreadful happenings of that dreadful night, showing a face +to the world which spoke mutely of the fact that sleep had not visited +her during the long dark hours. Lady Paula alone tried to make some sort +of desultory conversation, aimed at random at each member of the party, +and missing its mark each time. + +It was as though a pall had been dropped over them, shutting out the +possibility of speech. + +Breakfast at length over, Cleek took the situation quietly in hand, and +turning toward them in the open doorway, made his desires known. + +"If you will all be so kind as to step into the library in an hour's +time," he said blandly, "I should like to reconstruct the scene of last +night's tragedy in the presence of all those who took part in it.... No, +Miss Duggan, you need not be afraid. Your father's body will have been +removed by then. But if any one of you have any knowledge whatever to +impart to me--representing, as I do, Scotland Yard in the absence of Mr. +Narkom (who is already upon his way here), I shall be only too pleased +to speak with you in the little ante-room close by. I may use that as a +sort of office, for the time being, may I not, Lady Paula? You've no +objections, I trust?" + +She shook her head at him, flashing him a killing glance from under her +full lids. The flattery of his choice of her as principal of the bereft +family pleased her immensely. + +"None whatever." + +"Thanks very much." + +Then he withdrew to the said ante-room, took out pen and paper, and +began figuring out something upon it which caused him not a little +worry, by the look of his face. + +Five minutes brought a gentle tap upon the door, and without raising his +head from his work he called, "Come in." + +Catherine Dowd stood in the aperture, looking more like the Mona Lisa +than he had ever seen a living person do before. There was something of +the same inscrutable smile lingering upon her lips, the same mysterious +impassivity in her quiet countenance. + +"I've brought you something, Mr. Deland," she said in a soft purring +voice. "Something which I imagine has great bearings upon last night's +tragedy and which I found hidden in the left-hand curtain of the window. +It was stuck carelessly into the inner lining of the green silk, and +hung there. Here it is." + +Cleek was on his feet in an instant, face alert. She handed him the +object, and then nodded at his exclamation of surprise. + +"Yes. A stiletto. And in the face of the fact that Sir Andrew was +stabbed as well as shot, something of importance." + +"I should think so, indeed!" Cleek's face fairly radiated excitement as +he bent over the object that lay in his open palm, touching it with +light, nimble fingers. "Gad! yes! A stiletto--and a South American one at +that! See the curiously square blade? If that isn't the identical +instrument that stabbed Sir Andrew's breast, I'll eat my hat! Miss Dowd, +you have brought me a clue which may lead to the tracing of the murderer +himself--or one of 'em, as there must have been two. Now, tell exactly +the circumstances in which you found it, and why you kept the fact +hidden until now?" + +She came a little nearer to him and leaned against the edge of the +desk-top, a sort of secretive nonchalance in her attitude. + +"I don't say everything I know, Mr. Deland," she said smoothly. "For a +person who tells everything he knows leaves nothing within to show that +he has anything of interest left for the next person who comes along. It +was shortly after the tragedy had taken place. Everything, as of course +you know, was absolutely in confusion. People rushing about here, there, +and everywhere, as though they had gone mad, which indeed they must +surely have done in such tragic circumstances. I was as bad as the rest, +and with Cynthia searched the room for any clues or anything which might +lead to the tracing of the murderer. I had just gone to the open window +and----" + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, "so the window was open, was +it?" + +"Yes--about halfway up from the bottom. The centre one, Mr. Deland. +Someone had asked me to shut it--it was Ross, I think, poor distracted +boy!--which I immediately proceeded to do, and brushed against the +curtains--the big green plush ones which hang at the outer edges of the +bay window--when something clattered lightly to the floor. Cynthia was +at the other side, looking out into the darkness, everyone else was +occupied with Sir Andrew himself, so I bent down quickly and picked the +thing up. And there it is." + +Yes, there it undoubtedly was. And undoubtedly too, the weapon which had +stabbed Sir Andrew so cruelly, if Cleek knew aught of such things. He +frowned a moment over it, and then looked up into Miss Dowd's dark face +through narrowed lids. + +"And you know to whom it belongs?" + +"I cannot say for certain, but I fancy it is Lady Paula's. She had one +similar, I know, but whether it is the same one I am not prepared to +say." + +"Showing yourself a very wise young lady," put in Cleek with a smile. + +She acknowledged the compliment gracefully. + +"And that you are a very gallant gentleman, Mr. Deland--in spite of your +somewhat unusual role," she supplemented. Then, becoming serious again, +"But don't you think it--well, queer, that if this were the instrument +which stabbed Sir Andrew, that there should be no mark of stain upon it, +no blood of any sort? The blade when I found it was absolutely clean." + +"H'm. Yes. Rather extraordinary. Unless the murderer had time to wipe it +upon anything, Miss Dowd, before consigning it to the curtains. And now, +another question: What made you keep the thing secret?" + +She hesitated a moment, as though uncertain what to answer, then, +blushing faintly, confronted him. + +"I have often seen that thing in use in the Duggan household. It has +laid claim to many a theatrical bout upon an impromptu stage. It has cut +pages of books, and slit edges of papers, and----" + +"All the more reason why there should have been some significance to +every member of the family in it, Miss Dowd." + +"That's one up to you--certainly. But you see the last person I had seen +using it, the day before yesterday, when I was here with Cynthia, +spending the afternoon, was--really, I'd rather not say, Mr. Deland." + +"I'm afraid you must, Miss Dowd." + +Came a moment's hesitation; meanwhile Cleek watched her narrowly. He saw +the colour come and go in her ivory-tinted face, saw the light that came +into her eyes at mention of the name which followed, and drew his own +immediate conclusions. + +"Oh, very well, then. There can be no harm in your knowing. It was Ross +Duggan himself. He had been reading a new book which he had sent to +London for--'Poisons and Potions of Other Times', I think it was +called--and used that very same stiletto to slit the pages with. But +that was a couple of days ago, Mr. Deland. Who used it since, I couldn't +tell. Or how it got in those curtains, either." + +"I see. And that's all you have to tell me?" + +Cleek's voice was normal, though he was not a little startled at the +news she had imparted to him. Ross, indeed--and reading the musty old +book upon "Poisons and Potions", a replica of which stood upon his own +study bookshelf in his rooms in Clarges Street, and every word of which +he knew by heart! H'm. Strange literature for a young man of normal +tastes. And the thing had been in his possession then. Gad! All roads +began to lead to Rome with a vengeance! And surely Ross Duggan had the +greatest motive for the crime of any one of that strange and unhappy +family. And Sir Andrew had been killed, they said, before the name was +altered in that will--which at the moment was missing from its +hiding-place. + +He looked up suddenly into Miss Dowd's eyes. Perhaps this very secretive +young woman who was so deeply in love with Ross Duggan as to spirit away +clues which she felt might incriminate him under the very noses of his +unsuspecting family could enlighten him with regard to that document. + +"Tell me," he said rapidly, "did you see anything of the will--after the +tragedy took place?" + +She nodded. + +"Yes. It was lying upon the table in front of Sir Andrew, and when the +lights went up again, I saw it from my place at the back of him. I saw +it distinctly. Why? Has anything happened to it? Lady Paula picked it +up once, I remember, and glanced at it; then she put it down again, I +think. But my mind was distracted in another direction and I don't +remember anything more concerning it. It's not _gone_, is it? Surely +Ross can't be done out of his inheritance that way? Oh, if that +woman...." + +The venom in her voice was appalling to Cleek. There was something +inscrutable and oddly snake-like in the methods this young woman +employed. It repulsed while it fascinated. And no doubt she could strike +with a poisoned tongue upon aggravation. + +"Well," said he, "I didn't happen to see it there this morning, Miss +Dowd, but no doubt it had been put away for safety. I have had no +opportunity of interviewing any one but Miss Duggan--and now yourself" +(he made no mention of his early morning visit from Lady Paula), "and +probably it has a very meek and mild solution." + +"I hope so, indeed. I'll be going now, Mr. Deland. You think I did right +about the stiletto?--knowing the bad blood which lies between Lady Paula +and Ross? It wouldn't do, you know, to place any possible weapon in that +woman's hands. She'd use it for her own ends immediately." + +"As you would do also, my dear young lady," registered Cleek silently as +she left the room. "Gad! Well, here's evidence for us to investigate, +anyhow. She's a strange mixture, that girl, and one who would stop at +nothing.... By George! no, but she wouldn't, even for the sort of love +that _her_ kind would give a man! And it was _his_ inheritance which was +in jeopardy, don't forget that!... It's a pretty kettle of fish, indeed! +And this Ross Duggan seems to have half the countryside in love with +him! That's the third woman, including his affianced bride. His is +surely the deadly kind that they all fall for! Well, I'm glad the +inheritance isn't mine, at any rate. There is no fury like the fury of a +woman scorned--and a chap can't marry three women at the same time, and +live within the law.... If he ever did live within the law--in the face +of--_that_--which I saw in the dungeon! But I can't somehow credit +him---- And yet, who else?... Hello, there's Rhea's bell, and Mr. +Narkom, I'll dare swear. Well, I'll be glad enough to see his rotundity, +bless him!--more glad than I had at first imagined." + +And that's exactly who it proved to be. Rhea's bell was certainly +useful, that was one thing. It did keep tally of every incoming visitor. +And with that huge, high, iron-spiked wall which surrounded the grounds +of Aygon Castle so utterly insurmountable, surely the murderers couldn't +have got away very easily last night. Whew! Cleek whistled suddenly, and +sat up. He hadn't thought of that! Then the murderers must be here in +this household, or in the grounds of the place still--unless Rhea's +bell had acquainted the family of their entrance or exit through the +great gate. + +But the gate had been ajar last night! And he had met Captain Macdonald +prowling around on that nocturnal visit of his just after the time +when the murder must have taken place. Then _who_ set the gate +ajar? Someone in the house, of course! Someone who knew about the +thing--_beforehand_.... That opened up another avenue. He'd ask Miss +Duggan. Perhaps it hadn't been opened especially for _him_, then? +Perhaps it had been opened for--someone else. It certainly gave one to +think, as the French say. + +And he was thinking to such good cause that he did not hear the door of +the ante-room open, nor the voice of the butler Jorkins repeat a name, +and it was with genuine astonishment that he sprang to his feet and saw +the portly figure of the Superintendent standing before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CLEEK MAKES A STARTLING ASSERTION + + +Cleek and Mr. Narkom spent a busy fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the +Superintendent learned of the tragedy which had taken place and of what +evidence Cleek had got together for him, had a cursory look round the +library and at the body itself (which they examined more minutely), and +generally took a survey of the whole appalling affair. + +"Cinnamon!" ejaculated the Superintendent for the thirty-third time +since the recital of the thing. "It's a teaser, I swear! If someone in +the house hasn't done it, who the dickens _has_? When your wire came for +me to run up here, yesterday, I was up to my eyes in work. But I knew +you wouldn't send unless you really wanted me, and when _you_ do +that----" + +He stopped speaking and let the rest of the sentence go by default. But +Cleek had seen, and Cleek _knew_. The friendliness in their two pairs of +eyes deepened to a fellowship which is rare--and good to see. + +"I know, old chap. But we mustn't go wandering down those particular +primrose paths just now. You're a bully old boy, and I'd back you +against every other man in the kingdom. And you've been a sort of a +guardian angel and a blithering idiot all rolled into one! And that's a +combination which I for one, have strong leanings for!... Now, then, +what about it?" + +What, indeed! He swung around in his tracks, hands out-thrown, and +surveyed the Superintendent with tilted head and narrowed eyes. "Any +ideas, eh?" + +"Not a single, at the moment. Have you?" + +"Oh--several. But they're too uncertain at present for utterance. +There's one thing I do know: That if I could find out certain items that +went to the laundry from this household last week I'd know a great deal +more than I do now. And I'd be able to nail--someone--with a good share +in this beastly business. Also.... You saw Dollops, of course?" + +"Yes. Young beggar!--he was on tenterhooks. Afraid some ghostly lady had +caught you last night and hugged you to death, or some such rubbish. +Until I assured him that your biceps were equal to all the ghosts in the +world. Yes, I saw Dollops, all right. And he said he'd got work to do +for you, or something. Some constable had called with a note early in +the morning...." + +Cleek looked up quickly from a survey of the window-sill. + +"Yes--yes. Had he discovered what I asked him to?" + +There was a sort of dumb tolerance in the Superintendent's unimaginative +countenance. He shrugged his shoulders off-handedly. + +"My dear chap," he responded, "here's his identical message, only I +can't imitate his inimitable accent. 'Tell the Guv'ner, sir, as that +there "Crahn and Anchor" wot he wants ter know abaht is an inmate of the +post-office!...' Now, if you can make any sense out of that, Cleek...." + +"Deland, my dear chap, Deland, I beg of you!" interposed Cleek hastily, +whirling about with upraised hands. "Not a soul in the place knows who I +really am. Even Highland fastnesses, you know, have their leaking +spots--and I'll show you one of 'em by-and-by that'll make you sit +up!... But he _did_ get it, the young beggar! Well, well, well! that +points nearer home, anyway, and it'll be something to go on.... What's +that? A clue? Well, perhaps, and perhaps not. Anyhow, it's not clue +enough at present to hang any ideas on. But the stiletto's done the +thing in one instance, and the air-pistol in the other. But how?--but +where?--but----" Then he whirled around suddenly and stood a moment +looking at the spinning wheel as though, of a sudden, it had actually +come to life of its own accord, and then darting forward scanned the +spindle. "H'm. Perhaps not the stiletto--perhaps _this_, and the +peasant-girl story to make a cloak of! The points are much the +same--stiletto or spindle? But--which?" + +"What the dickens are you mumbling over?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture, as Cleek stood surveying this instrument of a by-gone year, +and pinching his chin between thumb and forefinger thoughtfully the +while. "Spindle? You don't suppose the spindle of _that_ thing could +have anything to do with it, eh?" + +"Stranger things have happened, my dear friend, though I'm inclined to +think that in this case they have not!" responded Cleek serenely. "The +spindle theory is thin--deuced thin. But it's often in the thinnest +material that the thickest things are hid.... Now, if we could only find +the bloodstained article with which the stiletto was wiped, we'd settle +that question once and for all. I-- Gad! yes, I remember now! I'll ask +her later on what they were. H'm--ah! That's possibly where it is." + +But Mr. Narkom's patience was running a close race with his curiosity, +and both in the same direction. He gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed +the top of his bald head disconsolately. + +"You're the most amazin' beggar," he gave out finally, in a tense voice. +"Mumbling away like a lunatic, of laundry-bills and spinning wheels and +'crowns and anchors' which are 'inmates of village post-offices,' and I +don't know what all! If I didn't know something about you, I'd say +you'd gone suddenly balmy, and light out for little old London before +you turned your hand on _me_! But you might let a chap have an +inkling----" + +"When you've been in this house as long as I have, you'll have more than +an inkling--you'll probably _know_," returned Cleek with a little laugh. +"But, look here, my friend, we've got to get the body out of +here--presto!--or we'll be having the ladies fainting away and upsetting +the apple cart with a vengeance! They're due in here inside of a quarter +of an hour, when I'm going to give a little 'turn' of the whole thing +again, and see if we can't reconstruct it a bit. The constable outside +will lend a hand. Here, Peters!" + +"Yessir?" + +"Get your friend from the outside window for a moment and give a hand to +get--This--out of the room before the ladies come. I want to reconstruct +the whole affair in the presence of all concerned. And we'll take away +all the gruesomeness that's possible.... Poor old chap! Poor old +tight-fisted laird! Eh, man, but you've got a sterner judge to face now +than ever you were yourself! And this time Justice has to be done, and +no gainsaying the fact, either!" + +The unpleasant task was barely finished before the sound of footsteps +and the humming of many voices in the hallway without told those within +that the family were reassembling for the "performance." Cleek, with a +hasty glance to see that all was right, threw wide the door. + +"Come in, come in," he said in a pleasant, friendly voice. "There's +nothing now to be seen but that which all may see, Lady Paula, so +neither you nor Miss Duggan nor any other member of the party need fear. +If you will all kindly take your places exactly as you took them last +night, I'd be immensely grateful. At any rate, Mr. Narkom here"--he +introduced him to the assembly with a slight bow--"will be able to get +some kind of an idea of exactly how things were when the--tragedy +happened. Hello! Where's Miss--Miss--er--McCall? Wasn't she a member of +the party, too?" + +Lady Paula entered the room with a rustling of soft black silk, and came +toward him with sadly smiling countenance. + +"I hardly thought, you know, that you would require her presence, Mr. +Deland, and so I told her she might attend to her duties instead. But of +course if you wish----" + +"I do wish----" + +"Then she shall be immediately sent for. Maud, my dear, will you kindly +call her?" + +Maud, thus addressed, turned silently away and went out of the room, but +in a few moments was back again, the slim, shrinking form of the girl +following closely behind her. + +Cleek came toward her and smiled down into her pale face. + +"If you would be so kind, Miss McCall, as to take up your position as it +was last night when--when the murder was committed, I should be +exceedingly grateful. Thanks very much. You really needn't be so +frightened, you know. It's only a sort of grim dress rehearsal after the +show instead of before. Just to get some sort of idea. + +"Now, then, Sir Andrew, I take it, sat here in this chair"--he seated +himself forthwith at the desk, and looked about him. "And you, Mr. +Duggan, were in the centre, opposite, with your sister here at your +left. You were at your husband's right hand, a little way back, Lady +Paula? Oh, I see--just halfway behind his chair, in case he might need +you. Of course, of course. The right position for a lord's lady to +be.... Now, let me see. You, Miss Dowd, stood at the left hand, right +back against the wall, with Miss Debenham on _your_ left--oh, a little +forward, eh? And Miss McCall on the other side of her. That's it. Now, I +suppose, we are all in our places. Now, Mr. Narkom, if you'd be so good +as to take up my present position and represent the ill-fated gentleman +for one moment, I'll hop up and look about a bit. The scene's set, and +we'll try and reconstruct the drama from anything any one would like to +tell me. I believe one of the windows was open, was it not, Lady +Paula?" + +He turned to her so swiftly that she was taken back, and in her +nervousness went a shade pale under her olive tan. + +"I--don't know, Mr. Deland. I really never noticed...." + +"But _I_ did." It was Catherine Dowd who spoke, a note of decision in +her clear voice. "The centre window was open, Mr. Deland--from the +bottom. Wide open." + +"Yes--of course it was," Maud Duggan broke in excitedly. "I remember +noticing how the curtains blew while poor Father was speaking. Don't +you, Ross?" + +He shook his head miserably. + +"I don't remember anything but what actually took place," he returned, +in a low, unhappy voice. "I was so furious, Maud; you must remember the +ignominy of--of Father calling in everyone like this to see my name +struck out of the will! If he'd done it in private, even, it would not +have been so bad, but in front of others, people who were not of our +family"--his glance travelled from Johanna's mouse-like countenance to +the inscrutable Catherine's. "It--it seemed hardly cricket to me, and I +was boiling over. I wish to God I hadn't been! It would have made it +much easier to bear--now!" + +"My poor Ross!" + +Cynthia's voice, very low and tender, crept across to him, and he gave +her a weary smile in acknowledgment. + +"Well, now," said Cleek evenly, "let's start away at this wretched +affair. Mr. Duggan, you were the only other gentleman present besides +your father. Perhaps you will tell me how things went. The ladies look +somewhat pale. It's rather an ordeal, I'm afraid, but a very necessary +one. Your father, I understand, seated himself and began to denounce you +in a loud voice, and you----" + +"Retaliated, Mr. Deland. Yes, I'm afraid I did. Poor old Dad! But I was +pretty well strung up. And then, just as he had sat down again--he was +standing up before, waving his fist in the air and calling me all sorts +of names"--his voice broke a tone or two and then recovered +itself--"just as he had taken up the pen and was about to scratch out my +name and substitute my sister's, out went the lights; we were plunged +immediately into utter darkness, and in the midst of it----" + +"We heard distinctly the sound of the spinning wheel, humming just as +the Peasant Girl said it would hum upon the approaching death of any +male member of the family," supplemented Maud Duggan feverishly and with +much excitement. "Hum-hum-hum! it went, Mr. Deland; then there was a +swishing sound as of someone moving hurriedly--a sort of +half-gasp--a--a--oh! how shall I describe it?----" + +"A whizz and a whirr, and then the lights came up and there lay Sir +Andrew in his chair--dead." + +The finale came from Catherine Dowd, who spoke in a low, tense voice, +every note of which sounded in that quiet room, and made the atmosphere +vibrate with the feeling of it. + +"My God!" + +The exclamation came from Lady Paula's and Mr. Narkom's lips +simultaneously, but from very different causes. For the lady had gone +suddenly white as death and fallen back against the wall, both hands +pressed to her face and her shoulders shaking. + +Maud Duggan hastened to her immediately, while Miss McCall, like the +perfectly trained companion she was, produced smelling-salts from the +capacious pocket of her blue serge coat-frock, and held it under her +mistress's nose. A dose of brandy set the lady to rights, and her +Southern emotionalism subsided when she sat down in front of the open +window. + +She looked up into Cleek's downbent face with wide eyes. + +"I am so sorry," she said. "But it brought it all back--so +dreadfully--so terribly! Oh, I shall never forget it--never! Miss +McCall, my smelling-salts, again, please.... Thank you. Mr. Deland, you +have still--much more to proceed with?" + +He nodded. + +"A good deal, I'm afraid. In the first place, I must tell you that we +have discovered one of the weapons--the stiletto which stabbed your +husband, Lady Paula. There remains but the air-pistol--and that will not +be a difficult matter, either, I imagine." He looked significantly at +Ross, whose face went suddenly scarlet. + +"I say--if you dare to accuse--_me_...." + +"Not so fast, my friend; I'm accusing nobody," returned Cleek serenely, +"and too much protestation often hides a guilty conscience. Please say +nothing until you are questioned. It is the safest way. First--the +stiletto." + +He drew it from his pocket and held it aloft where they could all see +it, the sunshine fighting upon its fine blade and turning it into a +narrow ribbon of brilliancy. + +"Can any one claim this, please?" + +There was an instant's hush of amazement as all looked at the thing, as +of the stillness before the storm, and then Maud Duggan hurried forward +and seized it in her two hands. + +"It is my stepmother's!" she exclaimed emphatically, and at the sound of +her voice Lady Paula sprang to her feet, instantly upon the defence, and +her faintness forgotten in this exciting moment. + +"Mine--mine! Oh, of course it is mine!" she shrilled like a veritable +harpy. "Every one of you would like to accuse me of this terrible crime, +I suppose. Mine?--yes, it is mine. But who had it last, I ask you? That +is another question to answer. Who but yourself, Maud?" + +"Not yesterday, Paula." + +"The day before, then----" + +"It was I you lent it to the day before, if you remember, Paula," struck +in Ross's voice quietly. "Please try to stick to facts as much as +possible." + +"Well, you, then--or your wretched sister--one or the other of you," she +returned vehemently, stung out of all thought of good-breeding by the +sudden appearance of this thing of ill-repute. "What does it matter, so +long as it was used by one of you?" + +"And you will remember, if you think back, that I myself brought it up +to your boudoir and handed it to you, Paula, and I myself saw you place +it in your top drawer," interposed Ross, still in that ice-cold terrible +voice which is so much more horrible to bear than red-hot anger. + +"You lie!--you lie!" + +"He does not!" It was Johanna McCall who spoke at this +juncture--Johanna, with two red spots of colour in her usually pale +cheeks and her eyes fairly blazing. "I saw him do it, too-- _I_ saw you, +Mr. Duggan. Don't believe what she says, Mr. Deland! It is she who +lies-- I swear that!" + +To and fro the evil words flew like vultures seeking to peck each +other's hearts out in the combat. In the sudden hush which followed this +last denouncement, while Lady Paula was accumulating her forces to +retaliate, Cleek held up his hand. + +"Then I take it," he said, "that the stiletto is the property of Lady +Paula, but that it was last used by Mr. Duggan, who returned it to Lady +Paula in the presence of a witness, and she put it back into her drawer. +That is correct, is it not?" + +"A lie--an absolute lie!" + +"Perfectly correct, Mr. Deland." + +"Thank you, Mr. Duggan. At any rate, the ownership of the thing is +established, which, by the way, Lady Paula, makes no assertion whatever +as to incriminating _you_ in this disastrous affair. Miss Debenham, +would you mind coming over here for a moment? I would like to look at +your dress----" + +"My _dress_, Mr. Deland?" + +He smiled at her with disarming frankness. + +"No wonder you think I am mad, but--ah, yes! see, right here on this +panel--I thought I was not mistaken. If you wouldn't mind turning round +a little more toward the middle of the room, Miss Debenham--thank +you--right here; those dark stains." He went down on his knees suddenly +and sniffed them, rubbed them with his fingers, and then beckoned the +mystified Mr. Narkom, who joined him immediately. "You see, Mr. Narkom, +what it is? Rather peculiar, isn't it?" + +"What the devil are you driving at?" demanded Ross at this juncture, +striding around the desk and taking up a stand beside his fiancee as +though to shield her from the hands of these merciless probers of human +hearts. "I wish to God you and your kind had never showed up here at +all, I do, indeed! You always bring trouble in your wake." + +"_Follow_ trouble, I think you mean, my friend," supplemented Cleek +quietly. "The trouble is generally there first. It is our business to +see that it is thrust upon--the right shoulders." + +"Then Cynthia--what are you driving at now?" + +There was a moment's tense silence. Then Cleek's voice sounded clearly: + +"Simply this. Those three stains there--long, narrow ones--upon Miss +Debenham's gown (I noticed them this morning at breakfast) +are--bloodstains, Mr. Duggan--_bloodstains_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MR. NARKOM VOICES AN OPINION + + +"_Bloodstains?_" + +Three pairs of feminine lips voiced that sinister word simultaneously: +Lady Paula's, Cynthia's, and Maud Duggan's. + +"But how, Mr. Deland?-- But why?-- And upon Cynthia's dress, too!" + +"Well, I'll swear I never had anything to do with it, anyhow!" threw in +Cynthia emphatically and in a voice of astonishment. "How _could_ they +be bloodstains, Mr. Deland? and how could they possibly get on _my_ +frock? Solve that question, if you please, first of all." + +"Quite a simple one, Miss Debenham. Just this: The murderer--or one of +them, as the case may be--entered this room by that middle window, +stabbed Sir Andrew with the stiletto, stolen for the purpose, of +course--then, in a frenzy lest he be discovered, caught hold of the +nearest thing and wiped the bloodstained instrument upon it, and then +made off as quickly as possible. You happened to be the nearest, no +doubt. So you were the person chosen. Did you not feel anything at all +of the action?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nothing that I remember. We were all so astonished when the light +failed that I don't remember anything at all about it. If it was done, +it was done gently--and my skirt is wide." + +"And you think the murderer, the perpetrator of this wicked crime, was a +man, then, Mr. Deland?" put in the soft voice of Lady Paula at this +juncture. + +Cleek spun around toward her, nodding emphatically. + +"I do, indeed. No woman could have arranged the thing like this, Lady +Paula. The electricity would have been too difficult a problem for her, +in the first place, and then the shooting----" + +"And how do you account for _that_, Mr. Deland?" + +"Ah, that is a more difficult matter. How? By whose hand? We will get +back to our stage rehearsal for that, I think. Mr. Narkom, would you sit +down again in the chair? Thanks very much. It's only just for a moment. +Now, if you ladies would take up your positions again as they were, I'd +be very much obliged. Let me see. The shot entered the temple here above +the left eye and passed clean through the head into the wall of the room +beyond. An acute angle of fifty degrees. H'm. That would bring it to +about over there and to a level with the top of that wood-panelling. +Then the bullet must be located somewhere in that vicinity, from all +logical reasonings. But where? Come, Mr. Narkom, just a moment. Lend me +your keen eyes, will you? And we'll have a look together. It'll want +careful looking, I'll warrant. But the panelling's in fine condition and +shows every mark. I-- Gad! and here it is too!" + +His finger paused upon a slight, dark puncture in the darkness of the +wood, and he whirled round and faced them all, eyes alight, face aglow, +and marking the spot with his finger-nail. "Here, lend me your knife, my +friend, and we'll dig it out. That will establish a pretty good clue, I +can promise you. And a soundless pistol-shot--an air-gun. It ought to be +easy to trace the owner of _that_, in desolate parts like this. Well, +here goes!" + +A moment's careful prodding with the point of the knife, and the thing +was done. The bullet--an infinitesimal thing--fell out into the palm of +his hand. Then, of a sudden, he swung around in his tracks toward them. +His face was grim. + +"Look here," he said, in the sharp staccato of excitement, "what I want +to know is, who of this company possesses an air-gun? For that someone +does I am certain. That shot must have been fired at close range--by the +depth to which it was embedded in this wood. Mr. Duggan, do you happen +to own an air-pistol?" + +The last remnant of colour drained itself out of Ross Duggan's already +pale cheeks. His eyes narrowed down to pin-points in the frame of his +face. Then his chin went up. + +"I do, Mr. Deland." + +"H'm. I thought as much. And if you were standing there, opposite your +father, and with no one at the right side of you, and only the space of +the bow-window between you and the outside world--taking into +consideration the enormous amount of misguided reason which you might +have to commit such a terrible crime--as I said before, if you moved +quickly over there, side stepping, so that the shot might miss any of +the ladies opposite after passing through Sir Andrew's brain, and--if +the lights failed at a given and arranged moment, and you whipped out +your revolver and fired, it _might_ bring about just this identical +result." + +"I ... my God! man, you're not accusing me of murdering my own father, +are you? You're daft--insane--idiotic!" + +Cleek held up a silencing hand. + +"I'm not accusing anybody, Mr. Duggan; simply reconstructing matters for +the purpose of finding out the true assassins. And, as I told you last +night, every one, according to English law, may be considered guilty +until he be proved innocent. Suspicions seem to point heavily to you, I +must say. But we've got to have more facts, of course. + +"He didn't do it, Mr. Deland! Of course he didn't do it!" + +Cynthia shrilled out these words suddenly, rushing toward Cleek and +fastening her hands about his arm. "You're mad to suggest such a thing, +to even think it! My Ross wouldn't stoop to _murder_ for a beastly +inheritance! You don't know him as I do--as all these others do. It's +incredible." + +"Quite true, Miss Debenham. But let's ask Mr. Narkom what he thinks of +it. He's kept his peace during this session, proving himself, no doubt, +a wiser man than I. Mr. Narkom, give us your views, please. Who do _you_ +think has committed this crime, according to present evidence?" + +"That man!" Mr. Narkom pointed excitedly in Ross's direction, his fat +face red with excitement, his forehead perspiring with the heat of his +excitement. "_He_ fired the shot. But the stiletto--that is a more +difficult question." + +"And you think Mr. Duggan actually did kill his father, then? No, no, +sir, I beg of you, let us finish this discussion before you interrupt. +It might lead to something really enlightening. You think that, Mr. +Narkom? Considering the position in which the shot was fired, and the +position in which Mr. Duggan himself stood last night?" + +"Decidedly I do." + +"H'm. I'm sorry. But I'm inclined to agree. But the evidence, I admit, +is at present slight--the actual circumstantial evidence, I mean. You're +not going to--arrest--him on that, I hope?" + +Arrest! The fateful word fell upon that assemblage with truly sinister +meaning. Arrest Ross! Arrest him! Impossible! Upon every face these +thoughts might be read--except upon Lady Paula's, where, indeed, a sort +of secret and hidden triumph seemed to glow like a light lit from +within. Cleek flashed his eyes over every face. He paused at Lady +Paula's for one moment, and then went on to Ross's--and ended up at +length upon Catherine Dowd's. It was transfigured! Transfigured with +hate of himself, with love of Ross: the two most intense feelings in +human nature warring with each other upon it to be uppermost. That look +of hatred made him positively shiver. If the woman had had any real +reason for the crime, could she not have been the perpetrator of the +stabbing episode? But she hadn't any reason, at least none that could be +at present discovered. One would have to go deeper than that for motive. + +"Well, Mr. Narkom?" + +The Superintendent was looking frankly uncomfortable. Cleek's direct +action in front of them all had somewhat winded him. He was not used to +such out-and-out tactics, even in the methods of a man who was the most +amazing beggar he had ever struck. + +"I--I--well, hardly that, my dear chap," he responded awkwardly. "We've +got to have more proof than that, you know. A judge won't hang a man +upon the evidence of his possible position in a room when the light went +out. It--it isn't feasible!" + +"Well done, well done!" Cleek laughed the words softly into his ear. +"So, Mr. Duggan, you are free--for the present. But understand, you are +on parole and must not leave this house unaccompanied by a constable or +plain-clothes man. This thing's got to be sifted to the bottom, and, +what's more, it's going to be, too. And whoever has murdered that poor +old man will swing for it, so help me God!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH RHEA TAKES A HAND + + +The silence that followed this last solemn remark of Cleek's was fraught +with unknown, tremendous issues. One could have heard a pin drop in the +still room. Then at last Lady Paula stirred. + +"You have finished, Mr. Deland-- Mr. Narkom? I may go now?" + +"In one more moment, Lady Paula. There is simply the matter of the will +now to be thrashed out before you disperse and leave us to work out the +problem as best we may. You have, no doubt, put it away, Mr. Duggan? I +didn't see it here when I investigated early this morning." + +"I've done nothing of the sort, Mr. Deland." + +"Oh!---is that so? I beg you pardon. Then perhaps you, Miss Duggan?" + +"Certainly not. I've never laid a finger upon it!" returned she, with a +shake of the head and amazement written all over her countenance. "I've +never thought about it again from that moment to this! Why, of course it +must have been upon the table when--when poor Father met his--death. He +was just about to alter the name when the light went out." + +"Then you were using the electric switch last night instead of the +customary lamp, I take it?" + +"Yes. Father did use it at intervals, and I suppose in this case he +thought it better for seeing with. For it was certainly on. A lamp could +never have failed as that light did, Mr. Deland. No doubt it would have +been better if we had not used the electricity, for the dreadful thing +could never have taken place then, could it?" + +"And so we must put that down to Ross, and lay the whole blame upon +_him_, at any rate!" snapped out Lady Paula in an angry voice; and Cleek +thought, for a woman so shortly bereft, she was singularly well +recovered from the shock--if it had ever been one in the first instance. +"For if he had not installed this dreadful thing, then surely, surely my +poor, poor husband would never have met with his death at all!' + +"Oh, have done with your nagging, Paula!" responded Ross irritably as +she ceased speaking. + +And Cleek obtained silence simply by stepping into the breach himself. + +"Well," he said serenely, "the will has disappeared, at any rate. No +servant has touched it, I suppose? Or entered this room last night +before I came, Miss Duggan?" + +"None that I know of. It's peculiar, to say the least of it." + +H'm. Then among this little company around and about him Cleek +registered the fact that one might include a thief and a murderer. Not +any too pleasant a thought, when the guilt could not definitely be fixed +upon any single one. But stay!--there was the boy Cyril, and if that +will had been stolen, why should not he have done it as much as anybody? +He and his mother would benefit more if the will disappeared entirely +than by the simple bequests which Maud Duggan had told him had been left +to them. A widow had always a third share by law, that was an understood +thing; and a third share of this enormous estate meant a good deal more +than one at first imagined. The boy Cyril must be interviewed in due +course. + +Then there was another point to be taken up, the question of Captain +Macdonald's presence in these grounds last night, shortly after the +murder had taken place. That gentleman must account for his movements in +the proper quarter. And if by any chance there were footprints outside +that very window, then--b'gad! he, too, might be included in the circle +of possible criminals. + +He strode quickly over to the window and leaned out of it, looking down +upon the flower-bed beneath it, just a matter of three feet or so, and +the little walled-in courtyard that girt it about. Eh? what? There were +marks in the soft earth, and plenty of 'em! + +Then the assembled company fairly gasped at his next action, while Mr. +Narkom, knowing him better than they did, pelted over to the window and +leaned out of it. For Cleek had climbed upon the ledge and had let +himself down--light as a cat--down on to the bed, and stood looking in +through the window at them with serenely smiling face. + +"Gad!" he ejaculated excitedly. "Well, and why not? Footprints!... +Constable, just nip along into the village, and fetch me back Captain +Angus Macdonald. I want to speak to him rather particularly. Tell him +it's the Law--and that he's got to come--and he'll come along pretty +lively, I can promise you." + +The constable nipped along forthwith, while of a sudden Maud Duggan's +flushed face went white as a dead face, and her eyes fairly blazed at +him. + +"Captain Macdonald! Oh, it's ridiculous, Mr. Deland!--absurd! What on +earth are you dragging _him_ in for? You must be mad to think for one +moment----" + +Cleek held up a silencing hand before he dropped to the ground and began +peering at the footprints in the soft earth through a magnifying glass. + +"I don't think, Miss Duggan--it's a policeman's business to _know_," he +retorted; and then set about his task, while those others in the fateful +room crowded about the open window and stood looking down at him with +blank, unhappy faces. + +Carefully he measured their length with his little foot-rule and noted +the size down in his pocketbook. Then he fitted one of his own slim feet +into the indentation, saw that it was rather larger and broader, stepped +back upon the courtyard and faced them, all clustering about him, with +serene countenance. + +"A fair-sized boot, ladies and gentlemen," he remarked; "quite a +fair-sized boot! Number tens, if I know anything of sizes. And looks +like hunting-boots, too. Evidently a chap who rides. Now, this Captain +Macdonald, Lady Paula----" + +"One of the finest horsemen in the country," she returned, with a +shrugging of shoulders and an uplifting of brows. + +"Ah! Just so. That was what I imagined when I saw--when I encountered +him here in these grounds last night. Light of foot, and the proper +build, too. He'll no doubt be along in the course of another three +quarters of an hour (if Jameson doesn't have a dickens of a job locating +him), so in the meanwhile, if Mr. Narkom is willing, we'll take a little +turn together and talk over things, and then come back to you here in +the allotted time. Willing, Mr. Narkom?" + +"Perfectly willing." + +And so it came about that, arm in arm, the two friends went off together +down by the wide driveway that led to the great doors of wrought-iron +which Rhea so ably guarded, and Cleek, stopping in the pathway, pointed +up to the statue etched out against the sky in sinister outline, and +told Mr. Narkom the story of it. + +"Cinnamon! But what a magnificent thing it is!" ejaculated that +gentleman with awe, when the tale was finished. "That's something to be +proud of--eh, old chap? Now, if I had a fellow like that for an ancestor +there'd be no living with me at all! These old families!--there's +certainly something in this thing they call Birth and Race--though for +the life of me I never can make it out." + +"No," thought Cleek, with a smile, "you wouldn't." But he said nothing, +merely passed on toward the iron gates, and seeing that they had been +left ajar, clanged them to sharply behind them. + +"He'll ring his great bell when the latch falls--that's his ceremonious +way of welcoming the coming and speeding the parting guest," threw in +Cleek with a laugh. "I'm going to shove down the latch now, so watch +him, my friend. Here goes!" + +He sent the door clanging to with a vigorous pull, but--not a sound rang +out over the still air. Rhea had failed in his duty for once in his +whole long, dutiful lifetime. Cleek spun round and looked at him, face +gone suddenly blank. + +"What the--that's the funniest thing! It's never failed before, except +last night, when I found it conveniently ajar," he ejaculated, staring +up at the sky. "Unless--perhaps it would have failed last night, too. +There's no knowing. But Miss Duggan assured me positively that the +thing had never been stopped. But if it _had_ been stopped for this very +happening last night, to silence the approach of an unwanted visitor, +what's to prevent 'em from swaddling the clapper up--and not had time to +undo it again? And yet, when the Inspector came it rang all right. +No--_that_ theory won't hold water, my friend." + +"What's that you're mumbling about, Cleek?" threw in Mr. Narkom at this +juncture. "Clapper swaddled up? You surely don't think the bell's been +stopped for any purpose?" + +"No--simply to protect the sensitive ears of the housekeeper," threw +back Cleek with a contemptuous laugh; and then whirled around upon him +and caught him by the shoulder. "Forgive me, old friend. My tongue +scampers ahead of my heart sometimes, which is a very poor trait for a +policeman to possess. What I mean to say is simply this: Up to yesterday +that bell rang--even when we came here for the first time--for I have +the evidence of my own ears to prove it. And now--it doesn't ring. So +what's prevented it? I'm going up to see." + +"Cleek, my dear fellow!--to climb that height! And in daylight, too!" + +"What's the harm? say I--if you'll keep watch and tell me of approaching +visitors. Here goes! Keep your eyes peeled upon the high-road, Mr. +Narkom, because it wouldn't do to be seen, y'know and if any one +approaches, whistle 'God Save the King,' and I'll slip into a +hiding-place somewhere until the coast's clear. And don't tell any +strangers who you are, will you?" + +Mr. Narkom acceded to all these requests with a quick nod, took up his +post by the gateway leading out upon the road, and let his startled eyes +travel backward now and again at Cleek's nimble, crawling figure +climbing steadily up the sides of the huge gates, like a lizard upon a +wall. Up, up, up he went, scaling the height and clinging here and there +to the twists of iron and bronze that made an easy foot-hold--until, +just as the summit was reached, and he was standing abreast of the +enormous figure and looking up into its great face, with the bell +dangling from the bar of iron upon which he stood, he heard the sound of +"God Save the King" floating up to him in Mr. Narkom's whistle, darted +quickly through the giant's legs, and drew himself up against the back +of him and--hoped for luck. The sound of two men's voices--and one of +them the Superintendent's--reached him where he stood upon the narrow +ledge. He recognized the other as that of the bailiff, James Tavish, +whom he had encountered upon the high-road only yesterday. + +Mr. Narkom dallied with him for so long, passing the time of day and +making tactless inquiries about the murder, in his blunderbuss fashion +("Dear old bungler!" Cleek apostrophized him inwardly), that he began +to wonder when the man would ever go. Then at length the voices ceased, +and he saw Tavish's fine, well-set-up figure swing off in front of him +up the driveway, and then himself slid back to the outer side of the +statue, lest the bailiff look back, and waited until Mr. Narkom whistled +"Coast all clear" again. + +This done, Cleek swung himself down carefully, clinging on with knees +and feet in a most impossible and seemingly dangerous position which +brought a hasty warning from Mr. Narkom, and--found the clapper of the +bell at last. It wasn't such a big bell--not much bigger than a man's +head, but wrought of solid bronze, which made it almost impossible for +him to swing it up on its chain to the platform upon which he hung +poised above it. But somehow he managed to do the thing, and Mr. Narkom, +watching with his heart in his mouth, saw his hand dive down inside of +the bell and fumble there a moment. Then he heard Cleek's quick whistle +of surprise as he swung the bell silently back again, and came down once +more--empty-handed! + +"Well, what did you discover?" hastily exclaimed the Superintendent as +Cleek came to earth at last and stood dusting himself. "Or wasn't there +anything at all? Was the bell muffled _before_ last night's tragedy, +Cleek--or is it simply a bird's nest that's lodged there and stopped +the thing? I'm on tenterhooks to know." + +"And know you shall, old friend," said Cleek, straightening himself from +his self-imposed task and giving his cravat a twitch with nimble fingers +to its correct position once more. "It wasn't a bird's nest--not by a +long chalk! More like a hornet nest, I should say, between you and me; +but that's apart from the question. And it wasn't muffled before the +tragedy, either, Mr. Narkom. It was muffled _after_! Pretty strange, +isn't it?... Yes, I thought you'd think so. Well, anyhow, I'm coming +to-night to remove the 'muffling' object when the rest of the people are +in bed, and I want you to help me by keeping on the watch-out. We're due +for a full moon to-night, and that'll help matters. So Rhea's in the +mystery, too, is he? Umm. A difficult subject to tackle as well, on +account of his silence. But he's told me something this day that has +unravelled _one_ portion of the riddle, at all events. And when I've +unravelled the remainder, you shall hear what it is. + +"Now for Dollops, and the Three Fishers. I'm anxious to hear that 'Crown +and Anchor' story from his own lips. And I've other work for him. So +come along." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ANOTHER FLY IN THE WEB + + +It was a full hour by the clock when Captain Macdonald, in the hands of +his burly captor, and looking as furious as it is possible for a man to +look in such circumstances, entered the library at Aygon Castle, where +already Mr. Narkom, Cleek, and all the other members of that +ill-assorted and tragic party were already assembled, and, looking +neither to right nor left of him, pushed past Maud Duggan's detaining +fingers and went straight up to his man on sight. + +"Look here!" he said angrily, as, hat in hand, he stood before Cleek, +his countenance showing a little of what he felt inside his hot young +heart. "What the deuce--what the dickens do you mean by sendin' a +beastly policeman for me? That's what I want to know! I was on my way up +here--the awful thing that has just happened I only heard this morning +through my groom, who met one of the Castle grooms in the village, and +he told him--and I was comin' up to see if I could be any help, when up +comes my lord constable, seizes me by the sleeve, tips his cap, and +says, 'You've got to come along with me'--just as if I'd picked a +blessed pocket or something! I'm dashed well furious I can tell you! And +I want an apology at once. Thought there was somethin' decidedly fishy +in your appearance here in the Castle grounds last night, and now I know +what you were about for." + +"But, unfortunately, I don't know what _you_ were about for, Captain," +retorted Cleek with a one-sided smile. "And that's exactly what I sent +for you to find out. After you have explained yourself so fully and +so--so emphatically--in the presence of these ladies, I will now claim a +little of your time and attention for myself. + +"You were perfectly right. I happened to be coming here, upon this very +unpleasant and tragic errand, at the summons of Miss Maud Duggan----" + +"_Maud_ sent for you?" + +"She did. We had a prearranged signal--she'll probably tell you all +about it"--he smiled at her sad young face, a hint of tenderness in his +own. "You see, we happen to be friends _through_ friends, if you can +follow what I mean. Miss Duggan's school-mate and chum chances to be the +lady who has done me the honour to promise to become my wife, and of +course it was naturally a firm link between us." + +"Maud's school-friend?" The Captain's voice was incredulous. "And you? +A--a policeman! Damned funny!" + +"As you say--_very_ funny," returned Cleek, with an ironical bow. "But +I must beg of you, my good Captain, to curb your language a little +before the ladies. It's not done, you know, in the best society--even a +mere policeman knows that. And as all this is entirely beyond the point +I'm aiming at, let's get down to brass tacks at once. What I want to +know is--what were you doing here last night, when the crime had only +just been committed? And why did I encounter you, running from the +direction of the house as fast as your feet could carry you? That's what +I want to know." + +A sudden gasp of amazement from Maud Duggan, hastily suppressed, brought +Cleek's eyes round to her instantly. Meanwhile, the Captain, going red +and white by turns, started to speak, hesitated, and then commenced +again, looking the very picture of abject discomfort and unhappiness. + +At last: + +"Well, if you want so much to know--find out for yourself," he broke out +in a sulky tone. "For I'm not going to tell you--that's flat! I've had +nothing whatsoever to do with the beastly affair, and you know it. And +if you don't know it, it won't take you long to find out. But what I was +doing here last night is my private affair, and nothing to do with +anybody." + +"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, arching an eyebrow in Mr. +Narkom's direction. "Still more emphatic, I must say! And 'absolutely +refuse,' too! The Law takes no refusals, Captain Macdonald, and if you +don't know that fact, you'd better learn it now. And if you and Mr. Ross +Duggan happen to be friends----" + +"We are friends--the best of 'em, eh, old chap?" from Ross himself. + +"Very well, then. All I can say is that you are harming Mr. Duggan's +case with your ridiculous silence, and if you're not pretty careful, +might end in driving him into the prisoner's dock." + +It was a "tall order"--and it almost carried, but not quite. For +Macdonald gave out a smothered exclamation of amazement, swung around +and looked at Ross, and then, meeting Maud Duggan's agonized eyes, +tightened his mouth and faced Cleek again with the set expression upon +his face. + +"Ross Duggan's no murderer--and you know it, dash you!" he gave out in a +harsh, curt voice. "And it's no business of yours what I was doing here +last night. I'm a friend of the family----" + +"But forbidden the house, I take it?" + +Macdonald flushed an ugly crimson. + +"You're exceedin'ly well informed upon family affairs, I must say!" he +retorted tartly. "Yes--forbidden the house by the master of it (poor old +chap!) and therefore--well, I'm not goin' to say any more. It may +implicate someone else who's entirely innocent, and you won't get my +mouth open with a sledge-hammer and a nail!" + +"And no necessity for it, either--you dunderheaded young donkey!" +thought Cleek amusedly. "For if you haven't given the whole show away, +and made it perfectly plain to everybody that you were meeting your +sweetheart--or about to do so--then my name's not Cleek--which, of +course, it isn't! And there's no telling but that you're a better actor +than you make out! And this may be a 'blind'--but at present there's no +'cover' to draw, so we'll be off cantering in the other direction until +the scent's a bit stronger in _yours_." Aloud, he turned to the irate +young man with a slight bow, and spoke in his easy, calm manner. + +"Well, if you won't, you won't. These are not the days of the thumbscrew +and the rack, Captain Macdonald, and a man's tongue cannot be made to +speak by any other means than a little confinement in a prison cell. And +I don't think that's really necessary, in your case, do you, Mr. Narkom? +So we'll let that pass for the present. But I'd like you to understand +that--on account of your refusing to acquaint us with the facts of your +presence here in the grounds of this place last night--we are obliged, +in the maintenance of Law and Order, to put you upon your parole." + +"Thanks very much." + +Captain Macdonald bowed, with much mockery of lip and gesture, and then, +turning to the others in that silent little knot of spectators, made his +way over to the side of Maud Duggan, whose face was as pale as a dead +face, and in whose eyes lurked the suspicion of a great fear, and laid +his hand upon her arm. + +They conversed for a moment or two in low voices utterly oblivious of +those others who were searching their faces with curious eyes, while in +the background Ross Duggan fidgeted with his watch-chain and sent his +handsome eyes searching each figure in that still room, as though in an +endeavour to find a clue therein which would lift the pall of hateful +suspicion from his own shoulders. + +Cleek surveyed them critically. It was an abominably personal sort of +case, to say the least of it. And not much to his liking. But the +element of mystery in the whole affair gripped his interest in spite of +these other drawbacks. + +Of course there was no truth in the cock-and-bull story of the Peasant +Girl--that went without saying. But that it had been used as a "blind" +to cover the real perpetrators of the crime was evident to his mind. And +why _two_ of them? For in each case death would have been caused +instantaneously. He looked down at the spinning wheel standing there in +the recess of the window, and tried to link the thing up with it. But +there seemed no peg to hang a clue upon there. Obviously the thing had +been "worked" with just such an idea to disguise its real purport. + +Then he thought of the letters that he had found in the desk, hidden +away and yellowed with Time's fingers, and tied about with faded ribbon. +And of a sudden something flashed across his face which, Mr. Narkom +watching him as a cat does a mouse and knowing to a nicety what those +expressions so often meant, made that worthy gentleman positively jump +with excitement. + +Cleek smiled at him and shook a head over his eagerness. Then he turned +to the rest of them. + +"No need now to prolong this unpleasant and unhappy interview," he said +quietly. "Mr. Duggan has given his parole, and also the worthy Captain +over there. The Yard's men will do the rest. But I must renew my request +that none of you leaves this house to-day, or goes beyond the walls of +the garden, unless under special permission from Mr. Narkom or myself. +Just for to-day, my friends. By to-morrow perhaps the riddle may be +solved, or its end in sight. But for the next twenty-four hours I must +beg your assistance, every one of you, to bring it to a successful and +definite close." + +His request had an immediate and almost eager response. For there was +not one of that little band of anxious people who was not glad to be +released from the unpleasant and searching questionings of the Law, as +represented by this bland gentleman of the fine manner and the polished +ways, who seemed, indeed, as good as they were (if not better), and who +met them upon the grounds of an equality which was hardly to be expected +from one of his calling. + +Maud and the Captain walked away together conversing in low voices, +their faces grave. Ross, Cynthia Debenham, and Catherine Dowd--lagging a +little behind, and favouring Cleek with a look of venomous hatred cast +back at him over her shoulder as she passed through the open +door--turned toward the terrace, where they all sat down and discussed +the thing from every point of view within their reach, and came to no +definite ending at all; while Lady Paula, summoning Miss McCall with a +regal gesture, rose from her chair, bowed charmingly to each of the two +men left in the room, and withdrew to the safety and peace of her own +boudoir. + +When the door had shut upon the last of them, Cleek began pacing the +room excitedly, pulling at his chin and gnawing at his lower lip, which +gestures brought Mr. Narkom to the conclusion that he was indulging in a +"jolly good think!" + +"There's more in those letters than meets the eye," Cleek said aloud, +apostrophizing the wall-paper and the fireplace in turn. "H'm. Not a +doubt of it. 'Jeannette.' Something Scotch in the flavour of that, eh, +Mr. Narkom?... Yes, that's my opinion, too. It wouldn't take a hammer +and a nail to drive _that_ fact home, anyhow. And the date of 'em some +seventeen years back.... But it's the 'humming sound' which gets me, I +swear. Can't account for that, anyhow. Might be a dynamo, but there +isn't a dynamo in the place, and no need for it, either. Plain stabbing +and shooting upon the face of it. We'll go for a prowl this afternoon, +old friend, and see what new lands we can discover." + +"All right. I'm your man, Cleek--the same as always," returned Mr. +Narkom affectionately, as he slapped Cleek on the shoulder with his +broad hand, and then slipped it about his ally's neck and kept pace with +him up and down the narrow room. + +"Anything that's going--with _you_ in it--will find me on the spot, too. +I'm a bit of a slow-mover, I know--but you're such a lightning-bug of a +creature that there's not a soul on earth can keep pace with you. Have +you looked into that laundry-bill question you were dickering about a +while ago?" + +Cleek threw back his head and laughed. + +"I have. But there's nothing doing there, as yet. The particular maid I +questioned has got a bilious attack this afternoon and can't go over the +lists for me. But I'm to hear to-morrow morning for certain.... It _is_ +rather a teaser for you, isn't it, old chap? But you must bear with me +until I've unravelled the ends myself, and when that's done, I'll put +'em into your hands, and you can wind 'em up for me into a tidy little +ball. Let's get a move on now, there's a good fellow. By the way, who's +the guilty party _now_, eh?" + +Mr. Narkom scratched his head perplexedly and let a full minute elapse +before replying. + +"It's a dickens of a tangle, looking at it any way," he returned +dejectedly. "I could have sworn that chap Ross Duggan had murdered his +father for the simple motive of keeping his name in the will and of +course the name _wasn't_ erased, after all, was it? That's a black point +against him. But this flustery-blustery-Captain-chap with his +lord-high-almighty ways rather took the wind out of my sails. And when +you said you had encountered him last night, Cleek, you could have +knocked me down with a feather. How did it happen?" + +"Oh--caught him running as hard as he could from the direction of the +lawns beyond this window, and fell plump into him as the best way to +attract his attention," returned Cleek serenely. "I thought it strange +that he should be there at such a time. And he looked half-scared out of +his wits, too. Expected me to tell the household, I suppose. Rather +officious young chap, I must say--but I've a sneaking liking for him, +all the same. D'you think he did the shooting, then?" + +"Not a doubt of it!" Mr. Narkom was emphatic. + +"Oh! And why, do you suppose?" + +"Um--ah! Well, that's got to be discovered yet. Never know, Cleek; there +might be some hidden business in this affair in which this Captain is +involved. Anyhow, I doubt him--tremendously. Didn't ring true, I +thought. Rather too noisy and all that." + +"And you believe in the adage that 'empty vessels make the most sound,' +I take it?" rejoined Cleek with a smile. "Well, perhaps you're right. +Only I wouldn't call that young gentleman an empty vessel.... Anyhow, +this evening will elucidate matters a little. For I'm going to remove +that muffling for the nonce, and substitute another one. And it ought to +prove quite an enlightening job, too!" + +So saying, he swung out of the courtyard of the house, vaulting the +window lightly, and reaching a helping hand up to Mr. Narkom, who came +through less easily, perspiring at every pore. And suddenly Cleek's +finger went up to his lips, and with a hasty "Hush!" for his wheezy +comrade, he drew back into the screen of the bushes, standing as still +as a statue, all eyes, while the amazing thing came to pass! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"TENS!" + + +"Did you see that, Mr. Narkom? Did you see that?" rapped out Cleek +excitedly, when--a few minutes later--he stepped free from the detaining +bushes and beckoned the Superintendent from his hiding-place. "Recognize +the cut of _that_ lady--eh? And notice anything else about her?" + +"Only that she looked like that Lady Paula Duggan who was here a few +minutes ago," rejoined Mr. Narkom breathlessly. "But what had she got +that black thing over her head for?--sort of veil, wasn't it? Couldn't +see her face through--and gad! but how lightly she stepped!" + +"Rubber shoes, my dear fellow! Where were your eyes?" snapped Cleek with +a hasty exclamation. "Off somewhere where she doesn't want to be seen. +I'll swear. And as this courtyard leads out into the backwoods of the +place, to that forest ridge which girts it about, and thence on to the +Great Free Road as it's called, she's meeting someone whom she doesn't +want any one to see--and doesn't want to be discovered in the act, +either.... Hello! here's Dollops at last! Just the very chap I was +wanting. Here, lad, there's work for you. Run along and track down that +lady in black who is disappearing so rapidly up there by the right-hand +side of the hedge--and keeping pretty close to it, too, for shelter from +the watching eye in the household. Gad! lucky thing we came out this +way, Mr. Narkom, and caught her napping. She never thought of _that_, I +suppose. Seems a woman of one idea all through, doesn't she? The +beautiful, sleepy-eyed cat-creature! I've met her kind before. All purr +and softness when she's a friend--and a perfect she-devil when an enemy. +Now, then, Dollops, your legs are nimble, so slip up after her, but +don't on any account let her know you're doing it. And I'll follow in a +moment or two. But don't let her get away without discovering where +she's going to. Mr. Narkom, you wait here, will you, and keep watch in +case she returns, or any one else in the know follows after, while I nip +up to the lady's boudoir, and enquire where she has gone to. I'll dare +swear she's 'lying down with a headache and has given orders not to be +disturbed.'" + +And his imaginings proved to be correct, for that was exactly the case. +For Miss McCall, encountered in the outer passage from her lady's room, +with coat and hat on, and pulling on a pair of neatly darned cotton +gloves, met him, blushed like the timid little thing she was, and +answered him in all faith that what she spoke was true. + +"Lady Paula? I believe she's lying down, Mr. Deland. She told me on no +account to disturb her and to let everyone else know that she wished a +couple of hours' quiet," she said in her soft, gentle voice, lifting her +timid eyes to his face. "It's been a shock, I suppose"--her face and +voice hardened--"but she'll get over it--as she gets over everything +else that happens to worry her. She said she'd be down for tea, however; +and Master Cyril has gone off with Mr. Duggan and his fiancee for a walk +round the laboratory. It's--it's all very sad, Mr. Deland, isn't it?" + +"Very," rejoined Cleek. "Very sad, indeed. For a house divided against +itself, Miss McCall--you know the rest of the biblical quotation. And +I'm afraid that is exactly what will happen in this case.... Oh, well, +lying down, is she? Then I won't disturb her. Going out?" + +"Yes. Just along to Mr. Tavish's cottage, at the bottom of the drive," +she responded a trifle drearily. "Mr. Tavish and I, you know, +are--engaged. I have tea with him sometimes, and try to do some of his +mending. It's hard for a man to live alone, as he does." + +"Indeed it is. Engaged? Then may I offer you my congratulations, Miss +McCall? I won't detain you any longer, as I know you must be anxious to +get along. A little freedom in the fresh air will do you good. We shall +meet again later, I've no doubt. Good-bye." + +She nodded to him brightly and disappeared down the hill, and Cleek +could hear her soft feet beating upon the carpet as she passed down the +stairs. + +Once out of sight of her, he darted into the room which he knew was Lady +Paula's, and closed the door softly behind him, turning the key in the +lock. It was just the sort of boudoir he would have imagined her +choosing--a place all soft pillows and low divans, and hung in silks of +Eastern colourings, so that it resembled nothing so much as the home of +a sultan's favourite, from the low Turkish stool standing by the +couch-side, with the little filigree box of cigarettes upon it, +accompanied by a match-case _en suite_, to a tiny jewelled inlaid holder +bearing a half-smoked cigarette in it. Cleek picked it up, smelt it, +smelt it again, and then pursed his lips up into a low whistle of +astonishment. + +"My lady indulges in a delicate drug now and again, does she?" he told +himself, examining the thing with some distaste. "And for that reason +one may find excuse for the hysteria of this morning. That lends fresh +colour to the case, certainly. For a drug-fiend in plain parlance is +little more than a fool, and a half-balanced fool at that.... I'll take +a peep at those drawers in that secretaire, my lady, and see if you have +anything to reveal to me. For an _ambitious_ drug-fiend would stop at +nothing to gain her own ends, and if those same ends should happen to be +such a heritage as _this_ for her son and herself.... Hello! what's +this? Tablets, eh? But the bottle unmarked." + +He drew one out of the little phial and laid it in the palm of his hand, +and with the other thumb as piston, ground it down to fine powder and +then, sniffed it, recollecting that story which Maud Duggan had told him +of her suspicions with regard to the poisoning of her father. But after +he had touched the tip of his tongue to it, he smiled a little. + +"H'm. Nothing but aspirin. I thought as much, certainly, when she told +me the story. So that explodes _that_ little theory once and for all--if +there was anything in it from the beginning.... Nicely appointed +chamber, I must say." He walked leisurely about it, lifting a pillow +there, and dropping it back into its place, and straightening the set of +a chair, pushed out of its usual position by a very obvious hurry of the +room's occupant. + +And he was just in the act of doing this trivial thing when he came upon +a little screw of paper lying in a twisted ball beneath a chair which +stood close up to the Turkish stool, and evidently dropped by accident +(which undoubtedly was the fact). Cleek stooped to pick it up, smoothed +it out in his fingers, and then of a sudden sucked in his breath, and +every muscle in that well-organized frame of his went taut as iron. For +the paper--innocent as it looked--contained news which certainly was +enough to startle the most unsuspicious police-constable in existence. +For, written across its surface, having neither name nor address nor +date, and in a calligraphy which was undoubtedly foreign, were the +words: + + Meet me at three o'clock by the G. F. Road. Everything + successfully carried out. Muffled clapper. Must see you. + Utmost importance. + + A. M. + +"Hello! Hello!" rapped out Cleek in the sharp staccato of excitement. +"Then she _did_ have something to do with it, after all, did she? Gad! a +dollar to a ducat that there's someone else in this affair whom we've +never even hit upon yet! What a bit of luck Dollops turned up at that +moment--when _she_ was just on the way! Let's see--what's the time? +Three o'clock. Gad! I'll nip along myself, and come in at the finish, +and hear what I can hear from the good lady's lips herself, and see who +the dickens it is who's meeting her. There's more in this than meets the +eye, Cleek my boy, and don't you forget it!" + +Following the direction shown him by Mr. Narkom (who was still standing +like a monument of Patience in the little shrubbery where they had first +caught sight of her wandering ladyship), Cleek pelted off in the +direction of the woods, every faculty alert, and in the hastily donned +rubber-soled shoes proving himself a silent if a fleet-footed pursuer. + +But he was doomed to disappointment upon his quest. For halfway toward +the Great Free Road as that portion of the country was called, through a +belt of thick trees which entirely hid the landscape from view, he met +Dollops, looking disconsolately upon the ground, hands in pockets and +face dejected, and cannoned into him as they came abreast of each other. + +Dollops's face went crimson at sight of Cleek, and then paled off +suddenly. His voice was tragic in the extreme. + +"Missed 'er, Guv'nor!" he declared laconically. "Missed 'er for the +first time in all my existence upon this 'ere plannit! Give me the slip, +strite she did, but _'ow_, is a question as 'as fair diddled me. I +follered 'er up to 'ere as good as you please, and then of a suddint +'eard voices to the left of me, did a bunk after 'em, as I knowed you'd +wish me to, sir, and--that there she-devil 'ad disappeared as smooth as +you please! A fair ghost she were, Guv'nor, strite--an' if she ain't the +Peasant Girl wot 'aunts these parts, then I'm a Dutchman!" + +But Cleek had not the heart to smile at the boy's excited preamble. He +was too disappointed at losing his quarry so easily when this new thing +had been thrust right into his hands in this fashion, and the chance of +elucidating the mystery so incredibly easy--judging by the crumpled +note in his breast-pocket. Another such opportunity would never occur +again--one could not hope for things to happen in duplicate. + +"Dollops! Dollops!" he exclaimed, with a shake of the head. "Where is +your training in Apache quarters gone to, I'd like to know? Letting a +mere woman elude you, as though she had been Margot, Queen of the +Apaches, herself. And doing the ventriloquial trick so successfully upon +you, too! And at the very crux of the case, just when I'd found the clue +of all others which was likely to establish the truth of the whole +appalling affair! I'm disappointed. But it can't be helped, so put away +your crestfallen countenance, and come back to the house with me. We'll +have to wait until evening now, and see what comes to pass to-night. Did +the lady actually see you by any chance?" + +"Don't know, sir." Dollops's voice was dejected. "Suppose she must 'er +done, by the way she slipped the leash on me, so ter speak. Why, sir?" + +"Because, my young jackanapes, if that is the case, the scarcer you make +yourself the better," returned Cleek rapidly. "For it's no use your +allying yourself to me in her ladyship's presence, for the fat would be +in the fire with a vengeance. And now, about that other affair.... You +did what I told you? And what did your bit of private 'detecting' bring +forth, may I ask?" + +For a second Dollops's glum face lit up, and his eyes shone. Here at +least he had found something with which actually to help. There was a +hint of triumph in his tones. + +"Got 'em 'id in the shrubs, sir," he returned enthusiastically. "Done up +in brahn paper, they are, and ready for examination on sight. 'Untin' +boots, Mr. Cleek, sir--gent's 'untin'-boots, and that thick wiv mud as +ter look like blessed gardings too. Fit fer growin' a crop of taties in, +I swear, sir. An' fahnd 'em 'idden in a bush er laurels as large as +life." + +"Whew! Is that all, then? Nothing under-ground?" + +"No, sir. Not a blinkin' thing." + +"Um. Pity. You must show me the hunting-boots, Dollops; they may prove a +clue--though just how they would be connected with this particular case +remains to be seen. Very muddy, eh? Any name inside?" + +Dollops nodded. + +He looked hastily from side to side to see that no one was listening. +Then he bent toward Cleek with a mysterious manner and spoke in a bated +voice. + +"Yessir. Belongs to a gen'leman as is sweet on the young leddy we come +along wiv yesterday from Lunnon," he replied weightily. "Or so they tell +me up at the Three Fishers. Name of Macdonald--Captain Angus Macdonald. +Writ inside 'em as large as life and twice as nat'ril. Eh?--wot's the +matter, sir?" + +For Cleek had whirled about suddenly and struck his hands together, and +was laughing, laughing like a man gone suddenly daft. He stopped +abruptly and put one hand upon Dollops's shoulder. + +"Matter?" he said rapidly. "Why, simply this: Get a line on this young +Captain's handwriting, Dollops, and report to me this afternoon. And if +it tallies with this note, as I somehow fancy it does--well, we'll see +the fur fly so quickly that you won't be able to say Jack Robinson. +Happen to notice the size of the boots, by any chance?" + +"Yessir. Tens." + +"Good lad. And the footprints outside of the window in that little +courtyard are tens, too! The net's closing in upon you, my gallant +friend, and you won't get a chance to do much more spluttering and +exclaiming before I've found out what your little move in this +Inheritance Game is, and--nipped it in the bud!... Gad!--Captain Angus +Macdonald! And--tens!... Now, who the dickens would have thought it?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A PAIR OF BOOTS + + +Who, indeed? That King's Evidence was beginning to prove itself against +still another member of this unhappy household--or, to be more literal, +a would-be member--was clearly to be seen. What if the Captain's story +of shielding someone else were a mere "blind," as he had thought once +before? What if he was in league with Lady Paula herself, and using a +pretended affection for Maud Duggan as a wedge to get into the graces of +the household? Who knew? Stranger things had happened. But if he was +scoundrel enough to steal the heart of a good woman, such as Miss Duggan +undoubtedly was, a good, honest, straight woman, then he were a +blackguard indeed! + +Cleek had come across just such things in his varied experience in Yard +matters, and found his faith in human nature apt to be shaken by the +least wind that blew upon it. And for the will to disappear--after Sir +Andrew had declared that he would disinherit Ross and substitute the +name of his sister instead--and not that name which Lady Paula had hoped +he would substitute, the name of Cyril Duggan, as all her imaginings +had led her to believe--what if, on the strength of this fact, the +murder had been committed to get the old man out of the way, and then to +snatch the will itself, and--see what the Law would do for the widow and +the progeny? Who knew anything of Lady Paula but that she was the +daughter of a famous criminal who had paid the last penalty for his +crime? And a graceless but fascinating woman at that. The whole thing +might be a gigantic plot to wrest more from the estates than that will +of Sir Andrew's was likely to leave to her and her immediate family. + +Captain Macdonald and the good lady might share things between them, and +then make off together when things had righted themselves and start +again in another country. It seemed incredible after what Maud Duggan +had said of him, and yet.... Love blinds a woman's eyes even more than +it blinds a man's, and the good Captain was a handsome devil, to say the +least of him. + +The web of his imaginings spun itself on and on during that brief walk +back to the house alone, with the parcel containing those tell-tale +hunting-boots under his arm, Dollops having been left on the outskirts +of the wood to "keep his eyes open and see what he could see." It was +remarkable how one thing led to another, tightening the chain all the +time. Here was possible motive, surely, and what if that note had been +written by the worthy Captain? H'm. That certainly was possible. And +the initials were the same. Gad! it gave one to think, as the French +say. It did indeed! For the Law gave a widow a third share of +everything--and in the case of no will her son had an equal share with +the other children of the first family. And Maud Duggan had told him +that Sir Andrew had left her enough to live upon for herself and +Cyril.... But all these estates in Scotland, that were not part of the +entail, well, a third would certainly bring them more than _that_. + +He didn't trust Lady Paula. He'd met her kind too often before to take +her upon face value. But the Duggans themselves came of far different +stock. H'm. That might be it. And the air-pistol stunt simply used to +throw the blame upon Ross. Gad! it grew more credible as one went on +thinking about it. But there were loop-holes to be filled up before one +could be even sure. The condition of Captain Macdonald's affairs would +assist considerably. Maud Duggan had said he was poor. Another link. He +might even be in debt. Possibly was. Well, that must be looked into, +too. + +But if the thing had actually gone so far as murder, why had there been +two of 'em--when one would have done? And Lady Paula had stood upon her +liege-lord's _right_ hand, and not upon his left. And it was through the +heart that that little poignard had pierced. And Catherine Dowd stood +there. And it was she who had brought him the poignard in the first +place! It was the devil's own doing, any way you looked at it. And not +only Catherine Dowd, but Miss Debenham and Johanna McCall as well. + +He reached the house at last, and stepping in through the French window +that led to the great drawing-room by the back way, rang a bell there +and waited for the maid who answered to come and speak to him. + +"I want Miss Duggan, please." + +The maid withdrew with a discreet, "Yessir," and it was not many seconds +later when Maud Duggan herself appeared, looking pale and distraite and +exceedingly unhappy. + +"You wanted me, Mr. Deland?" + +"I did. Just for a moment," replied Cleek gently, noting her dark-ringed +eyes, and in the present state of his mental peregrinations feeling more +than a little sorry for her. "I've something to show you. And I want you +to tell me exactly to whom they belong and how you think they got where +my boy discovered them." + +Then he pulled the wrappings from his bulky parcel and set the +hunting-boots in front of her upon a little marquetrie table. + +She gave a sudden start, went pale as death, and shut her hands against +her heart as though to stop its unruly beating. Her pale lips trembled. + +"Angus's!" she exclaimed in a wrung voice. "Where--did you find them?" + +Cleek turned his head away, not to see her evident distress. It hurt him +miserably to hurt her. It was like whipping a faithful dog that trusted +you. + +"I thought so. The name, you see, is inside. My man found them hidden in +the shrubbery, just near the gates, and brought them along to me at +once. Do you know anything about how they got there, Miss Duggan?" + +She shook her head vigorously. + +"No. Not a single idea of it, Mr. Deland. That I swear," she returned +with emphasis. "Those boots are undoubtedly Captain Macdonald's, of that +I am sure. And see, as you say, there is the name inside. But they have +not been used by him for a long, long time. It was nearly six months +ago, I think, that he left them here, after a meet in our grounds, and +before Father had found out anything about our--our caring for each +other. He stayed the night, Mr. Deland, and Ross lent him some sleeping +things, and then one of the men-servants carried his hunting togs over +to his place the next day." + +"And these boots?" + +"Were left behind by mistake. He called for them, but I asked him not to +take them away. You see, I--liked to have them here, for silly, +sentimental reasons, no doubt. But I told him I loved to see them with +the other men's boots--Ross's and Father's and Cyril's and Mr. +Tavish's--in our harnessing-room, where the groom, Jarvis, always takes +care of them and keeps them oiled, when not in use, to prevent them +cracking. And so Angus laughed at me, and said they might stay, as he'd +another pair at home--and teased me terribly over my babyishness. It may +sound silly to you, Mr. Deland, but it meant a lot to me to see those +boots there--_belonging_--where I belonged. It was like--a peep into the +future.... And when the trouble with Father came, I wanted them there +more than ever, to keep my heart up. To my knowledge they have never +been moved." + +"And yet my man Dollops found them under the shrubbery and in this +condition this morning--after last night's terrible affair, Miss +Duggan," put in Cleek quietly, keen eyes upon her face. + +"It certainly looks black for Angus, Mr. Deland," she replied in a +frightened voice. "But I'll swear he never used them. I'll swear it in +court, if need be." + +"How do you know?" + +She stopped a moment and sucked in her breath, and then a sudden look of +determination came over her face. + +"Because," she said steadily, "he was coming to meet _me_ in the grounds +last night, as he had come often enough before. We could never see each +other in daylight, as Father had forbidden him the house and so we +stole our meetings at night, under the old oak tree at the bottom of the +first lawn. You can't see it from the house, as that hedge of yew hides +it entirely." + +"And you saw him last night? You'll swear upon that?" + +"I--I--that is--_yes_, I saw him last night," she replied, with flaming +cheeks and upthrown chin. "First Ross, and now Angus! You're cruel, Mr. +Deland, cruel as detectives can so often be! I thought you were going to +help me--truly--and, instead, you cast suspicions upon the two people I +love most dearly in the world! How can I possibly put you upon other +clues? _Anything_ to lead you away from such a false and utterly +unworthy scent!" + +Cleek laid a hand upon her arm, and bending his head, looked down at +her, a great sadness upon his face. + +"Justice is so often cruel, Miss Duggan," he said quietly, "and to men +in my profession we have so often to be cruel to be kind. I wouldn't +hurt you for the world, believe me. But I must do my duty to the Law +that employs me at all costs. I am not indicting your fiance--truly--and +there may be still another way out. Men have borrowed each other's boots +before now. And if you can tell me the size of the feet of the men in +this household, it will be a considerable help." + +She lifted her eyes and looked at him, filled with a sudden hope. + +"I can tell you Ross's this minute," she said quickly. "He takes eights. +He has a small foot, like poor old Father had. And Cyril's, of course, +is just a boy's foot--sevens, I think." + +"Any one else?" + +"The butler, Jarvis. Our groom, Batchett, and the old gardener, +McGubbins--and Mr. Tavish; but he's a huge man, and would take elevens, +I should imagine--if not bigger. Anyhow, I'll make inquiries, and be +back with you in ten minutes, if that will do." + +"Make it twenty minutes, _here_--for I've other things to attend to," +returned Cleek with a smile. "And don't worry more than you can help. +Things will right themselves in time, you know; and there are lots of +blind alleys in the pursuit of Justice which we often imagine to be the +royal road to Rome. In twenty minutes, then. By the way, who attends to +your laundry, may I ask? The sorting and counting of it I mean." + +"You amazing man! What on earth do you want to know that for? Why, the +laundry-maid, supervised by Miss McCall. One of her endless stream of +duties." + +"Thanks.... One more question. What do you know of Miss Catherine Dowd?" + +She shook her head. + +"Only that she is Cynthia's cousin," she returned uncertainly, "and +that she has been staying down here on and off all through the spring. +She--she's rather fond of Ross, I believe, Mr. Deland--though for +mercy's sake don't whisper it aloud! We call her 'La Gioconda,' you +know. She's so odd and inscrutable." + +"Exactly. I nicknamed her that myself. And I'll tell you another secret, +too. She brought me this morning the stiletto which so obviously stabbed +your father. She says she found it sticking in the curtains. Have you +ever discovered that the young lady lies, Miss Duggan?" + +She gave a quick, uneasy laugh, and shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ross always says he wouldn't trust her on sight," she paraphrased, with +a nervous gesture. "We've tripped her up--on purpose--lots of times, you +know, as girls do to one another. But to men, it seems a mean trick, I +expect, Mr. Deland. Only, she elaborates so frightfully, you know. About +her family and their money, and all the rest of it. And that's such +frightfully bad form. If people really 'belong,' they don't have to +advertise the fact, do they? And Catherine advertises it rather too +much. But I don't know anything actually against her." + +"Thanks. And what of this Johanna McCall? Where did she originally come +from? Do you know?" + +Her face softened visibly. You could see that Miss McCall held a warm +place in her heart. + +"Yes. I can tell you at once. Her foster-father used to be a bailiff +of my father's in the good old days when money wasn't so hard to get, +and even land seemed to yield a richer harvest. The old man died at +his work, and as he was a widower, with this little adopted daughter +living with him, he begged Father to see that she came to no harm. +And Father promised. And when she grew old enough, he gave her work +in the house. Sort of secretary--Mother's help, you know. But when he +remarried, Paula changed all that, and took her for her own sort of +companion-lady's-maid. I believe she would have left us before now, +after the treatment she has had, if it hadn't been for Father being her +guardian, so to speak. But none of us can ever forgive Paula for the way +she has treated her. It's disgraceful." + +"And yet your father never complained?" + +"My father never _saw_. But the girl has been made a pack-horse from the +minute Paula set her foot in this house. She seemed to have marked her +down for her own, and Johanna has had to suffer in consequence. Such a +nice little thing, too! It's common knowledge that she is engaged to Mr. +Tavish--though we've heard nothing definitely. But it will be an +excellent match. More in her own station of life; and they're both such +dears.... Anything else, Mr. Deland?" + +"Nothing else, thanks." + +"Then I'll be off. And back again in twenty minutes. And in the +meantime, Mr. Deland, you won't--you won't think too hard of my Angus +will you? Even if he had done such a terrible thing whatever reason +would he have had to do it?" + +"Has he any debts, Miss Duggan?" + +She laughed a little and shrugged her shoulders. "Heavens, yes! Heaps of +them. That was what Father had against him. Father used to say that a +poor man should own nothing, because there was little chance of paying +it back. But so have I, for the matter of that. Over a hundred +pounds--and bridge debts. But it's my only recreation, Mr. Deland, and I +can easily pay it back, so that it's nobody else's business, is it? But +I wouldn't have Paula know for worlds! She'd make my life misery." + +"As she'd make any one's--who stood in her way," thought Cleek, as the +girl left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. "So the worthy +Captain is a debtor, is he? H'm. A very uncomfortable state of affairs, +I imagine. And that poor girl has only thrown fuel upon the smouldering +fire, and helped to bank it up. For a man who is dogged by debts would +stoop to a good deal, and if he is already in correspondence with her +stepmother, by way of this little clandestine note, why shouldn't he do +other things? There's a good haul, at any rate, bigger than that for +which many a worse crime has been committed. And, besides, he must have +hated the old man for forbidding him the house. So he might have worked +off a bit of that, too. And yet--gad, it's a puzzler! I'll nip after Mr. +Narkom and have a little talk with _him_! And--no!--I'll see the +laundry-maid first. Perhaps by now she will have remembered something +with regard to that missing handkerchief." + +Acting upon that impulse, he rang the bell once more, summoned the maid +to him, and had a little talk with her there in the shaded drawing-room, +and elicited a few facts which surprised him not a little in the +puzzling mesh of conflicting clues which seemed to surround him upon all +sides. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ENTER CYRIL + + +Within the space of a half-hour Miss Duggan was back again in the big +drawing-room, and Cleek, having had a short confidential talk with Mr. +Narkom, and gleaned a few of that good gentleman's ideas, entered the +room by the French windows that led on to the terrace just as she came +in by the hall door. + +"Hello!" he said with a smile. "Brought your bootmaker's department with +you, eh? Now we'll really be able to establish somebody's innocence on +_that_! Come, let's have a look at it." + +She brought the paper to him, a sort of blank wonderment written in her +eyes as they scanned his face. + +"It's the strangest thing," she said with a shake of the head, "the very +strangest! But every single man in this establishment has the same-size +foot, Mr. Deland. There's nothing but tens among them. It seems a queer +coincidence, surely!" + +Cleek pursed his lips up to a whistle of amazement. + +"Gad! it certainly does. Every man-jack of 'em, then? Jarvis, and +Batchett, and your bailiff Tavish, and McGubbins? Every one of them?" + +"What a memory you have!" she countered amazedly. "Yes, every one of +them. Except Mr. Tavish. And his are elevens, he tells me." + +"Didn't give away any reason for asking, I hope, Miss Duggan?" put in +Cleek at this juncture, with an arching of the brows and a keen look +into her upthrown face. + +"Indeed I didn't. In fact, I threw them off the scent most successfully +by taking a pair of Ross's boots along with me and pretending I didn't +know whose they were. Batchett soon put me right. 'Them's Mr. +Ross's--Sair Ross, if ye please, m'm,' he said, using Ross's new title +(poor old boy! He won't like it a bit, either. He thinks titles are +anathema!). But Mr. Tavish, of course, didn't know whose they were, nor +did the old gardener, McGubbins, nor Jarvis, either. Only they said they +weren't _theirs_. And then, of course, told me the sizes they took. So, +you see, Mr. Deland, you can't blame Angus for _that_, can you?" + +He smiled at her and shook his head. + +"You've missed your vocation. You ought to have been a lady-detective, +using those methods," he replied lightly. "But it's odd--deuced odd! +I'll take a look at their feet whenever I get the chance. Don't bother +any more, Miss Duggan. I'll get to the bottom of this thing somehow or +other, before the next few days, and don't make any mistake about that. +That's all you can do for me. So go along, and lie down and have a +proper rest. I'm going to interview Mr. Narkom again. What time is tea, +by the way?" + +"Half-past four. If you'd like it sent to your rooms with Mr. +Narkom----" + +"No, thanks; we'd prefer to take it with _you_." ("And use our eyes for +ourselves," he supplemented silently.) Then, without more ado, bowed and +left her, and went off in pursuit of the Superintendent, who had been +spending a quiet hour investigating the scene of last night's tragedy, +and trying to solve the riddle of it. + +Halfway there Cleek encountered young Cyril, wandering disconsolately +about, hands in pockets and head downthrown, and at sight of Cleek he +fairly ran up to him, his brows black as thunder, his young mouth set +into an ugly line. + +"Look here," he demanded, in his shrill young voice, planting himself in +Cleek's way and looking up into his face, "they've been telling me you +suspect my stepbrother Ross of murdering my father last night, and I've +been waiting to catch you and to tell you it's a damned lie!" + +"Easy, easy, my young enthusiast," returned Cleek, with a throb of +admiration for this fearless young person, nevertheless. "They'll never +make a detective of _you_ if your methods of attack don't improve +hastily. Let's hear what you're worrying over. Now, then, all over +again. I'm going along this way to see the Superintendent, and you can +come with me if you like." + +Cyril's face went a dull brick-red at Cleek's bantering tone, and his +lips twitched. He swung into step beside Cleek as they traversed the +long hall toward the library. + +"They've been telling me," he reiterated, "that you think my stepbrother +Ross killed Father last night, and----" + +"Who's 'they,' may I ask?" + +"Oh--Mother--Miss Dowd, Cynthia--the whole bally lot of 'em. Said you'd +threatened to arrest Ross and put--put him in prison. But it isn't true, +sir, is it?" + +Cleek looked down at the eager young face, and sighed. + +"Partly," he returned, "and partly not. I've made no accusation, Cyril, +but--things point very blackly to your brother, and it will take pretty +strong evidence to say he is innocent at this juncture of the case, at +any rate. There are--others--whom I doubt, but at the present moment +doubts are all that can be expected of me. Certainties will follow +later.... Now, look here, you can help considerably. Tell me, who's been +tinkering with the electric switches in the library lately?" + +Of a sudden the boy's face went red and whity by turns. Then he averted +his head and pretended to inspect a fly that was crawling upon the +opposite wall. + +"Er--I don't really know," he replied in a confused voice. "I haven't +the faintest----" + +"You do!" Cleek had caught him by the shoulders and whirled him around +so that eye met eye squarely, and he saw that the boy dropped his. +"Come, now. Play the game. I can't expect to find the true murderer +unless you tell the truth. Listen to me, Cyril. Was it your brother +Ross?" + +Came a long silence, followed by a quickly drawn breath. Then: + +"_I_ have." + +"You? What the dickens did you do? Tell me all about it, quickly. I +found a bit of flexible wire upon the carpet yesterday morning when I +was looking over the house with your stepsister, and came to the +conclusion that someone had been altering the lights. And it was you, +was it?" + +Again the flushed cheeks and quickly drawn breath. Oh, this quixotic +family!--that muddled a decent man up in trying to do his duty by their +perpetual affections and efforts to shield one another. + +"Yes--and no. It was the day before yesterday. Ross and Mr. Tavish were +in the library going over some land accounts and looking at the weekly +wages bill, which is part of Ross's work for Father that he's been doing +the past two years. I was there, too, mending a damaged switch which +wouldn't go right, and Ross had promised to help me when his business +was finished. Well, when it was done, and they had smoked a cigarette +together-- Mr. Tavish is awfully popular with the whole place, you know, +Mr. Deland, and Ross liked him immensely--well, as I was saying, when +they'd done, they came over to me, where I was tinkering away at the +switch by the wall, and while Ross explained to me what exactly was the +matter, Mr. Tavish stood over us and made remarks." + +"Can you remember what any of those remarks were?" + +"Yes. He said he thought I was growing to be a clever youngster, with a +turn for electricity which ought to drive my father nearly mad, and then +he shook his head, and Ross laughed sort of uncomfortably, and agreed +with him. And then Ross asked Mr. Tavish if he knew anything of +electricity. 'Not a blessed thing!' Mr. Tavish said, with a loud laugh. +'I don't know the difference between a short circuit and a Bath bun.' +And of course we all laughed again, and then Ross explained a little of +it to him, and he seemed to catch on awfully quick, and asked some jolly +interestin' questions." + +"And what were the 'jolly interestin' questions,' may I ask?" + +"Oh-- I've really forgotten. Whether one could get a shock from that +sort of thing when you were working at it, and Ross said you could; and +electricity could kill a person instantly. And then they began to talk +about electrocution and the electric chair which criminals had to sit in +instead of being hanged, as they used to do in the old days. And Ross, +who simply loves anything to do with the subject as much as I do, Mr. +Deland, began to explain how a man could be killed by leaving a live +wire somewhere near where he could grasp hold of it, and then taking a +long piece of flexible wire in his hands, he wired it along the edge of +the room from the ground plug to the window, just to show what he meant +by it." + +"Oh, he did, did he? And what colour was the flexible wire?" + +"Crimson. Usual shade. Mr. Tavish was awfully interested at what Ross +did, and Ross got so enthusiastic that he carried the piece of wire up +to the window and left the raw edge of the wire exposed, and when he put +a piece of stuff against it, it singed up immediately, and, my word! +there _was_ a stink!" + +"Naturally. And then?" + +"Ross said a lot of things about the power of electricity that seemed to +interest Mr. Tavish, and of course _I_ was frightfully struck, as you +can imagine, and kept my ears open. And just then, who should come in +but Mother, and of course Ross and all of us stowed the conversation for +the time being, and Ross nipped off the length of unnecessary wire with +his pincers and left Mother with Tavish to discuss some changes she +wanted made in the poultry runs. She's rather interested in chickens, +you know, sir." + +"I see. But this was a bird of another colour, eh? What's that? No, my +lad, you've said nothing to incriminate anybody, and I'll keep your +confidence about this conversation, if you're worrying about it. Now, +then, you'd better nip along, as it's nearly tea-time, and when I was +your age clean hands were an absolute necessity even in +the--er--austerity of my home! I've no doubt they're the same in yours." + +"But I haven't said anything to--to incriminate Ross, have I, sir?" +reiterated Cyril anxiously. "That thing about shooting a chap with the +aid of electricity--of course it couldn't be done, I suppose, and Mr. +Tavish didn't know enough about it to contradict Ross--and anyhow he was +only gassing and not really meaning it at all. I--I'd give my right +hand, sir, for Ross. He comes next to my mother in my estimation. And +that's saying a good deal!" + +"Not so much as you might think--if you know that lady as well as I do, +my lad," apostrophized Cleek as the boy sped down the passageway and +left him alone. "Gad! here's a new outlook altogether. And that +conversation actually took place! He wasn't lying, the straight young +devil. And he never realized that he was plunging that precious brother +of his deeper and deeper into the mire!... I say-- Cyril!" + +The boy turned at the end of the passage and came slowly back to him. + +"Yes, sir?" + +"By the way, what size shoes do you take? Gad! your foot's pretty hefty +for a sixteen-year-old, I must say! What's the number of those delicate +little trotters?" + +Cyril laughed self-consciously. + +"They are rather huge, aren't they?" he replied. "But they're tens. Same +size as Ross, you know, so that I can often borrow his shoes--and +Captain Macdonald's as well. Funny we should all be the same size, isn't +it?" + +"Yes--deuced funny," returned Cleek, sucking in his lips suddenly and +his face gone grim. "Tens--eh? Thought it was sixes for you and sevens +for your brother." + +"Who the dickens told you that fairy-tale, sir?" + +"Oh, nobody particular. I must have dreamt it, I suppose," returned +Cleek with a shrug of the shoulders. "And-- I say, Cyril. Your man +Jarvis seems to have trotters, too. What size are his boots now, I +wonder?" + +Cyril's eyes flew wide. + +"You must have made a mistake," he said in a surprised voice. "For +Jarvis's feet are awfully small. Eights, I believe. Anyway, I can't get +'em on because I tried once. Stole his dress clothes and dressed up in +'em. But the mater was furious! Hello! there's the tea-gong. I must be +off!" + +Then he went off forthwith. Meanwhile Cleek, with his finger upon his +chin, stood stock-still in the middle of the hallway and pinched up his +brows. + +"Now, why the dickens did she lie to me--unless she wanted to shield her +precious brother?" he said ruminatively. "And why in heaven's name are +they all so anxious to pervert Justice and to deny truth?" + +But there was no one to give him any answer to that most difficult +question, and he had perforce to possess his soul in patience for the +present. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DOLLOPS MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +The rest of the day passed comparatively uneventfully for all those +concerned in the drama of a night's doings, and save for a searching +scrutiny of the library by Cleek, carried out under the noses of the +village policeman, with Inspector Campbell very much to the fore as +being in command of the local constabulary and anxious to make a good +impression upon the Yard's Superintendent (with an eye to future +promotion), and the discovery of one or two minor details which had +passed even his searching eye before, Cleek's time hung fairly heavily +upon his hands. + +Dollops, keen as mustard upon any task which involved the imagination of +his beloved master, spent the rest of the afternoon and a goodly part of +the long twilight in scampering over the countryside in pursuit of +various "facts," by the aid of a borrowed bicycle, which Mr. Fairnish +had charged him seven-and-sixpence for in advance, being obviously +doubtful as to whether the young man would return it or not, for +Dollop's Cockney countenance was not one to breed immediate trust on +sight. + +His efforts in this direction proved fairly fruitful, for after having +scraped acquaintance with one of the grooms at Captain Macdonald's +stables--the worthy Captain meanwhile champing furiously at the "bit" +which kept him tethered to his present quarters for another night, when +there were other affairs at his own place that wanted looking into--and +in his own inimitable fashion managing to wangle an old letter written +by his master to himself from the groom, Dollops, whistling +vociferously, came spinning back again to Aygon Castle to present his +find to Cleek, and receive the reward in Cleek's instantly spoken +pleasure. + +But to see Cleek was a different matter altogether. He had been told to +"lie low" where Lady Paula was concerned, and not poke his nose in +anything within reach of her ladyship's sharp eye. And as he did not +possess Cleek's marvellous birthright by which he was able to alter his +countenance in the space of a second, and become to all intents and +purposes another man, Dollops was certainly "floored." + +"Better try rahnd the servants' quarters, an' see what I kin see there," +he decided after a brief survey of the land from an adjacent laurel bush +which immediately faced the Castle. "The Gov'nor'll be ready ter split +my nob open if I ups and goes inter the plyce by the front door, bless +'is 'eart! And it's shorely the back door for the likes o' _you_, +Dollops me lad! So here goes!" + +So to the servants' quarters went Dollops forthwith, and scraped +acquaintance with Jarvis, the butler, by offering him an impossible +cigar, and asking off-handedly for Mr. Deland in the meanwhile. + +"Dunno where 'e is at the moment," replied Jarvis, with a wink and a +smile. "Seen 'im talkin' to the lydies only a few moments back, in the +drorin' room. But since then.... Lunnon chap, ain't yer?" + +"Yus!" Dollops's voice rang with pride of birthplace. He threw back his +narrow chest and stuck his fingers in his waistcoat and surveyed his +interlocutor with upthrown chin. + +"Well, so'm I. Come dahn with the family last January from their Lunnon +'ouse. Park Mansion, it's called. Big plyce in Eton Square. Know those +parts, I'll lay." + +"Every inch of 'em," vociferated Dollops with emphasis. "Luvly plyce, +ain't it? They tells me yer got a ghost in this 'ouse, and blimey! I'm +that frightened ter meet 'er, me backbone's almost come rahnd ter me +front. 'Ugs the gentlemen at night, don't she?" + +Jarvis threw back his head and let his hearty laugh ring out over the +rafters of the servants' hall. + +"Wouldn't 'ug _you_, young 'un, not for nothing--if it were light enough +ter see yer face by," he retorted with heavy wit. "But it's truth. And +the wimmenfolk is that nervous at night there's no managing with 'em +nohow. Some sprightly feller in a by-gone century went and man-'andled a +girl from these parts an' carried 'er 'ere by force. Then 'e got 'er +into trouble, so the story goes, an' she up and stabbed 'erself with the +spindle of her spinning wheel--that there contraption wot stands in the +library terd'y and makes a rare job er dustin' fer Minnie the under +'ousemaid. She don't 'arf kick at it, I kin tell yer! Anyway, that was +'ers! And we 'ad a footman 'ere last May wot fancied 'imself very +partickler as a braive bloke. Well, he says, says 'e, 'I'll sit up +ternight and go dahn by the dungeon door, where she's supposed ter come +from, and see wot I kin see.' 'Course we laughed at him, and there was a +bit of friendly gamblin' done--_you_ know--an' I backed the blighter for +a pound-note." + +"An' what 'appened?" + +"Ah, that's the scrub of it, as Shakespeare says, me lad. Young fool sat +up there, and then abaht three o'clock in the mornin' we 'eard 'im come +a-screamin' ter 'is quarters, lookin' as pale as death. 'E said 'e'd +'eard the Peasant Girl rustlin' abaht in her room, and the chink o' +chains, and then the iron grille door began to open, and an unearthly +voice called out,'Avaunt ye, varlet, or I'll break yer bones!' and +then.... 'E was off like a pea from a catapult, and that was the last +we ever 'eard of 'is bravery. 'E gave notice next day, and forfeited a +month's money ter get away from the plyce. And I lost me money, of +course! That's wot comes of backin' a bad starter--mostly orlus loses +yer money I find." + +During this enlightening recital Jarvis had been polishing the table +silver, pausing between his task to relate the story, while Dollops's +pale face went the colour of ivory, and the hair at the back of his neck +began to prickle with fright. + +"Gawd's troof!" he ejaculated, stung to some show of feeling by this +gruesome tale. "Ain't that orful! 'Oo'd 'ave thought it? I wouldn't +spend a night down there fer a mint of money--would you, Guv'nor?" + +"Not if I knows it. But no one never does go dahn very often, only ter +the wine-cellar. See that door there? Open that and you'll find a set o' +stairs leadin' right down inter the cellar, and the rest of the pleasant +little dungeon-places where they used ter put bad men like you an' me, +my boy. Orl right in daytime, er course, an' nothin' much ter see. And +perfectly safe. 'Ave a squint, won' yer?--while I send a maid ter find +yer gentleman. Quite a nifty little 'idin'-place 'twould be fer any one, +but as safe as 'ouses in the daylight. _Go_ on. Ain't scared, are yer?" + +Now, if there is one thing in the world which is likely to upset a +nervous man more than anything, it is to be designated "scared" in that +precise tone of voice. It is from such efforts that heroes are made. +Dollops, whose heart had turned to water within him, found it instantly +hardening at the butler's joking tone, and the bantering look upon the +man's rosy face settled the matter. He squared his shoulders and threw +back his head, though his jaw was chattering like a chimpanzee's. + +"Course I ain't--stoopid!" he said stammeringly. "Show us the way, and +I'm orf at once. Any other entrance but this one?" + +"Yes. Through the courtyard and down the stone steps. But it ain't never +used. Your gentleman went dahn yesterday mornin' with Miss Maud, just +for a bit of fun like. I'm needin' a couple er bottles er best port up, +if you've a mind ter fetch 'em fer me, an' when yer gets back I'll give +yer a swallow er Burgundy ter warm yer. 'Ere's the keys. Bottom of the +steps and first door ter yer right. You'll see a lot of others, but I +wouldn't meddle with them if I was you. Them's _'er_ preserves. I +believe you're scared stiff--even at this time of day?" + +Dollops favoured him with a withering look, being perfectly unable to +find his voice, and then proceeded to the door with steady step, flung +it open, and straightway began to descend the staircase to the cellar, +his rubber-soled shoes making no sound upon the wooden stairs with +their carpeting of thick felt and with his heart literally in his gaping +mouth. Down, down, down the stairs led him, and then he heard a laugh +from the top of them, turning suddenly to see Jarvis's smiling face +above, framed in the open doorway, heard the door slam loudly, and the +key grate in the lock, and realized that he had been the victim of a +pleasant little practical joke. + +The palms of his hands went wet. He felt a mad impulse to bound up the +stairs again and hammer upon the door until he gained admittance, but +his pride held him back. + +"No, I'll see 'im in 'ell first, the blinkin' practical joker!" he +apostrophized the absent butler in tones of blackest rage, and then, +curiosity getting the better of him, seeing that there was no other +alternative but to go down and then return by the _other_ way, "which +was scarcely ever used," proceeded on his journey into blackness, which +grew each second more black, until he was stepping carefully, with one +hand pressed against the stone of the wall and his eyes goggling through +the darkness from sheer fright. + +He reached the bottom of the stairs at last, and paused to take breath. +He was as winded as a spent runner, and as white as a sheet, and +trembling in every limb. The place was as black as a pocket, save for +where, through a grille-door on the left-hand side of him (which was +actually supposed to be her door, if he had but known it, and led +through to the torture-chamber which Cleek himself had traversed), a +single candle shone with a pale, sickly light, sending a tiny shaft in +his direction, though, with peering through at it, he could only just +see its vague outline in some room beyond. + +"Gawdamassy!" he ejaculated, his eyes fairly popping out of his head at +this sight. "Someun's 'ere, that's a fact! And from what I knows er +ghosts, they shine wiv a more unearthly light than wot comes from a +candle in a bottle. Now, 'oo the dickens----" + +But his searchings after light on this subject were cut off short by the +sound of softly speaking voices creeping to him through that grilled +door, and coming from some long distance away within it. He darted back +against the wall and, groping with his hands, found a cupboard door +ajar, slipped into it, and drew himself up taut against the inner wall, +and waited for that which might come to pass, every nerve a-tremble, his +eyes fixed upon the crack of the door, which at present showed black as +a pocket. + +The soft voices continued--men's voices, too, and one with the changing +inflections of the foreigner. + +"Blinkin' German!" thought Dollops excitedly. "Or a Chink! Don't know +the difference between their parley-vous meself, but it's orl alike wiv +_foreigners_. But the other 'un--'e's English orl right. Never 'eard +'is voice before, that's certain! Gawd! they're comin' out now, an' I +prays 'eaven they ain't a jossin' ter fetch nuffin' from this 'ere +cupboard, or little Dollops's number'll be up with a vengeance! I don't +fancy bein' done in by a blinkin' pigtail, neither! Nah!--then! Keep +still, Dollops, me boy, and stop yer tremblin'. You'll 'ave the 'ouse +a-shakin' in a minit, an' they'll fink it's a earfquake instead of a +boy-quake--strite they will!" + +Having wrestled himself into some sort of quiet of heart and brain, +Dollops continued to lie in wait until the strangers had come out +through the grilled door, and stood a moment with the candle between +them, talking in low tones, and glancing occasionally up the flight of +stairs by which he had only just descended. One of them had his back to +him, but the other's face was in full view. It was a dark, +swarthy-skinned face, with black eyes and crisp black moustache curling +upon the upper lip, the slim nose and aquiline features revealing to the +watching lad the very evident fact that here was a genuine Italian. + +And the other? He'd seen that tweed coat before, surely--but where? +Where? He racked his brains to think. Somewhere that tweed coat had +crossed his vision once before during that day, and in some +unaccountable manner it was associated in his mind with Sir Ross Duggan +himself.... + +The men moved quietly, blew out the candle, and then opened the door +opposite and began to climb up the stone stairway into the fresh air, +creeping about like mice. + +Meanwhile Dollops, afraid no longer, and all his being afire to get to +his master with news of this new development--and so make up for his +slowness this afternoon, when the lady had so successfully given him the +slip right here within his reach--stood stock-still, raking every corner +of that fertile young brain of his for the clue which eluded him. + +And then--quite suddenly--he _knew_. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"PINS AND NEEDLES" + + +Twenty minutes later he presented himself once more at the back door, +and asked in scathing accents for Mr. Jarvis, dangling the keys of the +wine-cellar in one careless hand. + +That gentleman appeared to him, changed for his evening duties in the +dining-room, and with one eye upon the clock, clapped him upon the +shoulder and guffawed into his face. + +"Blinkin' idiot!" thought Dollops, as he grinned back. "Might er +frightened me into foamin' at the mouth like a bloomin' 'oss, he might." +Then, aloud: "Nice practical joke ter play upon a feller, eh, Mr. +Jarvis? Nah! if I'd been sufferin' wiv me nerves and 'avin' calisthenics +wot's so fashionable just at presint, you could of sent me to my +coffin--strite." + +"But you're alive an' kickin' now, me 'earty!" returned Jarvis, with +another guffaw, "an' lookin' in the pink, I must s'y. What about them +bottles of port?--or didn't yer stop ter look into the wine-cellar? +Didn't bring 'em up, I notice." + +"No." Dollops's smile was catching. "But I nearly brought up sumthink +else, I kin tell yer--an' that's me 'eart, for it were a-sittin' in me +mouf like as though it would choke me! I've 'arf a mind ter cut you out +of me will, Mr. Jarvis. But, seriously speakin', where's my gentleman? +I've a note fer 'im if 'e's engaged, and if not, I'd like ter see 'im. +Say it's important." + +"News from the Front, eh? Fahnd out 'oo committed that there crime last +night, I don't think," said Jarvis, with his heavy humour. "Well, I'll +send along Minnie after him. Dinner's bein' prepared, and no doubt your +boss'll be dressin'. If 'e ain't nosin' round after clues, with that +there fat Superintendent. Wot's 'e, anyway?--your Mr. Deland? Amachoor +detective?" + +Dollops nodded. + +"That's the line. Tell 'im I've got summink ter say about his blue +trousers wot I've been a-pressing at the Three Fishers. An' it's most +important." + +"Oh!--very. Blue trousers is an important matter when a man's been +murdered in 'is own 'ome, I take it. Orl right, orl right; don't lose +yer temper, sporty. I'll see to it at once. Like ter go up to 'is room, +would yer?" + +"No. Rather wait 'ere for 'is message." + +"Very well. Sit down and make yerself comfortable, and no doubt there'll +be a bite er dinner fer yer, if you're patient. Won't say 'no' to a +nibble er chicken, I lay, follered with a dash er Peach Melba?... I +thought not." + +So saying, the garrulous Jarvis proceeded kitchenward to summon Minnie +and entrust her with the message for Mr. Deland, and then returned to +the servants' hall and passed the rest of the time with Dollops, talking +of London--a subject which appeared to be dear to both their hearts, and +which certainly gave them something in common with each other. + +Minnie returned in ten minutes bearing a little note upon her silver +salver, which she presented to the smiling Dollops with a mock bow and a +courtesy. She was a pert little country thing, with a trick of the eye +that took a man's heart. + +"'Ere's a note fer yer lordship," she said smartly. "Your gentleman says +'e's sorry 'e can't get down, and it don't matter about the blue +trousies a particle. And 'e don't need you this evenin', so that you kin +explore the countryside if yer want to. Wot say to a little walk, Mr. +Ginger-'Air? It's my evenin' out, and I don't mind if I do." + +Dollops winked and nudged her with his elbow. + +"You're a pretty piece, _you_ are, and if we was in Lunnon I'd be takin' +you to the pickshurs," he returned with a grin. "But I've an appointment +rahnd about ten o'clock up in the village. I'm yer man till then, +Saucer-Eyes. No, Mr. Jarvis, a bit of dinner, as you s'y, wouldn't go +quite amiss. I'm that 'ungry me insides rattle." + +And while Jarvis was carving the chicken for the servants' hall, and +giving him a generous portion, and Minnie was off to her room to prink +up and change for the evening, Dollops opened his master's letter and +scanned the few lines written upon it. + +"Be under the big gate by twelve o'clock to-night," it said. "Hear all +news then. Burn this." + +So when Jarvis returned Dollops was lighting a cigarette from a twist of +note-paper, which, upon sight of the big plate of steaming-hot chicken +that awaited him, he promptly threw into the fire, watching +absent-mindedly until it had become a charred fragment, and then set to +upon the feast with a vengeance. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile Cleek, dinner at last over--a meal passed in sober silence, +with the shadow of that dead Thing still hanging over the diners and +wiping the joy of life from their faces--went with Mr. Narkom out upon +the terrace, cigars alight, and discussed with him the probabilities and +possibilities of the whole affair, comparing notes with the +Superintendent and jotting down in his business-like way any ideas that +occurred to him as they talked together, until his cuff was covered over +with pencil scrawls and the furrow between his eyes had deepened +considerably. + +Slowly the evening wore itself away, the presence of the silent-watching +constabulary in the house making all friendliness between hosts and +unwanted guests a matter of impossibility. Women and men drew together +in little knots, discussing the affair in low-pitched voices, and even +Maud Duggan's eyes held something of accusation now when they dwelt upon +Cleek's face, so that at length he took Mr. Narkom by the arm and drew +him toward the door. + +"Come, old friend," he said quietly. "We are intruders here, you and I. +These other poor folk cannot be at rest in our presence. Come along to +the library once more, and have a look about it. The place draws me, I +must say. For I still believe that the secret of the whole terrible +thing lies there. To-morrow afternoon is to be Coroner's Inquest--a +hateful proceeding, to say the least of it--and I've given myself just +that time to solve the mystery." + +"Cinnamon! And you don't imagine you're going to, do you, Cleek?" +returned Mr. Narkom excitedly, as they passed down the passage together +and entered the room. "That's rather a tall order, I must say. Seems as +if we'd scoured this room from end to end." + +"And yet, from what I heard from Master Cyril a short while ago, that is +exactly what we have _not_ done," rejoined Cleek, dropping to his knees +and examining the wall plug which had interested him before. Meanwhile, +Mr. Narkom strolled to the other side of the room, leaned against the +spinning wheel in an attitude of ease, and then ... as Cleek's fingers +began to trace an invisible path along the edge of the carpet, the +Superintendent gave out a sudden little cry and jumped as though he had +been shot. + +"Eh?--what's the matter, old friend?" Cleek was on his feet in an +instant, for the Superintendent had gone a little pale, and was running +his hands up and down his back in a curious fashion. + +"Pins and needles! Funniest sensation I've ever come across. Brrh! Just +like a slight electric shock." + +Electric shock! Cleek was beside him in an instant, his face suddenly +alight, and his hands searching over the instrument, here, there, and +everywhere. Electric shock, eh? That was peculiar, to say the least of +it. + +Then he stopped suddenly and sucked in his breath, and, whipping round +upon his heel, clapped the Superintendent upon the shoulder. + +"And it takes _you_, after all, to lead us to the actual secret!" he +said affectionately, smiling into Mr. Narkom's astonished face. "For +here's the thing in a nutshell. What a blind fool I've been all the +time, old friend. Here's the murderer, the perpetrator of last night's +crime--the mechanical means of doing away with human life in such a +perplexing manner. Here--right here. See?" + +"What the--what are you driving at, my dear chap?" ejaculated the +Superintendent excitedly, stooping at the pressure of Cleek's arm upon +his shoulder. "This--spinning-wheel thing? You don't mean to tell me +that _It_ murdered Sir Andrew, do you? Because I'm not fool enough to +believe _that_ story--and not dunderhead enough to be taken in by a +practical joke. What _do_ you mean, old chap? I'm on pins and needles to +know." + +"And it's just those particular pins and needles of yours which have +found the thing out," returned Cleek in the sharp staccato of +excitement. "Look here! It's as easy as A B C--once you've got the hang +of it. And that sensation of yours _was_ an electric shock all right. +And it was just this spinning wheel which gave it to you. The thing's +wired--see? Devilishly well done, too, and disguised very successfully. +But here it is. Under the wheel. And see that funny box-like thing +attached, which looks as though it belonged to a part of the +machinery?--and doesn't. That's a battery, by all that's good! Now, what +the dickens does that battery do, I'd like to know?... 'A whirring +sound'--'hum-hum-hum!' That's how they described it to me this morning, +do you remember? Gad! And this is the thing that produced that +supernatural sound, then! Just a touch of a switch somewhere, and the +thing sets in motion. Now let's follow this wiring along to its +destination, and that will tell us a good deal." + +He traced the line of palish flexible wire--so nearly the colour of the +old wood as to be hardly discernible unless one really knew of its +presence, round the wheel, and down on to the floor--the thing stood a +mere matter of inches from the window-sill--and then disappeared up +through a narrow piece of oak-coloured woodwork which was entirely +unnoticed from the panelling it covered, until it reached the +window-ledge and ended at the extreme right-hand corner of the middle +window, and vanished in a cluster of ivy which clung about the outside +of it, sending its tendrils right up to the edge of the sill itself. + +Mr. Narkom followed the thing with fascination, poking a finger here and +there to help discern its threadlike and imperceptible progress, and was +almost as quick as Cleek in leaping out through the low sill to the +flower-bed below upon which those tell-tale footprints had made such a +strong impression. Then, of a sudden, they both stopped and stared +blankly at each other. For the end of the thing lay beneath the ivy +covering, in a little home-made switch which, touched by the finger, +obviously set the whole contraption in motion. + +Cleek hopped back into the room to see that no one was about, but the +constable in charge stood outside the door, not in it, and they had +closed that door carefully behind them upon entrance. Then he leaned out +over the top of the window-sill and spoke softly to Mr. Narkom. + +"Put your finger upon the switch when I say 'Go,'" he said in a tense +whisper, "and I'll stay inside here and watch how the thing works. Now +then.... _Go!_" + +Mr. Narkom applied his finger forthwith, while to Cleek within came a +soft whirring, drumming sound, and then--an almost imperceptible "click" +and--the most amazing of all these amazing matters came instantly to +pass! For as he leapt out of the path of it, led by some mysterious, +intuitive impulse, a bullet sped rapidly past his ear, and lodged itself +in the woodwork, just a fraction of an inch below the spot where that +other bullet had lodged, and--the secret was out at last! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"A LUNNON GENTLEMAN" + + +"By all that's good!" he ejaculated, as Mr. Narkom jumped into the room +somewhat heavily at sound of his hastily spoken ejaculation. "See that +mark there in the woodwork, above the spot where we dug the bullet out +this morning? Nearly shot me through the head, old friend, and made an +end of your troublesome ally at last! Gad! the ingenuity of it! The +devilish ingenuity! So _that's_ how it was done, eh? We'll look into the +thing a bit closer, but from what I have already seen I'd say there was +a pistol hidden inside that wheel, but the thing's so perfectly done +that it must have taken a master-hand to have done it. And where's the +master-hand here? Ross Duggan?--with his hobby for electricity? He's not +got the face of a man who could contrive a thing like that, and carry it +out to such a pitch of perfection. And yet--it's a soundless pistol, all +right, that did the deed. But the patience of the manipulator! the +straightness of vision, to be certain of the moment to operate it! That +man would be a useful adjunct to Scotland Yard's force, Mr. Narkom, with +knowledge such as that. It's the most diabolically clever thing I've +ever encountered!" + +"It is--by James! it is!" returned the Superintendent, mopping his +forehead in his excitement and going very red in the face. "Sure it +isn't a woman, old chap? Women are pretty tricky people in affairs of +this kind. And the contrivance of it, too!... So _that's_ how it is +done, is it?" as Cleek's agile fingers slid over the wheel and stopped +upon a faint line which showed how the thing had been cut out and then +stuck in again after the pistol had been lodged in its hiding-place. +"Here; use my knife and dig it out, won't you?" + +"Never! The time for doing that will be after I have given a +demonstration of its prowess before the assembled company. I'm no master +at intricate woodwork and mechanism such as that, Mr. Narkom, and I want +to keep it in perfect working order for the crucial moment. If I +extracted it now, ten chances to one I'd never get it back again. The +thing to be discovered is to find out the man in this establishment +whose fingers give him away as a delicate worker. And there's just one +I've noticed that----" + +And it was just as the name formed itself upon his lips that Cyril +Duggan burst hurriedly into the room, despite the detaining hands of the +constable on duty outside the door, and beckoned hastily to Cleek. + +"Your man wants you, Mr. Deland," he said breathlessly. "Says it's +awfully important and must see you at once. He wouldn't come in, but +asked me to tell you, would you come round to the servants' quarters as +soon as you could? He's waiting in the outer courtyard. Ginger-headed +chap by the name of Dollops. I'd only just gone out for a breath of +fresh air before Mother packed me off to bed--ten o'clock is the latest +hour I'm permitted to sit up to. But he seemed so anxious to see you +that I promised to come along at once. It's gone ten now, I think, and +Mother will be after me if I'm not off--she's frightfully particular on +little matters. But the policeman here said you and Mr. Narkom were busy +and were not to be disturbed.... I say! What's the matter with the old +spinning wheel, eh? You seem to be frightfully interested in it!" + +"I am--as you say--frightfully," returned Cleek with a smile. "But +nothing of any more consequence than an outsider's interest in something +he knows nothing about. Ever looked at the thing, my boy?" + +"Yes--heaps of times. And experimented upon it, too! Tried all sorts of +ways to make it go, until Mother put a stop to my touching it, and said +I should probably hurt myself with the spindle and break the thing." + +"Oh, she did, did she? Well, perhaps you might. It's more harmful than +people give it credit for. All right, Cyril; many thanks for telling +me. I'll be along in a moment or two. You'd better get off to bed now, +or Lady Paula will be on your track, I'll swear. Good-night." + +"Good-night, Mr. Deland; good-night, Mr. Narkom." + +He was off again like a shot, and Cleek could hear his light steps +running down the hallway and up the stairs, like the big child he was. + +"Funny thing," he said to Mr. Narkom as the two left the room together +and walked down the corridor toward the servants' quarters, "but that +young gentleman always seems to turn up in the most unforeseen moments. +Notice _his_ fingers, did you, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, they are as +delicate as a woman's and as strong as a man's. Curiously strong for a +fifteen-year-old, I must say. Now, if I didn't know better, I'd lay a +ducat to a dollar that that lad is a good sight cleverer than either you +or I give him credit for, and with his mother's blood in him and a +portion of his rascally grandfather's, too, there's no telling just +exactly where he will end up.... Hello! is that you, Jarvis? I'm told my +man wants to see me very particularly. Know where he is by any chance? +It's probably about that blue suit of mine. He worries more over my +clothes than any woman. In the courtyard? Thanks, very much. You coming +along, too, Mr. Narkom?" + +"Don't mind if I do," returned the Superintendent off-handedly, "seeing +that there is nothing more to be discovered to-night. My man's in +charge, so we might go over to the Three Fishers and have a quiet smoke +in your rooms. That is, if you'd care about it?" + +"Love to, my dear chap, love to. Through this door, eh, Jarvis? Nice +snug place you've got here, I must say. Family do you well, I suppose?" + +"Yessir," Jarvis's voice bordered upon the confidential. "Tight-fisted +where the money is, sir, but--that's Scotch, you know." + +"And you're London, eh?--and naturally generous! I understand. Well, +here's something to buy yourself a drink with." And Cleek dropped +half-a-crown into the butler's hands. + +As the two men disappeared through the kitchen door and out into the +courtyard, the highly elated Jarvis turned to his fellow servants with a +genuine sigh of admiration. + +"Amachoor detective or not," he apostrophized the absent gentleman, "an' +queer in the top story though 'e may be, that's what I calls a +right-down Lunnon gentleman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DAMNING EVIDENCE + + +They found Dollops waiting in the little squared-in courtyard which led +down to the dungeons, and in a state bordering upon hysteria from the +excitement of all those exciting things which had just come to pass. + +He blurted out his story of Jarvis's practical joke and its ultimate +consequences in a helter-skelter fashion, anxious to get on to this new +development, and except for a "By James!" from Mr. Narkom and a nod of +the head from Cleek, pursued his course without interruption. + +"And when we'd walked a mile or so over them 'ills and dahn inter the +dales, Minnie ups and says ter me, 'Come an' 'ave a drink, Ginger-snap!' +And er course I was nuffin' loaf, as they s'y (though what bread 'as to +do with it I niver could tell). So we comes upon a pub in a little bit +of a shanty built of timber dahn in the nest of the 'ills, and she tykes +me by the arm and pulls me inter it." + +"And what did you find there, Dollops?" put in Cleek, with a smile for +the lad's poetical expression. + +"A bit of a bar full of Scotties wot looked as though they'd come 'ome +from a funeril, from the h'expression of their fyces," he returned +emphatically. "Them Scotties do take their pleasure sadly, not 'arf! Not +a blinkin' one of 'em got a bit er jollyin' left in 'em. ''Ello, +Minnie-gairl,' they s'ys to 'er wen we come in, 'who's the noo mon ye +ken?'--talkin' in their silly langwidge wot an Englishman can't +unnerstand. 'Pal o' mine,' s'ys Minnie, pert-like, 'come ter visit fer a +little time. Gen'leman's st'yin' at the Castle.' + +"'Where that there wee beetie o' crrime has taken place?' puts in a +sandy-'eaded feller wiv beetling brows an' a complexion like a bit er +red granite. 'Yes,' says Minnie. 'Then better give 'im a wee drappier +ter warrm 'is freetened hearrt!'" + +Dollops paused a moment, and Cleek threw back his head and gave vent to +a smothered laugh. + +"You'll be the death of me yet, lad," he remarked merrily, "with your +Cockney and 'Scotch' rolled into one. But let's hear the end of the +story. What happened then?" + +"They giv me a drink, Guv'nor, of very strong whisky it were, an' when I +asked 'em where it come from an 'oo made it, thinkin' I'd lay in a +bottle or two fer when we gets back ter Clarges Street, a feller wot +just come in (an' a bit tight 'e were, too) slaps me on the back and +says, 'Hoo noo, laddie? It's frae the valley, under the little brookies +and amangst th' gravel.'" + +"And what did you say, Dollops?" + +"I told him in good old English ter go tell that ter the marines and +stow the gaff, and he ups and larfs at me, and he says, says 'e, 'I'll +show ye if I speak the truith or no.' And then a lot o' 'em says, +'Hoots' and 'toots' and 'nah,' as though they was monkeys in the zoo, +and set up such a gabbling as you never 'eared of, and the end of it was +that ole Barmy tykes me by the arm and pushes me through the door. 'Come +from Lunnon, does yer?' he says ter me. 'Well, then, never any tellin' +but ye can gie us a han' wi' disposin' of our wares.' And with that he +ups and pulls Minnie along with him, in spite of them uvvers, and off we +goes dahn th' 'ill inter a deep sort of gravel-pit, and there--the +blinkin' thing was, sir, as large as life and twice as nateril!" + +"My dear chap!--what the dickens does he mean, Cleek?" threw in Mr. +Narkom at this juncture. + +"Simply what he says. And it was there, was it, Dollops?" + +"It were, sir"; Dollops's tone was portentous with mystery; "and what's +more, there was that black-eyed Dago feller wiv the chase-me look and +the hearf-brush moustache, talkin' fifteen ter the dozen in sevin +different langwidges, and makin' more noise than all the rest of 'em put +together." + +"Gad! you've surely found out something, Dollops, and done a good day's +work, bless your heart," said Cleek admiringly, slipping his arm +through the boy's on one side and through Mr. Narkom's on the other. +"Well, it's to the gravel-pit with the lot of us this evening--at least +for you and me, Dollops. You had better remain here at the Castle, Mr. +Narkom, while we're gone. And meet me at midnight under the big gate. +But let's not be seen, Dollops, else the fat will be in the fire with a +vengeance. Anything else?" + +Dollops bent nearer to the man he loved best in all the world, and put +his mouth close up against Cleek's ear. + +"One uvver fing, sir--an' wot I calls the piece of resisters," he said +in a low voice. "As I comes aw'y, 'oo should I see a-runnin' dahn the +'ill, side by side with Dicky-Dago, but that there young feller as they +calls Cyril (sickenin' sissy sort er nyme ter give a chap, too!), an' I +jumps back inter the bushes wiv Minnie clinging ter me arm, an' waits +till they've gorn parst. An' I 'ears the youngster s'y you nyme--'Mr. +Deland,' he says, an' 'clever'--and then summink else, wot I didn't +'ear, but wot made Dicky-Dago give out a sort er garsp and gurgle in 'is +froat, an' says something which sounded like a Russian patent medicine, +an'--that's all." + +"And a very good 'all', too, Dollops," ejaculated Cleek, giving the +boy's arm a squeeze. "You have surely done your share of unravelling in +this case, at all events. What do you say about it, Mr. Narkom?... +There'll be a nice five-pound note to add to that growing account of +yours for this night's job, I promise you.... And so Cyril is mixed up +in it, too-- _Cyril!_ That boy! Gad! what does it mean, eh? And in +league with those scoundrels.... 'Ten o'clock for bedtime,' says he, so +frankly. Ten o'clock! And the young underhanded rascal roaming the +countryside just before that in company with an Italian of questionable +character! Looks bad, every way you look at it. And with Lady Paula's +actions and secret meetings taken into account as well, puts a pretty +black face upon _their_ little share in last night's tragedy. Now, I +wonder if this Dago, as Dollops calls him, is a lover of the lady's or +what?... Gad! Mr. Narkom, what's your opinion?" + +The Superintendent waited a moment, and cleared his throat, and when he +spoke his voice was emphatic and a trifle bored. + +"No two questions about it, to my way of thinking," said he quietly, as +they traversed the darkness together. "That Captain Macdonald did the +thing--because of those footprints of his outside the window--and as he +couldn't or wouldn't give the reason of why he was in the grounds here +last night at that identical time. And the person he was shielding was +obviously Lady Paula. She, too, has been involved in this, though +whether in the actual murder or not, I'm not prepared to say. And Ross +Duggan, too. I imagine the whole thing is a put-up job; don't you, +Cleek?" + +"I can't rightly say," returned Cleek in an uncertain tone. "Sometimes +it points one way and sometimes another. And I'm inclined to agree with +you where Lady Paula is concerned. She knows a good deal more than she +says, and is wily--deuced wily, as all drug-takers are. And the motive +would be there all right, judging from what Maud Duggan told me was the +share which Sir Andrew had apportioned out for his widow and her boy. +She'll double that easily enough. But to _kill_ for such a thing seems +incredible--though I've known of worse crimes for less reason than that. +But Ross Duggan's is the greatest motive of all, taking into +consideration just when the thing happened--_before_ his name was +erased, you must remember, Mr. Narkom, and as he's a dabster at +electricity and the only person with an air-pistol in the house ... +well, circumstantial evidence looks pretty black against him, doesn't +it?" + +"It certainly does." Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle apologetic. "Well, +I hardly know what to think, Cleek. And you're such a beggar for +stringing evidence together, and never forgetting it! And there's such a +dickens of a lot of evidence in this case that a chap gets horribly +involved, and his memory is likely to play him tricks. And then that +Italian chap whom Dollops has seen such a lot of to-day--where does he +come in?" + +"Right into the midst of the whole caboosh," returned Cleek +enigmatically, "and don't you make any mistake about that, my friend. +Dicky-Dago, to use Dollops's name, is one of the prime movers in this +little inheritance game, and in another one also. A dollar to a ducat he +knows the whole thing, and Tweed Coat's with him." + +"Who the dickens is Tweed Coat?" + +"The gentleman whom Dollops so aptly described a few moments ago," +returned Cleek quietly. "Perhaps you didn't notice Ross Duggan's coat +this morning, Mr. Narkom? No? Well, it was made of a very sweetly +smelling cloth called Harris tweed; and when Dollops described the one +he saw to me this evening, I recognized it at once." + +"Then Tweed Coat is Ross Duggan, Cleek?" + +Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle shrill. Cleek's eyes met his squarely, +and his eyebrows went up. + +"Who else?" he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A STARTLING DENOUEMENT + + +And so it came about that Dollops and Cleek, both wearing dark suits +(procured in Cleek's case at the Three Fishers, and from his own +dressing-bag), and with caps pulled down over their faces and false +moustaches decorating their upper lips as a protection against +unforeseen discovery, made their way out in the clear moonlight toward +that "gravel pit" of which Dollops had spoken, and padded soft-footedly +down the hill toward the little "shanty" to which Dollops guided them, +and after a quick glance at it, pushed on into the darkness of the +night; down, down, down into the valley--to the thing that lay there +revealed in the moon's rays, and which in the face of the to-morrow's +sun would have vanished like the picture upon an exposed camera film. + +But to-night--to-night they could see the whole panorama of it, lying +close to the earth, concealed behind a huge furze-bush upon the +hillside, stomachs flat against the face of it, eyes sharpened upon that +identical spot which told so much to them of what they sought. Perhaps a +dozen men worked there--perhaps more--coats off, shirt-sleeves rolled +up--big, bonny men of brawn and muscle, come of a stock as tough as the +granite of the hillside itself and hardened by the keen winds and the +keener air of the Highlands that had given them birth. + +"Giants!" whispered Dollops awe-inspiringly, his lips close against +Cleek's ear. + +"_Thieves!_" responded Cleek, with a quick intake of the breath. "Gad! +they're a lot, Dollops! And if they caught us up here, hidden away, our +chances would be exactly nil. Where's your friend Balmy, eh?" + +"Dahn there--under that big flare, sir--'im wiv the blue shirt and the +red neck-cloth. Likely lookin' blighter, ain't 'e?" + +"H'm. Not very. Not a sound, boy! There's a couple of 'em coming this +way. Got it in barrels, have they? Gad! I'd like to have a look at one +of those homely articles. I'll swear there's a false bottom to it, if I +know anything of this kind of trickery.... Hello!--there's Tweed Coat!" + +"Tweed Coat," thus named, passed a stone's throw in front of them, his +arm linked with another man's, his head downbent. But Cleek had seen the +moonlight upon his face, and knew his man at last. Ross Duggan had worn +that coat this morning, or one so like it that even he, hawk-eyed +detective that he was, could have told no difference between them. The +moonlight struck upon the white bosom of his evening-dress shirt, +making it shine like a strip of ivory, and at something which his +companion said to him, he caught it close together, and turned the +collar of the jacket up about his throat. + +First the handkerchief so plainly marked "R. D." and now this! But that +such a man should be mixed up in a thing of this sort, an illicit thing +which was against all laws and regulations of the land that had borne +him, made Cleek's mouth go grim. The handkerchief, the coat; and +now--the man. That little chain was completed, and every link welded +together. At least some part of the mystery was clear at last. + +The pair passed close against them where they lay in the darkness, so +close that Cleek's fingers might have reached out and caught at the +other's trouser-leg and tripped him. But the time was not yet ripe for +arrests. Better let the thing go unsuspected until to-morrow afternoon, +and then, when the Coroner's Inquest was at hand, rally them all +together in the library once more, and make the final settlement. + +Here was only a part of the thing, not the whole thing itself, and if he +knew one of his men, he did not yet feel certain of the other. The night +should bring that uncertainty into clarity if possible. + +The darkness hid the couple from view at length, and when their +footsteps had died away into silence, Cleek touched Dollops upon the +shoulder and commenced wriggling upon his stomach down toward the next +furze-bush, and out into the open, lying flat as Indians do, until they +had slid the distance between the two clumps of shrubs, and lay +concealed, some twelve feet nearer to the scene of operations. + +"See anything of your Dago friend?" whispered Cleek, after they had +watched for a while in silence at this hive of living industry which, +when the dawn had penetrated through the veil of night, would have +passed out of sight and vision as though it were a mirage of their own +imagining. + +Dollops's voice was barely above a breath. + +"Yessir. Just dahn there ter the right. Feller wiv the big black +moustache. Slim-'ipped Johnny in the dark suit. Got blinkers on 'im like +black velvet from wot I sees. Proper furriner--the dirty dog! Find 'im, +sir?" + +"Not yet. Oh! yes, I see! H'm. An _Italian_ all right. But what the +dickens is an Italian doing in these outlandish parts? And what +attraction can this perishing climate have for people of their ilk? +First the Lady of the Castle--and now this one. Unless.... Gad! there +might be some connection between 'em. Did you find any trace of Captain +Macdonald's handwriting, Dollops, to show me?" + +"Yessir. Got a letter from 'is groom. Pinched it while we was a-talkin'. +'E showed it ter me, an' it's in me pocket. Summink wrong _there_, +Gov'nor?" + +"So wrong that it will take more than a little explaining upon the +gentleman's part to put it right, my lad," responded Cleek in a whisper. +"I want to see that letter--badly. But it will have to wait until we are +back again at the house. And we'll be back in a jiffy. I'm satisfied +with the result of this night's work, in this direction, at any rate, +Dollops. You've done well--better than I could have done in similar +circumstances, and I'm downright pleased with you!" + +"Lor', sir!" Dollops's voice was choking with joyful emotion. "If yer +goes and frows any more buckets at me, me chest will expand that big wiv +pride as they'll be spottin' us in a trick--strite they will! But I'm +glad I've made up for that footlin' mistyke over the lydy.... Gawd! +Look, Guv'nor--look! 'Oo's this a-comin' now? A woman--strike me pink, +if it ain't! And a lydy, too, from the cut of 'er. Now, 'oo in 'eavin's +nyme is _she_?" + +His pointing finger brought Cleek's eyes instantly into the line of it, +and Cleek's face in the moonlight went suddenly pale. Dollops's eyes +rested on the grim mask of his face, palely visible from the moon's +rays. Then, at a sign from Cleek, he ducked his own head into the grass +and lay motionless, as his master had already done. + +And by the sound of the soft footsteps, coming from somewhere behind +them, Cleek and his companion knew that the woman had reached the spot +where they were lying hidden under the great clump of gorse. Then a hand +reached down and touched Cleek softly upon the shoulder, and a woman's +voice spoke into the darkness with a tender inflection; and at sound of +it every nerve in his body tightened like wire for the tensity of the +situation. + +"Ross," said the woman's voice tenderly, "Ross dear, get up--get up! I +followed you here to-night, because I--I wanted to talk with you-- I +_had_ to talk with you, to tell you something! I simply had to. But I've +been a fool to break parole, as you have done, with that man with the +hawk eyes in the Castle even at this minute. But so much hangs upon +it--Ross, so much! Look up and speak to me, and, whoever your companion +is, tell him to go away until we have had a word together. Look up, look +up--_do_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HARE AND HOUNDS + + +To say that Cleek was startled was to underestimate the matter +altogether. Here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed! It took exactly +three seconds for him to act, and to act in such an extraordinary +fashion as to call forth a gasp from Dollops, whose head was still half +ducked, with one arm upthrown to hide it from the woman's eyes, and to +register in his loyal heart the fact that this master whom he served was +a miracle-worker indeed. + +For Cleek's hand had flashed up in the darkness and taken the moustache +from his lip, and as the woman still continued to plead with him in her +soft voice Dollops, peering through the upthrown arm, saw the features +of the man he loved writhe suddenly as though they had been made of +rubber, saw him twitch up his hand and muffle his coat-collar about his +neck, and then realized with a gasp that here at his side lay such a +fair representative of Ross Duggan as might even be mistaken for that +gentleman in this dark hour of the night. + +And from the lips of this astonishing person proceeded Ross Duggan's +voice, with its curious clipped Scotch inflection and the little habit +of clearing the throat which was so indicative of the man, and which +Dollops--trained as he was by Cleek's quick observation--had already +noticed for himself in the couple of times he had seen and listened +unseen to the gentleman. + +He saw Cleek get to his feet, and twitch his shoulders up and his cap +down, as he faced the lady in her thin dark wrap through which the +glimmer of some light satiny material showed like a line of fire. + +"My dear girl," said Ross Duggan's voice a trifle testily, "what a fool +you are to come out here at this time--if you'll excuse my saying so! +Sit down, for heaven's sake, if you must be here, and don't let those +men down there see you. I'm--I'm making some observations on my own, but +at any minute someone may come up here--and I wouldn't answer for the +consequences. You've fallen into a hornet's nest, Catherine, and only a +woman with some desperate plan of action would do that. Don't you know +what's being carried on down there?" + +She shook her dark head, and dropped instantly into a little heap of +satin and dark-coloured velvet beside him in the darkness. + +"No," she whispered softly. "I wondered what you were doing, and who +your companion might be. Send him away, Ross. I _must_ speak with you +alone!" + +"All right." The inflection of voice was so identical with that of the +new lord of the manor as to make Dollops fairly jump at sound of it. He +would hardly have been able to believe the evidence of his own ears if +he had not seen this thing done before in those old Apache days, in the +Inn of The Twisted Arm, when the notorious Margot and her crew had run +them to earth and this was the only way out: "Get along there, Parsons. +There's nothing more to be seen now. You can meet me some time next +week--if things go all right with me and I'm not already swinging at the +end of a long rope! And we'll have another confab together. But you'd +better make yourself scarce now. There'll be a dickens of a kybosh if +they find we've broken parole, and I don't want you hauled into the +beastly thing. So long. And _listen--listen_: be careful--do!" + +Dollops nodded his head forthwith, and by dint of wriggling and +scrambling made his exit from this astonishing pair, and, free of the +bare moorside at last, broke cover and started off at a good run, +wondering what the dickens they had stumbled into _now_. + +Meanwhile the erstwhile Ross and his lady friend sat on behind the +furze-bush in their somewhat ridiculous predicament, and talked in +whispers. + +"What is it you want to say to me?" said "Ross," a hint of sharpness in +his low-pitched voice. "That you should run this risk--it is madness, +Catherine--madness!" + +"Nothing is madness that I could do for _your_ sake," she responded +passionately, putting a hand over his as it rested upon the brown earth, +and bending toward him. "Don't you know, Ross, haven't you guessed my +secret yet? Surely you must have seen it? I have tried to tell you with +my eyes, time and time again, and when I have caught that odd look in +yours when you looked at Cynthia. I felt my heart bound with gladness +that you did not care for her. And that has made me brave. Oh, my +dear--my dear! Listen to me, and do what I ask of you. If you _did_ kill +your father, Ross, that man down there at the Castle will make you swing +for it. I know it--I feel it here--here! Those penetrating eyes of his +can see beyond the veil of deception right down into your heart. If you +have done this dreadful thing, tell me, and I have made all arrangements +that you can escape at once. I've a car waiting in the lane. I 'phoned +for it at the garage by the station only a bare two hours ago--and I had +a difficulty, too, as you can imagine, with the whole house full of +policemen and our every action watched. But I was desperate--desperate! +I couldn't see you arrested for _that_! And so, while there is yet +time.... Oh, don't you see? It's your liberty I'm offering you! And we +could start away together and make our lives afresh in a new country. +Ross, Ross, don't you hear, don't you _see_? Every minute is precious +while that man is in command at the Castle. He looks a fool--but he is a +clever fool at that. I don't trust him. I'm not a weak woman, Ross, to +be afraid of a murderer--pshaw! what is that? If a man has need to do +it, and the courage, I can even _admire_! And I love you! Don't speak +now, Ross--just come, and let us slip away together. In this wild +country we can soon be lost--slip down the coast and get away on the +first steamer to--anywhere! I've money on me--see here. Plenty of it! I +sent Hilda down to draw it all out of the bank this morning. (Thank God +for the comfort of your telephone!) She'd do anything for me--that +girl--since I caught her stealing Cynthia's pearl necklace, and +threatened her if she didn't return it to tell the whole sordid story to +the family. And she swore to help me any time I needed her. So come, +Ross--come now--come quickly! but come--come!" + +Her whispered words trailed off into silence at last, and Cleek, +catching his breath for a moment at the whole audacious plot which she +had laid so successfully, could not help but admire, even as he felt the +rush of contempt that a man must feel for every woman who can cheapen +herself thus in his eyes. But here was a pretty kettle of fish indeed! +What to say to her? what to do? It took time to think, so he merely +caught her hand and squeezed it, and felt all sorts of a beast for +making such use of her confession as to lead her on to even deeper +things. + +She reached a hand out at the pressure of his fingers, and wound it +about his neck. + +"You'll come?" she whispered close against his ear. + +He shrugged his shoulders. The issue must be faced, and faced now. + +"Let's get out of this danger-zone, where we can talk in a little more +comfort and less fear of our lives," he responded quickly, casting his +eyes about him to see if the coast was clear. "Quick! draw your dark +wrap over your head and make for cover. That furze-bush over there! Get +behind it, and drop down, and I'll follow. From there, there is a chain +of bushes behind which we can make for the high-road at last. Quick! the +men are coming this way, some of them. And if we're caught...!" + +Her face was fearless. She acted instantly upon his suggestion, +gathering her dark velvet cloak about her and pulling it up over her +face and head, and then sped out suddenly across the open space like a +fleet shadow, until a shaft of moonlight, penetrating through the +clouded sky, fell full upon her hurrying figure, etching it almost as +clearly as though it had been day. + +Cleek sucked in his breath and, half-crouching, half-running, sped after +her. God! what if the men had seen! He glanced back quickly over his +shoulder, and then redoubled his pace. For, of a sudden, with the speed +of a lightning-flash every flare in that valley had gone out--zip!--like +that. Every voice had dropped to stillness, and the night was a hideous +thing of running footsteps, pelting, he knew only too well, up the +hillside after them--those watchers who had seen the secret of the +night, and to-morrow might give it forth to an unsuspecting world. Their +lives wouldn't be worth much if _this_ crew caught them, that was +certain. + +Panting, he reached her side, caught hold of her elbow, and pinning it +close in his fingers hurried her forward, every faculty alert, every +nerve a-tremble. Her panting breath was like the breath of a spent +runner; she wouldn't last far in those high heels, he knew; the going +was too hard. It was only a matter of time now. The hurrying footsteps +seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. + +He bent his face down to hers. + +"The motor-car? Where?" he said in a quick, panting voice. + +She managed to stammer out a reply, stumbling feet falling over the +rough ground, tripping in clumps of heather, bruising themselves against +harsh stones. + +"In the lane--beyond--over there! I've been a fool--leave me and go +yourself!" she panted out in disjointed sentences that were ringing +with despair. + +"Never! We'll get there yet. Gather up your skirts.... Gad! you're +done!" It was his own voice that spoke to her, and for a sudden moment +he had forgotten the part he played in the exigencies of this +distressing situation. He heard her gasp suddenly, send startled eyes up +into his face, and then sway against him, and realized his folly--too +late. The shock of the thing had unnerved her. In the darkness she could +not see his face clearly but the voice had been--different. He'd brought +the whole structure about his ears by one foolish momentary mistake. +Then quite suddenly she fainted against him. + +"Fool!" he apostrophized himself. "Blind fool!" and, stopping instantly, +caught her up in his arms just as the lane hove in sight, and throwing +her across his shoulder, took the added burden in his best athletic +fashion, and ran. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE MAN IN THE BLACK MASK + + +They reached the motor only just in the nick of time, for already the +darkness behind them was rent with cries of "There they are! Head them +off!--there they are!" making the night hideous with the noise of them, +and the stampede of feet seemed to grow more dense with every minute. + +Cleek flung his unconscious burden in the car, leaped in after it, and +tapped the chauffeur upon the shoulder. + +"Extinguish your lamps and make for Aygon Castle--as quick as you can!" +he gave out in the sharp staccato of excitement. "And the quicker the +better! There's trouble here, and if those men catch up with us to-night +I'll not answer for the lady's safety." + +"Yessir." + +Then with a whizz and a whirr the car was off, rocketing down the lane +and taking the corners upon two wheels, so that Cleek had hardly a +breath left in his body, and the rush of air that swept them as they +sped away began to revive the unconscious form of Catherine Dowd who lay +upon the seat beside him. + +A drop of brandy, rather uncertainly administered because of the +darkness and the jolting of the car, revived her still more, and in +another moment she had opened her eyes and let them dwell upon his face. +In the darkness they glowed like two lamps. And her face was very +frightened. + +"My God! Not Ross!" she broke out uncertainly, shutting her hands +together across her breast in her agitation. "Then--who are you?" + +"Who knows?" he responded with a touch of gallantry. "It was your +mistake in the first place, remember, not mine. A friend in need, +perhaps, who has been able to save you from the consequences of a very +foolish action. You know what those men were doing?" + +She shook her head dumbly. + +"Then you will learn to-morrow from the lips of a man whom you have +learned to distrust, because he has proved more than a match for you +already. That is so, isn't it? Your Mr. Deland up at the Castle. From +what I heard, you have broken parole, and to do that----" + +"You won't tell?--oh, surely you won't tell!" she gave out in a low, +wrung voice. "How you could mimic Ross Duggan as you did is beyond me. +But you stole my confidence, and I demand its return: that you tell +nothing of to-night to a living soul. Will you promise me that?" + +He paused a moment and looked down at her with frowning brows. Then his +face cleared. + +"Very well, then. That is a bargain. But I don't think you realize just +how near to actual danger you ran to-night in your mad pursuit of Ross +Duggan. What made you think I was he?" + +"I don't know. Only I had followed him from the Castle down the lane, +and then lost sight of him at the edge of the little burn which skirts +that particular valley. And then I saw--you. And somehow, to my +untrained eyes in the darkness, you looked like him--perhaps I was so +anxious to find him that I willed myself unconsciously to think that you +were he--but be that as it may, I made the profound mistake, and--now +the mischief is done with a vengeance. What shall I do now? What _shall_ +I do?" + +"Return to Aygon Castle, my dear young lady, by the route by which you +left it, and leave things in Higher Hands than yours," Cleek returned +gravely, as they whizzed past in the darkness, the motor thrumming a +purring accompaniment to his low-pitched voice. "Never urge a criminal +to flee from justice, for as surely as he remains alive justice will +find him--and make him pay the penalty all the more severely for his +pains! Justice must be done in a civilized country, my dear young lady; +that is what we pay our taxes for--to uphold those same judges who will +mete out justice in a proper, unprejudiced fashion." + +"But Ross--you think he is guilty?" + +"Who knows? Time alone will tell. And his innocence will be better +proved if he is not urged to fly away from the outcome of his actions. I +must ask you, too, a favour. Rather, I must exact a promise. Please +leave Ross Duggan alone until after to-morrow." + +"And then?" + +"If I know aught of anything, he will be beyond the power of your +assistance--and perhaps not in need of it," he replied quietly. "Here is +the Castle. Slip in, now, through that wicket-gate that the tradesmen +use, I believe, and get back to the house as quickly as you can. I'll +give your orders to the chauffeur." + +She got out unsteadily, and then stood looking up at him, her eyes +glowing darkly in the frame of her pale, serious face. + +"And you won't tell me who you are? Something--somehow--seems familiar +about you, but I cannot place it. You won't help me?" + +He shook his head. + +"Better let this night's doings be buried in the Limbo of Forgotten +Things, dear lady," he said, his hand resting for a moment upon her +shoulder. "And if you know not who the sharer of your--er--adventure may +be, surely it is better that way. Good-night and good-bye. You will keep +your promise?" + +She gave him a sudden inscrutable look from beneath her dark brows. +Then she flung up her head. + +"Of course. Thank you for what you have done." + +"That is nothing. Good-night." + +"Good-night." + +Like a shadow she was fleeing up the wide drive, her feet barely making +any sound upon it; then, even as she disappeared from view, Cleek turned +swiftly to the chauffeur who sat in the front seat of the car, goggles +hiding his eyes from view, and clapped him upon the shoulder. + +"Well done, Dollops, well done!" he rapped out with a soft laugh. "I +thought it was you the minute my peepers rested upon your Cockney +countenance, you little bundle of indefatigability! How did you do it? +You caught my meaning, of course? Deuced keen of you, I must say!" + +Dollops grinned, and slipped his goggles into his pocket. + +"Yus," he returned, with a vigorous nod. "I caught the signal orl right. +'_Listen_,' you said, didn't you, Guv'nor? So I listens, and then I +makes a little plan all on my lonesome. 'The Guv'-nor's up to summink,' +says I ter me, 'an' I'll lay 'e wants me ter tyke a little 'and.' And so +I ups and makes fer the road, and there I find the shuvver a-waitin' in +this 'ere little snortin' machine." + +"He was there, then, was he?" + +"Large as life and twice as nat'ril. 'Now, then, me lad,' I says ter +me, 'git on the right side o' 'im, an' if yer can't git on the right +side, git on the wrong side, s' long as yer gits 'im out of 'is seat.' +But a couple er bob to a Scotsman is as big as a legacy, sir, an' I soon +puts 'im strite wiv a message from 'is missis. 'Snoop along an' send a +wire ter town,' says I, _Comin' later in the day, wait fer me_, an' +address it ter the Commander-in-Chief of the Generil Post Office, +Lunnon.' An' he looks at me an' swallows the gaff like as it were +plumduff. I could 'er larfed, sir--strite I could! And I gives 'im the +tip ter get a drink, and before I'd finished speakin', 'e'd gorn!" + +"Good lad! good lad!" Cleek's laugh was merry if low-pitched. The London +address of the telegraph message tickled his sense of humour immensely. +"And what did you do then?" + +"Drove dahn the road a little just ter keep me 'and in, and then, when I +'eard you call out ter the lydy, and knew you wuz in danger, sir--why, I +slipped in the clutch and come rocketing toward yer as farst as I +could." + +"Oho! And you were nearer than the lady had arranged, then?" + +Dollops drew a long breath before replying; and his voice was solemn. + +"That little distance of a quarter of a mile might 'ave done for yer +entire--an' I weren't tykin' no risks," he replied heavily. "An' if +anyfink was to 'appen to _you_, sir--well, it's me fer the river 'fore +you kin wink an eyelash. Dollops ain't a-stayin' 'ere wiv you on the +uvver side of the sky, sir, an' don't you myke no mistake abaht _that_. +Where you goes, I goes, too--if it's to 'eaven or 'ell. An' I'm thinkin' +I knows the w'y the ayngels'll tyke _you_." + +"Well, they're not taking me yet, dear lad, so don't worry your ginger +head about it!" returned Cleek, with a little gulp of emotion for so +staunch an adherent as this wisp of Cockneydom who stood before him. +"But it's friends like you and women like Miss Lorne that keep a man +straight and strong and true, and don't let him turn down the wrong path +instead of the right. Come, now, there's still more work to be done. Mr. +Narkom will be waiting, and I told him midnight under the big gate. Slip +up the driveway and see if you can see him while I go round by Rhea's +gate and see how the coast lies." + +Dollops disappeared forthwith, and it was but a moment or two later that +he returned in company with the Superintendent looking a little +round-eyed and scared until he saw Cleek standing in the shadow of the +big gate, and going up to him flung an arm about his shoulders. + +"You've frightened me into forty fits and out of 'em again," he cried +with a little sigh of relief, "for I'd made up my mind that something +had happened, and was on the way down here to see if you'd kept your +appointment, and if you hadn't--well, every man-jack of 'em at the house +would have made an all-night search for you, till we'd found you, +Cleek." + +"And now that you have, you bundle of fussydom, you see I am still all +of a piece and, as Dollops says, as large as life and twice as natural," +returned Cleek with a smile. "Gad, but there's not much moon about now, +is there? And it will be dark work climbing----" + +"But you intend to do this mad thing, Cleek?" + +"Certainly, my friend. And it's not the maddest I've done this night--by +a long chalk. I'll tell you all about it later on, when there's more +time and less chance of being overheard. Now, then, step softly, you +two. If there's any one there, we don't want to let 'em think an army's +approaching. You gave Inspector Petrie the word if we needed him? That +I'd ring Rhea's bell in case of immediate help required?" + +"Of course. And that one toll would mean one man, and _two_ tolls, +three; and three tolls, as many as they could spare from the duty of +guarding the house and letting no one go out or in." + +"And they've already let almost every inmate of the place roam about at +their leisure this night--to prove their trustworthiness!" threw in +Cleek, with a short laugh. "A fine lot of disciplinarians up in this +part of the world, I must say--though of course the country's difficult, +and you want about fifty men up here to one in London. I'll have a word +with the Inspector before I leave--with your permission, Mr. Narkom." + +"Certainly." + +"We'll get along now, Dollops. You stand here under the gate, and keep +watch _toward_ the Castle; Mr. Narkom, you stand here, and guard the +road-end, and make the usual signal of a night owl's hoot if you see any +one approaching. I'll slip on my rubber sand-shoes to grip with, and +shin up in a moment." + +And suiting the action to the word, that was practically what he did +do--though the climb up there in the darkness was certainly more than +momentary. For with no light and very little moon it was a more +difficult task than Cleek had anticipated, and he had to tread carefully +to avoid slipping on the narrow shelves of stone and iron that girt it +about. + +Up, up, up he went, like some dark fly crawling across the face of the +night, and to those watching below, their hearts in their mouths at +sight of his perilous progress (which at times they could not follow for +the pitchy darkness, and knew not if he were safe or not), those moments +seemed hours indeed. + +But Cleek had been in tighter corners and more difficult places than +this in the course of an adventurous lifetime, and the poise and +sureness of the man were amazing. Up, and along the stone parapet he +went, sliding face toward the stone wall of it, until he could lean back +a little and look up at Rhea standing out against the midnight sky like +a monstrous splotch of black ink in a lake of indigo-blue. The bronze +bell swung beneath him. He knelt cautiously upon one knee, preparatory +to whipping out his electric torch, and even as he did so, heard the +sound of other footsteps stealing round from the _other_ side and coming +toward him with the soft tread of a cat. + +Instantly he stopped short--stock-still, as though made out of marble, +and leaned back against the parapet while those sliding, soft, creeping, +cat-like footsteps came steadily on. He became conscious of a black +shape, slim as a woman's, against the midnight sky, that moved with +panther-like precision across the face of the parapet. He could actually +hear that other person's laboured breaths, and as the Thing steadily +approached felt it fan against his cheek. + +If Cleek had been in a less precarious position the soul of the man +would have relieved itself by laughing outright. For the situation +seemed almost funny. But this was no time for humour. The moment he +stirred and made himself known, upon that moment the creature--whoever +and whatever it was--would pounce upon him, and dash them both down to +sure death upon the stones below, and in full sight of the +Superintendent's watching eyes. But what to do if he stayed where he +was? Detection was certain in any case. There remained only a moment of +moments before it actually would come. And in that moment, to be +prepared for--what? + +The creature came on steadily, picking its way stealthy as a cat across +the rugged stone parapet upon which Rhea stood, until it stopped a few +inches away from him, face averted, one tense hand clinging to the very +stone to which Cleek also clung. Then slowly it turned, knelt upon one +knee, reached down a long hand toward the bar from which the great +bronze bell swung, made as if to find a foot-hold with one slim black +foot, and--Cleek's hand shot out over that other hand, and Cleek's voice +whispered in its ear: + +"Damn you! what are you doing here?" + +[Illustration: _With a low-pitched exclamation of fury, the man closed +with him and fought like some mad thing_] + +Instantly all was pandemonium! For the man--for man it was--sprang round +quickly, showing the lower half of a white face to Cleek's watching +eyes, and then with a low-pitched exclamation of fury closed with him +and fought like some mad thing, spitting out furiously and clawing and +scratching with his free hand to gain hold of the other. + +Cleek realized the danger even as he met it, and knew what it ultimately +meant. But the thing had to be done. And in the doing he had wound one +foot round a stave of iron which rose up out of the parapet to form the +base of Rhea's bronze throne, and so steadied himself for the nonce. +But it was a difficult task indeed to free himself from this clutching, +scratching, biting Thing, and it took all his powers of resistance to +combat him successfully. + +"Stop it--damn you!--stop it!" he gave out furiously, in an angry +whisper which at least reached Mr. Narkom's ears, and sent the +night-owl's hoot creeping eerily out over the silence of that black +night to tell Cleek that he would come to the rescue if necessary. And +Cleek hooted back. He couldn't do this thing alone--it was too much for +him. The space upon which they wrestled was a mere foot and a half in +breadth, and at any moment one or both of them might pitch down into the +darkness to certain death. + +He peered into the man's fury-ridden face, trying to distinguish the +features of it, but the upper half was covered with a black mask through +which the eyes gleamed like slits of fire, and the strength of him +seemed superhuman, to say the least of it. It was merely a matter of +moments now--something would have to be done--when, of a sudden, the man +leapt away from him, reached down an arm again, and--lithe as a +cat--swung himself down upon the perilously narrow ledge of the great +bronze bell. Here was Cleek's chance. In an instant his hand had shot +out toward the man's leg and caught it in a vice, while with the other +he steadied himself by a firm hold of the wrought-iron stave that had +saved him a moment or two before. + +The creature spat out his vindictiveness in a string of Italian oaths, +and Cleek, paying not the slightest attention to him, merely hung on +tighter to the ankle and prayed for help. Another few moments of this +strain and--the fight would be lost. His arm muscles were strained to +their utmost, his whole body upon the rack. He sent forth the summons of +the night-owl again and again, and was rewarded by the sound beneath him +of a hasty exclamation from the Superintendent, a muttered "My Gawd!" +from the hoarse throat of that little bit of Cockneydom who had served +him and saved him many times before, and then the whispered words, +"Comin', Guv'nor--there in a tick!" came with their ring of comfort, and +he exerted himself to the last ounce to retain his hold of the biting, +clutching furious Thing that lay twisting itself, save for that +unfortunate leg in Cleek's grasp, upon the narrow confines of the ledge +of Rhea's bell. + +.... The moments seemed like hours, and Cleek had all but let go, with a +strained wrist and a dislocated finger which was giving him agony, when +he saw the dark shape approaching him, and knew that his rescuer had +come. + +"In the nick of time, lad," he breathed, as he released his hold in +favour of Dollops. "God knows who the beggar is, but he's like a +wild-cat. My hand's done in completely. Hold him and, if you can, get +him back again upon this ledge. The pair of us will be too much for him, +I vow! Then we'll have to hold on and ring the great bell for help. It's +the only way. But we must unmuffle the clapper first. Here--your torch! +Gad! _that's_ what the blighter's doing, is he? Unmuffling it for +himself!... I say, my Dago friend, keep quiet a little, will you?--or +you'll find yourself in the next world in the space of another minute. +This isn't a table-top, you know. And there's about two inches between +yourself and eternity. And if _you're_ ready to go, I'm not!" + +The creature thus addressed pulled itself up uncertainly, still +muttering in Italian, and as Dollops's hold slid from ankle to knee, +from knee to thigh, and then--like a flash--to arm and shoulder, in +proper jiu-jitsu grip, whirled round upon them, something white showing +in the clenched fingers of one hand, and ground his teeth at them, as +though he would eat them alive. + +"Curse you!--damn you! What are you doing here, hell-hogs!" he spat out +in a low, vehement voice. "My friends will be here any minute--and then +your game will be up!" + +"But not before yours has beaten it by a moment or two," gave back Cleek +rapidly, in a low-pitched voice. "Here!--give me that thing in your +hand. I'm anxious to see what it is that muffled the bell so +successfully last night. And if you don't stand still while I'm taking +it, my lad here will hurl you down into perdition. Now, then--give it +up.... Got him, Dollops?... Hi! there, Mr. Narkom! I want you to take +hold of that rope on the right-hand side of the gateway--and pull it for +all you're worth. We've got to have help to secure this thing in man's +guise we've fallen foul of, and got to have it quick!" + +And so it came about that the silence of that still night was broken of +a sudden by deep-throated pealing as Rhea's great bronze bell gave +tongue. Once--twice--three times, until those above it were well-nigh +deafened with the sound, and those below and beyond it knew, by that +prearranged signal, that they were wanted--and wanted at once. + +Instantly the night became hideous with shouting voices and running +steps. The door-keeper hurried out of his cottage with lantern lit, and +made his way toward them; constables appeared from every corner of the +grounds; meanwhile, Cleek, with the crackling paperish thing that had +muffled the bell in his hand, and the other lending what support to +Dollops he could give in holding the man down, called out their +requirements in the sharp staccato of excitement. + +"A net, boys--quick! or a great-coat--anything! Only spit out your +torches and hold it firm-stretched, and we're going to throw something +down to you which will want a lot of holding, for it's as slippery as an +eel," he gave out sharply. "Now, then--are you ready? Mr. Narkom, see +that the lights are strong enough; I don't want him 'missing fire' and +landing with a broken neck until we've done with him. Ready, Dollops? +One--two--three----" + +Came a scratching and a fighting and a furious sound of rending material +as the man wriggled to be free of those three detaining hands that held +him. Then of a sudden a startled gasp, a muttered oath, and--a flying +black shape came hurtling down in the darkness to that little circle of +light where the upturned, expectant faces of the constables showed in +Rembrandt-like light and shadow, and--the shape landed in the folds of +the outstretched great-coat with a _thwack_, and was muffled up in it in +a moment, kicking and clawing and scratching furiously as the thick +folds went over his head. + +Ten men removed him from it eventually and set him upon his feet, just +as Dollops, slithering and sliding down from the dangerous height, with +his heart in his mouth for his master's safety with that injured hand of +his, landed with a _plomp_ upon the soft ground, and gave Cleek the hand +that had helped him all the way down that perilous journey, until he, +too, was in safety at last. + +"Gawd's troof, Guv'nor!" he ejaculated, as he whipped out his +handkerchief and bound it tightly and professionally over the finger and +down on to the strained wrist. "You're 'urt proper, ain't you? That was +a narrer squeak, I don't fink!... That's better, ain't it? I weren't +a-goin' ter let yer git orf without that bit of bandages to 'elp the +pain, not if we loses the blinkin' murderer 'isself! Let's 'ave a look +at the chap, sir." + +Cleek's good hand swung up across the boy's shoulder. + +"Thank you," he said simply. "Hello! here's Mr. Narkom. Yes, let's have +a look at the blighter, men, before you carry him off to the lock-up. +I'm interested to know what he looks like beneath that mask of his. Just +to get a line on his features, you know." + +Speaking, he went up to the group of constables and, flashing out his +torch, sent its spotlight upon the man's scowling face. + +And it was just as he did this that Dollops let out a yell of amazement, +and stared at him--mouth open, eyes wide. + +"Gawblimey! and pink sossidges!" he exclaimed, whirling round upon Cleek +in astonishment, "if this 'ere ain't the giddy limit! Why, that's ole +Dirty Dick the Dago 'isself!" + +"And this," said Cleek, as he glanced down at the crumpled bit of +parchment which he still held, and smiled into Mr. Narkom's serious +face, "is the missing will, or I'm a Dutchman! Quite a little bit of +excitement for one night's entertainment, I must say! Who says anything +about killing two birds with one stone? Men, I'm coming along with you +to the lock-up. It's a bit late in the evening, or early in the morning, +to be more literal, but I'm going to have a conversation with your +prisoner which is going to elucidate many things for me. Mr. Narkom, I +should advise you to go back to bed and take a rest. To-morrow is likely +to be a heavy day." + +Then, smiling, but still a trifle pale, Cleek swung into step with +Dollops behind the little cavalcade which was wending its way slowly +through the great gateway and out upon the road beyond--toward the goal +of many imaginings and the proper elucidation of the riddle at last. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE END IN SIGHT + + +Cleek spent an hour in the "lock-up" with the man they had captured, and +had what he scathingly called a proper heart-to-heart talk with him, +coming away with the contemptuous feeling in his heart which all clean +men must find there upon discovering a fellow creature who, to save his +own skin if possible, is willing to split upon a pal. + +He wended his way toward the Inn of the Three Fishers, with Dollops +beside him, head downward, every faculty concentrated upon the proper +unravelling of the riddle that confronted him. If two and two made four, +then he had the answer pretty well elucidated at last. One had to fill +in the gaps with a bit of imagination, but--he patted the pocket where +the missing will lay, lying close against that packet of love-letters +that he had found in Sir Andrews's' desk. Funny how papers so often +proved things where human flesh-and-blood failed. Clues--both of 'em. +Strong clues. And likely to give surprise to one or two people he knew +of. Lady Paula, for instance--and Ross Duggan. + +"Dollops," he said quietly, as he let himself into the little hostelry +with his latchkey, just as the dawn was striking the sky with rosy +fingers and rending aside the dark curtains of night, "this is going to +be a heavy day for us. I don't relish the task in front of me, and +yet.... It's no use funking the issue. Justice must be done--and if it's +going to hurt some people pretty badly, it isn't my fault, is it?" + +"It is not, sir," gave back Dollops emphatically. "But you come on up to +yer room and let me attend to that there 'and. 'Urtin' pretty nasty, +ain't it? I thought so. A bit er cold water'll 'elp some, an' I'm a dab +'and at the First Aid stunt since I took them lessons in Lunnon larst +winter. We'll put yer right in a jiffy. But I carn't 'elp wishin' it was +_my_ paw, all the same. Miss Lorne'll be that worried when she 'ears. + +"Then the best thing to do is not to tell her, you little Worry-Box," +returned Cleek with a laugh. "It's luck it's my left one, so the writing +won't be affected. A week or two will see it right. I wish I could cure +all the heartbreak and unhappiness in this old Castle-keep as +effectively in such a short time.... Thanks very much. That'll do +nicely, I think. And it's a good deal easier. Now, be off to bed, boy, +and try to make up for the loss of that beauty-sleep which you've +missed. To-morrow, or rather, to-day, is going to keep us all fairly +busy, I imagine. I shall want you to come up to the Castle with me in +the morning, you know--and I mustn't be later than ten o'clock." + + * * * * * + +And so it came about that in the morning Cleek, looking rather pale, +with one hand in a roughly contrived sling, and with Dollops in close +alliance with him, and Mr. Narkom bringing up the rear, made his way to +the great door of Aygon Castle, rang the bell coolly, and nodded +pleasantly to the door-keeper who admitted him as though nothing out of +the ordinary had happened in the night that had just passed. As he +passed through the gates with his companions and heard them clang to +behind him, he laid a hand upon the gate-keeper's arm and spoke in a low +voice. + +"Heard nothing at all after we left, Burns? Saw no one, I suppose, this +morning?" + +"Not a soul, sair. Aiverybody seems to have overslept themsailves and +never a word has even come to me over the telephone in my lodge." + +"Good! Excellent! Well, keep your mouth tight-closed and know nothing if +you are questioned. Not even to the master of the Castle himself. To +_nobody_. Simply nothing untoward happened at all last night that you +know of. Follow me?" + +"Absolutely, sair." + +"Very well, then. Come, Mr. Narkom, we'll make our way up to the Castle +now. Fine place, isn't it? Wonderful bit of stone-work in that +balustrade round the tessellated tower. Never noticed it so plainly +before. Perhaps it's the fine day." + +Speaking, he led the way up the drive, followed by a wide-eyed Dollops +and a panting Superintendent who had not long finished his breakfast of +bacon and eggs, and had missed his usual ten minutes' perusal of the +newspaper after it. + +Jarvis opened the door to them, bowing low over Cleek's cap as the +latter proffered it, and giving Dollops a friendly wink behind his +master's back as he led them into the little ante-room and went to +summon his mistress. + +As they sat waiting, Cleek saw Tavish, clad in riding-boots and +trousers, and making a fine figure of a man, swing past the half-open +door. Cleek nodded to him as he glanced in. + +"Good morning. I say--come in a moment, won't you? I've got a perfectly +astonishing piece of news!" + +Then, as Tavish, with a nod and a smile, came into the tiny room, +seeming, in his enormous stature, to fill up every nook and corner of +it, and shook Cleek firmly by the hand, that gentleman leaned a little +forward and whispered something in his ear. + +Mr. Narkom saw the flare of eye and the slackening of jaw which betoken +amazement as Tavish opened his mouth to speak. But Cleek held up a +silencing hand. + +"Hush! I don't want the thing made public yet, y' know, my dear chap. +Only I thought perhaps you'd like to have a look in and see the final +round-up of the villains. Take a back seat, you know. There's no harm in +that. And I've the most amazing bit of evidence by me which I've traced +it all to. Stolen will among other things. Bring it home to _her_ as +smart as you please. Ought to be worth watching when you see her face." + +"Gad!--yes." Tavish struck one hand into the open palm of the other, and +his nice face went grim. "The woman's a devil from the first letter to +the last. And if you knew the things she's done to my future +wife--Johanna McCall--well, it fair makes a man's blood boil. I'd +tighten the noose round _her_ neck, I can promise you, and with my own +hands, too. The earth is well rid of _her_ kind." + +"In which I profoundly agree. And--hello! here's Miss Duggan. At +half-past ten, then. I'll make arrangements for you to slip in +unnoticed. It's going to be as sensational as a first-rate London +melodrama. And--not a word, old chap?" + +"Not one of 'em." + +"Thanks very much. I'll rely on you, then. And we might even want you to +lend a hand. What's that, Miss Duggan? Lend a hand for what? Oh, simply +in capturing a somewhat wild mare that has got loose in this part of the +country and has been kicking up a pretty shindy all over the place. Mr. +Tavish's strength and knowledge of horse-flesh ought to be a real help, +eh, my friend?" + +Here he winked broadly at the vanishing Tavish, and brought up a chair +for Maud Duggan after she had greeted Mr. Narkom and given Dollops a +little forlorn smile as Cleek introduced him to her notice. + +"And have you followed up any of the clues which you discovered +yesterday, Mr. Deland, to the utter desolation of all my hopes and +fears?" she asked him wearily, sitting down with her hands lying loosely +in her lap, a very picture of despondent womanhood. + +He bowed his head. + +"I'm afraid I have. Several of them. And yet--I don't know. Anyhow, I +want you all to come along to the library again this morning--and for +the last time. After to-day you ought not to be put to any further worry +and inconvenience, my dear young lady. But what I want _you_ to do is to +assemble all the members of the immediate household together for me, and +tell them I've discovered a perfectly new clue altogether--and from a +perfectly new person--someone who, so far as you or I know, has never +even entered the house at all, at any time. So you see, that's not such +bad news, is it?" + +At these words her head came up upon the slim column of her neck, and +she looked into his face with suddenly bright eyes. + +"You mean to say that--you mean to say that you can prove that neither +Ross nor--Captain Macdonald is guilty of that terrible crime?" she gave +out in a shrill voice, shutting her hands together in her emotion, and +breathing hard. "Oh, Mr. Deland, if you have only found out _that_----" + +"Not quite so fast, please," he responded a trifle sternly. "I'm afraid +I can't give you any of the facts yet. Only I want you to know that--in +one direction, at any rate--you may have some cause to hope. That is, of +course, if my deductions are correct. It all depends. Even a policeman +can make a mistake--isn't that so, Mr. Narkom?--and find himself led +away upon a false scent. It depends a lot upon the wiliness of the fox +he's in pursuit of. And in this case, when there's a--animal's a female, +one has the disadvantage of the woman's intuitive faculties and natural +gifts of deceit. 'The female of the species'--you know what Kipling +said, of course? That sounds rude, doesn't it? But it's amazingly true, +all the same--yourself, I'm sure, always excepted." + +She made no answer to the little sally other than to pass a pale hand +across a paler forehead, and pat a piece of dark hair into place, with +that little gesture of forlornness which went straight to Cleek's heart. + +"Then you have nothing more to tell me, Mr. Deland? Nothing for me to +build my hopes on save that a new element has entered the case----" + +"Together with an old element--yes," responded Cleek softly, with a stab +at his heart for her pathetic appearance. "Just that. No more. I can +tell nothing until I have you all there before me, and then--well, +perhaps I shall be able to unravel the mystery for you, and put an end +to your sufferings in _that_ direction, at any rate. Would you be good +enough, as you're passing, to ask the constable on duty outside the +library door to come to me a moment? Mr. Narkom and I want to question +him about one or two things. There's another one _inside_ the room, so +there's no chance of any one getting in and falsifying clues while he's +away. Thanks very much." + +She passed out, pale-faced, utterly forlorn, and the sagging droop of +her shoulders sent another stab of pity through Cleek's heart, while Mr. +Narkom--tender-hearted as a chicken, as he himself often put it--blew +his nose loudly and passed the handkerchief surreptitiously across his +eyes, and turned a sad face to his famous ally's. + +"Poor girl, Cl--Deland, poor, poor, unhappy girl! It goes to my heart to +see any woman so desolate as that. And a good-looking woman, too! She +feels the whole wretched affair keenly. And if you'd only explained to +me some of those wonderful theories of yours and given me some inkling +of what you're going to say to 'em, I might have been a bit of help to +her, you know. Human sympathy's a comforting thing----" + +"But not always so comforting when it emanates from the police, who will +probably wring her heart dry," returned Cleek with a twisted smile. "No, +no, my friend. Bless your tender heart for the kind thought, but in this +case it's up to me to tread warily. And the least suspicious glance cast +at a guilty party, the least flutter of eyelid or brow in expression of +one's knowledge--and the cat would be out of the bag, and all our +trouble taken for nothing. I'm going to play 'possum to-day and lay low. +And you've just got to forgive me beforehand and put up with it. I've no +doubt your own theories coincide with mine but---- Here's P. C. Mackay. +Good morning, Constable. Mr. Narkom and I just wanted to have a few +words with you, with reference to what arrangements you made for me last +night. You followed out my instructions?" + +P. C. Mackay, who was a slight, wiry, light-rooted chap, and so chosen +by Cleek for the very work he had been given to do, nodded his head, and +his hand came to the salute. + +"I did that, sir." + +"Good. No names mentioned, Constable ... but you found some clues there, +I take it?" + +"Yessir. _This._" He looked from side to side of the room, as though +uncertain how to produce the clue in case of discovery. But the door was +shut, and only they four were within the confines of the small place. +Then he put his hand into his breast-pocket and drew forth a little bit +of crimson-covered flexible electric wire. + +Cleek's face fell a little. + +"That all?" + +"Yessir--except for a photograph of a young wummun. It was hidden in a +carved wood box on the dressin' table. I brought it along in case you +might find some use for it. Here it is." + +Speaking, he drew the bit of pasteboard from his pocket and handed it +across to Cleek, who bent his eyes upon it, gave a little start at +something which was written across it in bold capitals and underscored +three times, gazed a moment at the pictured face, and then promptly +opened his pocketbook and placed it within. + +"Very good, Constable. Mr. Narkom, you will do me a personal favour if +you arrange for P. C. Mackay's promotion. He did good work last night, +and it must not be forgotten. You may go, Constable." + +"Thank you, sir." + +The man saluted smartly, grinned all over his ruddy Scotch face at the +word "promotion," and went back to his position outside the library +door, his head in the clouds and his heart longing for the time when he +could impart this wonderful knowledge to his Maggie, and see her blue +eyes brighten. + +Meanwhile Cleek, the door shut once more, dived down into his pocket and +produced the little bit of red electric wire which he had picked up in +the library that first day before the tragedy had taken place, when Maud +Duggan was showing him over the house. He fingered it idly, and then +showed Mr. Narkom the two pieces spread upon his open palm. + +"Not much in that, I'm afraid. Just the ordinary kind of wire which +everyone uses, and with nothing to show any peculiarities," he said, +speaking half to himself and half to the Superintendent. "Both cut with +a sharp knife, obviously. Now, if they mated evenly--and gad! they _do_ +mate!" He brought them together and dovetailed the two frayed ends one +against the other until the edges met in a perfectly even line. "That's +a funny thing! A deuced funny thing! But they belong to each other as +much as two twin souls belong. They're one and the same piece. Gad! and +with the photograph of the estimable young woman--it proves it without a +doubt!" + +"Proves what, my dear chap?" + +Mr. Narkom's voice was a trifle testy. The whole affair of that morning +had got upon his nerves. In the first place, he had had to get up too +early after a broken night, and in the second, Cleek hadn't given him +time to digest his meal, and then the whole higgledy-piggledy of Cleek's +words, from which he could make neither head nor tail, served to +irritate him still further. + +Cleek laid a hand upon the Superintendent's arm, and spoke in his most +coaxing voice. + +"Have patience with me, dear friend, as you have done before, and as you +will have to do again," he said softly. "It isn't that I don't trust +you--haven't I trusted you with life itself before now, and never found +you wanting?--but it is that at present my theories are in somewhat of a +muddle, and it's only keeping my own counsel that's going to help me to +disentangle them." + +"I know, I know, old chap," returned the Superintendent, casting aside +his rancour at this apology from the man who was his best friend, with +his usual heartiness. "I'm a slow-thinking old beggar, and somehow your +lightning sketches get the better of my patience. But I'll back you to +unravel the knot every time. Think you've come to the end, then?" + +"I fancy so. With a little bit of bold guesswork thrown in to make equal +measure. That must always be reckoned in the bargain, you know. But if I +haven't found the person or persons who have murdered Sir Andrew in that +cold-blooded and diabolically clever manner, then my name's not--Arthur +Deland. And I know as much about the methods of sleuth-hounds as my old +boot!" + +So saying, he fell to examining the photograph again, and tossing the +two pieces of flexible wire up and down in the palm of one hand, and +muttering to himself like a lunatic, while Dollops and Mr. Narkom, in +silence, could do nothing more but wonder and look on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LIBRARY + + +It was exactly eleven o'clock, and the various clocks in the house were +chiming the hour out from every nook and corner of the Castle when +Cleek, followed by Dollops and Mr. Narkom, made his way to the library, +and found assembled there all the members of that ill-fated family--as +well as those others who had perforce been obliged to stay there +over-night at his orders--and with a polite "good morning" and a stiff +little bow, took his place in the midst of them and glanced around. + +They were a wan, white-faced lot. Lady Paula's black eyes were ringed +with violet, Maud Duggan's face was pinched and old-looking in the +morning light, as though the night had seen no sleep for _her_ (which +was true), Johanna McCall's little peaked face was pale as ivory, and +her eyes looked heavy-lidded, as though she had cried overmuch in the +still watches (which was true also), while Cynthia Debenham and +Catherine Dowd sat with set faces and angry eyes, watching him as though +deadly afraid of what he might say or do next. Ross Duggan's countenance +was as lined as an old man's; Captain Macdonald showed by the flare of +nostrils and flash of eye that his temper was still as hot as his +tongue, and not improved for the keeping; and little Cyril--who slipped +in a moment or two late, with Tavish bringing up the rear--had the look +of a boy who was scared half out of his wits. + +And scared badly he was, too. Trembling hands showed it; trembling lips +showed it still more. Cleek's eyes narrowed down as he glanced at the +boy's set face, and he found it hard to give him even so much as a +welcoming smile. Like mother like son--that boy. As wily as you make +'em. And untrustworthy, too. He was not so fond of Master Cyril, now +that he knew more of him, as he had been at first meeting. + +When they were all seated, with P. C. Mackay keeping watch over the door +and another constable on the outside of it, Cleek turned to them and let +the queer little one-sided smile so indicative of the man travel up his +face. + +"Well, my friends," said he in his smooth, low-pitched voice, "I +promised you something when I saw you again, and I'm here to fulfil that +promise. The riddle of Sir Andrew's death is a riddle no longer. If you +will have patience for a short time I shall explain a few things to you, +and then----" + +"You know who killed my husband, then? You know?--you know?" bleated out +Lady Paula, starting to her feet with white face and hands clasped +close against her breast. "You have found out the secret of his murder, +Mr. Deland?" + +"Yes--and I know who his murderer was, too, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +sharply. "Sit down, Mr. Duggan, I beg of you. The door is guarded, as +you can see--both outside and in--and perhaps it might be as well if I +added caution to care and turned the key in the door--so." Speaking, he +crossed the room in rapid strides, locked the door, and dropped the key +into his pocket. "Prevention is better than cure, you know. Yes, Lady +Paula, I know who murdered Sir Andrew, and I know how it was done. A +dastardly deed at best--an abominable crime upon humanity in return for +a family wrong. The old question of a vendetta--though of so recent a +date as to be a mere matter of seventeen years back. You have been +married that long, have you not? You are surprised, I see. Well, I +confess it, so was I. And when you mix up such other unpleasant +ingredients as a woman's ill-timed ambition, a blackmailer, and the +green-eyed god jealousy, you find a very unpleasant mess of pottage +indeed." + +He spoke in his own way, unravelling the riddle in that leisurely +fashion for which he was famous; but to those over-charged minds and +hearts that surrounded him he seemed much like a cat playing with a +mouse--and enjoying its fruitless efforts at escape. + +"But the murderer--who?--who?" gave out Maud Duggan in a suddenly shrill +voice, as a little silence held for a moment in that still room. "Tell +us that, Mr. Deland, I implore you----" + +"In good time, Miss Duggan. First of all, the ways and means. Look!--see +that spinning wheel. There stands your guilty party in that innocent +guise. The hand that guided that wheel killed Sir Andrew as surely as I +am standing here. And how? An air-pistol. And who owns an air-pistol in +this place but Mr. Ross Duggan?" + +"It's a lie--a damned lie! And I'll have you to law for it, too!" Ross +Duggan started to his feet, face crimson, hands knotted, eyes flashing +at this plain implication of himself. "Damn you, whoever you are!--it's +a lie! I did not kill my father! I swear it upon the sacred book itself! +I did not kill him!" + +Cleek held up a detaining hand. + +"And who, may I ask, said you did, my fiery young friend?" he returned +suavely. "If you will give me a little time to tell my story in my own +way, I shall be extremely obliged. You stand self-confessed as the owner +of an air-pistol. That we have proof of. The rest will follow in due +course. But here is the instrument of death--this simple little spinning +wheel, which, wired by electricity as it is, and with the pistol hidden +inside that wheel with diabolical ingenuity, caused the death of your +father. And who among you, may I ask, has such a perfect knowledge of +electricity as to equip the thing like that?" + +Again there was silence; meanwhile each looked at the other and the same +name framed itself unconsciously upon every lip ... Ross Duggan. It was +not spoken aloud, but Cleek could read it as he looked about him. Then +Lady Paula spoke. + +"Then--it was Ross? It was that unfilial and cruel son of an unknowing +and innocent old man, just as I knew it to be?" she shrilled excitedly, +jumping to her feet and turning to Ross and seizing him by the shoulder +as though she would tear him limb from limb. "Oh, _sacremento_! +I knew it! I knew it! Wicked, cruel creature that you are! +Ungrateful--beast----" + +Cleek caught her sharply by the arm and spun her around as though she +had been made of paper. His face was grim. + +"One moment," he cried in a sharp staccato. "This lady is going to give +trouble. Well, then, the moment can be delayed no longer. +Constable--bring in your prisoner." + +He gave a shrill whistle, strode across the room, fitted the key into +the lock, and in an instant there was pandemonium. + +For of a sudden there was a stifled scream from somewhere in the room--a +hurried breath and a woman's voice shrilled out, "Oh, I cannot bear it +any longer-- I cannot! I cannot!" Then the door flashed open to admit of +two policemen, who had slung between them the stooping figure of a man, +closely handcuffed, and with a dark scrub of beard showing upon his +unshaven chin. Came another scream; a boy's shrill voice lifted +excitedly, "Uncle Antoni!" followed by a scuffling of a man's footsteps. +Cleek took a quick step forward in the midst of all the confusion, +caught at someone's sleeve and held it in a grip like a vice, rapped out +in a sharp voice, "Catch him, Dollops! Catch the beggar before he slips +out through the open door and gives us the 'go-by'--the beastly +blighter!" Then, all in a moment, he was fighting and twisting and +doubling to regain his hold upon the man who was trying to escape; there +was a muttered curse, and a flying foot came out and caught the leg of a +delicate table, sending it toppling over with a crash in the midst of +them; the grating of a key in a lock, and--the end had come! + +Brushing a piece of dust from his sleeve as P. C. Mackay snapped the +bracelets upon still another prisoner, Cleek turned and surveyed the +room with flushed cheek and flashing eye. + +"Friends," he said blandly, "your man--your murderer. Caught as +red-handed as one could wish--and as innocently as a babe, too!" + +And pointed toward the manacled, fighting figure of James Tavish! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE SECRET OF THE SINGING WHEEL + + +The scene that followed this startling announcement can well be imagined +rather than described. For even as the man stood glowering at them, his +mouth muttering the curses that his heart held, came a new diversion +from another quarter. For Catherine Dowd had called out sharply, "Quick! +quick! some smelling-salts here--and brandy!" and as the women of the +party endeavoured to produce one item, while the men more successfully +produced the other, it was seen that Johanna McCall was the object of +this aid, for she half-lay, half-sprawled upon the floor, mouth open, +face twitching, eyes already glazing over, and the white froth forming +about her pale lips. + +Cleek leaned down and lifted her head in his uninjured arm; and looked +down into her upthrown ghastly face. + +"Gad!" he said under his breath, "and now the other one--self-confessed! +Who'd have thought it?--who, indeed? And for what reason, I wonder?" + +"For him--for Ross--for the man I love," the pale lips framed the words +brokenly as the strength of the girl sagged and ebbed slowly away. "He +would have disinherited him--disinherited Ross, turned him +out--penniless! Cruel--wicked--I stabbed him with--the stiletto--the +light went out--caught it off the table--wiped it on _her_ dress--must +have been mad--mad--but you can't get me. It's poison--arsenic. I had it +ready. And I needn't have done it--after all!" + +Then she sighed a little, opened her eyes suddenly and closed them +again, and then slumped forward in Cleek's arms--dead. + +Cleek caught at a cushion, pushed it under the sagging head, slipped his +own arm out from under it, and got slowly to his feet. His face was +pale, his lips set. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he said quietly, pointing a hand at the still +figure, so pitifully small and childlike, huddled together upon the +floor, "the other--murderer. Poor, misguided little creature! Of such +folly can Love only be held to blame. A hopeless passion, a breaking +heart, a suddenly maddening resolution made and carried out in a red-hot +moment, and--another soul gone to meet its Maker with the red blot of +death upon it. Tragic, is it not?... Lady Paula, take a seat. There is +so much more to tell, and this has slightly precipitated matters. +Tavish, my friend, you will do better not to glower and struggle like +that. The Law has you, and _the Law will make you pay_--in spite of all +your efforts to fix the blame upon someone else. I think, my friends, if +we might adjourn to the drawing-room, the rest of the riddle would make +easier and better telling. It is hardly fitting--here and now." + +"You're right, Mr. Deland, perfectly right," threw in Ross at this +juncture, jumping to his feet and catching his fiancee by the arm. +"Come, all of you. Out of this room and into the next. I want to hear +the end of the tangle, Mr. Deland, and find exactly how you implicated +_me_." + +Cleek looked up suddenly with a slight smile. + +"Not Deland, my friend, just Cleek--Cleek of Scotland Yard, at your +service," he made reply smoothly, smiling at the amazed faces which +greeted this statement. "So you see, Tavish, you had greater odds +against you than you knew. We'll have your other prisoner, please, +Constable. The worthy Antoni Matei shall tell us something before the +day is out. Of that I am certain. And I have promised him a good price +for his loose tongue. Tavish, never trust a lying comrade. This is the +friend who saw you through--and then split afterward upon you. Choose +birds of another colour next time you practise such tricks--only, I'm +afraid it is a trifle late to start new methods--_now_." + +Speaking, he passed out of that tragic room, waving his hand with a +gesture which was almost theatrical to the others to follow him, and +when they were all assembled around him in the drawing-room, went on +with his amazing story. + + * * * * * + +"You want to hear the whole story from start to finish? Well, it will +make long telling, I'm afraid," he said, as Maud Duggan put the +question, glancing a trifle anxiously at the slumped figure of the +Italian which stood manacled between two burly constables, waiting his +turn to speak up and tell what he knew. "To begin with, I must confess I +was a little mistaken in my calculations. _To begin with._ +Circumstantial evidence does not always prove guilt, Miss Duggan, +although it's generally a good pointer in a broad way. And your brother +had many pieces of evidence against him. That bit of red flexible +electric wire, you know, that I picked up in the library that first day +you showed me around. I admit I thought it belonged to him, particularly +when young Cyril here told such an excellent story of how Sir Ross (I +must give you your proper title, you know!) wired the room temporarily, +just to show James Tavish how it could be done. But it didn't, you see. +That fragment was found in Tavish's own bedroom. Then, when I went down +into the dungeons, I discovered--something else." + +His hand dived into his pocket and brought forth a crumpled +handkerchief, slightly bloodstained, and handed it to her. "Can you +identify that?" + +She looked up, startled. + +"Of course. It's yours, Ross, isn't it? See, here are your initials. And +yet you found it down there--with something else, Mr.--Cleek?" + +"I certainly did, my dear young lady. With a syphon of soda, a tumbler +and a bottle that smelt of very good raw whisky. Rather strong for _my_ +liking, but still--we'll let that pass for the present. I'll have +something to say about that later which may interest you, Mr. Narkom. I +found it there--and, as you say, I found something else, too. And when I +saw the initials I naturally thought of your brother--which just goes to +prove that human nature is apt to make mistakes, even when it thinks +itself pretty expert upon certain subjects. As a matter of fact, Miss +McCall had borrowed that handkerchief--she supervises the laundering, +you told me, Miss Duggan--for James Tavish when he cut his finger, and +he had never given it back, obviously. When I discovered that, that was +the first pointer in his direction. The others followed fairly +rapidly.... Then the air-pistol, you know. You yourself told me your +brother had one--and then regretted the telling afterward, like every +loving and foolish woman who wants to preserve her kin from possible +blame, even in the face of her own suspicions. That was Number Two +against him. Number Three came from this young lady here--Miss Dowd--who +brought me the stiletto that had been used to stab your poor father, and +admitted, strictly against all her scruples, that, as far as she knew, +it had been last used by Sir Ross to cut the edges of a book upon +Poisons which he had been reading. I don't much admire your taste in +literature, Sir Ross, but that is hardly to do with me. A man can choose +his own companions and his own library, thank God, although Life itself +chooses almost everything else for him. But I must confess that the +spinning wheel got me guessing, as our American cousins say. I've Mr. +Narkom to thank for that discovery. And he made it in rather a +remarkable way. Leaned against the wheel and experienced a slight shock. +After that, the thing was as easy as A. B. C. We simply traced the +wiring to the window-sill, where we discovered a switch hidden in the +ivy, turned it on, and--there you were! I nearly got potted by the +devilish contrivance myself, only some sixth sense told me to get out of +the way in time. But the aim was amazingly accurate. The second bullet +fell a matter of half an inch below the first. A perfect marvel of +ingenuity, contrived by a man who had obviously made electricity his +study for years--in spite of his confessed ignorance of it. Worked out +to a nicety. The failing lights were his idea also, and quite simple to +manage, really. The drumming dynamo made a very good imitation of the +'singing of the wheel,' in accordance with the old story. And a less +enlightened household than yours, Sir Ross, might have put all sorts of +constructions upon that--except, of course, the right one.... That, my +friends, was how the diabolical thing was done." + +For a moment a silence held, fraught with mute astonishment; then +exclamations of amazement fell from every one of that little company, +and Ross Duggan was just about to speak when Lady Paula broke hurriedly +in. + +"And my brother?--my poor unfortunate brother?" cried she in a wrung +voice. "He had no share in the crime, I'll swear it, Mr. Cleek. Even +your magic cannot prove that." + +"Not in the crime actually, Lady Paula, but in--other things," he +replied a trifle grimly, glancing again at the flushed face of the +prisoner. "For as a blackmailer I fancy he is something of an artist. +That fact you already know--to your cost, I fancy. And I think I'm not +wrong in saying that it was he who suggested to you the stealing of the +will and----" + +"I begged him not to, Mr. Cleek! I implored. I did-- I swear it. And I +never stole the will, that I can promise!" she broke in distractedly, +beating her hands together. "Antoni suggested--yes--he wished to destroy +it, so that my share of the estate might be greater as widow than that +which had been apportioned to me, and of course he would have a portion +of that, too. But I implored him not--that is true, is it not, Antoni? +You can answer to that? I begged you, and you promised! And he +threatened me even with exposure if I did not agree to the preposterous +idea! I complied, only upon the promise that it should not be destroyed. +But who took it I do not know." + +"But I think I can pretty well guess," responded Cleek serenely, with a +quick look at Cyril's suddenly flushed face. "Your son, Lady Paula, has +much of his uncle's blood in his veins. And he acted, no doubt, upon +_forceful_ advice, and carried the thing through quite successfully. +Perhaps he will tell us just when he decided to steal his own father's +will--at the instigation of an unscrupulous relation." + +Came a slight pause in the telling, meanwhile a startled exclamation +broke from Ross Duggan's lips, while every eye in that little assembly +fastened upon the unfortunate boy. He broke into quiet sobbing, darting +his eyes here and there for possible sympathy. + +"Yes, I took it, sir--when Uncle Antoni told me," he broke out between +sobs. "It was--just after it had happened. I heard Mother's scream, and +then she ran into my room and told me of--the dreadful thing that had +happened! About half an hour afterward Uncle Antoni appeared at the +balcony which opens out from my bedroom window, and told me I must steal +the will for him. I was terrified--oh, I was!--but he threatened me +with--with a pistol----" + +"That's a lie!" gave out the prisoner with a maledictory eye upon his +unfilial nephew. + +"It isn't--it isn't! You told me to get it--just how to get it. That it +was lying upon the table-top; and so I slipped down in my stockinged +feet, and waited in the passage until I saw Ross slip out of the room +after everyone else had gone back to bed, and--and _you_ had come out, +Mr. Cleek, and were talking to Maud in the ante-room. So I crept into +the room--oh, it was dreadful, with Father lying there--like +that--snatched it up and fled back to my bedroom in terror. Uncle Antoni +was still waiting on the balcony, and when he got it he climbed down the +balustrade again and--and--that is all I know. Oh, I wish--I wish I'd +never had anything to do with it!" + +Cleek nodded. + +"I'm sure you do," he said quietly. "So it was really not your fault, +Cyril. You acted under considerable pressure. That I'll admit. But it +might have been better if you had confided in--someone else after the +deed was done. It would have helped clear up the mystery sooner, at any +rate. But that cannot be helped now. To proceed with the story. Here, by +the way, is the missing will, Lady Paula. I found it muffling the +clapper of Rhea's bell--a very ingenious hiding-place--and in the +finding discovered your--er--worthy brother at the same time. That was +how I happened to get hold of him. He gave me a few tips of quite useful +information afterward, upon promise of a light sentence, and helped to +lead me finally to the true murderer. So we will hold that in his +favour, at any rate. Sir Ross, I'd prefer you to keep that document +until it can be placed in the hands of your family lawyer. We don't want +any more disappearing tricks for the present, do we?" + +"Hardly. Gad! it's amazing, positively extraordinary how you've found +all this out!" threw in that gentleman with deep emphasis. "Please +accept my apologies now for those unforgivable things I said to you, Mr. +Cleek. But when a chap's just been practically accused of killing his +own father----" + +"You must expect a little heat. That's all right, my friend. Don't +bother about it further. Only, I was obliged to throw the scent upon +someone other than the real man--or we'd have lost him. You understand +that, of course?" + +"Certainly. Only tell us how you traced the murder to its proper source, +and _why_ James Tavish should have done such a thing." + +"That I will, and in the shortest way possible. But you must let me tell +my story in my own particular manner," replied Cleek, with a slight +smile and a warmth of feeling toward this very impetuous and +generous-hearted young man. "There's still a good deal to be cleared up +before you can understand, and I'm afraid some of it won't make +particularly good hearing. But that I cannot help. Men are frail things, +Sir Ross, where temptation is concerned. And when there is a pretty +woman in the question ... it's all right, Lady Paula; it all happened +long before _you_ entered your husband's life, so that there is nothing +for _you_ to forgive--but, as I say, when a pretty woman enters at one +door, a man's discretion very often flies out at another. + +"I found, among other things yesterday, when I was looking for the will +in your father's desk, after having appropriated his keys first, a +bundle of old love-letters, written upon paper which I ascertained had +been bought in the village, and bearing a post-mark which was local, and +signed with the name 'Jeannette.' I confess I did not know just where +these entered into the case at all, but something told me that they were +a big factor. My intuition--policeman's sixth sense--call it what you +will. I looked into the matter, and then discovered, after some probing +through my man Dollops (who, by the way, Mr. Narkom, deserves high +commendation in this case), that they were actually written by James +Tavish's sister, Jeannette, and that--to put it baldly, for which I +trust you will forgive me--that your father had been carrying on a +secret liaison with this girl for some years, upon promise of marriage, +and had, in fact, got her into very unfortunate trouble." + +"But he never married her--he married _me_-- I am his legal wife, I +swear that!" struck in Lady Paula, in a high-pitched, terrified voice. +"I knew nothing of this woman at all--everything in our marriage was in +order----" + +"Of that there is not the smallest doubt, Lady Paula," returned Cleek +gravely. "I said only 'under _promise_ of marriage.' That is where man +is unfortunately so unfaithful. He merely left her to bear her trouble +alone--after, of course, providing for her and the possible issue of +their unhappy union--and, being a faithful woman, it broke her heart, +and both she and her child died as a consequence of this neglect. When +the wish to live is gone, there is little else to bind one to this earth +at such times, my friends, and so she and her unwanted little one passed +out to a happier realm. Much of this I have gleaned from those same +letters; much I have deduced in the natural course of events. The final +clue was discovered in James Tavish's own room, where this photograph, +bearing the date of her death and that of her child, and having one word +written across the face of it, was discovered in a box on his +dressing-table." + +He handed the piece of pictured pasteboard across to each of them in +turn, watching their faces to see the effect of it upon them +individually. Mute astonishment, dull grief showed in Ross and Maud +Duggan's eyes as they looked upon it. It was as though they had +discovered suddenly that their idol had feet of clay. For across the +front of the pictured face was written one word in heavy black scrawl, +and the word was "_Avenged!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +"AS A TALE THAT WAS TOLD" + + +"My God!" It was Ross Duggan who spoke. "Just to think of it! Just to +think! That _my_ father----" + +"Don't forget he's dead, Ross, and beyond all chance of your +remonstrating with him, and that the dead cannot speak up for +themselves!" cried Maud Duggan, in a wrung voice. "Don't say anything +you will be sorry for, I beg of you! Mr. Cleek, this has come as +something in the nature of a shock to my brother and me, and--and it's +going to take some time to let this part of your story sink in. It seems +dreadful that one's own father...." + +"And yet there are many who have done worse--far worse," threw in Cleek, +with uplifted hand, as she paused and looked at him out of anguished +eyes. "Youth must learn to forgive, Miss Duggan. That is a lesson which +both you and your brother have got to learn, and don't forget, will you, +in the learning, that this thing took place more than seventeen years +ago--before your father was married to his present wife. Raking up dead +ashes is a poor sort of game, and an unprofitable one. I would never +have spoken only that therein lay the motive of James Tavish's crime, +and for seventeen long years he has worked for it. The unutterable +patience of the man! the appalling sense of revenge! For at the end of +that time his bitterness to the man who had wronged his sister was even +greater than when the thing itself took place. How long has he been in +your father's employ?" + +"Twelve years." + +"And I take it he was well known locally before that?" + +"The family was certainly an old local one, Mr. Cleek, and, in fact, I +have heard the story go that they were descendants of the original +Peasant Girl on her mother's side." + +"Oho! Well, that may or may not be. Vendettas are not only carried out +in southern climes, Miss Duggan. I've learned that lesson to my cost +many times since I took up this profession. And the Scotch temperament +is a dour one, and not forgiving. A grudge is a grudge, even if it lasts +through several centuries--and who knows but that this belief lent +colour to his hatred of your father? At any rate, whether it is true or +not, James Tavish killed Sir Andrew because he was the betrayer of his +sister--and took seventeen years to bring his vengeance to full +maturity. Gad! what a character to bear! It makes one's blood run +cold!... Constables, I think you may remove your prisoner now to the +nearest lock-up. We've done with him for the present, thanks." + +So saying, he waved his hand toward the door, opened it, and waited +until the little cavalcade had taken its dismissal; meanwhile those +within the room of that house of discord sat silent as dead people, +thinking back over the doings of seventeen years ago, and of a dead man +who had betrayed an innocent woman. It was an unpleasant thought at +best. They were glad when Cleek came back into the room, closed the +door, and took his seat among them again. His pleasant voice dispelled +the repellent weavings of their own brains. + +"And now," said he, "to continue with our story. It is nearly done, +but there are points which I know each one of you would like to have +cleared up before I take my leave. What's that, Lady Paula? How did I +come to suspect your brother in the first place? Ah, that involves a +long story with which I will not bore you, for you have had enough +already of this distressing affair, I'm sure. Only this: That I happened +to go up into your boudoir yesterday, when you were making your way up +the Great Free Road"--he paused a moment as she coloured, and gave a +significant smile. "You see, I know more than I tell, eh? Well, I +discovered a note screwed up on the floor, and signed 'A. M.' Antoni +Matei, we now know it was. Once I suspected Captain Macdonald--simply +because the footprints outside of the window of the library were made +by his hunting-boots--discovered afterward by my man, mud-caked and +hidden in some shrubs near Tavish's cottage. Which leads me, Miss +Duggan, to that very particular point of the size of the gentleman's +boots. You remember? I won't call that incident to your mind further. +Only--you were a little mistaken, that's all. But let that pass. Every +woman acts upon the dictates of her own heart, and if those dictates are +a trifle mistaken--yes, that was how I found out, Lady Paula. After +seeing Captain Macdonald's handwriting I knew that he had _not_ written +that note. A further investigation upon the part of my lad Dollops and +myself last night led to the elucidation of who it was who _had_ written +it. Your brother himself disclosed his relation to you last night, after +we had our talk in the village lock-up. After that, the thing was as +easy as A B C. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Duggan? And where exactly did Captain Macdonald +come in! Why, when one meets a man running agitatedly away from the +particular part of the Castle where the crime had taken place--and just +_after_ it--one is inclined to be a little suspicious of that man. It is +only natural. Though, thank Heaven, my suspicions were soon quieted, +after I discovered that your gallant Captain had really come into the +grounds--with your having left the gate ajar for him so that Rhea's +bell would not sound--to meet _you_ clandestinely, as he had been +forbidden the house. Love will always find a way, you know. Only, it was +unfortunate at the time that he should have chosen that night of all +others to have come to meet you. You knew of the crime, then, Captain? +Or what was it that sent you pelting away so hard from the house that +held your affianced bride?" + +"Simply because I had heard a woman's scream, had seen the lights all +over the Castle switch up, and did not want my meeting with Maud to be +discovered--lest a more certain means should be taken to keep us apart +ever afterward," returned the Captain, a trifle heatedly. "And I must +confess that I was a bit nonplussed and--and angered when you mistook +_me_ for a murderer and held me under suspicion." + +"For which you might readily give your apology, as a better mannered man +has already done," apostrophized Cleek inwardly. "Still, we can't help a +man's nature, and he seems a likely enough chap, as men go. _And_ she +loves him. And it's no affair of mine as to how he behaves himself--so +long as he was not the guilty party." Then, aloud, "I see. Well, Miss +Duggan will explain to you how your hunting-boots came to be here, and +to lead to your being suspected along with the other. Just ask her +afterward--eh, Miss Duggan? And love her still more for her womanly +sentiment, if I may be permitted to tender any advice. + +"I think that is really all. Only, I should like just a word with Sir +Ross and Cyril alone, if I may be granted the favour? And then I must be +going. Mr. Narkom and I have other affairs to attend to in this +neighbourhood which are very pressing and will want a lot of careful +handling to bring home to their proper destination.... Thanks very +much." + +He got to his feet instantly as the women arose, followed by Captain +Macdonald, and quietly left the room. Only Sir Ross, Cyril, and Mr. +Narkom remained. As the door closed behind them, Ross Duggan spoke up. + +"What is it that you wish to say, Mr. Cleek?" he said quietly. "I'll be +glad if you will go easy with Cyril. He's not a bad boy, you know. Only +a trifle misguided, and I shall make it my duty in future to keep a +sharper eye upon him. The boy has had no other companions but his books +of adventure and his own imagination." + +"And a very unfortunate mess those two things have made of him," +returned Cleek quietly, crossing over and laying a hand along Cyril's +shoulder. "School, and boarding-school, is the best place for _him_, my +friend, and good healthy companionship with others of his own age. It's +just the devil of that reading which made him act as he did. I found him +out, late last night in company with his uncle, doing some very +nefarious work on the hillside below here." + +"_What?_" + +"Gently, gently, my friend. Don't forget, will you, that Cyril has not +been given the same chances as other boys. And his is an active brain. +The work in question was illicit whisky-stills--in fact, the very thing +for which I originally came down here, Mr. Narkom. James Tavish and +Antoni Matei and Cyril have all had a hand in it. And the still itself, +you will find, if you go down to your own dungeon, Sir Ross, to where +the Peasant Girl is supposed to have her haunts o' nights." + +"Cinnamon! Cleek!" + +"Yes--and, by James! Mr. Narkom. And that's the actual truth, too. I +discovered it first of all. A little looking on the part of Dollops and +me brought the thing to light, through a susceptible maid-servant at +present in your employ, Sir Ross. She fell for my Cockney lad's 'ginger +'air.' And he made use of his opportunity. And it was then--even as late +as last night--that my suspicions were finally pinned upon James Tavish +as the murderer of your father. For I saw him, in company with the Dago, +wearing your tweed coat, which I noted hanging on a hook in the passage +earlier in the day, and had even seen you wearing during the morning, +before you changed into that dark suit yesterday afternoon--and if it +hadn't been for _me_ that same tweed coat might have led you into some +rather unfortunate feminine revelations from one of the ladies who are +at present in your house. But let that pass.... Mr. Narkom, we must go. +There's a gang to be rounded up, and unfortunately, through a foolish +woman, some inkling of our presence here has become known, and it will +take us all our time to trace the rest of the participants in this +pleasant affair before they have had time to show nothing more than a +very clean pair of heels for our benefit. We must be making tracks. Sir +Ross, take an older fellow's advice and fight for that boy's rights to +go to a decent English school. I've no doubt that the house will be +divided now, since these revelations have been made. One could hardly go +on living with a woman for a stepmother who--who had even contemplated +such things, although she did it for the benefit of her own boy. +But--fight for him. And get him away from--unfortunate influence if you +can. Or you'll be losing for the Empire an otherwise good little +citizen. There's no doubt about the presence of the uncle now--with that +whisky-still business on hand, and that's what brought the two men +together, no doubt. But get this boy clear of it all. Try a public +school where his _moral_ outlook will be as well cared for as his +physical, and--get him there _quick_. + +"Good-bye, Cyril--shake hands, won't you? And you might write a line to +me now and then, to let me know how you're getting on. I'd have had a +boy of your age myself, no doubt, if--if I hadn't made a fool of myself +earlier in life, and I've got to make up for it now. But it makes me +rather soft for youngsters. Good-bye, Sir Ross, and good luck. Clear out +of this ill-fated inheritance for a time, until things blow over. You'll +find there'll be a different aspect of affairs when you come back with +your vision cleared. Mr. Narkom, come along. At least we've beaten the +Coroner at his own business, and that's always a feather in a +policeman's cap, eh, old friend?" + +And, so speaking, he passed out of that house of discord, which, +however, he was to visit later, many times, as friend and confidant of +the new owner of it, out into the clear sunshine of an early noon, and +the paths that lay ahead. + + +THE END + + + + +Popular Copyright Novels + +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of + +A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction + + * * * * * + + =Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =Affinities, and Other Stories.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =After House, The.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Against the Winds.= By Kate Jordan. + =Ailsa Paige.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Also Ran.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + =Amateur Gentleman, The.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Anderson Crow, Detective.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Anna, the Adventuress.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Anne's House of Dreams.= By L. M. Montgomery. + =Anybody But Anne.= By Carolyn Wells. + =Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.= By Arthur Stringer. + =Around Old Chester.= By Margaret Deland. + =Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.= By John T. Mclntyre. + =Athalie.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =At the Mercy of Tiberius.= By Augusta Evans Wilson. + =Auction Block, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= By Eliza C. Hall. + =Awakening of Helena Richie.= By Margaret Deland. + + =Bab: a Sub-Deb.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + =Bambi.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Barbarians.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Bar 20.= By Garence E. Mulford. + =Bar 20 Days.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Barrier, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Bars of Iron, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + =Beasts of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs. + =Beckoning Roads.= By Jeanne Judson. + =Belonging.= By Olive Wadsley. + =Beloved Traitor, The.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Beloved Vagabond, The.= By Wm. J. Locke. + =Beltane the Smith.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Betrayal, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Beulah.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + =Beyond the Frontier.= By Randall Parrish. + =Big Timber.= By Bertrand W. Sinclair. + =Black Bartlemy's Treasure.= By Jeffery Farnol. + =Black Is White.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Blacksheep! Blacksheep!= By Meredith Nicholson. + =Blind Man's Eyes, The.= By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer. + =Boardwalk, The.= By Margaret Widdemer. + =Bob Hampton of Placer.= By Randall Parrish. + =Bob, Son of Battle.= By Alfred Olivant. + =Box With Broken Seals, The.= By E. 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Frank Davis. + =Christine of the Young Heart.= By Louise Breintenbach Clancy. + =Cinderella Jane.= By Marjorie B. Cooke. + =Cinema Murder.= The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =City of Masks, The.= By George Barr McCutcheon. + =Cleek of Scotland Yard.= By T. W. Hanshew. + =Cleek, The Man of Forty Faces.= By Thomas W. Hanshew. + =Cleek's Government Cases.= By Thomas W. Hanshew. + =Clipped Wings.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Clutch of Circumstance, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Coast of Adventure, The.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Come-Back, The.= By Carolyn Wells. + =Coming of Cassidy, The.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Coming of the Law, The.= By Charles A. Seltzer. + =Comrades of Peril.= By Randall Parrish. + =Conquest of Canaan, The.= By Booth Tarkington. + =Conspirators, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Contraband.= By Randall Parrish. + =Cottage of Delight, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =Court of Inquiry, A.= By Grace S. Richmond. + =Cricket, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + =Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.= By Rex Beach. + =Crimson Tide, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Cross Currents.= By Author of "Pollyanna." + =Cross Pull, The.= By Hal. G. Evarts. + =Cry in the Wilderness, A.= By Mary E. Waller. + =Cry of Youth, A.= By Cynthia Lombardi. + =Cup of Fury, The.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Curious Quest, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + + =Danger and Other Stories.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =Dark Hollow, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Dark Star, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Daughter Pays, The.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + =Day of Days, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance. + =Depot Master, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Destroying Angel, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance. + =Devil's Own, The.= By Randall Parrish. + =Devil's Paw, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Disturbing Charm, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Door of Dread, The.= By Arthur Stringer. + =Dope.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Double Traitor, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Duds.= By Henry C. Rowland. + + =Empty Pockets.= By Rupert Hughes. + =Erskine Dale Pioneer.= By John Fox, Jr. + =Everyman's Land.= By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. + =Extricating Obadiah.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Eyes of the Blind, The.= By Arthur Somers Roche. + =Eyes of the World, The.= By Harold Bell Wright. + + =Fairfax and His Pride.= By Marie Van Vorst. + =Felix O'Day.= By F. Hopkinson Smith. + =54-40 or Fight.= By Emerson Hough. + =Fighting Chance, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Fighting Fool, The.= By Dane Coolidge. + =Fighting Shepherdess, The.= By Caroline Lockhart. + =Financier, The.= By Theodore Dreiser. + =Find the Woman.= By Arthur Somers Roche. + =First Sir Percy, The.= By The Baroness Orczy. + =Flame, The.= By Olive Wadsley. + =For Better, for Worse.= By W. B. Maxwell. + =Forbidden Trail, The.= By Honore Willsie. + =Forfeit, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Fortieth Door, The.= By Mary Hastings Bradley. + =Four Million, The.= By O. Henry. + =From Now On.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Fur Bringers, The.= By Hulbert Footner. + =Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.= By Frank L. Packard. + + =Get Your Man.= By Ethel and James Dorrance. + =Girl in the Mirror, The.= By Elizabeth Jordan. + =Girl of O. K. Valley, The.= By Robert Watson. + =Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.= By Payne Erskine. + =Girl from Keller's, The.= By Harold Bindloss. + =Girl Philippa, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Girls at His Billet, The.= By Berta Ruck. + =Glory Rides the Range.= By Ethel and James Dorrance. + =Gloved Hand, The.= By Burton E. Stevenson. + =God's Country and the Woman.= By James Oliver Curwood. + =God's Good Man.= By Marie Corelli. + =Going Some.= By Rex Beach. + =Gold Girl, The.= By James B. Hendryx. + =Golden Scorpion, The.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Golden Slipper, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Golden Woman, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Good References.= By E. J. Rath. + =Gorgeous Girl, The.= By Nalbro Bartley. + =Gray Angels, The.= By Nalbro Bartley. + =Great Impersonation, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Greater Love Hath No Man.= By Frank L. Packard. + =Green Eyes of Bast, The.= By Sax Rohmer, + =Greyfriars Bobby.= By Eleanor Atkinson. + =Gun Brand, The.= By James B. Hendryx. + + =Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer. + =Happy House.= By Baroness Von Hutten. + =Harbor Road, The.= By Sara Ware Bassett. + =Havoc.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Heart of the Desert, The.= By Honore Willsie. + =Heart of the Hills, The.= By John Fox, Jr. + =Heart of the Sunset.= By Rex Beach. + =Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.= By Edfrid A. Bingham. + =Heart of Unaga, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Hidden Children, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Hidden Trails.= By William Patterson White. + =Highflyers, The.= By Clarence B. Kelland. + =Hillman, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Hills of Refuge, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =His Last Bow.= By A. Conan Doyle. + =His Official Fiancee.= By Berta Ruck. + =Honor of the Big Snows.= By James Oliver Curwood. + =Hopalong Cassidy.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Hound from the North, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =House of the Whispering Pines, The.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.= By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. + =Humoresque.= By Fannie Hurst. + + =I Conquered.= By Harold Titus. + =Illustrious Prince, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =In Another Girl's Shoes.= By Berta Ruck. + =Indifference of Juliet, The.= By Grace S. Richmond. + =Inez.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + =Infelice.= By Augusta Evans Wilson. + =Initials Only.= By Anna Katharine Green. + =Inner Law, The.= By Will N. Harben. + =Innocent.= By Marie Corelli. + =In Red and Cold.= By Samuel Merwin. + =Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer, + =In the Brooding Wild.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Intriguers, The.= By William Le Queux. + =Iron Furrow, The.= By George C. Shedd. + =Iron Trail, The.= By Rex Beach. + =Iron Woman, The.= By Margaret Deland. + =Ishmael.= (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth. + =Island of Surprise.= By Cyrus Townsend Brady. + =I Spy.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln. + =It Pays to Smile.= By Nina Wilcox Putnam. + =I've Married Marjorie.= By Margaret Widdemer. + + =Jean of the Lazy A.= By B. M. Bower, + =Jeanne of the Marshes.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =Jennie Gerhardt.= By Theodore Dreiser. + =Johnny Nelson.= By Clarence E. Mulford. + =Judgment House, The.= By Gilbert Parker. + + =Keeper of the Door, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + =Keith of the Border.= By Randall Parrish. + =Kent Knowles: Quahaug.= By Joseph C. Lincoln. + =Kingdom of the Blind, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + =King Spruce.= By Holman Day. + =Knave of Diamonds, The.= By Ethel M. Dell. + + =La Chance Mine Mystery, The.= By S. Carleton. + =Lady Doc, The.= By Caroline Lockhart. + =Land-Girl's Love Story, A.= By Berta Ruck. + =Land of Strong Men, The.= By A. M. Chisholm. + =Last Straw, The.= By Harold Titus. + =Last Trail, The.= By Zane Grey. + =Laughing Bill Hyde.= By Rex Beach. + =Laughing Girl, The.= By Robert W. Chambers. + =Law Breakers, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + =Law of the Gun, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, by +Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. 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