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diff --git a/38477.txt b/38477.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a50f19 --- /dev/null +++ b/38477.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7384 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Jeopardy, by Van Tassel Sutphen + +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: In Jeopardy + +Author: Van Tassel Sutphen + +Release Date: January 3, 2012 [EBook #38477] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN JEOPARDY *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + + + + + + + + +IN JEOPARDY + + + + +BOOKS BY +VAN TASSEL SUTPHEN + + * * * * * + + IN JEOPARDY + THE CARDINAL'S ROSE + + * * * * * + +HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers +Established 1817 + + + + +IN +JEOPARDY + + +_By_ +Van Tassel Sutphen + +_Author of_ +"The Cardinal's Rose," Etc. + + +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +Copyright, 1922 +By Harper & Brothers + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. I FIND SOME NEW RELATIONS 3 + II. THE SETTING OF THE STAGE 25 + III. HILDEBRAND OF THE "HUNDRED" 40 + IV. SOME HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS 54 + V. THE MISSING LINK 68 + VI. "MADAME COLETTE MARINETTE" 83 + VII. THE WHISPERING GALLERY 99 + VIII. ADVENTURING ON "SUGAR LOAF" 106 + IX. 1-4-2-4-8 127 + X. I RECEIVE AN ULTIMATUM 138 + XI. THE RIDER OF THE BLACK HORSE 157 + XII. SAFE FIND, SAFE BIND 171 + XIII. LE CHIFFRE INDECHIFFRABLE 180 + XIV. ANOTHER BREAK IN THE CIRCLE 192 + XV. ONE CORNER OF THE VEIL 202 + XVI. AD INTERIM 211 + XVII. THE MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S BALL 217 + XVIII. I BREAK A PROMISE 225 + XIX. THE SEAT PERILOUS 235 + XX. THE BLIND TERROR 255 + XXI. A LOST CLUE 265 + XXII. THE GRAPES OF WRATH 281 + XXIII. THE END OF THE COIL 289 + + + + +Chapter I + +_I Find Some New Relations_ + + +The letter which lay before me had been written in old-fashioned +longhand on the business stationery of the law firm of Eldon & Crawford, +their given address being Calverton, Maryland. For the third time I read +over the missive, although certainly it was short and to the point, its +meaning unmistakable. But judge for yourself. + + CALVERTON, MARYLAND, + _June 22, 1919._ + + MY DEAR SIR,--The funeral services for the late Francis Hildebrand + Graeme Esqre., of "Hildebrand Hundred," King William County, + Maryland, will be held at S. Saviour's Church, Guildford Corners, + Maryland, on Thursday, June 24, 1919, at three o'clock post + meridian. + + In view of the fact that you are a beneficiary under Mr. Graeme's + will I am forwarding this communication by special delivery, in + the hope that you may be able to attend the services and be present + at the reading of the testament. + + I am enclosing a time schedule of the Cape Charles route, and would + suggest that you take the morning express from Baltimore. By giving + notice to the conductor the train will be stopped at Crown Ferry, + the nearest railway point to "Hildebrand Hundred." If you will + advise me by telegraph of your coming I will see that a conveyance + is in waiting. Trusting that you may find it possible to make the + journey, and taking the liberty of placing our legal services at + your disposal, + + I remain, my dear sir, + + Your obedient servant, + JOHN ELDON. + HUGH HILDEBRAND, ESQRE. + +Yes, this was all perfectly plain and understandable. Francis Graeme, +the distant cousin whom I had seen just once in my life, had died +suddenly at his Maryland home; as a member of the family and a +presumptive legatee it was my duty to offer the last respects in person. +Yet there had been something more or less odd about the whole business. +It had been the Civil War which had made a lasting breach between the +Northern and Southern branches of the Hildebrand family; for more than a +generation there had been no social intercourse whatever. Moreover, +during that period, the name had shown a tendency to disappear for good +and all, the usual fate of old families who live too close to the +ancestral soil and dislike the noisy wheels of the world's progress. The +late owner of the "Hundred" did not even bear the family patronymic, his +Hildebrand descent being on the distaff side. I, in turn, am an orphan, +without brothers or sisters; more than that I have no near relatives in +the paternal connection; indeed I had never heard of any immediate +bearers of my name until one day, some three months ago, when Francis +Graeme called at my Philadelphia office, introduced himself, claimed me +as kin, and carried me off to a luncheon which extended itself into +dinner and then lasted to a midnight supper. It had been a case of +liking at first sight, although Graeme was a man of forty-five or so, +while I lacked three years of thirty. However, years--mere years--don't +signify if people really "belong," and Graeme and I had lost no time in +laying the foundations of a friendship that promised a more than +ordinary degree of permanence. It had been arranged that I should come +down to "Hildebrand Hundred" for a long visit, but one thing after +another had happened to prevent; I had been presented with an actual law +case, Graeme was called West for a month, one of my college class +reunions had been scheduled for the first part of June; so it went. And +now poor Graeme was dead and nothing could be as we had planned it +during that long afternoon and night at the old University Club on +Walnut Street. Strange, I had not heard that he was ill, but our +correspondence had been most irregular, and most likely the attack had +been a sudden one--heart disease or perhaps a stroke. Of course I must +go down to Maryland, albeit the journey would be a depressing one; I +might even find it a little awkward to appear at the house in the +character of a new-found relative. I ought to explain that the family at +the "Hundred" now consisted of Miss Lysbeth Graeme and her cousin, Miss +Eunice Trevor. Of course I had never met either of them, but Graeme had +spoken of both girls at our first and only meeting; he seemed especially +fond of Lysbeth, or Betty, as he called her. Betty Graeme--rather an +attractive name I think--was some half dozen years my junior, and any +normal-minded young man would find the acquisition of a brand-new +feminine cousin an interesting possibility. But that was before this +distressing business of Francis Graeme's death, and I should feel more +or less the intruder. It was evident, however, that Mr. Eldon's letter +must have been sanctioned by Miss Graeme, and, I dare say, Graeme had +spoken to his daughter of having made my acquaintance, and warmly, too; +consequently, I should have to go and be decent, stay over night if that +were unavoidable, and then slip away Friday morning with my +legacy--perhaps a hundred dollars with which to procure the +mourning-ring so dear to the hearts of mid-Victorian novelists. + +In spite of the special delivery stamp the letter had been delayed +somewhere, and it was not handed over to me until early Thursday +morning, the messenger awaking me out of an unusually sound sleep by the +simple expedient of keeping his finger pressed firmly upon the electric +push button of my tiny room-and-bath lodgings in the "Clarendon." When I +had rubbed the Sandman's dust out of my eyes, and had taken in the +general purport of the epistle, I glanced at the clock and saw that I +had less than an hour in which to make my toilet, settle my business +affairs and catch the train. Yet I made it easily enough, for, outside +of bath and breakfast, I had only to telephone the friend with whom I +shared a diminutive law office that I should not be back until Friday, +and that our progressive match at golf would have to be postponed to +that date. Happily or unhappily, as you choose to look at it, there were +no clients to put off and no real business exigencies to consider. Come +to think of it, I am not so sure that I was ever intended for the bench +and bar, and certainly the world has not gone out of its way to avail +itself of my store of legal knowledge. Mine was just the usual case of a +young man reading law because, on leaving the university, nothing more +tangible had presented itself. Moreover, the quarterly paid income from +my mother's estate is sufficient for my modest needs and perhaps +deprives me of any real incentive for hard work. Now the successful man +is usually self-made, meaning that he has been forced to play the role +of a creator and make something out of nothing. It makes me blush +sometimes when I reflect what would happen if that quarterly cheque ever +failed to turn up in the mail; had I anything of real value to offer the +world in exchange for shelter, raiment, and what my newsboy calls three +"squares" a day? Not that I am altogether a cumberer of the ground (as a +golfer I have been well-trained and always take care to replace my +divots), but there is no particular reason for my existence on this +planet, and there are not many people who would either know or care that +I was no longer of their number. Cynical? not at all; at least I had +not intended to give that impression. But my two years' war service +destroyed some illusion, even though I hadn't the luck to get across the +water. + +Finally, I may call myself a decent enough chap when compared to the +ordinary run of men, and while I don't pretend to philanthropic +activities I can say quite honestly that there is no man, or woman +either, who may truthfully affirm being the worse off for having enjoyed +the distinction of my personal acquaintance. At best, this is only a +negative virtue, and there are times when I feel keenly that I ought to +be adding something definite to the world's stock of material good or +ethical treasure. I can't flatter myself that I possess anything more +than the one talent, and my quarterly dividend makes a convenient napkin +in which to enwrap it; the old allegory seems to fit my case precisely. +I dare say that life for me has been a trifle too pleasant and +well-ordered; people who live on Easy Street become more and more +attached to their _otium-cum-dig_; I have visions of myself less than a +score of years away: portly, tonsured, inclined to resent the existence +of boys and dogs, fussily addicted to carrying about to dinner parties +my own particular brand of pepper in a little, flat, silver box. +Perhaps if I should fall in love, but pooh! I have been invoking that +contingency so long and so unavailingly that it has lost a large portion +of its pristine appeal. No, I can't see that there is anything better +for me to do than to go on drawing my income, sitting religiously for at +least six hours a day in my office, sticking at golf until I finally get +the best of that hideous tendency to hook, and dining as usual on +Mondays with the Mercers _en famille_; in short, whittling my individual +peg to fit my allotted hole. I do think, however, that I'll tell Bob +Mercer he can count upon me for one evening a week at his Julian Street +settlement. Bob is the right sort of a cleric, and I know that he talks +by the card when he insists that giving and getting are really +interchangeable terms. But one always hates to make the effort and so +prove the truth of the assertion; it is infinitely less trouble to let +some other fellow get the true meaning and joy out of life while you +content yourself with the corner seat at the club fireside and the +comfortable certainty that the chef understands to a dot how you like +your cutlets and asparagus tips. Just the same I will speak to Bob--and +meanwhile I have awakened to the realization that it is ten minutes to +nine and that only a taxi-driver with no reverence for the speed laws +can deliver me at the Pennsylvania station in time for the southbound +train. I do make it, with a quarter of a minute to spare, and now I +remember that I have forgotten to send a wire to Mr. Eldon. I can +telegraph him at Wilmington, but there is small chance of its being +delivered in time; probably I shall have to rustle my own means of +conveyance to "Hildebrand Hundred." I shall have full two hours between +the arrival of my train at Crown Ferry and the time appointed for the +funeral. That ought to be sufficient even if I have to walk. + +The ride over the Cape Charles route is not particularly interesting; +moreover, it was infernally dusty, and the food provided by the buffet +on the Pullman seemed extraordinarily unappetizing. Where on earth does +the company procure such tasteless provender? Everything tastes so +desiccated and deodorized, the mere shadow of really substantial viands, +a veritable feast of Barmecide. There was the usual delay owing to a +freight wreck, and my two hours of leeway had shrunken to a scant sixty +minutes by the time I had alighted at the little flag station of Crown +Ferry. + +Not a very inviting place, this shabby way station set in a wilderness +of jack-pine and hackberry trees. There was not a soul in sight, outside +of the depressed looking individual who served as general utility man +and who apparently resented the intrusion of a stranger upon his lonely +domain. To my inquiry concerning the possibility of obtaining some sort +of conveyance, he returned a monosyllabic "Nope," and he showed not the +smallest inclination to give me any real assistance in finding my way to +"Hildebrand Hundred"; he pointed out the general direction, with a lean, +tobacco-stained finger, and let it go at that. + +There was no house in sight, nothing but the two rutted tracks of a +sandy country road leading off toward the west and bifurcating itself a +couple of hundred yards away from the station--"deepo" in the +vernacular. I understood, from the scant information vouchsafed me, that +I was to take the left-hand fork, and after prevailing upon the agent, +in consideration of two of my choice cigars, to take temporary charge of +my kit-bag, I started off on my three-mile tramp. + +Once through the belt of scrubby woodland, the appearance of the country +began to change for the better, and the further I traveled from the +coast line the more rolling and diversified it became. The sand gave +place to loam, an improvement in which the highway shared, the fields +were neatly fenced, and, with the added attractions of oak and hickory +groves, the landscape began to appeal; this was good farming land and a +pleasant place of rural residence. + +I passed several farm houses, but since the day was unusually cool for +the month of June and as I rather enjoyed the exercise of walking, I +concluded not to bother about hiring a trap. A farmer whom I +encountered, at a cross-roads where there was a little cluster of half a +dozen houses, informed me that S. Saviour's Church was distant about a +mile; but already it was half after two o'clock and I realized that I +should not have time to present myself at the house before the funeral +cortege started. The obvious procedure was for me to wait at the church +until the party from "Hildebrand Hundred" had arrived; I could then +introduce myself to Mr. Eldon and be assigned to my proper position +among the mourners. + +"Or if you like," continued my new acquaintance, "you can save more'n +half way to the church by cuttin' across the Thaneford property. You go +in by that stile yander," and he pointed a hundred yards down the road. + +I felt a trifle doubtful about the propriety of taking a short cut +across private grounds, and said as much. "You are quite sure that Mr. +Thaneford doesn't object?" I asked. + +"Of co'se he objects," declared my rural friend, who now informed me +that his name was Greenough and that he was the newly elected sheriff of +the county. "He objects powerful. But the Co'te has decided that it's a +public right-of-way. And when the law gives a man his rights he's bound +to maintain them." + +"Why the right-of-way?" I asked. + +"The Thaneford property was a royal grant," explained Sheriff Greenough, +"but S. Saviour's had been built before that, and the folks here in +Guildford Corners retained right of access to their parish church. By +the road it's full a mile." + +"A relic of the established church of colonial days," I remarked. +"Nowadays no one is obliged to attend S. Saviour's." + +"No," admitted the Sheriff, "and I'm a Baptis' myself. But we keep our +rights, for nobody knows when we may want to use 'em." + +Since Mr. Thaneford was apparently unreconciled to the exercise of +ancient ecclesiastical privilege, I was about to say that I, as a +stranger, did not propose to become a party to the controversy; but a +glance at my watch showed me that I would have to take the short cut if +I hoped to reach the church by three o'clock. + +"Mr. Graeme's funeral?" inquired Greenough. "Well, he was a good man and +a good neighbor. I'd be there myself if I hadn't business at the +Co'te-house to look after. Yes, sir, straight ahead and you can't miss +the path. Glad to have obliged you, sir; good evening." + +Beyond the stile the path ran across a piece of meadow land; thence +through a hardwood grove, rising gently to a little plateau upon which +the mansion was situated. The house was of the Georgian period with the +usual pretentious portico; it seemed badly out of repair and was +surrounded by unkempt lawns, paddocks, and gardens. I saw that the path +would lead me within a comparatively short distance of the house, and I +rather sympathized with the owner's resentment at the invasion of his +privacy under cover of law. Yet I must go on, and I quickened my pace so +as to get out of sight of the house as quickly as possible. + +A powerfully built young man came around the corner of what, in its day, +must have been a very considerable glass-house, and confronted me. Not a +pleasant face, with its prominent cheekbones and black V of eyebrows +furrowing the low, heavy forehead. "What are you doing on this +property?" he demanded with a truculency that made me dislike him +instantly and completely. + +"It's a public right-of-way," I retorted. + +"We don't admit that," he said hotly. "The case has been appealed; if +necessary, we'll carry it to Washington." + +Well what was I to do? I had no desire to get into a dispute with this +rustic boor, and yet it was imperative for me to go on if I were to +reach the church in time for the service. Much as I disliked the man I +must put myself in the position of asking a favor from him. + +"I presume that I am addressing Mr. Thaneford?" I began inquiringly. + +"I'm John Thaneford--what then?" + +"As you see, I am a stranger here. At the Corners I was told that I +could take this short cut and so save time and distance in reaching the +church." + +"Oh, S. Saviour's!" + +"Yes. I am a relative of the late Mr. Francis Graeme and came this +morning from Philadelphia to attend the funeral." + +John Thaneford looked up sharply, the V of eyebrows narrowing. "I didn't +know Graeme had any kin in Philadelphia," he said suspiciously. "Or, for +that matter, anywhere." + +"That may be true so far as the Graeme side of the family is concerned," +I rejoined. "My name is Hildebrand." + +"Hildebrand!" He stared at me even more intently than before, and I +fancied that there was a subtle note of dismay in the ejaculation. I +determined to follow up the advantage, if advantage it was. + +"Hugh Hildebrand, to be precise," I continued, eyeing him steadily. "We +are of the Northern branch, and since the Civil War there has been +little or no intercourse with the family of the 'Hundred.'" + +"Yet you come to Francis Graeme's funeral. Why?" + +My temper flashed up. "And what damned business is that of yours, Mr. +John Thaneford!" I snapped out. "Am I to pass or not?" + +For an instant he glowered, and I saw the pupils of his coal-black eyes +contract to a pin point. Then he took an evident pull upon himself; he +spoke with a marked change of demeanor, almost courteously. + +"I'm afraid I've been acting rather rudely," he said, and stepped aside +out of the path. "But these country bullies have been most annoying of +late, insisting upon their so-called rights out of mere, petty spite. +It's part of their creed, you know, to hate a gentleman." I nodded. I +could see now that John Thaneford was by no means the rustic lout of my +first impressions. Not that I liked him any the better, but at least we +spoke the same language. + +"It's a silly fiction," he went on, "this alleged necessity of access to +the parish church. Nowadays, everybody at the Corners goes to the +Baptist or Methodist meeting-house, and S. Saviour's congregation is +gathered chiefly in the churchyard. Outside the Graeme and Thaneford +families there ar'n't more than a dozen regular parishioners, and the +church is only opened for service once a month." + +By this time we were walking side by side in the direction of the house. +For some inscrutable reason Mr. John Thaneford had made up his mind to +be decently polite; indeed the effort was plainly apparent. +Consequently, I could do no less than fall in with his new mood. + +"I suppose S. Saviour's is a colonial foundation," I remarked. + +"Yes, even to the inevitable Queen Anne Communion plate. But the +countryside has changed and the bigger estates have been cut up into +small holdings. That always brings in a different set of people. And the +old and the new don't mix well." + +"Precisely. And so there are empty pews at S. Saviour's." + +"More of them every year. A young chap comes over from Lynn the first +Sunday in the month and holds service; so I'm told, at least. Otherwise, +the church is only opened for weddings, christenings, and funerals; and +the latter outnumber both the former. What's the answer?" He laughed +cynically. + +"It's a pity," I said regretfully. "I always hate to see the old order +displaced. But surely if someone took the lead--well, why not +yourself?" + +"I haven't been inside the building since I used to get whaled for not +knowing my catechism. And I've small use for parsons," he continued, +dourly. + +We walked on in silence, that hostile silence which sooner or later is +sure to declare itself between two natures essentially antagonistic. +Since John Thaneford and I could not be friends, nor even remain +indifferent, we should never have met at all. But the fact had been +accomplished and we should have to put up with it; I fell to wondering +if he, too, sensed the vague presentiment of future clash and struggle; +in the meantime I was uncomfortable; I wanted to get away. + +"The original right-of-way turns here," said Thaneford suddenly, "but I +can take you across the lawn, and thence it is only a step, through a +fir plantation, to the churchyard. Besides, I want you to meet my +father; he will be interested in knowing you since the Hildebrands and +the Thanefords have been neighbors for seven generations; yes and kin, +too, as we reckon such things down here. My mother was a sister of old +Richard Hildebrand, and that makes me a second or third cousin of this +Francis Graeme, who inherited the family property, although he did not +bear the family name. If it were a question of direct descent either you +or I might have put in a better claim to the 'Hundred.'" He looked at me +slantingly as though to assure himself that the idea had not already +presented itself to my mind. I murmured an unintelligible assent; what +was coming now? + +"And it follows logically that we two are kin. How does that strike +you, Cousin Hugh Hildebrand," he added coolly. + +"Better than being thrown out as a trespasser," I answered with the most +convincing imitation of a smile that I could conjure up. "But I think I +ought to be getting along; it's ten minutes to three." + +"Remember that you are now south of Mason and Dixon's line," he +rejoined, "and time is made only for slaves. But come along," and he led +me, inwardly protesting, across the weedy expanse of what had once been +a handsome piece of ornamental grass to where an old man sat in a big +arm-chair under the shade of the most beautiful white oak that I had +ever beheld in my life, an almost perfectly symmetrical ball of limbs +and foliage. Then I looked at Fielding Thaneford and straightway forgot +about the wonders of inanimate nature. + +Certainly a very old man, and yet his skin was of a remarkable texture +and quality, apparently as fine and softly pink as that of a baby. The +resemblance to an infant was intensified by one distinguishing +characteristic of the massive head and features--the total absence of +any hirsute adornment; there was not a vestige of hair, beard, +eyelashes, or eyebrows, and the effect was singularly repulsive. Yet he +did not seem to be afflicted with the ordinary infirmities of senility, +for he turned at the slight noise of our approaching footsteps and the +eye that scanned me was of a cold, bright blue, indicative of a keen and +finely coordinated intelligence. + +"Father," said John Thaneford in his hatefully false voice of assumed +cordiality, "this is our cousin, Hugh Hildebrand, of Philadelphia." + +I fancied that the placid figure in the great chair stiffened slightly +at the sound of my name. But otherwise he made no movement or sign, +continuing to gaze upon me with those unflinching eyes, as horrible in +their total lack of lashes as the optics of a vulture. + +"He is here to be present at the funeral of Cousin Francis Graeme." +Again that coldly devouring gaze passed over me; involuntarily I +shivered and stepped back. What was the impression that was being made +upon me? Not of malignancy certainly, nor even of ordinary +cold-bloodedness; there was something too detached about this singular +personality to suggest any kind of commonplace, healthy passion; if the +crater had ever existed it had long since cooled to slag and ashes. +There was but one fitting adjective--inhuman. Whatever spirit it was +that still held its abode behind that fresh, childlike masque it +endured altogether of its own volition and outside the sphere of those +blessed, understandable things of our common life. In the world but not +of it, if one may use that divine metaphor in its inverted sense. The +babe possesses innocence in that it has never come into contact with sin +and death, and a man may finally withdraw himself from the defilements +of this naughty world and become again as a little child. Yet without +repentance and so without grace. Lucifer himself could never assume the +role of penitent, but he may easily take front rank as an ethical +philosopher. And so Fielding Thaneford and I looked upon one another. +Either might have put out a touching hand, and yet a thousand leagues +could not have spanned the abyss that separated us. And in that selfsame +moment the bell of S. Saviour's began to toll for the passing of him who +had been master of "Hildebrand Hundred," and kin, through the blood tie, +to one and all of us who waited and listened. + +Fielding Thaneford had turned his eyes away, and they were fixed on the +road winding far below the plateau on which stood "Thane Court"; in the +distance appeared a stately moving cortege, the hearses and the +carriages containing the mourners; there was a flutter of sable +draperies and of funeral plumes; the old man looked, but remained +immobile and impassive. With a nod of acknowledgment and farewell to +John Thaneford I made my own way down the slope and into the shadow of +the plantation of firs. There still remained the faint traces of a path, +and presently it led me to the brick wall surrounding the churchyard, a +wall built after the curious serpentine pattern generally ascribed to +the inventive genius of Thomas Jefferson, and still to be seen at the +University of Virginia. A door, painted a dull, faded green, had +evidently been the private approach of the Thaneford family in days gone +by, but now it was secured by a huge, rusty padlock, and I was obliged +to skirt the wall and so reach the open lawn upon which the church +faced. + + + + +Chapter II + +_The Setting of the Stage_ + + +S. Saviour's, with its tiny portico and steeple of distinctly +Christopher Wren design, presented an interesting study in colonial +architecture. It was built of brick, with solid, white wooden shutters, +and the side walls were mantled by a wonderful growth of true English +ivy. There was no central entrance, access to the interior being +afforded by two side doors at the extreme ends of the portico. The +reason for this unusual arrangement became apparent upon entering the +church, the shallow chancel, together with the pulpit and lectern, being +situated at the front end of the edifice, with the pews facing toward +the entrance doors. This made it rather awkward for the late comers, as +the laggards were obliged to meet the united gaze of the congregation +already seated; also the ladies of S. Saviour's enjoyed exceptional +opportunities for appraising the interesting features of their +neighbors' costumes. Doubtless this singular reversal of the ordinary +ecclesiastical plan had been adopted purposely, so as to carry out the +principle of orientation. The church happened to face directly east, and +consequently the chancel and sanctuary had to be placed opposite their +usual positions, a curious survival of mediaevalism. + +Under the trees two or three ancient surreys had been parked, and a +glance through the side windows disclosed an audience of perhaps a dozen +persons, small farmers of the neighborhood and their wives, people to +whom a public function of any nature offered acceptable diversion from +the routine of daily life. Of the old-time gentry of the countryside +there was not a single representative present; then I literally lost my +breath in amazement as John Thaneford brushed past me without a word, +strode into the church, and seated himself in a large, square pew, +furnished, after the manorial fashion, with carpet, table and chairs; +evidently the ecclesiastical freehold of the Thaneford family. Yet why +should I feel any particular degree of surprise? The Graemes and the +Thanefords were "kin," and it was simple decency that John Thaneford +should show his cousin the last tribute of respect; his presence was +perfectly natural and proper, and assuredly it was none of my business +to either question or resent it. At this moment I became aware that the +funeral procession had arrived at the gate, and I took up a convenient +position for presenting myself to the attention of Mr. Eldon; I fancied +that it would not be a difficult task to identify him. + +There were but three coaches in the queue, the first containing the +undertaker and his assistants, the second conveying two heavily veiled +ladies, presumably the daughter and niece of Francis Graeme; and the +third occupied by an elderly couple who could be none other than Mr. and +Mrs. Eldon. I stepped forward as the latter party alighted. + +"Mr. Eldon?" I inquired. "I am Hugh Hildebrand." + +Mr. Eldon extended a plump, warm hand. "So glad you were able to get +here," he whispered. "This is Mrs. Eldon. You must sit with Miss Trevor +and Betty; wait, and I'll explain it to them." + +The clergyman in his robes was standing at the door, and the service was +about to begin. I took my designated position, walking immediately +behind the two chief mourners; and we followed the great, black +cloth-covered coffin into the stillness of the sacred edifice. + +The committal office was said at the graveside in the Hildebrand family +plot, a walled enclosure set off from the general churchyard and +entered through a lych-gate beautifully fashioned from black bog oak +that resembled ebony in color and closeness of grain. Strange, how the +attention strays even upon occasions such as this; for I found myself +contemplating the lych-gate with absorbed interest, trying to think +where I had seen its prototype; doubtless in some English parish +churchyard. Then, as I heard the symbolic clod falling from the hand of +the officiating minister, I recalled myself to reality--earth to earth, +dust to dust. The slender, black-garbed figure on my right shook +slightly and swayed against my shoulder; instantly I put out my hand to +steady her. Up to this moment my participation in the ceremony had been +of a purely formal nature, but now some underlying and compelling force +was drawing me into the circle of sorrow; the dead man was of my blood, +and this was the passing of something in the universe that was akin to +my very self. + +John Thaneford had not been present at the interment. After the church +service he had met and engaged Mr. Eldon in earnest conversation for +perhaps half a minute; then he had taken a visibly hurried departure. + +The funeral party returned to the church, and the coaches drove up to +the carriage-block. "This is Mr. Hugh Hildebrand," announced Mr. Eldon, +as he presented me to the two ladies. "Miss Graeme and Miss Trevor," he +continued with a touch of old-time courtliness, his top-hat held at a +strictly ceremonious angle, "Mr. Hildebrand." + +Miss Trevor merely bowed, but Miss Graeme smiled--such a frank, friendly +smile--and held out her hand. There are people who greet you with a +reserve which at least temporarily chills, and there are others who make +you feel that this particular meeting is the one they have been +pleasurably anticipating from the very beginning of created things. And +so, when I felt the strong, warm pressure of Betty Graeme's palm, how +could I help being flattered, even intrigued. I concluded that my new +cousin must have liked me on sight, and I was quite ready to return the +compliment in kind. Under the heavy, black veil I could discern a +symmetrical oval of countenance, and imagination easily supplied the +customary accessories of vermilion lips, challenging eyes, and perfumed +tresses. In reality, I should never in the world have been able to +recognize Betty Graeme by the sense of sight alone, but I should know +that handclasp anywhere; and that was enough. + +"Of course you are coming back to the house," said Miss Graeme. "Will +you ride with us--but I see that Mr. Eldon has arranged to take you with +him. Are you ready, Eunice?" + +Sitting opposite Mr. and Mrs. Eldon in the big, lumbering landau of +_ante-bellum_ days I began my explanations and apologies. + +"That doesn't matter in the least," interrupted Mr. Eldon. "We'll send +over to Crown Ferry for your bag, and after you get the railroad dust +washed away you can make your peace with Betty. The important thing is +that you are here now." + +"I hadn't expected to remain at the 'Hundred' for more than an hour or +two," I continued. "There is an up train through at six o'clock, and I +had arranged to stay over at Baltimore." + +"I'm afraid that you'll have to put up with us for this particular +night," rejoined Mr. Eldon. "Perhaps longer," and the shadow of an +enigmatical smile passed over his pleasantly curved lips. + +"But at a time like this!" I protested. "Remember that I met Mr. Graeme +only once, and that I am an entire stranger to his niece and daughter. +Even Southern hospitality has its limits, and I don't want to overstep +them." + +Mr. Eldon brushed my objections away with a commanding wave of his hand. +"Not much danger of that," he said. "You are one of the family, duly +accredited and acknowledged. So unless there is some pressing--I should +say imperative--necessity for your going North to-night----" + +"Oh, not at all," I interrupted. "Not the least necessity, if that is +what you mean." + +"Of course you must stay," put in Mrs. Eldon. "Betty expects it, and she +would never understand any conventional excuse." + +Another carriage, driven at a much faster pace than the ancient Eldon +bays were capable of achieving, had drawn up from behind, and was now +passing us. To my surprise, I saw that the back seat was occupied by +John Thaneford and his father; no salutations were exchanged, and the +Thaneford equipage rolled onward in a cloud of dust. Mr. Eldon noticed +my evident astonishment, and proceeded to enlighten me. "Yes, they are +going to the 'Hundred.' You know that the will is to be read immediately +following the return of the funeral party from the church." + +"As they always do in English novels of the Trollope period." + +"I dare say it is one of our imported Maryland customs. The Thanefords +are blood relations, and, _ipso facto_, that gives them a right to be +present at the reading of the testament." + +"Relations, but not necessarily friends," I hazarded, and Mr. Eldon +looked surprised. + +"I should have explained that I have already made the acquaintance of +Mr. Fielding Thaneford and his son," I went on, and Mr. Eldon +registered, in movie parlance, still greater astonishment. I proceeded +to tell of my chance encounter. + +"Fielding Thaneford never misses a Hildebrand funeral," remarked Mr. +Eldon, and there was a peculiar sense of dryness in his tone. "Moreover, +this is the second occasion of the sort within a twelvemonth." + +"Mr. Graeme succeeded his maternal great uncle, I believe." + +"Yes, that was old Richard Hildebrand who reigned at the 'Hundred' for +over half a century. Fielding Thaneford married his much younger sister, +Jocelyn, and consequently young John really stood closer in the line of +inheritance than did Francis Graeme, the latter being one step further +removed. But there was no entail and old Richard could devise the +property as he saw fit." + +"A disappointment then to the Thanefords?" + +"Well, there's the 'Hundred'; you can judge for yourself." + +We had turned out of the main road, and, having passed through a pair of +finely wrought iron entrance gates, we were now proceeding along an +avenue of noble lindens. Across the stretch of ornamental water on our +right appeared the really imposing facade of "Hildebrand Hundred"; I +scanned the edifice with a keen and growing interest; this was the +ancestral home of all the Hildebrands, and a sudden emotion held me in +grip. + +The house was built of yellow brick imported, so Mr. Eldon informed me, +from Holland. The entrance porch, two stories in height, was of +semi-circular design with columns of limestone, and the fenestration +above the principal entrance embodied the familiar Palladian motive. The +main part of the building was almost a square, but it was balanced by +wings on either side. At the extreme rear was another rectangular +extension, one story and a half in height, oblong in shape, and +surmounted by a squat dome. "The library," explained Mr. Eldon, as the +curving driveway carried us past the terrace commanded by the lofty +windows of this subsidiary structure. "That stained glass is English, +and the experts pronounce it to be of unusually fine quality." + +"Rather surprising when one thinks of all the bad glazing in our +churches," I remarked interestedly. + +"Well, if you know or care much about such things you'll find the +'Hundred' glass worth your attention." He turned to his wife: "Ellen, my +dear, if you will take charge of our guest, I'll get my papers together +and meet you in the library. The sooner the formality is over the better +for Eunice and Betty." + +Alighting, in our turn, at the entrance porch I followed Mrs. Eldon +through the great doors and into a handsome octagonal hall, paved with +black and white marble squares, with its well open to the roof beams. On +the right, splendid mahogany folding-doors gave into the dining room, +and the corresponding room on the left was evidently the drawing room. +At the back of the hall the principal staircase rose in two +semi-circular sweeps, meeting at a landing place on the first floor +level and connecting with longitudinal galleries on either side of the +hall. Of the two wings, the one on the left contained the ballroom and +picture gallery, while that on the right was taken up with the kitchen, +pantries, and other offices. Passing under the staircase landing and +proceeding along a comparatively narrow corridor, lined on either side +by glazed bookcases, one entered the library extension at the extreme +end of the house. + +"Will you go in and wait for a few minutes," whispered Mrs. Eldon. "John +never knows where all his papers are, and I must help him sort them +out." I bowed and walked on. + +At the library door an imposing figure of a negro butler relieved me of +my hat, gloves and stick; I slipped into a seat near the entrance and +looked about me with no small degree of curiosity. The Thanefords, +father and son, were established near the fireplace, directly opposite +the entrance door, but since they did not look up at my appearance nor +pay the smallest attention to my half bow of salutation I was perfectly +content to maintain the _status quo_ of non-intercourse. + +The apartment was assuredly one of noble proportions, being full forty +feet in length by perhaps twenty-five in width. The ceiling of this +story and a half extension must have been at least sixteen feet in +height. The shallow dome had a diameter of fourteen feet or so; it was +unpierced by windows and the painting in distemper which ornamented its +smooth convexity represented the classic adventure of Jason and the +Golden Fleece. + +The fireplace was of Caen stone with the family arms of the Hildebrands +sculptured in the central panel. Not being versed in heraldic lore I may +say briefly that the shield bore checkerboards and conventionalized +lilies in alternate quarterings, while the crest was a mailed arm +holding a burning torch or cresset. This last was interesting to me, for +we Northern Hildebrands have always used as our crest a battlemented +tower with flames issuing from its summit. But the motto: "Hildebrande a +moy," is shared in common by both branches of the family. + +The side walls had no openings and were lined from top to bottom with +book shelves. The unusual height of the ceiling made narrow iron +balconies necessary in order to give access to the upper shelves, and +these galleries were reached by spiral staircases placed behind grilles +in the dark corners on the entrance side. The end wall was pierced by +four immense windows, two on either side of the fireplace, and these +were filled with the English stained glass of which Mr. Eldon had +spoken. They really seemed to be excellent examples of the art, and I +proceeded to examine them with interest. + +The designs were of Scriptural origin, Old Testament scenes to be exact, +and I note them in order from left to right. + +The window at the extreme left depicted the youthful Joseph journeying +to Dothan and wearing his coat of many colors; in the background his +jealous brethren are awaiting his coming and fomenting their unfraternal +conspiracy. + +The window adjoining the fireplace on the left represented the rebellion +of the sons of Korah and their terrible fate in being swallowed up alive +by the gaping earth; the black and menacing sky, shot through with the +red zigzag of the lightning, seemed exceedingly realistic. + +In the companion window on the right was shown the return of the +Israelitish spies from the coveted land of Canaan, bearing great +clusters of purple grapes from the valley of Eschol; in the distance, +Jericho, with Rahab's house perched high upon the city wall and +distinguished by its hanging cord of scarlet. + +The fourth window, the one at the extreme right, reproduced the contest +on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the pagan prophets, the fire from +heaven consuming the burnt offering of Jehovah, the terror-stricken +flight of the hierophants of Baal, and the little cloud, like to a man's +hand, arising from the sea. Of the four windows this last one was +perhaps the most interesting, although all of them were excellent in +composition, substantially and skilfully leaded, and gorgeously rich in +color. I don't know why we can't make such reds and blues in this +country, but of course the old established English firms have been +perfecting their formulas and processes throughout the centuries. + +Since three of the four walls were lined with bookcases, and the +remaining one had to provide for the windows and fireplace there was no +available space for pictures, but on the blank wall above the central +entrance door hung a magnificent tapestry depicting the tragic fate of +Actaeon devoured by his own hounds. The polished black oak floor was +covered with Eastern rugs, and a fine silver-tip grizzly bearskin lay on +the hearthstone. The couches and big, comfortable reading chairs were +upholstered in dark green leather, very handsome and substantial, while +directly under the dome stood a massive, flat-topped library desk made +of teakwood. The accompanying swivel-chair was mounted on a bronze +mushroom foot firmly secured to the floor by means of bolts; it was so +placed that the occupant had his back to the windows, with the light +coming over his shoulder after the proper fashion for comfort. + +I have been particular in thus describing the furnishings and internal +economy of the library, for in this room lay the very heart of the +mystery so soon to present itself; later on I was destined to make +myself acquainted with every square inch of its large area, only to fail +in my attempt to discover its menacing secret. Fortunate indeed that +Betty's feminine intuition asserted itself in the nick of time. But I +must not anticipate the solution of the problem while the prime factors +in the equation still remain unstated. Enough then to acquaint the +reader with the general disposition of the stage upon which the drama +was shortly to unfold itself. + +The great room was very quiet, the evening shadows were beginning to +lengthen, and still we waited. + + + + +Chapter III + +_Hildebrand of the "Hundred"_ + + +It must have been close to an hour before Mr. Eldon joined us; evidently +his papers had been in more than usual confusion. A few minutes later +the ladies appeared, together with a dozen or more negro servants +connected in various capacities with the estate. John Thaneford jerked +himself to his feet in apparently unwilling acknowledgment of the social +amenities; his father, sitting impassively upright in an immense leather +chair, looked more than ever like some gigantic, impossible infant. Miss +Graeme went over and spoke a few words to him, but he barely nodded in +reply; Buddha himself could not have improved upon that colossal, +immemorial serenity. I had hoped that Betty would say something to me, +but she contented herself with the briefest of smiles in my direction. A +pretty girl? Why, yes, I suppose she would be so considered, with her +slim, graceful figure and that pronounced type of Irish beauty--dark +hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes; but the eyes themselves of the clearest +cerulean blue, rubbed in with a smutty finger, as the saying goes. Yet +somehow one never thought over-much of how fair Betty Graeme might be to +look upon; perhaps it was just her perfect and altogether adorable +femininity which made her different from other women; she entered the +room, and forthwith all eyes were inevitably focused upon her; when the +gods arrive the half-gods go, as Mr. Emerson acutely remarked. A +phenomenon then, but I can't account for it and don't intend to try. +Personality, magnetism--but these are just words, and she was Betty +Graeme. A line from an old, half forgotten mediaeval romance came back to +me as I gazed upon her: "By God's Rood! that is the one maid in the +world for me." + +A revelation then, but love at first sight is by no means so common a +thing as youth is apt to suppose. Only when it does come there can never +be any doubt about it. I drew in my breath sharply, and the tense thrill +seemed to permeate every molecule and atom of my being. Then came the +reactionary thought: "But what can she be thinking of me?" and my +exalted spirits evaporated with startling suddenness. The very warmth +and kindliness with which she had at first greeted me only emphasized +the immensity of the distance that divided us. The goddess may +condescend to smile upon a mortal, but that does not imply that the poor +man is safely on the Mount Olympus list. Just then I happened to glance +up and caught the look bent upon her from under John Thaneford's +beetling eyebrows. That boor, that uncouth, rustic bully! And yet he was +of her class; they must have been playmates from childhood, the +Thaneford acres marched with the Hildebrand holdings--why not? and my +heart sank to my boots. Then I realized that I was on the point of +making a pretty considerable fool of myself, and I resumed my seat; Mr. +Eldon went through the usual preliminary hemmings and harrings, and the +company prepared itself to listen. + +The crisp sheet of parchment crackled in the lawyer's hands, and now he +was reading, in an even monotone, the last will and testament of Francis +Graeme. + +A few minor legacies to the servants and dependents, the bequest of a +thousand dollars for the endowment of S. Saviour's parish, and then: "To +Lysbeth Effingham Graeme, my dearly beloved daughter by adoption, I give +and bequeath the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, invested in first +mortgage bonds of the Southern Railway, the silver dinner service +bearing the Effingham coat-of-arms, and the four portraits of the Graeme +family now hanging in the long gallery at 'Hildebrand Hundred'; the +inheritance tax to be paid from the residue of my personal estate. I +furthermore bequeath to the said Lysbeth Graeme my gold hunting-case +watch, with the accompanying fob and seals, together with such articles +of _vertu_, not specifically enumerated in the annexed inventory of +Hildebrand goods and chattels, as she may select." + +The speaker paused and cleared his throat; from some far corner of the +silent room came a half suppressed exhalation, the physical reaction +from tensely held emotion; I looked over at the elder Thaneford, and +noted wonderingly that he had risen from his chair and that the +extraordinary pink-and-white of his complexion had changed to a dull, +minatory brick-red; he seemed about to speak, and I held my breath. +Then, as Mr. Eldon indicated that he was on the point of resuming, the +old man yielded to the insistent pressure of his son's hand, and sank +back in his seat. + +I suppose that I must have listened physically to that next paragraph, +but my mind was slow, deadly slow, in comprehending the full measure of +its import; then, suddenly, I understood. + +To dispense with legal phraseology, the testator now directed that the +undivided estate of "Hildebrand Hundred," together with the remainder of +all personal property, should go to his friend and near kinsman, Hugh +Hildebrand, of Philadelphia, to be held by him and his heirs forever. + +Well, you remember that I had been expecting the bequest of a small sum +of money for the purchase of some such trifle as a ring or a stick-pin; +and it took me a full minute to realize that this incredible thing had +actually happened: a man whom I had seen but once in my life had made me +his heir, and I was now the master of a great estate and a personage to +boot; I sat motionless, trying to sort out my ideas into some degree of +order and sequence. + +Fielding Thaneford had found his feet again; he must, in his prime, have +been a big and powerful man, for he still overtopped his stalwart son by +full two inches of height. He looked particularly at Mr. Eldon, but with +a commanding sweep of his arm he seemed to draw the entire company into +the circle of his attention; he dominated us all by the sheer weight of +his will; he opened his mouth to speak, and we inclined our ears to +listen. + +But the words trembling upon his lips never found utterance, for now a +terrible thing had happened and Fielding Thaneford fell to the floor and +lay there, his face twitching strangely. A paralytic stroke, of course, +but one must be an eye witness, see the victim actually struck down, to +realize the full import of such a tragedy. One moment the man stands +erect and serene in the unquestioned possession of all his godlike +qualities of mind and body; the next, he lies as inert and insensate as +an ancient tree trunk riven and felled by the lightning stroke. Fielding +Thaneford was an old man--nearly ninety, as I was later on to learn--but +so well preserved that it was difficult to realize that the hour of his +passing had struck. And the determining factor in this final equation is +so often comparatively insignificant. Here is a human being, an integral +member of the visible universe, by right enumerated in every taking of +the cosmic census: somewhere a minute blood vessel fails to perform its +function, and the number is instantly replaced by a cipher. + +When the family physician, Doctor Marcy, finally arrived he directed +that the sick man should be put to bed at "Hildebrand Hundred"; in the +absence of a regular ambulance it would be unwise to try and get him +home. It was Betty who came and told me of the doctor's decision. + +"You will have to make formal tender of your hospitality to John +Thaneford," she said. + +"I!" I gazed at her in honest stupefaction. + +"You are Hildebrand of the 'Hundred,'" she reminded me, her lip +trembling ever so slightly as she spoke. + +"If you wish it so," I said humbly, and thereupon I went upstairs and +knocked at the door of the sick room. John Thaneford opened it, and +stood glowering as I delivered my message. I dare say I expressed myself +in bungling terms, but my awkwardness was easily outpaced by his +ungraciousness; he intimated curtly that neither he nor his father would +be dependent upon my hospitality an instant longer than might be +absolutely necessary. I proceeded to fume inwardly as I walked away, but +my irritation vanished the moment I rejoined Betty; somehow one could +not cherish mere pettiness in her serene presence. + +"Can you spare me a few moments?" I asked, and with an assenting nod she +led the way back to the now deserted library. The westering sun was +pouring through the great windows, and the purple radiance from the +gigantic bunch of grapes borne by the Israelitish spies lay in a crimson +pool on the oaken floor; involuntarily I drew aside, unwilling to step +upon the apparently ensanguined spot. Betty divined instantly my +movement of repulsion. "It does suggest that very thing," she said, with +a little shiver. "Come over here by the chess table. Father and I were +accustomed to play every night; he used to wonder what sort of game you +would give him when you came on that long expected visit." + +"Sorry, but I'm not a chess player. However, that doesn't matter now, +and I've brought you here to say that I don't propose to take advantage +of that will. Your father couldn't have meant it; it's your property and +you should have it. The whole thing is absurd; he couldn't have realized +what he was doing." + +"You met my father at least for that one time," she retorted. "Did he +give you any reason to think that he didn't know his own mind, or that +the time would ever come when he wouldn't know it?" + +I was silent. Certainly, infirmity of purpose was the very last thing to +be predicated of the more than ordinarily forceful personality of the +late Francis Graeme. But I am somewhat stubborn myself. "I don't care," +I persisted. "'Hildebrand Hundred' isn't mine, and I won't take it." + +Miss Graeme looked at me. "You know the will refers to me as only his +daughter by adoption," she said, "and I could have no right to inherit +the 'Hundred.' That was always clearly understood between us. He did +leave me all that he could call his own." + +"I don't see how that matters. The estate belonged legally to Mr. +Graeme." + +"Merely because Mr. Richard Hildebrand chose to ignore the claims of the +heir-at-law. And a blood relation at that." + +"Meaning Mr. John Thaneford, I suppose." + +Miss Graeme looked surprised. "Has Mr. Eldon been acquainting you with +the particulars of the family history?" she asked. + +"I first learned of the actual facts from Mr. John Thaneford himself." + +Now there was something more than surprise in my Cousin Betty's +demeanor; she seemed agitated, even uneasy. + +"Apparently," I went on, "both the Thanefords resent what they consider +to be an alienation of the estate. I don't believe they will feel the +original wrong has been righted by my becoming the heir, even though I +happen to be the only titular Hildebrand among us all." + +"But this is Maryland, you know, and many of the old English customs are +still in force. Not legally, of course, but practically." + +"Such as primogeniture and the continuous entail," I suggested. + +"Yes. But only among the old families, you understand. It's a purely +sentimental feeling." + +"How long have the Hildebrands been at the 'Hundred'?" + +"There was Lawrence Hildebrand----" + +"My great-great-great-grandfather," I interjected. + +"Yes. Well, he received a patent from the Crown. It must have been early +in the seventeenth century when the second Charles Stuart was giving +away principalities with both hands. There has been a Hildebrand as +master ever since, except for my poor father's brief reign." + +"Brief?" + +"Richard Hildebrand died in June, 1918. That is just a year ago." + +"My father was proud of the old family connection," continued Miss +Graeme, after a little pause, "and at one time he even contemplated +changing his patronymic, and so becoming actually Hildebrand of the +'Hundred,' But he never quite got to the legal process, or perhaps he +then heard of you and that served to divert the current of his thoughts. +When was it that he hunted you up in Philadelphia?" + +"It was in March." + +"He liked you certainly, and he was most anxious to have you visit us at +the 'Hundred.' You were to come in the early part of June, I think." + +"Yes, but that was the week of my college reunion, and I had to decline. +I wrote that I would accept for a later date--any time in July." + +"I remember his being very much disappointed. But he must have made up +his mind finally about that time, for the will is dated May 20, a little +over a month ago. I dare say he was anxious to tell you of his wishes in +the matter." + +"It's rather extraordinary, you'll admit. A man whom I had met but +once!" + +"Well if one belongs at all, you know it. I think I can guess what was +in his mind; something like this: 'Hildebrand Hundred' ought to go back +to the direct heirs, and it was a choice between you and John Thaneford. +Only you were you, and a real Hildebrand besides. So there you are." + +"You mean that I must accept, or let everything go to the younger +Thaneford?" + +"I'm not a lawyer, but I think it would be that way. He is related by +blood, and as my father had no children of his own there are no direct +heirs." + +A sudden thought presented itself. "How would _you_ like it settled?" I +asked, audaciously. + +"I think that you ought to carry out my father's wishes," she answered, +with a simplicity that made me a little ashamed of my disingenuous +attempt to inject a purely personal note into the discussion; for the +moment I had quite forgotten that this was a house of mourning. Miss +Graeme had risen, and I realized that the interview was at an end. + +"You will want to go to your room," she said, as we walked out to the +entrance hall, our footsteps resounding hollowly upon its marble +pavement of alternate white-and-black chequers. She clapped her hands, +and a young negro servant presented himself. "Mr. Hildebrand is to have +the red room, Marcus," explained Miss Graeme. "Dinner is at seven," she +went on. "You won't mind if Eunice and I don't come down. You can have +your own meal served in your room, if you prefer." + +"But there is Mr. Thaneford," I suggested. "Also Doctor Marcy." + +My cousin Betty frowned. "I suppose they are our guests," she admitted, +and I experienced an odd thrill at the feeling of intimacy expressed in +that little word, "our." + +"I think I had better do the honors in the dining room," I went on. + +"I wish you would, then." She stopped at the lower step of the +staircase, and held out her hand. "Good night, Cousin Hugh." + +Now it is possible to shake hands with hundreds and thousands of people, +and find it a perfectly uninteresting operation; it may even be a +painful one if you happen to be President of the Republic or the hero of +the passing hour. But now and then someone comes along whose hand seems +to fit, perhaps too fatally well, and that is different. And so when +Betty Graeme slid her slim white hand into mine I knew instantly that it +belonged there, always had belonged, and always would. An interesting +fact, this, in the natural history of selection, but it has to be +recognized by both parties to the transaction before it can be set down +as an absolute and accepted truth. It suddenly occurred to me that my +Cousin Betty was entirely too frank and cousinly in her behavior to +justify any jumping at conclusions. I was naturally exhilarated by the +astonishing change in my material fortunes, while she was in sorrow, a +sorrow whose full realization still lay before her. I must be patient +and wait. Wherefore I returned my Cousin Betty's parting word in kind, +and followed Marcus to the red room, where, left alone, I resorted to +the childish trick of pinching myself; could this really be I? + + + + +Chapter IV + +_Some Hypothetical Questions_ + + +Dinner was not a particularly cheerful meal. I had to take the head of +the table, and therefore sat in the chair so lately vacated by my Cousin +Francis Graeme. Really I should have preferred a decent delay in the +matter, but old Effingham, the family butler for two generations past, +would have it so, and any protest would have been both futile and +unseemly. + +There were three of us at table, for Doctor Marcy was staying on to look +after the sick man, and would remain over night in default of the +regular nurse, who could not be secured until the next day. I liked the +doctor, a blunt, ruddy faced man of forty-five or so. He told me that he +was a graduate of Edinburgh, and that he had led an adventurous life for +several years after taking his medical degree, including service in the +British army during the Boer War. He had a curious scar running down the +left side of his jaw and extending nearly to the chin. Naturally I had +not commented upon the disfigurement, but somehow the subject of +insanity came up, and he told us of a remarkable experience of his +hospital days. A patient, subject to periodical fits of mania, was to be +operated upon, and Marcy was alone with him in a large room where the +instruments were kept. With his hands full of chisels, trephines, and +mallets Marcy went to cross the room, and chanced to trip on a rug, +falling headlong. Instantly the patient, an English army officer of +tremendous physique, was upon him, kicking him in the face with his +heavy, double-welted boots. Marcy, fearing that the madman might get +hold of the eight-pound mallet, rolled over and flung the whole lot of +instruments across the room; thereby he exposed the other side of his +head, and the consequence was another terrific kick on the left jaw. +With his mouth full of blood and broken teeth Marcy grappled with his +man, dragged him to where he could reach a push-button, and held him +until help arrived. The curious part of the affair lay in the fact that +up to the moment of the fall the patient had been perfectly sane, +talkative, and friendly. Marcy's sudden slip and defenseless position +had simply unchained the beast in the man. It must have been an Homeric +struggle, for Marcy himself, though comparatively short of stature, +possessed the most marvelous muscular development I have ever seen, his +forearm being bigger than the average man's leg. When I add that, +despite his terrible injuries, Marcy assisted that same afternoon at the +operation (which in the end restored the patient to perfect mental +health), it will be evident that there was little of the weakling about +him; as I have said, I liked him from the start. + +John Thaneford ate and talked but little during the meal. He drank +several glasses of whiskey and water, and smoked a cigarette between +every course. The cloud of his sullen temper was oppressive, and both +the doctor and I felt relieved when he abruptly declined coffee, and +announced his intention of returning to the sick room. The elder +Thaneford still continued in a comatose condition, and really there was +nothing to do but wait for whatever change might come; accordingly +Doctor Marcy ran upstairs for a hasty look at his patient, and then +rejoined me in the library, where coffee and liqueurs had been served. + +Effingham had taken his tray and retired to the pantry. Doctor Marcy +pulled at his cigar until it glowed redly; then he looked over at me. + +"You're Hildebrand of the 'Hundred,' I hear," he began abruptly. + +"Yes." + +"Consequently you ought to know of something that has been bothering me +more than a little. Has it ever been intimated to you that there was +anything peculiar about the death of your cousin?" + +"Francis Graeme! Why, no; nothing has been said to me." + +"Well, I don't think his death was a natural one." + +It startled me, the assured manner in which he spoke; in an instant, the +atmosphere of this quiet country room seemed to have grown tense and +heavy. "Go on," I said briefly. + +"As you know," continued Doctor Marcy, "Mr. Graeme died suddenly on +Tuesday, June 21, presumably from heart failure or a cerebral +hemorrhage. As a matter of record, my routine certificate gives the +latter as the cause of death. The fact of a brain lesion was fully +established, as I'll explain later, but I'm not at all satisfied as to +the predisposing cause." + +"Yes." + +"You'll understand what I'm driving at when I tell you that I saw +Francis Graeme professionally that very morning, and I know that he was +in the best of health for a man of his age. He had been thinking of +taking out additional life insurance, and as I am the county examiner +for the company, he asked me to drop in Tuesday morning and go over him. +Mind you, I had been his regular physician for a number of years, long +before he came to the 'Hundred,' and I knew him inside and out. A +straighter, cleaner man never lived, and he had always kept himself in +top condition; I had never discovered the least sign of any degenerative +process. + +"Well, I did come over, and I saw him in this very room where we are +sitting. He was cheerful as usual, and even joked me on the possibility +that I might at last uncover one of the insidious enemies to health that +so often make their appearance in middle life. But there was nothing, +absolutely nothing--heart, lungs, circulatory system--all in first-class +shape. As a matter of form, there would have to be a laboratory +analysis, but otherwise I was prepared to give him a clean bill of +health, and I told him so. He took it quite as a matter of course, and, +after arranging for a round of golf that same afternoon at the Lost +River Country Club, we parted. That was around ten o'clock, and at half +past two I had a telephone from the 'Hundred,' asking me to come over at +once. When I arrived I was taken in here. Graeme lay on the floor, +alongside the big library table. On his right temple there was a +noticeable contusion, triangular in shape. He was stone dead." + +"Could you tell how long?" + +"Probably a couple of hours." + +"The wound, of course, was your first thought." + +"Naturally. And in itself it was quite enough to have caused death. +Remember that it was on the temple, a vulnerable spot." + +"An assailant then?" + +"By hypothesis certainly. I may say that I have had some experience in +criminal cases; accordingly I was very careful not to disturb anything, +and up to this time I had only touched the man's wrist to assure myself +that the pulse was gone." + +"Who was it that gave the alarm?" + +"I am told that one of the servants, Effingham, to be precise, knocked +on the library door at about half past one o'clock, to announce the +serving of luncheon. He then went away without waiting for an answer +from Mr. Graeme; it seems that was his custom on the occasion of this +particular summons. A half hour later, when Mr. Graeme failed to appear +at the table, Miss Trevor told Effingham to go again and make sure that +his master had heard the message. I understood that occasionally Graeme +would not come to luncheon, especially if he happened to be more than +usually busy; he might appear an hour or so later, and forage around for +a glass of milk and a couple of biscuits." + +"His tardiness then excited no surprise?" + +"Apparently not. But Effingham went again to the library, and knocked +two or three times without getting any response." + +"Must have been very alarming to Miss Graeme." + +"Oh, luckily Betty wasn't at home. Miss Trevor was alone in the house, +and everything devolved upon her. Finally she decided to have the door +broken down, but after she had given the order Effingham reminded her +that it would not be necessary. A few months before Graeme had installed +a complete system of modern locks throughout the house, and the butler +had the master key in his possession." + +"That's an interesting point." + +"Yes--very. Well, Effingham went to the butler's pantry and got the +key." + +"Oh, then it was not in his immediate possession after all?" + +"I believe he was in the habit of keeping it behind the clock in the +pantry instead of with his regular bunch. Of course the idea was that +if any of the ordinary keys were lost, or indeed the whole lot of them, +he would still have the master key in reserve." + +"Do you suppose that anyone else--especially among the other +servants--knew about the master-key and where it was kept?" + +"Effingham is quite sure that no one did know, but really it's +impossible to say. You understand what darkies are--as curious as +magpies and quite as lighthanded. If one of them had chanced to see +Effingham hiding something behind the clock, he would be sure to +investigate for himself at the first convenient opportunity." + +"While a clever thief, guessing that a master-key must be in existence, +would go straight to such a prominent object as a clock for his first +try. Curious, isn't it, how human nature prefers beaten trails, the old +ruts, the obvious grooves in which to run. Take the ordinary small +suburban house, with nobody home and everything supposed to be tightly +locked up. It's a one-to-three shot, at least, that the front door key +will be found neatly tucked away under the mat. But I shouldn't have +interrupted." + +"The more light the better," nodded the doctor, helping himself to a +fresh cigar. + +"Where was I? Ah, yes, at the opening of the door. Miss Trevor, so I +understand, hung back a little; a woman naturally shrinks from this sort +of thing, and Marcus, the house-boy, was the first person to enter. For +the instant it seemed as though the room was empty, and Effingham says +he heard Marcus exclaim: 'Marse Francis he done gone out!' Then as the +boy drew level with the high leather screen, standing at the right of +the big desk as one enters the room, he saw the body, yelled in terror, +and bolted. Miss Trevor had fainted----" + +"When? Exactly when?" I broke in. + +"I don't know," returned Marcy. "It may have been before she heard +Marcus scream, and it may have been after. I dare say everybody's nerves +were pretty tense by this time." + +"Well, Effingham seems to have kept his head. He ordered out the other +servants, had Miss Trevor carried into the dining room, where she +quickly revived, and finally he telephoned for me." + +"At Miss Trevor's request?" + +"At Miss Trevor's request. That brings us up again to my arrival on the +scene, and my first hasty impressions. + +"As I have said, Mr. Graeme lay face downward alongside the desk, just +hidden by the screen from the gaze of anyone entering the room from the +hall. Since the head was turned slightly to the right, the wound was not +visible unless one knelt, as I did, directly beside the body. + +"Now a wound of this nature could have been received in two easily +understandable ways. Either Mr. Graeme, overcome with vertigo, had +fallen and hit his head against some sharp corner, or he had been +attacked and struck down by a weapon in the hands of some unknown +assailant. + +"Hypothesis No. 1, or the accident theory. I can state positively that +Francis Graeme was not in the least subject to vertigo or fainting +spells, and there was nothing to indicate an ordinary trip-up and fall. +There is no rug at this point, the floor while smooth is not noticeably +slippery, and Graeme was dressed for golf, wearing rubber-soled shoes +which must have given him a particularly firm footing. Finally, there +was no apparent sharp corner on which his head could have struck. From +the position of the body it was clear that he had fallen entirely clear +of the writing-desk." + +"That seems to dispose of the accident theory." + +"Seems to--yes. But it's still a possibility that he might have fallen +and struck on something calculated to inflict an injury of this nature, +a something which was afterward removed." + +"By whom?" + +"Who knows? There was time enough for many things to happen between my +departure from the house and the discovery of the body. In the meantime +no one, supposedly, saw him. So nearly as I can determine, he died a +little after twelve o'clock, but the door was not opened until two. A +person who knew the house well could have secured the master-key, +entered the room, and left it again with little danger of detection." + +"It's an impertinent observation, Doctor Marcy, but you say that _no +one_ saw Mr. Graeme alive after your departure from the library at ten +o'clock?" + +"Oh, I have my alibi straight enough," smiled the doctor. "Miss Trevor +happened to be passing through the hall as I left the room. I stopped +and spoke to her, made some jesting remark about Graeme's being good for +a thousand years, more or less. At that same moment he came to the +library door and waved his hand to us both; then he turned back, and we +heard the click of the spring-latch. I believe that he usually set the +catch when he wanted to make sure of not being disturbed. + +"Now we come to hypothesis No. 2, the possible assailant. The door +leading into the hall was locked. There are no roof openings. The +windows of stained glass in leaded frames are immovable; otherwise there +would be danger of the valuable glass being broken or knocked out +through an accidental jar. But for purposes of ventilation there is +inserted in each section a pridella. Ah, you don't understand--come over +here." + +Doctor Marcy conducted me across the room to the window on the right of +the fireplace, the one depicting the return of the spies from the land +of Canaan. "You will notice," he said, "that there are three panels in +the window, each carrying a part of the general picture. Then, in the +lower part of the central panel, there is a small subsidiary scene; in +this particular case it represents a field of waving wheat in which +scarlet poppies are interspersed. This section is technically called the +pridella. Being small and exactly square in shape it can be easily +hinged. See, I pull the cord that controls the locking-catch--thus--and +this small window swings open. + +"Tuesday the twenty-first of June was a warm day, and the pridella in +each of the large windows was in use. Now the available aperture is +about twenty inches by ten, the glass revolving on central pivots. A +boy, or a very small man, might possibly squeeze through, but the bottom +ledge of the window being some five feet above the terrace level he +would have to use a ladder or a pair of steps in order to reach it. Now, +as it chanced, that portion of the lawn lying adjacent to the library +terrace was in process of being mowed that morning. I saw the men at +work, two of the farm negroes. Assuredly they would have noticed any +attempt to scale the windows." + +"They themselves are quite above suspicion, I suppose." + +"Unquestionably. They are elderly men who have been employed at the +'Hundred' all their lives, and who bear excellent characters. Zack is +the local colored Baptist preacher, and Zeb is an assistant field +overseer. Impossible to suspect either, let alone both." + +"Wouldn't they knock off for dinner at noon? Go to their cabins, I +mean." + +"Ordinarily, yes. But on Tuesday Mandy, Zack's wife, went to Calverton, +and didn't return until late in the evening, or afternoon, as you would +say. Accordingly she made up pail dinners for both Zack and Zeb, the +latter being a boarder in their family. The men ate their food in the +shadow of the osage hedge directly opposite the terrace; Effingham saw +them and told me so." + +"You seem to have covered the ground pretty thoroughly," I observed +approvingly. + +"And for good reasons, too," remarked the doctor. "For if I really +believed the circumstances warranted the step it would be my duty to +communicate my suspicions to the coroner." + +"Then you haven't done so!" I was surprised and doubtless my voice +showed it. + +"No," assented Marcy deliberately. "In the first place I was determined +to keep every + +[Note: There was a misprint here in the book. Instead of the end of this +paragraph, the preceding paragraph was duplicated.] + +I started; I fancied that I had caught just the faintest suggestion of a +sigh. Let me explain that the great room was in darkness except for the +circle of yellow light cast by the shaded lamp that stood on a table at +my right. I listened intently, but I could hear nothing more. + + + + +Chapter V + +_The Missing Link_ + + +"I beg your pardon," repeated Doctor Marcy, looking at me uncertainly. + +"I should beg yours, doctor," I answered as easily as I could. Some +sixth sense had made me aware that Betty Graeme was standing in the +shadow behind me. She must have heard more than enough already, and now +she would demand the whole truth. Assuredly I must protect her in her +evident desire to remain unnoticed. + +"I didn't mean to interrupt," I continued, "but my cigarette was burning +my fingers--too much interested, you see." + +"Secondly, then," went on Doctor Marcy, "I have found the missing +'something' that serves to link up the chain." + +The doctor took a small key from his waist-coat pocket and proceeded to +unlock a compartment in the great, flat-topped desk, the latter +constructed after the usual design with a set of drawers, and other +storage places, on either side of a central well for the accommodation +of the writer's feet and legs. From this compartment he unearthed a +despatch box made of iron, an old-fashioned piece that might have come +down from Revolutionary days. It measured about fifteen inches, by ten, +by seven; and the corners were bound in brass. + +"Yes, it could have done the business without a doubt," said Marcy, +answering my unuttered question. "The box must have been standing on the +floor near the screen. Francis Graeme rises, perhaps with the intention +of picking it up. He suffers a cerebral rush of blood, becomes dizzy, +falls, and strikes his head against this sharp corner. A severe blow in +the region of the temple may be instantaneously fatal." + +There was a rustle of feminine garments, and my Cousin Betty came from +behind the screen and stood before us. "There is only one flaw in your +argument, doctor," she said, with just the thin edge of a tremor in her +high, sweet voice. "Where was that box when you first came in the room +and knelt by my--my father?" + +"Sorry you had to know, my girl," said the doctor; he had risen and was +standing close to her, holding both her hands in his own big, warm +palms. "Sorry you had to know," he repeated. "But since it has come +about I shan't be keeping anything back. I wanted to spare you." + +"Yes, I understand that," she returned, "and I'm grateful, too. Yet +after deciding that an inquest is not necessary, after signing a +certificate that death was due to natural causes, you're not satisfied +in your own mind. I come in here and find you telling my Cousin Hugh +that there is some mystery in the affair, that all is not straight and +aboveboard. You even offer a perfectly plausible explanation of what--of +what really happened. Yes, and I would have accepted it like everyone +else--only for one thing----" + +"Yes?" queried the doctor. + +"I'll put my question again. Where was that iron despatch-box when you +first entered the room, and saw--well, what you saw?" + +Doctor Marcy waited a moment or two before replying. "There isn't any +doubt in my mind," he began, "but that your father did fall and that the +contusion on his forehead was caused by that actual iron box. I confess +that I didn't notice it when I first saw the body and knelt down to feel +the pulse. I assume that it had been accidentally pushed out of sight in +the angle formed by the screen and the desk; it was just there that I +found it later on." + +"On your second visit to the room?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, suppose you tell Cousin Hugh what you were doing in the interval. +I want to see if his mind will work in the same direction as mine." + +"I had stepped into the hall just in time to see you riding up the green +drive," said the doctor, "and I realized that someone must prepare you +for what had happened. I asked Miss Trevor to do it, but she insisted +that she could not go through the ordeal. Consequently, I put Effingham +on guard at the library door with instructions to let no one pass; then +I went down to the horse-block and assisted you to dismount. You saw +instantly that something was wrong, and you begged me to tell you the +truth. But I would not say a word until we were in the parlor. Then I +admitted that your father had met with an accident. Before I could +prevent it you had rushed into the hall and down to the library door." + +"Go on," ordered Betty, as he hesitated. "Tell Cousin Hugh who was +standing there." + +"It was Miss Trevor," said Doctor Marcy, dropping his voice and glancing +over at me. + +"It wasn't the time to ask for an explanation," continued the doctor. +"You remember, Betty, that Eunice took you in her arms, and told you +very gently what had happened. She tried to persuade you not to go in +the room, but you refused to be put off. Effingham came and unlocked the +door; you and I went in and looked at him still lying by the side of the +big desk. It was then that I saw the despatch-box, and wondered why I +had not noticed it before, especially as it was just the link that I +needed to fit into the accident hypothesis." + +"I don't think I have any theory," answered Doctor Marcy. "Up to this +moment my mind had been more concerned with the stark fact of Graeme's +death than with the predisposing cause. Of course I had taken the temple +bruise into account, and in a superficial way it seemed to explain +everything. But I really hadn't tried to formulate my ideas clearly. The +thought of you, Betty, had presented itself, and I was chiefly engaged +in wondering how you were to be told and how you would take the shock." + +"But afterwards?" persisted Betty. + +"Then I tried to build up the accident theory. Everything fitted +beautifully except for the little uncertainty about the despatch-box." + +"May I ask a question or two," I interrupted. + +"Surely." + +"You say that you left Effingham to guard the library door while you +went to meet my Cousin Betty?" + +"Yes." + +"How long were you away?" + +"Approximately five minutes." + +"And when you again came to the library door Miss Trevor was standing +there and Effingham was gone?" + +"Yes." + +"Then it is possible that Miss Trevor may have entered the room--let us +say--for the purpose of replacing the despatch-box in its original +position?" + +"Possible--yes." + +"Which implies that she must have paid a previous visit to the room and +carried the box away?" + +"If you like." + +"We assume that the despatch-box held important papers belonging to Mr. +Graeme----" + +"Including his will," interjected Miss Graeme. + +"But I thought that Mr. Eldon----" I began in surprise. + +"I was referring to an earlier will," returned my Cousin Betty. "But I +forget that you don't know about that. It reads exactly like the present +one except that John Thaneford is named as the residual heir." + +"Did anyone, besides Mr. Eldon, know that a later will--the one in my +favor--had been made?" + +"Yes. Father told Eunice and me that he had decided to make the change. +He had met you in Philadelphia and liked you. He made inquiries about +you and what he heard increased that liking. He had never cared +over-much for John, and had considered him only as representing the +Hildebrand family, the heirs of the blood. He was delighted to discover +that your relationship was quite as close as that of John Thaneford; +moreover, you possessed the advantage of bearing the actual name." + +"Did Eunice offer any objection to the change?" asked Doctor Marcy. + +"Why, no," returned Betty, knitting her brows. "Her advice in the matter +had not been asked, and she would hardly have offered it. I don't +remember that she said anything at all." + +"How about you?" + +Betty colored. "I did suggest to father that he needn't be in such a +hurry," she answered. And then with a quick glance at me: "You see, +Cousin Hugh, none of us had met you outside of father himself. You might +be very nice and probably were, but the acquaintance had been so short, +and he might have been deceived. We women tried to persuade him that he +had been a little hasty; we wanted him to wait until you had paid that +projected visit to the 'Hundred' and given us the chance to look you +over." + +"We!" put in the doctor significantly. "So it appears that Eunice did +take a hand in the discussion." + +"Oh, in that way--why, yes. We felt exactly alike about it, knowing that +father was apt to be too generous in his estimate of the people he met; +he had been cheated so many times." + +I began to feel a trifle embarrassed, and Betty, in that wonderful way +of hers, divined it instantly. Not that she said anything. She just +looked at me again, and I understood that I need no longer consider +myself rated as a doubtful quantity; a mightily cheering thought I found +it. + +"Was Eunice persistent in her endeavor to change Mr. Graeme's +resolution?" asked Doctor Marcy. + +"You mean about cutting out John and putting in Mr. Hugh Hildebrand?" + +"Yes." + +"Persistent! Well, I dare say you could have called it that," replied +Betty thoughtfully. "She certainly said several times that John +Thaneford believed himself entitled to the property; she pointed out +that when father succeeded his cousin, Richard Hildebrand, he had as +much as promised to make such disposition of the 'Hundred.'" + +"Which he really had done," I suggested. "The first will was in +existence; only now he proposed to alter it." + +"Yes." + +"Suppose Mr. Graeme had died intestate," I went on. "What then?" + +"I dare say the real property would have gone to Betty as his legally +adopted daughter," answered Doctor Marcy. + +"No, not legally," explained Betty, much to our surprise. "My name is +really Graeme, but it comes to me from my own father who was Francis +Graeme's older brother. I was only a baby when my parents died, and my +uncle simply took charge of me. It didn't seem necessary to take out +formal adoption papers, and anyhow it was never done." + +"Oh, undoubtedly there would have been a lawsuit, in the event of no +will," remarked the doctor. "Both Betty and John Thaneford could put in +the claim of blood relationship; you, too, Mr. Hildebrand, if it comes +to that. Bear in mind there is no entail." + +"Was Mr. John Thaneford aware that there had been a will drawn in his +favor?" I asked. + +"I can't say, Cousin Hugh. Probably not, for even I never heard of it +until father announced that he intended to supersede it." + +"When did that particular conversation take place?" + +"To-day is Thursday; just a week ago then." + +"Mr. Graeme himself may have spoken to Thaneford." + +"About what?" put in Doctor Marcy. "The making of the first will, or the +fact that he had determined to alter it?" + +"Well, he might have told him the whole story." + +The doctor shook his head. "I doubt it very much," he said. "Graeme had +grown to dislike John Thaneford--dislike him intensely." + +"Why?" + +Doctor Marcy did not reply in words, but eyebrows rose significantly as +he glanced in Betty's direction. + +"Confining ourselves to facts," continued the doctor, "it can be +established that a will was made in favor of John Thaneford, and that +Mr. Graeme had determined to set it aside. That first will was kept by +Mr. Graeme in this very despatch-box; it is there now." + +Doctor Marcy selected another small key from his bunch, and opened the +iron box. "You know I am a co-executor with Henry Powers," he said, "and +so I am acting within my rights." He took out a number of legal papers, +and presently offered one for our inspection. It was a testamentary +document precisely like the will read by Mr. Eldon, except that the +residuary estate went to John Thaneford instead of Hugh Hildebrand. It +was dated some six months back. + +"And was the second will, the one in my favor, also kept in this box?" I +asked. + +"No," answered Doctor Marcy. "Mr. Eldon, who of course drew it, had +retained it in his own possession. You see, it had only been executed a +few days ago; to be exact, the Friday before Mr. Graeme's death. Perhaps +Mr. Eldon persuaded Mr. Graeme to let him keep it locked up in the +office safe, at least temporarily." + +"Yet someone, who knew Mr. Graeme's habits and about this despatch-box, +may have come to the conclusion that the new will was kept in the same +place as the old one." + +Doctor Marcy nodded. "It follows," he said meditatively, "that on the +morning of June 21 'someone' obtained possession of the master-key and +entered the library with a definite purpose in view, a purpose +identified with the contents of that iron despatch-box. That is your +idea?" + +"And the obvious criticism is that the master-key would hardly have been +used at a time when Mr. Graeme was actually occupying the room." + +"Well, 'someone' may have expected to find the tragical situation which +we know existed; a forewarning had been received that there would be no +human obstacle to the search for the iron despatch-box. Whereupon the +entrance was made and the box was found. There was no attempt to examine +its contents on the spot." + +"Why not?" + +"There was danger in remaining in the room, and the papers were too +numerous to be sorted out at a glance. Or some outside disturbance may +have occurred to frighten the intruder. At any rate, 'someone' withdrew, +taking the despatch-box along for leisurely examination." + +"Then it was not this 'someone' who killed Mr. Graeme," I remarked. + +"No one ever intimated it," returned the doctor. "Remember that Graeme +sat with his back to the fireplace and windows, and facing the entrance +door. It would not be easy for 'someone' to unlock the door, pass to the +vicinity of the writing desk, and strike the fatal blow--all without +attracting the attention of the victim. Now no sounds of a struggle were +heard by anyone, and there was nothing in the disposition of the body to +suggest a physical encounter. No, you can't get away from the plain and +simple facts: Mr. Graeme is taken with vertigo; he staggers and falls; +his temple comes into contact with the sharp corner of that iron +despatch-box; he becomes unconscious immediately, and shortly afterwards +he dies. What more do you want to know?" + +"So that is what killed him?" + +"If I were perfectly convinced of the truth of my own theory," returned +the doctor, "would I have ever intimated to you, Mr. Hildebrand, that +there was something odd about the business? Betty put her finger at once +upon what had been vaguely in my mind. _Where was that despatch-box when +I first entered the room and found Francis Graeme lying dead upon the +floor?_ I don't know, do you?" + +"There ought to be an inquest," I declared. "And of course an autopsy. +You are willing?" I asked, turning to Betty. + +"Yes." + +"Then it is decided. Who is the coroner, Doctor Marcy?" + +"John Thaneford." + +For a moment I thought the doctor guilty of execrably bad taste in +making a joke of the matter; then I saw that he was in sober earnest. +"For some extraordinary reason," he explained, "Thaneford took it into +his head to try the political game. The local Democratic slate had +already been made up, but he was told that he could have one of the +minor offices. Accordingly, he accepted the nomination for coroner and +was elected by the usual party majority." + +"Well, he is sworn to do his duty," I persisted. + +"Surely." + +"Suppose we present what evidence we have to-morrow, including, of +course, the withdrawal of your original death certificate, Doctor +Marcy." + +"It may get me into all sorts of trouble," commented the doctor +ruefully. "But there's nothing else to be done; I see that clearly. The +bare thought that Francis Graeme, he of all men--sorry, Betty, my girl! +I dare say this is getting a bit too much for you." + +My cousin Betty had broken down and was crying softly on Doctor Marcy's +broad shoulder; he petted her and talked to her as though she had been a +little child. + +And so at last we parted for the night, Doctor Marcy taking up his +quarters in an anteroom adjoining the sick chamber, and Betty deciding +to seek companionship with Miss Trevor. I tumbled into bed at once, but +it was many an hour before sleep came to me. + + + + +Chapter VI + +"_Madame Colette Marinette._" + + +Dr. Marcy was the first person to join me in the breakfast room the +following morning. To my surprise, he informed me that Mr. Fielding +Thaneford had passed a comfortable night and was better. "Of course I am +speaking in comparative terms," he added. "The old man has had a stroke +of apoplexy. He is partially paralyzed on the right side, and his power +of speech is gone entirely. He cannot recover, but he may linger on for +some time." + +"A week?" + +"Perhaps longer. It is impossible to say--and here comes John." + +The younger Thaneford favored us with a short nod and an unintelligible +word, and demanded of Effingham a full pot of coffee, strong and hot. I +made some obligatory enquiries, in my capacity of host, but my unwelcome +guest gave me only the curtest of replies. Nevertheless I felt +sufficiently large-minded to make allowances. After all, the man had +received two pretty severe blows, in the loss of his inheritance and in +the strickening of his father; and it could not be pleasant for him to +be accepting my hospitality. + +Doctor Marcy waited until Thaneford had finished his breakfast; then he +bluntly asked for the holding of an inquest on Francis Graeme's death. +"I formally withdraw the medical certificate," he continued, "on the +ground that new evidence has come to light." + +"What new evidence?" inquired John Thaneford, his beetling eyebrows +contracting angrily. + +"I'll submit it to your jury," retorted the doctor. + +There was no further discussion of the main point. Legally it was for +Thaneford alone to decide upon the necessity for an inquest, and for a +moment or two I thought he looked disinclined to give in. Then, +apparently, he changed his mind. "You don't seem to have much confidence +in your own medical opinions," he said nastily. "But I'm as anxious as +anybody to ferret out the truth behind this business. And possibly we +may get some light upon the making of that remarkable will. I take it +that Mr. Hugh Hildebrand will offer no objection." I made no answer to +the taunt, and Thaneford went to the telephone to call his jurors +together. + +It was not until two days later that the members of the jury were +finally assembled at the "Hundred." Two of them were neighboring +farmers; there were also a couple of small business men from Calverton. +The fifth man was a Mr. Chalmers Warriner, a chemist and the head of the +experimental department of the Severn Optical Glass Works; and, greatly +to my surprise, I was ordered by the coroner to take the sixth and last +place in the panel. All of my associates had known Francis Graeme +personally, and it was apparent that the unusual circumstance of the +holding of the inquest after the interment had aroused curiosity and no +small amount of speculation. + +By direction of the coroner the body had been exhumed and an autopsy +performed. The expert examination had been made by Dr. Clayton Williams +of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and he was the first witness +called. + +Doctor Williams told the jury that while the wound on the temple might +have been sufficient to cause death still he was not prepared to +pronounce positively upon the point. In answer to a question from +Professor Warriner, Doctor Williams went on to say that the autopsy had +revealed a very peculiar condition of the brain--a lesion of most +unusual character. + +"Not necessarily caused by the blow on the temple?" asked Warriner. + +"I do not think so," answered the witness. + +"Can you assign a cause?" + +"I have never seen anything quite like it, Mr. Warriner. In consequence, +I haven't any theory of causation to advance." + +"But you must have come to some conclusions," persisted Warriner. + +"All I can say is that the degenerative process observed by me resembled +that induced by sunstroke, but on a greatly intensified scale. It is +possible, of course, that Mr. Graeme may have had some obscure brain +disease, and that it had progressed to a critical stage quite +unsuspected by himself, or even by his medical advisers." + +"You mean," continued Warriner, "that the deceased may have had a sudden +seizure, resulting in his falling from his chair and striking his head +upon the corner of that iron despatch-box placed in evidence by Doctor +Marcy?" + +"It is possible." + +"Then it is a perfectly plain case?" + +"I'm not so sure about that," returned Doctor Williams. "The brain +lesion may have killed him before he fell; the superficial injury may +have no importance whatever. Or the wound may have been caused by a +weapon in the hands of another person." + +"But there is no question of another person," put in John Thaneford. + +There was nothing more of a tangible character to be obtained from the +testimony of the medical gentlemen; for Doctor Marcy could only +reiterate his belief that Francis Graeme had appeared to be in perfect +health on that fatal morning. Of course there had been no opportunity +for the usual laboratory tests, but his physical condition could not +have been precarious; that was unthinkable. There were just two factors +in evidence--the internal lesion and the external injury. Which was the +predetermining cause, and which was the final effect? Or was it that +neither fact had any real relation to the death of Francis Graeme? No +one could say, and Doctor Williams was finally permitted to retire. I +fancied that the saturnine countenance of Coroner Thaneford showed a +secret satisfaction in the apparent confusion of testimony. + +The customary depositions were taken from the house servants, but they +added little or nothing to our stock of knowledge. Effingham, the +butler, was asked to explain his five minutes' absence from sentry duty +at the library door while Doctor Marcy was engaged in meeting Miss +Graeme. He answered very simply that Miss Eunice Trevor had sent him to +her dressing-room for smelling-salts and a bottle of aromatic spirits of +ammonia. When questioned about the master-key he declared that no one +knew of its hiding place behind the clock in the pantry; he did not +believe that it had been touched until he had taken it himself, shortly +before two o'clock, for the purpose of unlocking the library door. +Finally Doctor Marcy told the jury of the peculiar circumstances +concerning the iron despatch-box. But he could not positively affirm +that the box was not in the room when he first examined the body; he was +obliged to admit that he might have merely overlooked its presence. + +John Thaneford turned to the jury. "Is there any use in going on with +the inquiry?" he asked. "I don't believe we can do more than return a +non-committal verdict--dead by the visitation of God, or something like +that." + +"Or alternatively, by the act of party or parties unknown," interpolated +Warriner. + +"Don't see why you should say that," retorted Thaneford, scowling +darkly. + +"Well, Doctor Marcy has pointed out the unexplained disappearance of the +iron despatch-box; I mean between his first and second visit to the +room. I think we ought to make sure that no other person entered the +library in the interim, or had the opportunity and means to do so." + +"Just what do you want?" demanded Thaneford truculently. + +"Let's have Effingham back again," said Warriner calmly. "I want to ask +some questions that I didn't think of before." + +There could be no valid objection to this procedure; and, accordingly, +the coroner directed that the negro butler should be recalled. + +While we were waiting Warriner had risen and was walking about the room, +examining its details with profound attention. He was particular in +assuring himself that the main windows could not be opened, and that the +apertures provided by the swinging of the pridellas on their pivots were +impracticable to anyone except a really small boy. When Effingham +reappeared Warriner took the examination into his own hands. + +"Now, Effingham," he began, "I want to know everything about this room. +Are there any traps leading to the cellar, any scuttle-panels in the +dome?" + +"Nossir. It am tight all roun'--like um bottle. Doan know nuffin' 'bout +traps and scuttles." + +"Undoubtedly correct," commented Warriner, looking around at us. "I have +tested the floor pretty thoroughly, and it is solid everywhere. The +same, I think, may be said of the dome and ceiling--not the sign of a +crack or jointure." He turned savagely on Effingham. "Now tell me, you +black scoundrel, where the secret door is?" + +Effingham's countenance of shining ebony took on the ashy tinge peculiar +to his race under the emotional stress of fright or duress. "Nebber +heard of 'im," he said quickly, and relapsed into wary silence. + +"You know me," continued Warriner, "and what I can put on you if you +don't obey me and answer my questions. Where is it?" + +Effingham's knees shook in visible terror. Professor Warriner enjoyed a +wide reputation among the colored folk as a dealer in "cunjers" and +other forbidden arts; was not his physical laboratory the veritable +anteroom to the infernal regions. The old negro, torn between +superstitious fears and his inherited sense of loyalty to the +Hildebrand family, trembled and gasped as he tried to face his terrible +inquisitor. "Whuffer you pick on ole Effingham?" he protested feebly. "I +doan know nuffin 'bout any secret doah." + +"Do what the gentleman tells you, Effingham." The voice was quiet and +controlled, and yet there was an undertone of emotional vibration in it; +I turned and saw Miss Trevor, who had entered the room unbidden and +unannounced. I thought that John Thaneford looked both angry and +dismayed, but he did not attempt to exercise his official authority. + +"Yessum," returned Effingham with cheerful alacrity. Since one of the +ladies of the family had assumed the responsibility it was not for him +to offer any further objection. He went over to the right side of the +great fireplace and touched a spring in the paneling; a door, just high +and wide enough to accommodate an ordinary sized person, swung open. + +"Nothing very romantic about this door," commented Miss Trevor. "It is +merely a short cut to the terrace and gardens, besides being a +convenient means of avoiding uncongenial visitors. But I don't think Mr. +Graeme often used it, and none of the servants, except Effingham, are +even aware of its existence." + +We all crowded around the secret entrance. The short passage turned +sharply to the left behind the massive bulk of the chimney breast; we +caught just a glimpse of a second and outer door, strongly built and +banded with stout iron. + +Warriner stepped forward and entered the passage, reappearing almost +immediately. "The outside door is unlocked," he said. "But that doesn't +prove anything of itself. Before proceeding further I think it would be +wise to examine the exterior situation." + +I happened to catch Miss Trevor's eye, and I could have sworn that a +spark of relief-cum-triumph burned there for the infinitesimal part of a +second. We trooped into the hall and left the house in order to gain the +library terrace. + +There was the door, cleverly masked by vines, in a corner of the chimney +stack. Moreover, its wooden surface had been veneered with stucco, +colored and lined to simulate the brick of the chimney; the deception +was quite good enough to pass casual inspection. + +"The vines don't count for much," said Warriner. "Easy to push them +aside. But hullo! what's that?" + +Plastered squarely on the line of the door opening was the empty cocoon +of a moth. It was perfectly evident that the door could not have been +opened without destroying the fragile structure, and of course it must +have been fixed in position months before to give time for the +transformation of the pupa into the perfect insect. That seemed to +settle the question of either entrance or exit for a period long +antedating the death of Francis Graeme. + +"Pretty conclusive testimony," remarked Warriner. "I take it we're all +witness to the fact, and so if no one has any objection----" And then, +before a protest could have been voiced, he coolly picked off the cocoon +and dropped it into his pocket. + +When we were reassembled in the library John Thaneford again suggested +that we might proceed to the formality of a verdict; he pointed out that +there was no shred of evidence connecting any definite person with the +tragedy. But once more Warriner was ready with a counter-proposal; he +wanted to examine the two negroes who were working on the south lawn +between those fateful hours of noon and two o'clock on the twenty-first +of June. + +"But Doctor Marcy has their positive assurance," urged Thaneford, "that +no stranger was seen about the place that day. Isn't that so, doctor?" +he continued, turning to Marcy. + +Doctor Marcy nodded. "Yes, and I've known both men all my life," he +said. "I can vouch for them as being perfectly straight." + +"Better have them in and get their evidence on the record at first +hand," persisted Warriner. + +There was incontrovertible reason in this, and Zack and Zeb were sent +for. John Thaneford still looked like a thunder cloud, and I found it +difficult to make up my mind. Was he annoyed at the masterful way in +which his official authority was being usurped, or was he inwardly +anxious to keep the inquiry within conventional bounds; was it even +possible that he was seeking to shield somebody? His personal skirts +must be clear, for it was positively established that he had been at +"Thane Court" the entire day of June the twenty-first. Being a relative, +the tidings of Mr. Graeme's death had been sent to him by telephone, and +he had replied that he would come immediately to the "Hundred." But he +had not put in an appearance until the next morning. The one suspicious +circumstance was his willingness, almost eagerness, to accept Doctor +Marcy's certificate without making any investigation on his own account, +coupled with his subsequent reluctance to reopen the inquiry. Finally, +his attitude throughout the inquest had been restless and perfunctory; +it could be easily seen that the exercise of his duty as coroner was +most distasteful to him. But I was keenly aware that I did not like John +Thaneford; all the more reason that I should not do him any injustice. +And so I kept my cogitations to myself. + +Zack and Zeb proved to be model witnesses under Warriner's skilful +tutelage. It was positively determined that no stranger had been near +the library terrace between eleven and two o'clock on the day in +question. + +"Or anybody else?" asked Warriner. + +"Miss Eunice she done come by thar; walkin' up fum de gyarding," +answered Zeb. + +"What time was that?" + +"Ah reckon 'bout one o'clock, sah." + +"How do you know? Do you carry a watch?" + +"Nossah, but de oberseer's bell for de fiel' hands just done rung," +asserted the witness with conviction. + +"Where did Miss Trevor go?" + +"I doan know, sah. I speck she went plum into de manshun house--roun' de +cornah, sah." + +Zack could add nothing more to this statement, and Zeb, when called in +his turn, merely produced corroborative testimony. + +"I think we had better see Miss Trevor herself," said Warriner, after +Zeb had bowed and scraped his way out. + +"All damned nonsense," objected Thaneford, looking uglier than ever. +"And I must say, Mr. Warriner, that you are taking a great deal too much +on yourself. I'm the coroner, and I know my duty." + +Warriner stuck to his guns, and he was backed up by a juryman named +Orton, a well-to-do farmer and an unusually intelligent man, as it +seemed to me. Thaneford finally yielded ungracious assent and Miss +Trevor again entered the room. As she stood confronting us I was struck +by the intense pallor of her skin, when contrasted with the coal +blackness of her hair and her sombre apparel of mourning. Yet she +appeared perfectly collected and self-possessed; she admitted readily +that she had been on the library terrace at the approximate hour of one +o'clock; she explained that she had gone to the walled garden to cut +some flowers for the luncheon table; she had returned by the terrace as +that was the shortest way to the front door; she had entered the house, +and, after arranging the flowers, she had retired to her own room. +Warriner put a question or two relative to her taking Effingham's post +at the library door while Doctor Marcy was endeavoring to break the +news to Betty; her answers were definite and given without hesitation. +Yes, she had sent the servant upstairs to get the smelling salts and the +ammonia; she had thought the restoratives might be needed. Her account +of the finding of the body agreed perfectly with the story told by +Doctor Marcy. + +"Thank you, Miss Trevor," said Warriner. "Just one more question. What +sort of flowers did you cut on your visit to the garden?" + +"Yellow roses. I think the variety is called _Madame Colette +Marinette_." + +Upon Miss Trevor's retirement the verdict was taken. It was unanimous +and to the effect that Francis Hildebrand Graeme had come to his death +through the visitation of God. + +The jurymen climbed into their surreys and Fords and took their +departure. Warriner lingered behind, and a few minutes later he joined +me on the porch, where I was smoking a long longed-for cigarette. Miss +Trevor had gone upstairs, and John Thaneford had betaken himself to the +sick-room; we were entirely alone. + +"I found this in the passage behind the secret door," he said, and +handed me the withered remains of what had been a magnificent yellow +rose. + +"Interesting exhibit, isn't it," he went on dryly. + +"You don't--you don't mean?" I stammered. + +"I'm not very much up on floriculture, but this particular variety +happens to be one of my favorites. The florists call it----" + +"Yes?" + +"_Madame Colette Marinette._" + + + + +Chapter VII + +_The Whispering Gallery_ + + +The long afternoon went by, but we had accomplished nothing more than +the consumption of an unlimited amount of tobacco. + +"Certainly not convincing evidence," said Warriner with a final shrug of +his shoulders. "Still my yellow rose is worth preserving along with the +moth cocoon," and he put the pathetic dead flower carefully away in his +empty cigarette case. For a minute or two the silence remained unbroken. + +"I wonder if you would mind spending a few days here at the 'Hundred?'" +I blurted out; suddenly I was aware that I had taken a strong liking to +Chalmers Warriner. + +"I've no end of things on hand," he answered, smiling cordially, "but +I'll see what I can do. Suppose I run into Calverton, look over my mail, +and return here around ten o'clock." + +"It would be a great kindness," I said heartily. We shook hands, and he +jumped into his perfectly appointed cross-country car and drove away. +Yes, I did like Chalmers Warriner very much, and he seemed to have a +head on him. + +Doctor Marcy also left us. His patient had continued to improve, and of +course he had his other practice to look after. + +It was a pleasanter dinner than that of the night before inasmuch as +John Thaneford was at "Thane Court," while Miss Trevor pleaded a +headache and had tea and toast served in her room. But there was my +Cousin Betty Graeme to do the honors of my board--how strange it still +seemed to use the possessive pronoun!--with all possible grace and +dignity. Also I had the pleasure of welcoming a new addition to the +household, a Mrs. Anthony, an old family friend and Betty's godmother to +boot. Circumstances had prevented her attendance at the funeral, but she +had reached the "Hundred" at last, to Betty's infinite comfort and +satisfaction. Mrs. Anthony was a delightful old person, with the figure +of a young girl and the flashing eyes and snowy bob curls of a French +marquise. I did myself the honor of kissing the small hand extended to +me, and was taken into favor at once. + +Yes, we were an entirely congenial dinner party. We spoke of Francis +Graeme several times, and without the least embarrassment or restraint; +quite as though he might return at any moment to resume his rightful +place in the circle. And more and more I came to realize that I had lost +a great deal in not knowing him sooner and better. A good and gallant +gentleman! who was I that I should presume to stand in his shoes. Even +now I am beginning to perceive that a great inheritance has its burdens +as well as its privileges; I see that it is no small thing to become +Hildebrand of the "Hundred." + +The ladies retired early, and a few minutes after ten Warriner redeemed +his promise by making a welcome appearance. I told him that I had some +necessary letters to write, and that I should not make company of him; +he was to consider himself entirely at home. He nodded acquiescently and +spent some twenty minutes in wandering about the library; then he +settled down with a book. + +It really was imperative that I should acquaint certain people--my +quasi-partner Anstruthers, the Mercers and others--with the great change +that had taken place in my life and fortunes; my affairs in town would +have to be wound up, and it might be a fortnight before I could get to +Philadelphia. My correspondence proved more lengthy than I had +anticipated, and it was long after midnight when I had sealed and +stamped the last enclosure. Warriner threw down his book, and I crossed +the room and joined him. "By way of resting our eyes," I said, and +thereupon I extinguished the only light in the room, an Argand-burner +oil lamp. We exchanged half a dozen desultory sentences, and then +relapsed into that intimate silence which is only possible between real +friends. For perhaps half an hour we sat quietly thinking and smoking; +then---- + +"There is nothing I can say or do; understand?" + +I recognized the rough, forbidding quality of John Thaneford's voice, +and instantly I was all attention. Of course he must be speaking to +somebody; who could it be? Presently the answer came. But it was not in +words; all I could make out were sounds of weeping and smothered sobs, +unmistakably feminine in character. + +Now I should have explained that Warriner and I had been sitting close +to one of the side walls of the library; indeed our heads were almost in +actual contact with the plaster. Thaneford and his companion were +undoubtedly in the great hall whose circular walls probably formed a +natural whispering gallery. How the sounds could be transmitted through +the straight connecting passage under the stairs, and then shunted upon +the rectangular walls of the library, was a problem in applied acoustics +that I did not attempt to solve. The conversation was being conducted +under the breath, as we say, but every word fell with perfect +distinctness upon my ears. Of course it was a private conversation, one +to which I had no right to listen. I did make a motion to pull away from +the wall, possibly with the vague idea of uttering a warning admonition +to these indiscreet chatterers, but Warriner's ready hand pushed me back +in my chair; he laid his finger upon my lips, and I had no option but to +yield to his stronger will. This was war, war in which all is fair. + +"You've made a mess of it, my girl," went on Thaneford, "and I can't +stop to help clear it up. That's flat." + +"You mean that you won't keep your promise?" The words were low and +thick with emotion; I could not seem to recognize the ownership of the +voice. + +"No, I don't say that at all. But I'm up to my neck at 'Thane Court,' +and I was counting upon the 'Hundred' to pull me out. Give me half a +chance and I'll do the square thing--by you and everybody." + +"What more do you want of me?" + +"Just keep your eyes and ears open. I saw Grimes to-day, and he thinks +there is a fair possibility of breaking the will--_non compos_, you +know. Why think of it! Francis Graeme never saw this Yankee Hildebrand +but once in his life, and then for a couple of hours only. It stands to +reason that a man in his right senses doesn't hand over a fortune as +though it were nothing more than a Key West cigar. Grimes advises me to +fight, and I'd like nothing better than to do it. But fighting costs a +lot of money," he concluded gloomily. + +"You know that if I had it----" + +"All I know is that you haven't got it," he interrupted coldly. "For +heaven's sake! don't let us get sentimental again." + +There was a brief silence, and then came a badly suppressed yawn, +coupled with a declaration that the speaker was dog-tired and ready to +fall asleep standing up. We could hear retreating footsteps, and the +occasional creaking of a loose board in the tread of the staircase; then +all was quiet again. + +"Eunice Trevor, of course," announced Warriner meditatively. + +"I should never have known her voice," I protested. + +"Exactly so. And for the very sufficient reason that she is accustomed +to riding under double-wraps, as the hunting men say. A cold, +calculating, iceberg sort of creature--that's the way you've thought of +her." + +"Dare say you're right." + +"But deep in the heart of the iceberg there burns a flame, glowing and +intense. Now and then it melts its way out, and for a few minutes there +are gorgeous fireworks. That was the young woman's natural voice, and +she was improving the infrequent opportunity of using it by letting +herself go." + +"What do you think----" I began. + +"I don't think at all," he broke in. "At least for to-night. In the +morning my brain may begin to function again, but it refuses to be +squeezed any further at present." + +"They've had their five minutes grace," remarked Warriner, after another +brief pause, "and I'm off to bed. Good night." Warriner seemed to melt +away and become part of the surrounding darkness; after a minute or two +I followed, and reached my room without further incident. + +Again my night's rest was a troubled one. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +_Adventuring on "Sugar Loaf"_ + + +It was a glorious summer morning, and as I descended the staircase I +could look through the wide opened door and see the rolling acres of +"Hildebrand Hundred" lying gracious and fair under a cloudless sky. Bees +were humming among the flowers, and a whiff of new mown hay drifted in +on a vagrant breeze. Yes, this old world is a pretty pleasant place to +live in, provided of course that one doesn't make a tactical mistake and +settle down too far East or West, as the case may be. But given the +right place and the right people, and existence on this planet may be +very comfortable indeed. + +Nobody seemed to be around, although it was nearly nine o'clock, and I +walked into the library. There I found Chalmers Warriner bending over a +large glazed case which stood in a remote corner of the room. + +"Good morning," he smiled. "I've been amusing myself in looking over the +collection of butterflies and moths made by your predecessor, old +Richard Hildebrand. I believe it is considered valuable." + +I glanced carelessly at the rows of inanimate insects fixed in their +painful museum attitudes. There can be no quarrelling with tastes, but +mine do not run in this direction. I made some perfunctory assent to +Warriner's glowing encomiums upon the quality of Uncle Richard's _magnum +opus_ (it seems that our good Chalmers is himself an amateur of +distinction in entomological science), and then haled him off for +breakfast. + +Quite naturally we drifted back to the library. It was the pleasantest +and most homelike room in the house, a characteristic that persisted for +all that the shadow of a possible tragedy still rested there. But after +all, men must die somewhere, some time, and it would be impracticable to +transform every death chamber into a mortuary chapel. Death is a natural +process; why try to invest it with unnatural terror. "My dear," said a +very old woman to her blooming goddaughter, "you will some day come to +know that old age needs and desires death just as youth needs and +desires sleep." + +Warriner started immediately upon a close and systematic examination of +the apartment and its appurtenances. From his pocket he drew a +geologist's hammer and a slender rod of steel, and for nearly an hour he +occupied himself in probing the wainscoting and walls and in making test +knocks. I had expected to see him give particular attention to the +secret passage behind the fireplace, but he ignored it entirely. I +expressed some surprise. + +"It's told me already all it had to tell," he answered, and did not +vouchsafe any further elucidation of his pronouncement. Nor did I ask +for it; I realized that a man should be allowed to work in his own way. + +Finally, Warriner asked me to sit down in the fixed revolving chair that +stood before the great, flat-topped library desk. I did so with some +inward reluctance, for this was the seat _par excellence_ of the master +of "Hildebrand Hundred"; from this very coign of vantage Francis Graeme +had toppled to his death. But as well now as ever, and accordingly I +complied with the request. + +At Warriner's further suggestion I bent forward as though engaged in +writing. Suddenly he appeared from behind the screen of stamped Spanish +leather which stood between the table and the door leading to the great +hall; instantly, I became aware of his presence; involuntarily I looked +up. + +"Not so easy to surprise a man from this side, even if he were engaged +in writing or study," mused Warriner as he walked over to the fireplace. + +"Now suppose I had entered from this secret postern or side door," he +went on. "I should have no particular difficulty in stealing up behind +you and striking a fatal blow." + +"Perhaps not," I assented. "The rug is deeply piled, and a man would +have to walk pretty heavily to be heard." + +"A man--or a woman," amended Warriner. Of course I understood him, but +it was none of my business to prejudice Eunice Trevor's case. The very +fact that I instinctively disliked her imposed its obligations. + +Warriner motioned me to yield him the revolving chair, and I arose with +alacrity. He sat down quite as though intent upon testing the smoothness +of the swivelling and the depth and comfort of the upholstery. But +presently he swung round and faced the fireplace and windows. Then he +drew from his pocket a pair of French folding opera glasses and +continued his observations for several minutes; finally, he glanced at +me and beckoned. I went over to the big desk. + +"From where I sit," began Warriner, "I can see an odd-appearing break in +the woods on 'Sugar Loaf.' Take the chair and I'll explain what I have +in mind." + +I obeyed and Warriner leaned over my shoulder, pointing. "Look +straight," he said, "through that small, square panel in the window on +the left of the fireplace; it is called the pridella, I believe. Now +take the glasses." + +The window was the one depicting the rebellion of the sons of Korah; it +was a vivid representation of the earth opening under the feet of the +guilty men, and was brilliant with yellow and crimson flames arising +from the abyss. Through the open pridella I could see "Sugar Loaf," the +latter a hill of a peculiar conical shape that rose directly from the +meadows watered by the little river Whippany. Its distance from the +house was about half a mile, and it was covered with a dense growth of +oaks and beeches. + +Now that I had the glasses focussed I understood what Warriner was +driving at. Framed in the square of the pridella was a small opening in +the leafy wall; it looked as though a shelf had been cut out of the +cliff face, and evidently with a purpose. But what sort of a purpose? +"An observation post," I hazarded. + +Warriner nodded. "Something like that was in my own mind," he said. +"What do you say to our walking over there and making a +reconnaissance?" + +"Just as you like," I assented. "Anyway it will be a pleasant stroll." + +Supplying ourselves with the primal necessities of stout sticks and +brierwood pipes we set out. Gyp, an Irish terrier, looked longingly upon +us, and Warriner, after a momentary hesitation, told him that he might +accompany the expedition; whereupon there followed much staccato yelping +and the apparent vision of one small dog in several places at once. + +The side of the hill facing the "Hundred" was rather too steep for +comfortable climbing; moreover, there seemed to be a wagon road, on the +right hand slope, which promised a practicable means of ascent. We +walked across the lawn and a horse paddock to the Whippany, following +the bank of the stream to where it was crossed by a picturesque stone +bridge. Straight on lay the road to Lynn C. H., while our woodland way +branched off to the left. + +It was pleasantly cool in the woods, and inside of twenty minutes we +were well up on the hillside, and the library wing of the "Hundred" was +in plain view. But there was still no sign of "Warriner's Shelf," as I +chose to dub it, and I began to chaff him gently. However Gyp, by way +of repaying the favor of being allowed to join us, pushed an inquisitive +nose into a mass of tangled wild grapevines. Here was plain token of +human progress, and we followed the narrow trail that presently dipped +down sharply and then around the shoulder of a big, square rock. + +"Warriner's Shelf" at last, a natural bench in the escarpment, not +larger than ten feet by six, with a comparatively level floor, and +partially sheltered by the overhanging rock wall. The bushes and foliage +in general had been cut away in front, leaving an irregular opening +about the height of a man and four or five feet in width. "I should +never have picked it out in the world," said Warriner, "but for that +glint of white." And as he spoke, he detached from a hazel twig a square +of cambric, a man's handkerchief. I followed the direction of his +glance, and read the initials in one corner--"J. T." + +"What do you make of it?" I asked, feeling more than a little puzzled. + +"A signal, of course. A sharp eye could pick it out from the terrace, +particularly if a hand was waving it." + +"Anyhow it is proof that John Thaneford knows of this eyrie and is +accustomed to visit it," I added. + +"Perfectly. Do you realize, by the way, that we are now on Thaneford +property?" + +"How so?" + +"The dividing line runs a few yards away, and you will find a monument +near the base of that white pine. I came up here once with old Richard +Hildebrand, and he pointed it out to me. This side of Sugar Loaf belongs +to 'Thane Court.'" + +"Then we are trespassers." + +"In the technical sense I suppose we are." + +"And John Thaneford doesn't welcome visitors," I remarked, recalling the +incidents of our first meeting. + +"Well, we're only looking around; no harm done." + +Warriner reloaded his pipe leisurely. "What do you suppose is the +meaning of that contraption?" he continued, indicating a singular +framework of iron, painted green, that stood in the opening and pointed +directly toward the house; we both examined it with keen attention. + +It consisted of a narrow trough of metal--probably the half section of a +four-inch pipe--and was some three feet in length. It was supported by +tripods at either end, firmly fixed in the ground. The whole arrangement +was solidly put together, and seemed intended as a rest for some sort +of instrument. Warriner seated himself on a flat stone, and sighted +along the trough. Then he supplemented his observations with the +binoculars. + +"It appears to line exactly with the pridella opening of the 'Korah' +window," he said at length. "Adjust a high-powered rifle in the trough, +and it ought to be possible to send a bullet directly into the library +at the 'Hundred'; yes, and it would strike pretty close to anyone who +happened to be occupying the swivel-chair at the big teakwood desk. Of +course, without instruments, I can't speak definitely about the +trajectory, but we must be a couple of hundred feet above the house +which should compensate for the natural drop in the arc." + +"The fatal objection to that theory," I retorted, "is the non-existent +bullet. There can't be the slightest ground for thinking that Francis +Graeme came to his death through the agency of a gunshot wound." + +"No, there isn't," admitted Warriner. "All the same, it opens up some +interesting possibilities." + +"For example?" A third person was suddenly taking part in the +conversation. + +I turned quickly to see John Thaneford standing besides us. He was +accompanied by a big collie, an ill-tempered brute, who eyed Gyp with +disdainful truculence. The like adjectival description might have been +applied to Thaneford himself as he stood there with his white teeth just +showing through the close drawn lips, and one muscular fist, with its +tufted knuckles, knotted about a blackthorn cudgel. + +"You were speaking, I think, of interesting possibilities," he +continued, looking at each of us in turn, "Perhaps I could add something +of value to the discussion." + +"You have already contributed Exhibit A," said Warriner, handing him the +handkerchief. As he spoke, he rose to his feet, and it seemed to me that +just before doing so he picked up a small object from the ground, and +kept it concealed in the hollow of his hand. But the action had been so +swift that I could not be sure. + +John Thaneford took and pocketed his handkerchief with the utmost +sangfroid. "Thanks," he said carelessly. "I must have left it here by +inadvertence, and nowadays even a few inches of real Irish linen is a +possession not to be despised. It is certainly mine, and, moreover, it +was found on Thaneford property. Under the circumstances you will hardly +be justified in putting in a claim for treasure-trove." This with a +sneer that fully bared his close set teeth. + +I was feeling rather uncomfortable, but Warriner's cool urbanity never +failed him. "Glad to have obliged you," he said easily. "The next strong +wind probably would have blown it down the cliff. Lovely view, isn't +it?" + +And indeed it was a charming prospect--the silver ripples of the shallow +Whippany edging the emerald meadows that stretched up to meet the shaven +lawn of the "Hundred"; the massive ochre bulk of the house, with its +roofs of dark gray slate; and, beyond, the copper glow from a clump of +purple beeches melting insensibly into the sombre hues of pine and +hemlock; in the middle distance, the golden ocean of the wheat; and +still farther on, a battery of motor tractors moving snail-like but +inexorably against the gallant green lances of the haying +fields--"Hildebrand Hundred" in all its glory. + +"A _belvedere_ in quite the proper sense," commented Warriner. "I dare +say you are rather fond of coming here--by way of viewing the promised +land, as it were." He smiled provokingly. + +John Thaneford was not nimble witted, and he found no fitting rejoinder +to Warriner's sarcasm. "I don't know that it is any of your damned +business," he barked out, flushing redly. + +It was time for me to intervene, for clearly our position was not a +tenable one; we were trespassers. "I am sorry to have intruded for the +second time within a week," I said evenly. "Unintentional of course." + +He made no definite reply, and I swung round. "Get to heel, Gyp," I +ordered. + +"One moment," demanded Thaneford, "I've been intending to tell you that +I shall go back to 'Thane Court' this evening; I mean for good. I'm +afraid that my father"--he gulped at something in his throat--"can't be +moved for the present." + +"Mr. Thaneford will be welcome to the hospitality of the 'Hundred' so +long as the emergency exists," I returned smilingly. "I would say as +much for yourself, but of course you will do as you please." + +"I always intend to," he countered instantly. Then, as though a bit +ashamed of his boorishness, he added: "You will have no objection, I +suppose, to my coming over to the 'Hundred' to see him?" + +"Surely not. And there is also the telephone. I promise that you will be +kept fully informed. Good day, Mr. Thaneford." + +"Mr. Thaneford!" he echoed. "My dear Cousin Hugh, are you oblivious of +the fact that this is the South, and that we are kin?" + +"Even if a little less than kind," put in Warriner. + +"Cousin John, then," I amended, determined to give no open ground for +offence. "Shall I have your traps sent over to the 'Court?'" + +"Thanks, but I'm looking in on father around five o'clock, and so won't +have to bother you. Down, Vixen!" he added, dealing the collie a hearty +cuff as she snapped at Gyp, discreetly paddling at my heels. Warriner +started to say something civil, but was ignored, and we passed on +without another word. + +"Sulky brute!" offered Warriner, but I merely nodded. + +"Did you notice that no allusion was made, on either side, to that +singular metal rest?" he persisted. + +"What was there to say?" + +"True for you; but I still contend that the possibilities are +interesting--perhaps infinitely so. For instance----" he opened his hand +and showed me what lay snugly ensconced within. + +"Looks like a piece of glass." + +"Man, don't you know a telescopic lens when you see it!" + +Warriner produced a silk handkerchief, and with it carefully cleaned and +polished what I now fully recognized as a bit of some optical apparatus. +He held it up to his eye, and squinted through it. "Do you know there is +something peculiar about this blooming lens," he said at length. "I +think I'll drive over to Calverton after luncheon, and make a laboratory +test. Who knows...." + +"What?" + +"Tell you later--if there is anything to tell." And not another word on +the subject could I get out of him. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Anthony and Betty had been over to the cemetery all morning, and +they did not appear at luncheon. Miss Trevor, looking as implacable as a +Medusa-head, a comparison inevitably invited by the snaky black ringlets +depending on either cheek (an ante-bellum monstrosity which she seemed +to affect out of sheer perversity), presided at the table, and most of +the conversation was carried on in monosyllables. The poor girl did look +wretchedly careworn, and I had the uneasy consciousness of being in part +a confidant of her unhappiness through my involuntary espionage in the +affair of the whispering gallery. But there was nothing that I could say +or do to relieve the tension of the situation. How much did she know +concerning the mystery of Francis Graeme's death? To what extent was she +an accessory to the crime, if crime it could be proved? When she handed +me my tea it was quite in the grand Lucrezia Borgia manner, and it was +as certain as anything could be that she and I must remain antagonists +until the end of time. But I could make allowances. Eunice Trevor had +played the part of poor relation all her life, and the bread of +dependence is both a dry and a bitter morsel in the mouth. Not that +Betty Graeme would ever have said or done anything to emphasize the +obligation under which her cousin's daily existence was passed; on the +contrary, I knew that she treated Eunice with unvarying kindness and +consideration. But when one is living on the broken meats of charity it +is destructive to be always nibbling, between meals, at one's own heart. + +Warriner went off to Calverton, and I had a horse saddled in order to +ride over the farm and so get a general idea of my inheritance. And +indeed it was a glorious one; insensibly a new and stimulating ichor +entered into my veins; this was my own country, the chosen home of my +forebears: this gracious and beautiful land was part of myself; deep +down in its generous bosom went the essential roots of my being, and I +thrilled with the consciousness of a new life, a life far more +satisfying and abundant than I had ever known before; I was Hildebrand +of the "Hundred." + +Late in the afternoon I returned, and ran upstairs to freshen my +appearance before joining the ladies for a cup of tea on the library +terrace. As I passed the sick room I heard the sounds of a violent +altercation, and I recognized the voices as belonging to Eunice Trevor +and John Thaneford; how indecent for them to be quarrelling in the +presence of a man actually moribund! I had no taste for more +eavesdropping, but the door was partially ajar, and I could not help +overhearing one significant sentence. Eunice Trevor was speaking. + +"As for Betty Graeme, there is no chance there for recouping your +fortunes. How do I know? I am a woman myself." + +I went on quickly and reached my room. But my blood was hot within me. +That surly, brutal boor! + +All the time I was changing my clothes I could hear the discussion +proceeding, although the words themselves were inaudible. Then came the +clumping of heavy boots on the staircase. I looked out of my window, +which commanded a view of the carriage sweep, and saw John Thaneford's +disreputable old dog-cart waiting before the front door. Presently +Thaneford himself appeared, carrying a couple of handbags; he threw the +luggage in the cart, mounted, and drove away. + +On my own way down I had to go by the room occupied by the elder +Thaneford. Quite involuntarily I glanced through the half-opened door; a +curious feeling possessed me that the sick man was being dealt with +unfairly, that he needed the protection which a guest has a right to +expect from his host. + +Fielding Thaneford lay, immense and quiescent, in the old-fashioned, +canopied bed. He was not asleep, for his eyes were open and rolling +restlessly, while the infantile pink and white of his complexion had +darkened to a dull crimson; it was plain that he was uneasy, suffering +even. And then I realized the source of his discomfort. + +Eunice Trevor sat in a highbacked chair at the foot of the bedstead, +gazing intently at the helpless man. I used to think that the +metaphorical, "If looks could kill!" was mere rhetoric, but now I knew +that there may be a deadliness in pure hatred which needs neither +spoken word nor overt act for its vehicle of expression. The Medusa-head +again, an incarnation of implacable malignity; no wonder that Fielding +Thaneford's big, babyish cheeks were beaded with sweat and that his +breath came and went in short gasps. One thought involuntarily of the +mediaeval sorceress sticking her lethal pins into the waxen image of her +victim. Only that in this instance the counterfeit presentment was not +necessary; the man himself lay bound hand and foot, delivered to the +tormentors as they that go down quick into hell. Unable to move or speak +he must remain in his physical straitjacket while this tigerish woman +was doing him to death, at her leisure, with the invisible knife-thrusts +of a great and consuming hatred It was unbearable, and I entered the +room with the merest apology for a knock; instantly the eyes of the +basilisk were veiled. + +"I was looking for Mr. Thaneford's nurse," I began awkwardly. + +"Miss Davenport is off duty from two until five o'clock," answered Miss +Trevor with entire composure. "I told Betty that I would take the relief +on alternate days. Here is Miss Davenport now." + +I turned to greet the pleasant-faced, capable looking young woman who +entered, and Miss Trevor glided away without another word. I made the +usual inquiries about the patient's condition. "Not quite so well, +perhaps," I suggested. + +"He does seem a little flushed and restless," answered the nurse, +producing her clinical thermometer. "I don't understand it, for he was +decidedly better this morning." + +"Possibly some outside disturbing influence," I ventured. "Mr. John +Thaneford was with his father late this afternoon, and I suspect there +was some sort of family jar." + +"That big, black man!" said Miss Davenport indignantly. "I can't abide +him!" She looked around sharply. "Where is he?" + +"I believe he has returned to 'Thane Court.'" + +"Well, I shan't let him in the room again if he can't behave himself. +See that!" and she showed me the thermometer, which registered a +two-degree rise over normal. "Shameful I call it! and I won't have any +interference with my patient, no matter who it is." + +"I'll back you up there. And perhaps we had better make some other +arrangements for the afternoon relief. Miss Trevor has been very +obliging, but I'm not sure that she has the proper--well, call it the +necessary temperament." + +"I know it 'ud give me the creeps to have that slinky, black shadow +hovering over me," returned the downright-minded Miss Davenport. "I +think I'll put a stop-order on her from this time on." + +"I dare say Miss Graeme and I can share the duty between us; at least +until it is possible to get hold of another nurse. I'll speak to my +cousin and let you know later." + +Miss Davenport nodded and turned to her patient. "Cheerio! old son," she +said with the breezy cameraderie born of her two years' experience as an +army nurse. "After this we'll keep the willies brushed off, and you'll +soon be hitting on all six again. Remember now what your Aunt Flo tells +you." + +It was impossible to say how much or how little the sick man understood +of all that had passed. But as I left the room I murmured a parting word +that was intended to be sympathetic and reassuring. I may have been +mistaken, but it seemed as though a flash of intense gratitude +momentarily softened the stony, blue-china stare of those inscrutable +eyes. + +After Mrs. Anthony had gone to dress for dinner I talked the matter over +with Betty. + +"I think you must be mistaken about poor Eunice," she said perplexedly. +"But just now I know she is pretty much on edge, and if Miss Davenport +doesn't want her that settles it. So if you will help me, Cousin Hugh, I +dare say we can manage." + +Cousin Hugh! That sounds pleasanter every time I hear it And I like, +too, the possessive "we." + +Late that evening Warriner telephoned that he had been called to +Baltimore on business and would be away for several days. Of course he +would see me immediately on his return. At present there was nothing to +report. + + + + +Chapter IX + +_1-4-2-4-8_ + + +A full fortnight went by, and we seemed to be simply marking time. +Warriner was still away, and I had had no word of importance from him. +Mr. Fielding Thaneford's condition showed little apparent change, but +Miss Davenport told me privately that he was failing steadily. John +Thaneford had called some half a dozen times, but his visits to the sick +room had been brief and entirely devoid of incident. Either Miss +Davenport or Betty and I took care to be present whenever he appeared, +and there had been no repetition of any untoward scene. The younger +Thaneford contented himself with a few perfunctory inquiries, never +addressing his father directly. What would have been the use, since the +line of communication had been broken? Moreover, the patient, on his +part, never manifested the least desire for more definite intercourse; +he seemed to recognize the physical presence of his son, but that was +all. And so John Thaneford would come and seem to fill the room for a +few moments with his great, black bulk, and again depart. As the door +closed behind him, there was never the slightest discernible quiver on +the immobile masque propped and bolstered in that amazing vastness of a +four-poster, but always the glitter would seem to die out of the +watchful eyes, and the slow breathing would become more regular. +Whatever the nature of the tension between father and son there could be +no question of its reality. + +I had taken upon myself the delicate task of telling Eunice Trevor that +her volunteer service in the sick room could no longer be accepted. But +she acquiesced in the decision with admirably assumed indifference, and +thereafter never came near the invalid. Indeed, in those days, I hardly +saw her except at luncheon and dinner. Certainly we were not friends, +but neither were we avowed enemies; I even realized that, to some +extent, I was indispensable to the carrying out of her own tortuous +purposes. Once or twice, however, I sensed something in her voice, when +she happened to be speaking to Betty, which filled me with a vague +disquiet. For remember the knowledge I had acquired of the intimate +relations existing between this enigmatic woman and John Thaneford. It +was also certain that the latter's financial ruin was impending, and +that Betty, even without the landed ownership of the "Hundred," was +possessed of no inconsiderable fortune, and therefore a prize worth +acquiring. Not that I believed, for an instant, that a girl like Betty +Graeme would even consider such a suitor, and Eunice Trevor had said as +much to Thaneford himself; had warned him that his hopes in that +direction were assuredly futile. Yet even that certainty could be made +the foundation, in the feminine mind, of a justifiable grudge; Betty +Graeme could be kind or a good deal less than kind to John Thaneford, +and in either case Eunice Trevor would hold it up against her. Any woman +will understand how this can be, and I may as well be honest and confess +that I got my explanation from Betty herself--only that was a long time +afterward. + +I can easily comprehend why no one could meet Betty Graeme without +wanting to love her, and most of us ended by actually doing so. But that +even Betty could have worked the miracle of reaching what passed with +Fielding Thaneford for a heart! It does seem incredible. And yet, if she +had not accomplished that impossible thing, I know very surely that I +should not be telling this particular story. It had been ordained that +I should succeed to the seat perilous of "Hildebrand Hundred," and +sooner or later must I have paid the predestined price of my great +possession. Truly love is the master-key to every door, but few of us +think it worth while to try it, or are even willing to make the attempt. + +I have spoken of the gulf which seemed to open between Fielding +Thaneford and me from the very moment of our first meeting--unbridgable, +impassable. But Betty crossed it as easily and as surely as a bird on +the wing. + +"It seems so unnatural and horrible," she said one afternoon as we were +sitting in the sick room. "There he lies within hand reach, and yet +immeasurably removed. Silence and darkness--oh, I can't bear it!" + +"I think he understands what is said to him," I ventured. + +"All the worse if he can't break through from his side of the wall. But +there must be a way, and I am going to find it." + +She left the room, returning a few minutes later with a large square of +cardboard on which she had printed the letters of the alphabet. Now I +should have made it plain that the sole physical function remaining to +Fielding Thaneford was a limited control of the right hand; we had +learned to distinguish in its movements the two elementary expressions +of assent and dissent. + +Betty went to the bedside, and gently slipped the sheet of cardboard +under the sick man's right hand. "You see what I mean, Mr. Thaneford," +she said, with an infinite note of sympathy in her voice. "If you would +point out the letters one by one, no matter how slowly. We will both be +very patient--please now." + +Fielding Thaneford's hand--the hand of a very old man, with its +thickened knuckles and swollen blue veins--quivered slightly, but +remained motionless. Yet I fancied that his glance consciously sought +the girl's face and rested there; ordinarily you felt that his gaze +merely passed over you, and then travelled inimitably onward and +outward. It was certain that he understood the proposal, even while +unwilling to act upon it. Twice she repeated the suggestion; and then, +too tactful to force the point, she smiled and withdrew the square of +cardboard. "Perhaps to-morrow," she said with exceeding gentleness, +while I marvelled that any human being could have withstood her. But +then what quality of our common humanity could inhere in that huge, +inert mass of flesh, animated, as it was, by a mere spark of conscious +intelligence. + +Betty was not one to be easily discouraged. On the morrow she tried +again, and again without definite result. The third day the miracle +seemed on the point of fulfillment. Fielding Thaneford's forefinger +actually moved to the letter B, and rested there. No amount of feminine +cajolery could bring about any further compliance, but surely the first +step had been taken. "I really believe," said Betty to me, between a +smile and a tear, "that he had my name in mind." "How could he help it," +I retorted; whereat she blushed so divinely that I could barely resist +taking her bodily in my arms--then and there, for once and for all. "You +will see to-morrow," she predicted with gay confidence. + +But to-morrow brought an unexpected turn. Some subtle change had come +upon the sick man in the night, and Doctor Marcy, after the usual +examination, looked grave. "I can't be positive," he said, "but I think +he has had another slight stroke. Probably a question now of a few +hours." + +Nevertheless at noon he appeared to revive, and was able to take some +gruel and the white of an egg whipped up in sherry. Miss Davenport went +for her usual constitutional, and we decided that it would not be +necessary to notify John Thaneford. The latter had not been near the +house for two days, and had not even troubled himself to telephone. But, +considered from any point of view, his absence was preferable to his +presence. + +It was very quiet in the sick room. The day was warm, but not +uncomfortably so, and a cooling breeze, heavy with the fragrance of +summer flowers, drifted in at the casement windows. + +Suddenly Betty seized her square of cardboard. "He wants to say +something?" she whispered, as she passed me. "Don't you see it in his +face?" But I, being a man, and so dull of understanding, could only nod +and wonder dumbly. + +Too late it seemed, for the stiffening fingers had lost even the small +powers of functioning that they had hitherto preserved. Even I could now +see that Fielding Thaneford was desirous of speaking some last word, of +voicing some final message. But, apparently, coordination between brain +and muscle had ceased entirely. Absorbed and intent, Betty leaned over +him. "Is it John?" she asked. The hand achieved an almost imperceptible +motion, but both of us recognized the emphatic quality of its dissent. +"Oh!" cried Betty, with an overwhelming rush of sympathy, and took the +almost nerveless member into the intimate fellowship of her two warm, +exquisitely sensitive palms. Do you remember my speaking of the supreme +distinction of her handclasp; how it seemed to fit so perfectly? + +Yes, it was undeniably evident that the spirit of Fielding Thaneford was +striving desperately to rend its clayey envelope, and deliver its +message in terms intelligible to mortal senses. But surely the vehicle +was wanting; it could not be. And then, quite certainly, I knew that +something had been transmitted through the mediumship of that intimate +handclasp. Betty's eyes grew luminous as stars; she whispered some words +too low for me to hear. "Is that it?" she concluded. The fast glazing +eyes said yes, as plainly as lips could have uttered the word. + +What had happened? Suddenly the spark of life behind the monstrous +masque that had been Fielding Thaneford's face had disappeared; quite as +when the wind extinguishes the candle in a paper lantern. Betty turned +to me in a rain of tears. "He is gone," she murmured. + + * * * * * + +Strange! that I of all men should be the one to compose Fielding +Thaneford's hands upon his breast and close his sightless eyes. But +life's obligations are none the less imperative that they are +unforeseen. The man lying dead upon the bed had never spoken a single +word to me; indeed our glances had met but once, and then had instantly +fallen away. How could we be other than eternally alien, and yet these +final offices to our common mortality had fallen to my hand. And it was +still short of a month since the messenger of fate had brought me the +invitation to attend the funeral services of my kinsman, Francis Graeme. + + * * * * * + +Miss Davenport came back from her walk, and assumed charge of affairs +with her accustomed efficiency. I offered to do the telephoning to John +Thaneford, but Betty determined that the announcement ought to come from +her. Just before dinner he drove over, and remained in the room for +perhaps a quarter of an hour. None of us saw him, but he had the grace +to leave a brief word of thanks to Betty for the profusion of white +carnations that she had insisted on cutting and arranging with her own +hands. + +Late that evening Betty came to me on the library terrace where I sat +smoking innumerable cigarettes. "You know he tried to tell me something +at the end," she said. + +"Yes." + +"All he could manage was just the slightest possible pressure of the +hand. A succession of numbers then." + +"Do you want to tell me what the numbers were?" + +"Of course. They were 1-4-2-4-8. I am sure I got them correctly." + +"Not much to be made out of that," I commented. + +"No, but I feel certain that he meant something by the message, +something of importance." + +"To whom?" + +"How can anyone say? Will you write the figures down, so that there can +be no possibility of my forgetting." + +I pulled out my note-book, and inscribed the unintelligible formula: +1-4-2-4-8. The resolution of the problem naturally intrigued me, and the +obvious first line of approach was the application of the old Russian +"knock" system in which each letter is identified with its numerical +position in the alphabetical sequence. I explained the theory to Betty, +and she was all eagerness for me to try it out. It took but a moment or +two to replace the numbers by their corresponding letters; for example, +the figure 1 stands for A, the first letter of the alphabet, and the +figure 4 represents the fourth letter or D. The complete series read: +A-D-B-D-H. + +"Not even a vowel to juggle with," I said ruefully. "Blinder than ever, +I should say." + +"But it does mean something," returned Betty stoutly. "And some day we +shall know." + + + + +Chapter X + +_I Receive an Ultimatum_ + + +Fielding Thaneford was buried three days later in S. Saviour's +churchyard. As relatives, even in remote degree, we were bound to attend +the services, and also to be present at the interment. For Betty it was +an ordeal, the reopening of a half-closed wound, and I could feel her +hand tremble as it lay in the crook of my arm, the grave yawning at our +feet. In my capacity as Hildebrand of the "Hundred" I was already her +official protector, and I was looking forward to the establishment of a +relationship infinitely nearer and dearer. Even now I think she sensed +what was in my mind and heart; but, after all these emotional upheavals, +there must be a decent interval for a new adjustment to the facts of +life--compensation, as the mathematical formula has it. The mutual +understanding had already been established, and the flower of our future +happiness would be all the lovelier for that we did not seek to force +its bourgeoning. + +As the funeral party withdrew from the burial enclosure, John Thaneford +presented himself. + +"I shall be going away Saturday," he began, fixing his eyes exclusively +on Betty's face. + +"Do you mean for a visit?" she inquired. + +"I don't quite know," he evaded. "But I dare say the 'Court' will be +shut up indefinitely." + +"I am sorry for that." + +"Are you going to be at home within an hour or so? There is something I +have to say to you. Now then, I won't be put off by made-up excuses," he +added, seeing that Betty hesitated. + +"Come any time after five," she answered. He stood aside, and we passed +on. + +After luncheon I went down to the lower reach of the Whippany where we +were preparing to install a small electric power and storage plant. +Presently, I saw a familiar figure walking over from the house--Chalmers +Warriner. + +"Just got back from New York last night," he explained, "and thought I'd +run over and see you all. So the old man died?" + +We talked generally on the events of the last fortnight; then I went +more particularly into the circumstances attendant upon Fielding +Thaneford's last hours, and Warriner listened attentively. The series of +numbers which Betty had obtained from the dying man plainly appealed to +his imagination, but he agreed with me that neither the numbers +themselves nor their alphabetical equivalents offered any intelligible +clue. "Of course he wanted to put over some message," he mused, "and he +trusted to Betty's intuition to make things plain." + + * * * * * + +Betty, instead of Miss Graeme! Really, I hadn't been aware that Warriner +was on so intimate a footing at the "Hundred." But of course it was all +right; Warriner was older, by at least ten years, than either Betty or +myself, and he probably looked on himself as a sort of elder brother to +the entire household. I tried to recall if Betty was accustomed to call +him by his Christian name. But I could not remember ... it was none of +my business ... what difference anyway could it make. + +Unconsciously I had yielded to the slight pressure of Warriner's hand +upon my arm. He led me away from the noisy gang of negroes working on +the projected dam and power-house; presently we were within sight of +one of the farm barns. The great double doors were open, but the +distance was full half a mile, and nothing within the structure was +discernible. + +Warriner unwrapped the slender parcel that he was carrying, and produced +what looked very much like an old-fashioned spy glass, only of most +unusual length. "And that's just what it is," he said, divining my +thought. "Except that I have replaced the object glass with the lens I +picked up the other day at Thaneford's crow's-nest on Sugar Loaf." + +"Go on." + +"I told you that there seemed to be some extraordinary optical +properties in that piece of glass. I tried it out in my own laboratory, +and got certain results. Then, when I was in Baltimore, I had Carter of +Johns Hopkins check me up with his more complete apparatus. Some rather +astonishing conclusions." + +"How so?" + +"Well, you've probably heard of the telephoto lens--a sort of long +distance microscope, to use very colloquial language. I have seen +telephoto pictures of the Matterhorn, taken five or six miles away, in +which you could make out the actual geologic texture of the rocks. + +"But, of course, there must be plenty of light on the object to get +clear definition. On the same principle, one can stand inside a room and +see everything outdoors with perfect distinctness. It's a very different +thing, trying to look into a room from without. The visibility is low, +as they say, and you don't get much." + +"Yes, I understand that." + +"Again there are optical lenses specially designed to make the most of +poor illumination. A familiar example is the sailor's night-glass. + +"You guess what I'm coming to. This particular lens has the telephoto +range, and, at the same time, it works with the minimum of illumination. +Never saw anything like it before, and it would be worth a fortune in +the binocular field." + +"Show me." + +Chalmers Warriner rested the long glass on a fence post, ranged it on +the open door of the barn nearly three thousand yards away, and did some +preliminary focussing and other adjustments. He took a look, and then +invited me to do the same. + +It was truly marvellous! It seemed as though I were standing on the very +threshold of the barn and looking inside. I recognized Adam Lake, the +field foreman, working on the engine of a small tractor. In the +background, Zack was oiling a set of harness. The details were +astoundingly distinct. + +"It's evident now," continued Warriner, "that the iron trough at +Thaneford's observation point was intended to support a telescope such +as this. The instrument is too long to hold steadily in the hand, and it +had to be ranged precisely on the two-foot opening of the pridella. It +was therefore possible to sit comfortably concealed on Sugar Loaf, and +keep accurate tab on whatever was passing in Francis Graeme's library; +provided, of course, that one of the pridellas was open. Even this +wonderful lens could not penetrate stained glass. It isn't an X-ray +apparatus." + +"Granting all your premises--why?" + +"And that's just what I would like mightily to know," answered Warriner. +"But let's go back to the house; there's something else I want to show +you." + +We went to the library, and, by way of refreshment after our long walk +in the sun, I told Effingham to make us some claret cup. Presently he +brought it in, and proceeded to fill a couple of long, Rhinewine glasses +with the beverage. The big cut-glass pitcher was heavily beaded with +cool moisture, and looked irresistibly inviting; the Eighteenth +Amendment was unanimously declared unconstitutional, and we drank and +drank again. So long as the cellar of "Hildebrand Hundred" continued to +function it was still worth while to acquire a thirst. + +Warriner took a small object from a cardboard box, and passed it over to +me. "Remember that?" he asked. + +"I suppose it's the same moth cocoon which we found plastered on the +postern-door----" + +"And directly on the line between door and casing," interjected +Warriner. "Being proof positive that the door could not have been opened +for a period considerably antecedent to Graeme's death." + +"I presume so." + +"Well, I took that cocoon home, and made some tests. It had been +fastened on the door by means of mucilage--common, ordinary mucilage." + +I stared at Warriner without speaking. This was indeed confounding. + +"To air some of my recently acquired entomological knowledge, I may tell +you that the moth caterpillar generally goes underground to enter the +pupa stage," continued Warriner. "If the transformation does take place +at the surface the cocoon is sometimes found under a dead leaf or a +fallen branch; still more rarely beneath the bark of a tree. It is +virtually impossible that it should have been fixed naturally in such an +exposed position as the crack of a door. + +"Even more significant is the fact that this cocoon is of a species not +indigenous to Maryland; in fact, it doesn't belong to this country at +all. Come over here," and he led me to the corner in which stood the +glass cases containing Richard Hildebrand's famous collection of the +_lepidoptera_. Warriner pointed out a magnificent specimen of the Great +Peacock moth of Europe, an entomological aristocrat described by the +French naturalist, J. H. Fabre, in one of his fascinating essays. Now +all the other specimens of the adult butterfly or moth were accompanied +by their respective cocoons. But below the Great Peacock was a vacant +space. Warriner lifted the lid of the case, and extended his hand for +the cocoon that I still held. He fixed it in the empty place. "Certainly +it looks as though it belonged there," he said tersely. + +Effingham came in to take away the tray of pitcher and glasses. "Come +here, boy," said Warriner with the confident command of the born and +bred Southerner, and Effingham was prompt to obey. + +"You remember the day Marse Francis died?" + +"Yassah." + +"When Miss Eunice sent you up stairs to get the ammonia was she wearing +any kind of a wrap?" + +"Nossah. Dere was a lil' brack shawl er-hangin' on 'er arm; nuffin +else." + +Warriner glanced at me. "Keep that in mind," he said quietly. He turned +again to Effingham. "Did she ask you for anything?" he continued. + +"Nossah." + +"I believe you're lying to me. Just think it over ... carefully now." +With the greatest deliberation Warriner took some strands of coarse +green and yellow worsted from his pocket, and proceeded to tie them into +an intricate-appearing knot. Effingham watched him with concentrated and +fascinated attention. . + +"Well?" said Warriner sharply, and leaned forward with the variegated +knot depending from his forefinger. Effingham shivered, and backed away. + +"I do 'member one lil' thing," stammered the old man. "Mis' Eunice, she +done tole me to-gib 'er----" + +"The master-key?" + +"Yassah, dat's ezackly what she done said. She 'splained the doctah +might want to go in the liburry befo' I come back." + +"Then you did give it to Miss Eunice?" + +"She grabbed it fum me, right outen my han', and tole me to git erlong. +An' dat's de whole Gawd's truf, Marse Chalmers." + +"All right," nodded Warriner, and Effingham retired with every +indication that he was glad to get away. + +"Anything is voodoo to one of the old-time darkies," smiled Warriner. "A +bit of colored ribbon and two crossed sticks is a good enough 'cunjer' +for almost any emergency." + +"I recall your threat at the inquest about the postern-door," I +assented. "It brought home the bacon without delay. All the same, my +dear chap, you must admit that these revelations are most disturbing. I +don't know----" + +"----what to think of Eunice Trevor." Warriner had interrupted to +finish out my sentence for me. "But let me sum up my conclusions to +date," he continued. + +"Miss Trevor was on the library terrace around one o'clock. Presumably +she received a signal from the observation point on Sugar Loaf that +Francis Graeme was lying dead, and that she might safely enter the room, +and abstract the iron despatch-box which was supposed to contain the +will disinheriting John Thaneford. She hadn't the nerve to examine the +box in the dead man's presence, or she may have been alarmed by some +interruption from without--say Effingham's summons to luncheon. The +thought occurred to her of blinding her own trail, and so she snatched a +cocoon at random from the case of mounted specimens, daubed it with +library gum, and stuck it on the crack of the postern-door, of course +from the outside, as she was making her escape by the secret entrance. +Naturally she was not aware that, in her haste, she had dropped one of +her roses in the passageway. + +"In the seclusion of her room she opened and thoroughly searched the +box, but found only the original will in which John Thaneford had been +named the residuary legatee. The natural explanation would be that +Francis Graeme had been prevented from carrying out his intention of +making you his heir, and that no later instrument was in existence. In +her devotion to John Thaneford's interests, it would now become +necessary for her to get the despatch-box back in the library before the +tragedy should be discovered and the room carefully examined. She found +her opportunity when Doctor Marcy went to meet Betty, leaving Effingham +on guard at the library door. You remember the darky telling us that she +had a shawl on her arm, an obvious means of concealing such an object as +the despatch-box. Then she took the master-key from him----" + +"Why did she wait so long?" I interrupted. "She might never have had +that chance." + +"Well, at the first opening of the library door she may have been too +unnerved to risk it. You recall that she fainted at the moment when +Marcus, the house-boy, made the discovery of the body. + +"In the second place the box is rather bulky, and she would have found +great difficulty in placing it in position, under the alert and curious +eyes of the servants. Finally, she may have had some thought of +re-entering the room by means of the postern-door, which still remained +unlocked." + +"A desperate _dernier ressort_," I observed. "Somebody would have +certainly seen her." + +"Granted. Anyway Betty's arrival did give her a chance, and she was +quick to take advantage of it. + +"Well, that's my case," concluded Warriner. "How does it strike you?" + +"It has its weak points." + +"Agreed." + +"Who unlocked the library door when Doctor Marcy returned with my Cousin +Betty?" + +"Marcy says it was Effingham. Miss Trevor would want to get the +master-key out of her possession the instant that she had accomplished +her purpose of replacing the despatch-box. And somehow she managed it, +even though Betty and the doctor arrived on the scene a trifle in +advance of Effingham's return with the ammonia." + +"Very well; we'll drop that issue for the present. Assuming that you +have fairly reconstructed the action connected with the abstraction of +the despatch-box and its return to the room, there still remains the +question of how Francis Graeme came to his death. Was it the accident of +his falling and striking his head on that same iron box, or was he +attacked from behind? Remember that the postern-door was unlocked all +the time." + +"I don't think it was Eunice Trevor who killed him," returned Warriner. +"Of course, it is conceivable that she entered by the secret way, struck +Graeme down, and escaped with the despatch-box; everything else +following as before. But, in the first place, she is a woman, and below +the normal feminine in the matter of physique. An assault of this +nature is no child's play, even granting the element of complete +surprise. Secondly, it is pretty clear that she entered the library in +obedience to a signal from John Thaneford. He had been watching the +progress of events through his wonderful telephoto lens, and the waving +of a handkerchief told her that the way was open." + +"How about Thaneford himself?" + +"Assuming that it was a murder, I still see no ground for trying to fix +the guilt on him. He could hardly have approached the library that +morning without being seen by Zack and Zeb." + +"He might have had an accomplice, or rather a tool. But I suppose that +hypothesis is open to the same objection--the continued presence of the +two men who were mowing the lawn?" + +"Yes and no," returned Warriner thoughtfully. "A white man certainly +would be noticed. But there are always negroes coming and going about +our Southern houses, and Zeb and Zack would have paid no attention to +anyone of their own color. Moreover, there are plenty of bad niggers +capable of cutting your throat for a couple of dollars." + +"But think of the risk involved in using such an instrument!" I +exclaimed. "And somehow I can't quite believe it of John Thaneford, +heartily as I dislike him. I can understand his committing this alleged +crime with his own hand, but I don't see him hiring a black thug to act +for him." + +"Nor I," agreed Warriner. "It isn't in the picture." + +"And so we come back to the verdict of the coroner's jury: Dead by the +visitation of God. Only it's curious----" + +"Yes?" + +"----that John Thaneford should have had such definite foreknowledge +that the visitation in question was impending. Remember the look-out on +Sugar Loaf and the handkerchief marked with his initials." + +"It's a blind alley right enough," assented Warriner. He picked up the +spy glass with which he had been experimenting, and looked it over with +minute attention. "Did you ever hear," he asked, "that in his younger +days Fielding Thaneford was considered to be an expert in the science of +optics? He made a number of improvements in lenses, and enjoyed a +reputation quite analogous to that of John Brashear, of Pittsburg. I +dare say he constructed this very lens." + +"But on the twenty-first of June, this year of grace, the old man was +physically helpless. He couldn't have walked ten feet without +assistance." + +"I'm not trying to bring him into it," replied Warriner calmly. "I +merely state another fact that should be borne in mind." + + * * * * * + +The noise of wheels on the gravelled driveway announced the arrival of a +visitor, and presently I recognized John Thaneford's voice inquiring for +Betty. It annoyed me that he should come to the house, but Betty had +given him the appointment, and I had no shadow of an excuse for +interfering. After fidgetting around for some ten minutes I begged +Warriner to make himself at home, and left the house for the ostensible +purpose of giving some directions to the workmen who were relaying a +brick wall leading to the glass-houses. But I kept an eye on the front +door, and when, a quarter of an hour later, John Thaneford finally made +his appearance, I managed to meet him on the portico. One glance at his +dark face satisfied me as to the nature of the answer he had received +from Betty. That was all I wanted to know, and I would have passed him +with a bare word and nod. But he would not have it so. + +"I have just one thing to say to you, Cousin Hugh," he began. + +Cousin Hugh again! It was astonishing what concentrated insolence this +rural bully contrived to put into this ostensibly friendly salutation. +But no matter; I did not intend to have any brawling on my own doorstep, +and I determined to take no notice of covert provocation. + +"And it's this," he continued. "The girl or the 'Hundred'--you can +choose between them. But both you shan't have." + +He waited for me to reply, but I only stood there and looked at him. + +"Which is it to be?" he asked, his thick, black eyebrows narrowing to a +V-point. + +"I've nothing to say to you," I answered. + +"Very good. Only remember that I played fair, and gave you your choice. +Good evening, Cousin Hugh, and damn you for a white-livered Yank that I +wouldn't feed to my hawgs." He raised his hand as though half inclined +to strike me; then he changed his mind and dropped it. + +"Please don't hesitate on my account," I observed. "I can take whatever +you may be able to give." Whereupon he favored me with another scowl, +and departed. + +"That puts him out of the running," I reflected with no small +satisfaction. But my complacency was short-lived. Chalmers Warriner +stayed to dinner, and my worst fears were confirmed; Betty did call him +by his Christian name, and the two were evidently on the very best of +terms. I dare say I must have sulked a little, for after Warriner had +driven back to Calverton Betty became appallingly distant and reserved. +I had to make my peace, and I did so with all humbleness. I fancied that +there was a subdued glint of amusement in Betty's eye as I stumbled +through some banal excuses about a splitting headache--I am nothing if +not original. But she gave me absolution very generously, and we both +agreed that Warriner was one of the best fellows on earth. + +"It's mostly on account of the reputation of the 'Hundred' for +hospitality," added Betty. "You know, we think a lot of that down here, +and you are now the head of the family. Of course you understand; and +so, good night, Cousin Hugh." + +Cousin Hugh again! But with a difference; all the difference. + + * * * * * + +I had been sitting alone in the library after the retirement of the +ladies. It struck eleven o'clock, late hours for country mice, and I +rose to go to my room. Just then the telephone bell rang, and I found +Warriner on the wire. "I have this moment learned," he began, "that a +negro named Dave Campion was arrested late this evening, charged with +the murder of Francis Graeme. You had better come to Calverton the first +thing in the morning." + + + + +Chapter XI + +_The Rider of the Black Horse_ + + +Given the exigency, and through what tortuous and secret channels will +not the human mind seek to communicate with its kind! Call it telepathy +or what not, the phenomenon itself is a well established fact; one that +we accept without attempting to explain it. + +Not a syllable of Warriner's message had crossed my lips, and yet by +breakfast time the bruit of it was in the very air; the negroes were +collecting here and there in little whispering groups; I overheard +Eunice Trevor telephoning to Calverton for a confirmation of the report; +finally, Betty herself asked me what it all meant. I had just finished +telling her the bare facts when Warriner's car came swiftly up the +drive; he alighted and we went into the library. + +"No use in your going over until three o'clock," he began. "At least +that is the time set by the magistrate for the hearing, and it will take +several hours to get the material witnesses together. I believe that +summonses have been served on some of your people, including Marcus, the +house-boy, and Zack and Zeb." + +"Who is the man, and what were the circumstances of his arrest?" I +asked. + +"His name, as I told you last night, is Dave Campion." + +"Oh, I know him," put in Betty. "He is a sort of peddler; at least he +travels around with a miscellaneous lot of perfumes and hair ribbons for +the women, and cheap safety razors for the men." + +"Ostensibly so," nodded Warriner, "but his real business is +bootlegging." + +"You mean whiskey?" + +"Yes, and worse. You have heard of 'coke'?" + +"Cocaine powder?" + +"Yes." + +"'Happy dust' the darkies call it," added Betty. "Last month father +forbade Campion to ever come on the place again." + +Warriner looked interested. "I suppose Campion resented the exclusion," +he remarked. But on this point Betty could say nothing; Mr. Graeme had +merely told her that the negro peddler had been warned off the "Hundred" +property. + +"He is a smart nigger," explained Warriner. "And so light in color that +you would hardly suspect the dash of the tar brush, as the English say. +He was educated at Hampton-Sidney, and talks just like a white +man--rather proud of it, too--but worthless in every way, and a menace +to the community." + +"Education then isn't any guarantee of morality among the negroes," I +observed. + +"Why should it be any more than with our own class?" retorted Warriner. +"No, Campion is a bad nigger, and even Hampton-Sidney couldn't make him +over." + +"But about the arrest?" I urged. + +"The fellow was drunk last night, and openly displayed a handsome +matchbox; gold with a turquoise set in the spring knob. Several persons +recognized it as belonging to Mr. Francis Graeme; in fact, it bore his +initials. The police were informed, and the arrest followed." + +"No explanations were made, I suppose." + +"I told you he was a smart nigger. Not a word could they get out of him, +beyond a general denial of any wrongdoing." + +"Dave Campion was at the 'Hundred' the day my father died," said Betty. +"I met him as I was riding down the Green Drive on my way to +'Powersthorp.' I dare say he took the drive in preference to the +regular carriage road so as to avoid observation." + +"About what time of the day was that?" asked Warriner. + +"Close to one o'clock. I was lunching with Hilda Powers, and had been +late in starting." + +"That's an important point," mused Warriner. + +"Do you think I ought to go to the hearing and testify?" continued +Betty, evidently troubled. + +"Not the least in the world," said Warriner promptly. "Sheriff Greenough +may be countrified, but he can see through a grindstone with a hole in +it as quickly as the next man. Undoubtedly he knows all about Campion's +visit to the 'Hundred' that morning, and has his witnesses to prove it." + +Warriner had business farther on, and presently he left us with the +understanding that he would be at the magistrate's court at three +o'clock. I was rather surprised to hear Betty express a wish to +accompany me to Calverton. "Not to the hearing," she explained; "I don't +think I could stand that. But I have some shopping to do, and then I'll +go to Mary Crandall's for a cup of tea. You can pick me up there." + +I felt bound in courtesy to invite Miss Trevor to make one of the +party. But she refused, with a curtness that was almost rude. "I shan't +waste any time running up blind alleys," she said sharply. "There won't +be a shred of direct evidence against Campion, and the Court will be +obliged to discharge him." + +"But the matchbox," I persisted. "Surely he will have to explain very +convincingly how it came to be in his possession." + +"Well, you might ask Judge Hendricks why he doesn't read the papers once +in a while," replied Miss Trevor, her black eyes snapping and her thin +upper lip curling disdainfully. Evidently it was not for me to argue the +case any further, and, personally, I was only too pleased that I should +now have Betty to myself on the trip to Calverton and back. + +Shortly after luncheon we started, Betty driving her own pony pair to a +trim basket-phaeton. To think of going anywhere nowadays in other form +of conveyance than the gas-wagon! But I fully appreciated the +distinction of an equipage really well turned out, and then I was +sitting at Betty Graeme's side; yes, I found it all very pleasant. + +Arrived at Calverton I dropped Betty at White and Callender's, put up +the team at a livery stable, and found my way to Justice Hendricks' +chambers. Warriner joined me a few minutes later, and presently my +former acquaintance, Sheriff Greenough, brought in the prisoner and the +hearing began. + +Dave Campion was a rather good-looking mulatto, keen-eyed, and +apparently quite able to take care of his own interests. On being +questioned by the judge, he made no secret of his having been at the +"Hundred" the morning of June the twenty-first. + +"Had you not been warned by Mr. Francis Graeme not to trespass upon his +property?" asked Judge Hendricks. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Why did you disregard that injunction?" + +"I went to the 'Hundred' on business." + +"What sort of business?" + +"Private, sir. With Mr. Graeme himself." + +"Did you see him?" + +"No, sir. Marcus, the house-boy, told me that he was at work in the +library, and had left orders not to be disturbed." + +"Then you were in the house?" + +"Yes, sir. I went to the kitchen door, and Marcus took me to the +butler's pantry." + +"Where was Effingham?" + +"At work in the dining room. I didn't see him at all." + +"How long were you in the house?" + +"About twenty minutes, I should say, sir. It was just quarter after one +o'clock when I went away." + +"What did you do then?" + +"I went to the south lawn, and saw Zack Cameron." + +"He bought some article, or articles, from you?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How did Mr. Graeme's matchbox come into your possession?" + +"I found it in the road nearly opposite S. Saviour's Church?" + +"When?" + +"About two weeks ago, sir." + +"And you came to the 'Hundred' intending to return it to Mr. Graeme?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"That's all for the present. No; wait a moment. What particular article +did you sell to Zack Cameron?" + +Campion hesitated for a barely perceptible interval; then he answered +steadily: "A pint of whiskey, sir." + +"You knew that you were breaking the law?" + +"Yes, sir." + +On the whole Campion's testimony had been in his favor. His answers had +been clear and apparently ingenuous, and his frank admission of the +minor offence of illicit liquor selling added weight to his other +statements. + +Zack Cameron, on being closely interrogated, owned that he had not been +entirely truthful about the presence of strangers at the "Hundred" on +the morning in question. He admitted that the peddler, Dave Campion, had +appeared on the south lawn a few minutes after he and Zeb has started on +their post-meridian stint. + +"What did you buy of him?" + +Zack rolled his eyes, and looked excessively uncomfortable. + +"Campion says it was a pint of whiskey. Is that true?" + +"Yassah, dat am puffeckly c'rect. You see, Boss, I had a toofache----" + +"Stand down," ordered the magistrate, and Marcus was called. + +The house-boy corroborated in general the statements made by Campion. He +had admitted the peddler at the back entrance, and had taken him to the +butler's pantry. Campion had asked to see Mr. Graeme, and had been told +that he was engaged. + +"Were you with Campion all the time he was in the house?" asked Judge +Hendricks. + +"Yassah, 'cept when Mr. Effingham done call me into the dining room to +help him turn ober the rug." + +"Five minutes perhaps?" + +But Marcus could not be positive about the elapsed period. He could only +assert that when he returned to the pantry Campion had gone; presumably +he had let himself out. + +"But there is a door from the pantry into the short passage that leads +to the library, isn't there?" + +"Yassah." + +"How about Effingham's master-key; did you ever hear of it?" + +Marcus grinned all over with the irresistible comedy of his race. +"Eberybody know all about 'um," he chuckled throatily. "Mr. Effingham +hid 'um behind clock like old dog wif bone. Yah! yah!" + +"Then it was no particular secret, the master-key and its hiding place?" + +"Nossah." + +"That will do. Let's have the prisoner again." + +Campion remained perfectly cool and self-possessed. He readily agreed +that he had been left alone in the pantry for a period of five minutes; +it might even have been longer. He admitted that he had gone to the +library door, and had knocked two or three times. + +"That may have been what disturbed Eunice Trevor," whispered Warriner in +my ear. "Just at that moment she must have been in the room with the +despatch-box in her hand." + +"You got no reply to your knock?" continued Judge Hendricks. + +"No, sir." + +"Did you know of the master-key?" + +"Yes, sir. Marcus showed me its hiding place behind the clock, and we +had been laughing at old Effingham's simplicity." + +"Then it didn't occur to you that you might use the master-key?" + +"Well, I didn't fancy the idea of actually intruding upon Mr. Graeme. +You remember, sir, that he had forbidden me to come on the place." + +"Yet you summoned enough courage to knock?" + +"That was a little different, sir, from walking in on him unannounced. +Besides, I really did wish to see him." + +"For what purpose?" + +It was the crucial question, and we all craned our necks in our +eagerness to catch the reply. But Campion's voice was without a tremor. + +"To restore the matchbox and claim the twenty dollars reward," he +answered. + +"What proof can you give that the article in question was lost and a +reward offered for its return?" + +The mulatto drew a folded newspaper from his pocket, and handed it to +Judge Hendricks. It was a copy of the _King William County Clarion_, and +a paragraph in the advertising columns was heavily blue-pencilled. It +was to the effect that a gold and turquoise-jewelled matchbox, bearing +the initials F. H. G., had been lost on the road between Calverton and +Lynn. A reward of twenty dollars was offered for its return to Mr. +Graeme of "Hildebrand Hundred." + +"The date of this copy of the Clarion," said Judge Hendricks, frowning +portentously, "is June 10, 1919. In the absence of any further evidence +I direct the discharge of the prisoner." + + * * * * * + +"There still remain some interesting possibilities," said Warriner to +me, as we walked down the street. "On one side of the locked door that +black shadow of a woman, ready to do anything to save her lover's +fortune; on the other, that yellow-faced scoundrel, eager for plunder, +fingering the master-key, and trying to muster up enough courage to use +it. And between them, a dead man. Or was he dead at that particular +moment? Perhaps the two of them, working together, might have brought +the thing about." + +"But Campion could hardly have committed the murder, returned the +master-key to its position behind the clock, and left the house, by the +kitchen entrance, in the short space of five minutes," I objected. + +"Well, how is this for an hypothesis?" retorted Warriner. "Campion is +the tool employed by John Thaneford to do the dirty work. He is +instructed to be at the library door at a few minutes past one. +Thaneford, with his telephoto lens, sees that Graeme is dozing in his +chair. He signals to Eunice, who enters by the postern-door and admits +the waiting Campion, the master-key not being used at all. The crime +accomplished, both escape by the secret door, leaving the cocoon gummed +in place to destroy the clue." + +"Rather fortuitous, don't you think? The whole train of circumstances +goes off the track in case Mr. Graeme doesn't fall asleep at just the +right moment." + +"Of course," agreed Warriner. "And I was beginning to fancy myself as an +amateur sleuth," he added a trifle ruefully. + +"Anyway you have the magnifying telephoto lens and the purloined cocoon +to your credit, my dear Chalmers. As for the rest of it, we may as well +fall back on our coroner's verdict: Dead by the visitation of God. Will +you come back to dinner this evening?" + +But Warriner declined, pleading the pressure of his laboratory work. I +picked up Betty at the Crandall's, and we drove back slowly to the +"Hundred." + +It was nearing sunset as we rolled up the drive under the arching shadow +of the lindens. Suddenly Betty started, and grasped my arm. Directly +opposite rose the massive bulk of the Sugar Loaf. In an open space a +portion of the woodland road was visible, where it wound around the +upper escarpment of the dome; and there, outlined against the level rays +of the sinking sun, stood motionless a great black horse. The powerful +figure of the rider was readily recognizable--John Thaneford. + +"He told me that he was going away to-day," whispered Betty, as though +fearful of being overheard. "For an indefinite period," she added. + +"Forever, I hope," I muttered under my breath. + +The silhouette of horse and rider stood out stark, almost colossal, +against the crimsoning skyline. But the black shadow of Sugar Loaf was +lengthening swiftly over the level meadows that margined the little +river Whippany; the advancing darkness seemed to be sucking out, in its +chill embrace, all the warmth and brightness of the summer day. Betty +shivered, touched up the horses and we speeded on. But so long as I +could see the great black horseman remained motionless, watchful, +eternally menacing. + + + + +Chapter XII + +_Safe Find, Safe Bind_ + + +Let me now pass over some six months concerning which there are no +events of particular moment to be recorded--I mean in connection with +the tragedy. + +Late in December Betty and I were married very quietly-at S. Saviour's +Church, Bob Mercer coming down to assist in the ceremony. During the +summer and autumn I had been absent almost continuously in Philadelphia, +engaged in winding up the trusteeship which had formed the bulk of my +professional work. Of course, I had already come to a full understanding +with my dear girl, and it was quite natural that she should continue to +live on at the "Hundred," the only home that she had ever known. The +presence of Mrs. Anthony preserved the convenances; and, after long +cogitation, I had formally requested Eunice Trevor to stay on, in her +old capacity of paid companion to Betty. Perhaps it was an unwise +decision, but let me briefly recapitulate the influencing +circumstances. Here they are: + +Eunice was Betty's first cousin, and the two girls had been brought up +together, almost from infancy. Moreover, they were friendly, if not +precisely intimate. Eunice was absolutely penniless, and I could not +send her away, even with provision for her financial future, without a +full explanation to Betty. Now whatever my surmises and suspicions there +was no direct evidence that Francis Graeme's death had been due to +violence; he was resting quietly in S. Saviour's churchyard, and Betty's +sorrow ought not to be reawakened except for grave cause. Whatever part +Eunice Trevor had taken in the tragedy--always assuming that there had +been a tragedy--must have been a consequent of her unfortunate +entanglement with John Thaneford; and God knows she had been punished +for her fault through the irremediable wound to her affections. I could +not believe, moreover, that she had been an active participant in any +crime, overt or covert. Circumstances might have made her a confidante, +even a tool, but she had not been an actual accessory to Francis +Graeme's death, either before or after the event. So much by way of +simple justice to the girl. + +In the second place, the chapter of incidents seemed to have closed with +the acquittal of Dave Campion and the disappearance of John Thaneford. +No word of any kind had come from the latter, and his whereabouts +remained entirely unknown; it was a fair presumption that he never would +reappear to trouble us. His financial affairs were hopelessly involved, +and "Thane Court" itself was to be sold at public auction in February in +order to satisfy the demands of the creditors. + +And finally, while the young woman's conduct had been indiscreet, if not +absolutely disloyal, her lesson had been an exceedingly bitter one, and +it was charitable to assume that it had been taken to heart. After my +marriage to Betty in December it would be time enough to consider making +other arrangements. Yes, my decision was taken, and now it was necessary +to communicate it to Eunice herself. + +Miss Trevor listened to my proposal in stony silence, but in the first +flush of my new happiness I could easily overlook even a direct +ungraciousness. Mrs. Anthony was old and a semi-invalid; Betty would +have her cousin's companionship during my long continued absence North, +and that was enough. The upshot of our conference was that Miss Trevor +agreed to stay on at the "Hundred." She admitted that the arrangement +would be convenient, as the school position for which she had applied +would not be available until the following September. + +"Then it is settled," I concluded, with as much cordiality as I could +put into my voice. "I'm trusting Betty in your hands; you'll take good +care of her." + +"Yes, Mr. Hildebrand, I can certainly promise to do that," she began; +then she broke off and looked away as though regretting that she had +said even that much. + +"That's all I want," I said, "and I'm glad we understand each other." I +made a half motion to offer my hand, but she did not appear to notice +the gesture, and we parted. Again I felt a twinge of disquietude, but +the affair had been decided, and it was too late to reopen the +discussion. A strange creature was Eunice Trevor, but I believe even now +that she did love Betty Graeme. If only she had never looked into John +Thaneford's baleful black eyes! + +As I have said before, my marriage to Betty took place in the last part +of December. We went to Aiken for the honeymoon, intending to be back at +the "Hundred" for the Christmas holidays. But we had been gone only +four days when we were recalled by Mrs. Anthony's fatal attack of +pneumonia. She died on December the twenty-third, and the holly wreaths +and mistletoe remained unhung for our first Christmas in the old +homestead, while the festivities of the season had to be confined to the +servants' hall and the quarters. But we had Chalmers Warriner and Doctor +Marcy in for dinner, and in my heart of hearts I was not sorry that the +big, county family functions had to be postponed indefinitely. I am a +quiet person, and I best enjoy my happiness when there is no one to look +on. A selfish attitude perhaps, but I try to pay my debts to humanity in +other ways. Generally Betty sees to it that I do so. + +In February "Thane Court" was sold at auction, and I bought it in. The +property marched with that of the "Hundred," and being so well rid of +one objectionable neighbor I had no mind to run any chances. Moreover, +the land was of excellent quality, impoverished, it is true, by want of +care and scientific cropping, but still capable of revival under +reasonable management. I had bid it in for a price far under its real +value, and I could easily get a tenant in case I concluded not to farm +it myself. The house was old and in poor condition, and I determined to +pull it down in the spring. + +But I was spared the trouble, for one windy night in March I was +awakened by the light pressure of Betty's hand on my shoulder. "There is +a big fire over in the west," she said excitedly, "and I think it must +be 'Thane Court.'" + +I scrambled into some clothes, summoned all the men within reach, and +made the best of my way to the scene of the conflagration, rather more +than a mile distant. + +Betty was right. "Thane Court" was on fire, and it was evident, at a +glance, that the house was doomed. Buckets and handpumps were useless, +and long before the fire apparatus from Calverton could cover the ten +miles of rutted, frozen roads the edifice had been reduced to a smoking +ruin. + +It was three or four days later before we could venture to explore the +smouldering debris. The furniture and other interior fittings were old +and of no great value; all, of course, had been totally destroyed. The +only thing left intact was a small safe, which I was informed, had stood +in the room used by the elder Thaneford as an office. Now John Thaneford +had not appeared at the sale, nor had he taken any steps to protect what +interests he still retained in the estate. Everything in and about +"Thane Court" had become my legal property, and so I had no hesitation +in ordering the safe taken over to the "Hundred," it being my intention +to open it and examine the contents. Of course any personal property +would belong to John Thaneford, and I was quite sure of my own good +faith in the matter. It might be impossible to locate the missing owner +for some time to come, but we could cross that bridge when we came to +it. + +The safe was of comparatively modern workmanship, and seemed to have +suffered no damage from its ordeal by fire. It was equipped with the +usual numbered dial lock, and, naturally, I did not possess the +combination. I could have sent for a safe expert from Baltimore, but the +expense would have been considerable. Or mechanics from Calverton could +have forced an opening by means of the oxygen flame, but so violent a +procedure would have destroyed the safe itself, and I was not quite +certain that I had the right to take such drastic action. True, John +Thaneford had abandoned his property, and everything had been sold +without reserve; nevertheless, I wanted to be sure of my ground before +going further. + +The safe had been thoroughly cleansed, and now stood temporarily under +the principal staircase. I never passed it without an inquiring glance; +somehow Betty and I could not resist the temptation of speculating about +it; we were as curious as children, ever intent upon discovering what +secrets it might hold. But how to find the key to the mystery? + +And then one evening Betty had a brilliant idea. "Do you remember," she +asked, "a series of numbers that I got from Mr. Thaneford the day he +died?" + +"Of course." I pulled out my note-book, and read the formula aloud: +"1-4-2-4-8." + +"He certainly wanted to tell me something," persisted Betty. "Why +shouldn't it have been the very combination we are looking for?" + +"Easy enough to find out," I answered. I went over to the safe, knelt +down and took hold of the knob. Betty stood at my elbow, the note-book +in her hand. "Ready?" she asked. "The numbers are: 1-4-2-4-8." + +I turned the knob, counting the clicks as they passed. The door yielded +and swung open. + +Not much of a find after all--nothing but a leather-bound book +resembling a diary in appearance. One of the covers had been slightly +scorched by the intense heat, but the MS. seemed to be in excellent +condition. I opened the book, scanned two or three lines, and looked up +at Betty, who was leaning over my shoulder. + +"Why it's just a jumble of letters!" she exclaimed in poignant +disappointment. "I can't read a word of it; what does it mean?" + +"Undoubtedly written in cypher," I replied. We looked at one another and +laughed. Here indeed was an anti-climax. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +_Le Chiffre Indechiffrable_ + + +During the world war I had been on duty in the intelligence department, +and I had taken much interest in the science of cryptography, although +not connected personally with the handling of cypher despatches. I could +therefore explain to Betty that cypher systems fall under four general +heads. + +1. The giving to words, or groups of letters, a purely arbitrary +significance. + +2. The use of mechanical transformers in the shape of a screen or grid. + +3. The substitution of numbers or other symbols for the original +characters. + +4. The transposition of letters according to a constant formula. + +"Obviously," I began, "the example before our eyes--long lines of +letters without breaks or marks of punctuation--does not come under the +first heading. It contains no recognizable words, or phonetic groups, +which might correspond in the code book to actual sentences. For +example, in the ordinary commercial systems, the word _Barbarian_ may +mean: 'The wheat market is advancing.' But if I cable the word +_Civilisation_ I really intend to say: 'Australian wool crop is a +failure.' The principal value of the elaborate code system is in the +saving of cable tolls, a single word conveying the meaning of an entire +sentence. It is necessary, of course, that all of the correspondents +should possess individual copies of the code, and loss or theft of the +book discloses the whole secret. Do you understand?" + +Betty thought she did, and seemed so interested that I was emboldened to +assume my best lecture manner. + +"Under the second head we may consider the mechanical device known as +the grid, grille, or screen. + +"The instrument in question consists of a plate, usually made of metal, +pierced by a number of holes of different sizes and irregularly spaced. +When the writer sets out to prepare his message he lays the grid on the +paper, and marks in the letters making up the words of his despatch +through the apertures. Then the screen is removed, and the blank spaces +are filled up with writing which has nothing to do with the real subject +matter, the process being repeated until the entire message has been +coded. The recipient is provided with a precisely similar grid. By +applying it to the communication he is then able to read, through the +holes, the text of the secret message. The ancient Romans used a +variation of this method, somewhat as follows. A long strip of paper was +wound spirally about a cylinder or cone; the writing was then done +parallel with the axis of the metal form. When unrolled, the +communication seemed to be made up of arbitrary signs really parts of +letters which were entirely unintelligible. The recipient, however, by +rewinding the strip on a precisely similar form, would be able to read +the message. + +"Of course we may rule out the mechanical device. In this case we have a +long communication of several hundred words, and the grille would be +impracticable--too wasteful of space." + +"That disposes of No. 2," said Betty hopefully. "What next?" + +"In class 3 the coded message consists of numbers, or even of pure +symbols--stars and daggers or what not. The latter variation is +generally pure substitution, and may be called kindergarten cryptology. +No one but a rank amateur would employ such a system. + +"In the numeral code each correspondent is supplied with a dictionary, +the same edition of course. Each word of the original message is +represented by a group of five numbers, two designating the location of +the required word on the page, and the remaining three denoting the +number of the page itself. The process, both of coding and of uncoding, +is very laborious, and hardly pays for the trouble involved. Another way +to use the two dictionaries is to interpret the words of the code +message by substituting other words removed a certain definite distance +up or down the column. Suppose it is agreed that 'fifteen down' shall be +the key, and that the despatch, as received, reads: _Bull Collier_. The +recipient takes his copy of the dictionary, looks up the word _Bull_, +and counts down fifteen, getting the word _Buy_. Similarly, _Collier_ +gives him _Copper_, and the decoded message will mean: 'Buy copper.' +Finally, we may use a predetermined series of numbers as a key formula. +We then divide the message to be coded into the same number of letter +groups, and work out an intricate transposition, reversing the process +in order to decode." + +"Rather makes your head ache," remarked Betty plaintively. "Besides, +this cypher doesn't use numbers at all." + +"Right you are," I acquiesced, "and we are undoubtedly dealing with a +system of the fourth order in which the letters are transposed according +to a constant prearranged formula. + +"Let us first consider the simple form; the regular substitution of one +letter of the alphabet for another. For example, X always takes the +place of E, while B invariably means T, and so on. Such cyphers are +easily read by the expert, who works on the principle that all the +letters of the English alphabet may be ranked on a numerical scale of +average frequency in use. The letter E heads the list; consequently, if +any particular symbol predominates in the message it must correspond to +that hard-worked vowel. Again, as _the_ is the commonest word group in +the language we are quickly able to identify what stands for T and H. +But this is quite too transparent a code for serious use." + +"Then don't waste time over it," said my practical-minded wife. "Old Mr. +Thaneford was not a foolish person." + +I took a long look at the incomprehensible jumble of letters. + +"There are any number of formulae," I went on, "by means of which we may +effect a transposition of letters, the substitution being variable or +irregular. For instance, the 'Checkerboard,' invented by the Russian +nihilists, and similar devices, most of which depend for secrecy upon +single or double key-words. Perhaps the cleverest system in this group +is the cypher called by the French, 'Le Chiffre Indechiffrable.'" + +"'The Undecypherable Cypher,'" commented Betty. "Sounds rather +hopeless." + +"Well, you can decide for yourself if there is any reasonable +possibility of unravelling it, unless you are lucky enough to stumble on +the key-word." + +"Try me," she challenged. + +"To begin with, you write down the twenty-six letters of the English +alphabet in a horizontal line, indenting it the space of a single +letter." + +"Indenting?" + +"You'll understand when you see the diagram I'm preparing." + +"Oh, you're making a magic square!" + +"Yes. Now you repeat the process twenty-five times, the only difference +being that all these other lines begin at the left-hand margin, each +with a different letter in their strict alphabetical order. Your +diagram will then look like this. For the present I am putting it in +skeleton form:" + + A B C D E F G.............W X Y + A B C D E F G H.............X Y Z + B C D E F G H I.............Y Z A + C D E F G H I J.............Z A B + D E F G H I J K.............A B C + E F G H I J K L.............B C D + F G H I J K L M.............C D E + ................................. + ................................. + W X Y Z A B C D.............T U V + X Y Z A B C D E.............U V W + Y Z A B C D E F.............V W X + +"Now choose a key-word, or preferably, a key-sentence. For simplicity's +sake, we'll take the short word: BEAD, and suppose we wish to send in +cypher the message: CAB FEED." + +"Which is pure nonsense." + +"Granted. I merely select two words at random which can be coded on my +incomplete square. If I had the whole diagram drawn out the message +could be anything you like." + +"Go on," commanded Betty, her eyes snapping. + +"First you write down your message; then above it you put the key-word, +repeated in whole or in part as many times as may be necessary, thus:" + + B E A D B E A + C A B F E E D + +"Turning to the diagram you find B, the first letter of the key-word, in +the top horizontal line; and C, the first letter of the word to be put +into code, in the left-hand vertical line. Now look for the letter at +the intersection of the vertical column headed by B and the horizontal +line which C begins. You will find it to be E. Set this down as the +first symbol of your cypher message, and obtain the other letters in a +similar manner. Your despatch will then read: E F C J G J E. As an +object lesson, place these letters under your original arrangement of +key-word and message, thus:" + + B E A D B E A + C A B F E E D + E F C J G J E + +"You see at a glance that the substitution is irregular and variant. For +example, the symbol E stands for both C and D. Again, the letter E in +the word F E E D is at one time represented by G and secondly by J." + +"How do you translate the cypher?" asked Betty. + +"Merely reverse the process. You write down the cypher message, and +above it as many letters of your key-word as may be needed, thus:" + + B E A D B E A + E F C J G J E + +"Now follow down the vertical column headed by B until you reach the +symbol letter E; then move your pointer over left to the end of that +horizontal line which will give you C, the first letter of the original +message. Understand?" + +Betty tried her hand, and quickly caught the trick; really it was very +easy. + +"One more point; it is better not to divide the cypher message into word +groups as the continuous string of letters looks more mystifying. There +is no difficulty in picking out the sense when decoding." + +"Finally, you notice that the upper left-hand space in the diagram is +vacant; consequently you must not use the letter Z in either the +key-word or in the message to be coded. But this restriction is not of +any practical disadvantage, Z being a letter that is seldom used. It +will often appear, of course, in the cypher itself." + +"Certainly it is all very simple," remarked Betty. + +"But without the key-word where would you get off?" + +"I don't see how anybody could possibly work it out; why the +complications are absolutely overwhelming." + +"And you can make them still more intricate by merely using a longer +key-word, or indeed a whole sentence. For example: 'I love Betty +Hildebrand.'" + +"Everybody knows that," retorted Betty. "Still I don't mind an +occasional restatement of the established fact. Please, Hugh! I spent +any amount of time in getting those ruffles starched just so." + +Betty took the diagram and carefully tucked it away in a drawer of her +secretary. "Of course we can't be sure that old Mr. Thaneford really +used 'Le Chiffre Indechiffrable,'" she said thoughtfully. + +"Only a possibility," I agreed. + +"And without the key-word or key-sentence we shall never be any wiser +than we are." + +"Granted again." + +"So there you are. Just the same, Hugh, I wish you would make me a +complete diagram; I'd like to experiment with it." + +"I'll do it for you to-night. Here's your precious diary." + +Betty kissed me and went upstairs. It took me the best part of an hour +to draw out the diagram in full; then I had to mount it on cardboard so +as to keep it in good condition for constant handling. For the benefit +of the curious-minded I reproduce it below: + + +LE CHIFFRE INDECHIFFRABLE + + ----------------------------------------------------- + | |A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |U|V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |V|W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |W|X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |X|Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W| + ----------------------------------------------------- + |Y|Z|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X| + ----------------------------------------------------- + +Note that while the diagram is a necessary piece of machinery in using +this particular cypher system, it has no value in itself; the whole +secret depends upon the possession of the key-word or key-sentence. As +this may easily be memorized by the two correspondents there is no risk +of discovery through the accident of loss or theft. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +_Another Break in the Circle_ + + +It was the first of June and the loveliest time of the year at the +"Hundred." Why had I never realized before that, in spite of my urban +upbringing, I was a born countryman? Can there be a greater pleasure in +life than living on one's own land, and honestly plying the oldest and +most important of human industries--the tilling of the soil! Provided, +of course, that one possesses a reasonable amount of capital; the +hand-to-mouth struggle of the poor farmer is deadening to both soul and +body; as one of my less fortunate neighbors once put it: "It isn't +living; it's just staying on." + +Certainly I had no cause for complaint. The "Hundred" was easily the +best farm anywhere about. I could command sufficient ready money to be +independent of the banks, and I was beginning to learn my trade. What +more could the heart of man desire? And finally, there was Betty--but +how could one inventory that immeasurable asset! Enough that our +happiness was as complete as anything mundane could be, and I had only +to bear in mind the old Greek admonition: "Tread softly lest the high +gods overhear and be moved to celestial ire against a mortal so +felicitous!" + +Eunice Trevor was still living at the "Hundred," and the question of +that other arrangement had been suffered to remain in abeyance. I did +not fancy the ungracious task of turning her out of the house, and by +temperament I am something of an opportunist; time is the great resolver +of our difficulties; moreover, to do the woman justice, she seemed +desirous of effacing herself in every possible way; for days on end I +would hardly see her except at dinner, our one formal function. And then +one day something occurred to set me thinking, an incident small in +itself and yet curiously disquieting. + +Miss Trevor was in the habit of driving over alone to Calverton two or +three times a week. Still she was never absent more than a couple of +hours, and it was none of my business how she employed her leisure. +Betty commented upon these journeys once or twice, but neither of us +cared to press the direct inquiry; there were plenty of horses +available, and the girl's time was her own; what did it matter. + +On this particular morning I chanced to be in the house at the moment of +her return from town. She passed me in the hall, nodded briefly, and +went up to her room. As I walked through the front door I noticed a +letter lying on the threshold. I picked it up and saw that it was +addressed to Miss Eunice Trevor, Lockbox 31, Calverton, Maryland. The +handwriting was that of John Thaneford, a square, bold script with which +I was perfectly familiar. The post-mark was that of a small town in +Florida. + +So Eunice and Thaneford were engaged in correspondence, and a secret one +at that. It didn't look well, and I felt the blood reddening my temples. +After all she was my house guest and eating my bread and salt. Spy is an +ugly word, but Thaneford was an enemy, a quiescent one for the time +being, yet none the less to be guarded against. "Hildebrand Hundred" was +a goodly heritage, and it would have been his had it not been for my +fortuitous meeting with Francis Graeme. There were no immediate +prospects that Betty would present me with an heir to the property, and +I realized guiltily that I had put off the duty of making a will. +Suppose that I died intestate and without issue. Betty would have her +dower rights, but Thaneford could put in a plausible claim for +recognition as next of kin. I made instant resolve that I would see Mr. +Eldon on the morrow and erect every possible legal safeguard to conserve +Betty's interests. I could rest assured that if Thaneford were able to +get enough ready money he would fight for his alleged rights. In the +meantime, I could do nothing but let the letter lie where it had fallen. +I whistled to Gyp and strode off to the stables. At the corner of the +hedge I ventured to look back, and caught just a glimpse of feminine +drapery disappearing into the cavernous gloom of the great hall door. So +my lady had discovered her loss, and had been prompt in retrieving her +property. Very well, but I should certainly call on Mr. Eldon in the +morning. + +But, as it so often happens, my fine resolutions came to naught, and six +hours later I was on my way North, summoned by wire to the bedside of my +only living relative, my good Aunt Livy Marston, who had been more than +a mother to me for the best part of my life. Dear old lady! She finally +won her battle with death, but it was not until nearly three weeks later +that the doctors pronounced her to be out of danger, and I was free to +return home; to be precise, it was on Monday night, June the +twenty-second, that I left for Maryland, arriving at our little station +of Crown Ferry late in the afternoon of the following day. + +To my surprise Doctor Marcy, with his gig, was waiting for me. One +glance at his face was enough. I tried to speak, but a great fear +clutched at my throat. + +"Betty is perfectly well," said Marcy hastily. "She sends her love, and +is expecting you at the 'Hundred.'" + +I threw my traveling bag in behind, and climbed to my place at his side; +the doctor's whiplash flickered along the blue-roan's broad back, and we +were quickly out of earshot, so far as the station loungers were +concerned. + +"Who is it then?" I asked. + +"Eunice Trevor." + +"Yes." + +"She died day before yesterday--suddenly." + +"An accident?" + +"She was found dead, sitting in the library at the big, flat-topped +desk," and Doctor Marcy shot me a sharp glance from the remote corner of +his eye. + +"You mean that her death recalls the mystery of Francis Graeme's taking +off?" + +"Just that." + +"Go on and tell me the whole story, doctor. There's no need for us to +beat about the bush." + +"But it's so little I have to tell," protested Marcy. "The bare facts +are these:" + +"I was coming back from Lynn Saturday, and, on passing your gate, I +thought I would drive in and ask Betty for a cup of tea. Lucky I did so, +for I found her in a great state of mind. It seems that early in the +morning Eunice had shut herself up in the library on the plea of doing +some writing. She did not appear in the dining room at one o'clock, the +luncheon hour, and Effingham reported that the door was locked on the +inside. He had knocked repeatedly without getting any reply. + +"Well, you can understand how all this recalled to Betty the peculiar +circumstances surrounding Graeme's death. And the servants were scared +out of their very wits; you know by this time the psychological vagaries +of the African mind. + +"There was only one thing to do. I had Effingham produce his master-key, +and the door was opened. The room seemed to be in perfect +order--absolutely no signs of a struggle of any kind. When I passed the +screen--that same leather screen--I saw the girl. She was sitting in the +swivel-chair, but her head had fallen forward on the table. The body +was still warm, but she was stone dead." + +"Any marks of violence?" I asked, thinking of the wound on Francis +Graeme's forehead. + +"None whatever." + +"When did all this happen?" + +"To-day is Monday the twenty-second. As I told you, the day was Saturday +the twentieth. By the way, you never received Betty's telegram?" + +"No, it must have reached Bangor just after I left. Probably, it never +occurred to Aunt Livy to have it relayed to me on the train." + +"No great matter. There was nothing to be done but to put the poor girl +decently away." + +"You mean that you've had the funeral?" + +"Yes, this morning. We could get no word of you, and I rather pushed it +on Betty's account." + +"Was there an autopsy?" + +"I couldn't see any reason for it. The general indications were those of +cerebral hemorrhage, and I had no hesitation in giving apoplexy as the +cause of death. Yes, I know I changed my mind about Graeme, but in this +case there could be no doubt about it." + +"She seemed to be in excellent general health," I remarked. "Had you +ever noticed any premonitory signs--you know what I am trying to say?" + +"I never had Miss Trevor as a patient," said Marcy, "and so I can't give +any definite opinion." + +"But you wouldn't put her down--I mean on the strength of your general +observation--as predisposed to that sort of thing?" + +"No, I shouldn't." + +"You said virtually the same thing about my Cousin Francis." + +"I admit it. Still in that case the presence of an external wound gave +ample justification for going further." + +"Just one or two more questions. Was the postern-door closed?" + +"Tight as a safety vault. You and Betty have the only keys in existence +that unlock it." + +"How about the pridellas in the windows--the little ventilating +apertures?" + +"They were all shut, too. Afterwards I spoke to Warriner about that very +point, and he confirmed my impression." + +"Warriner!" + +"He arrived at the 'Hundred' very soon after I did. I believe they were +going horseback riding." + +An unworthy thought crossed my mind, but I did my best to stamp it out +of existence. Perhaps Betty had been feeling lonely during my long +absence from home--perhaps. + +"There's one thing more," continued the doctor. "Eunice had been +writing, and there were a number of sheets of MS. lying on the desk. +Betty had them sealed up, pending your return." + +"Nothing has been heard of John Thaneford, I suppose?" + +"Not that I know of." + +I relapsed into silence, and presently we were at the house. Betty was +waiting for me on the portico, and behind her loomed up the tall figure +of Chalmers Warriner. I took my dear girl in my arms, and the tears came +speedily to her relief; after all, Eunice Trevor had been her cousin and +childhood playmate. + +Betty went to her room, and Doctor Marcy had to keep a professional +engagement. Warriner and I had a whiskey-and-soda apiece, and over it +discussed the meager details of the distressing occurrence. + +"Darker than ever," I remarked, when he had finished with his version of +the affair. + +"It does look that way," he admitted. "Understand, there is no evidence +of suicide." + +"So Marcy said." + +"Her written statement may shed some light." + +"You had better stay to dinner," I suggested, "and go over it with us." + +Warriner assented with such friendly frankness that I felt a little +ashamed of my somewhat perfunctory invitation. But perhaps he had not +noticed the lack of cordiality in my voice. At any rate, he stayed, and +the dinner passed off tolerably enough. After dessert I proposed an +adjournment to the library for coffee, but Betty objected. "I couldn't +sit in that room," she protested earnestly. So we compromised on the big +living room on the left of the hall as one enters. I took the packet +Betty handed me, and broke the seal. A dozen or more sheets of +note-paper, written in pencil, fell out. + +"It's a rather difficult handwriting," said Betty, "and I suppose I'm +more familiar with it than either of you men." So Warriner and I lit our +cigars and prepared to listen. + + + + +Chapter XV + +_One Corner of the Veil_ + + +The MS. began abruptly, without either preamble or address: + + I am sitting here in the library of "Hildebrand Hundred"--the room + in which five men have met their death--and while I am waiting I + shall set down certain data and figures which should prove of more + than ordinary interest to anyone who has the wit to discern their + underlying meaning. But judge for yourselves. + + The Hildebrands have been at the "Hundred" since the settlement of + the province by the Calverts. All of the earlier generations were + decent, God-fearing, hard-drinking country squires who died + respectably with their boots off, and are now sleeping quietly in + S. Saviour's churchyard; honest gentlemen no doubt, but a little + dull after their bucolic kind. Then we come to something different. + But first let us set down the roster of the five who did not pass + away comfortably in their beds. Here it is: + + Yardley Hildebrand, elder son of Oliver Hildebrand; succeeded his + father, 1860; died, 1861; aged fifty-five; no issue. + + Randall Hildebrand, younger son of Oliver; succeeded his brother, + 1861; died, 1862; aged fifty-three; left issue. + + Horace Hildebrand, elder son of Randall; succeeded his father, + 1862; died, 1865; aged thirty-five; no issue. + + Richard Hildebrand, younger son of Randall; succeeded his brother, + 1865; died, 1918; aged eighty-three; no issue. + + Francis Hildebrand Graeme, great-nephew to Richard; succeeded his + great-uncle, 1918; died, 1919; aged forty-five; no issue. + + Now as we analyze these dates and periods we come upon some curious + coincidences; and also, upon some marked discrepancies. For + example, Yardley Hildebrand reigned for one brief year, and the + same is true of Randall Hildebrand and of Francis Graeme. But + Horace enjoyed three full years of sovereignty, while Richard was + Hildebrand of the "Hundred" for no less a period than fifty and + three years. Yet all five went to their death along an unfrequented + road, and no man can say of a certainty what was the essential + damnation of their taking-off. They died, and they died alone--here + in this very room where I sit waiting, waiting. + + I dare say that you, Hugh Hildebrand, will read what I have written + here, and I have now a word for your ear alone. Not long ago John + Thaneford gave you your choice--Betty or the "Hundred." You could + not have both. + + Well, you possess your wife; take her and go in peace; stay, and + you do so at your unending peril. I leave you this warning merely + to clear the ground for the assertion of John Thaneford's rights in + the estate; they will be defended, and all the odds are against + you. So I warn you, but it would be idle for me to pretend to any + philanthropic motive, and there is but small show of friendship + between us. You have treated me with courtesy, even with kindness, + and I am not unmindful of the obligation imposed upon me. But I + must be perfectly frank: you are in the way; either you go of your + own volition, or you will be removed--at the appointed time. It may + be in one year, or in three years, or in three and fifty years; + upon that point I cannot speak definitely. But there was only one + man out of the five who drew a long straw--remember that. + + Neither have I any cause of quarrel with you, Cousin Betty Graeme. + You have been very good to a poor and proud relation; and what + little measure of human affections I had left over--after John + Thaneford had turned me inside out, like an old glove, and flung me + on the dust heap--was truly given to you. Believe me, then, when I + tell you that if your happiness is bound up with the life of your + husband, there is but one way of preserving it; you must persuade + him to relinquish "Hildebrand Hundred," and be content with the + ready money and the personal property specifically bequeathed in + Francis Graeme's will. I dare say you will have difficulty in + bringing this about; men are so ridiculously stubborn and unwilling + to take a woman's advice that I do not expect to see my counsel + followed. But when the blow does fall do me the favor to remember + that I gave you fair and honorable warning. + + This is not a confession. It is true that Cousin Francis Graeme + came to his death through violence, but I had no share in it, + direct or indirect. Seeing that I am waiting to follow him over + the same dark and unfrequented road that he has already traveled, I + can speak no more and no less than the truth. + + At the same time I have no hesitation in admitting the essential + correctness of the deductions offered by Chalmers Warriner as to my + share in what happened posterior to the event. I was on the library + terrace that Tuesday noon, and I did receive a message from Sugar + Loaf that the way was clear for me to enter the library and secure + the will which disinherited John Thaneford. I don't like dead men, + but I am not afraid of them, and I should have examined the + despatch-box on the spot had I not been disturbed by the knocking + at the door--I mean the effort of the negro peddler, Dave Campion, + to gain access to Mr. Graeme. Then it occurred to me that as I + should have to leave by the postern-door, as I had entered, it + might prove useful in the future to cover my trail. Accordingly, I + snatched, at random, a cocoon from the case, dabbed it with library + gum, and stuck it in place over the crack, just as Mr. Warriner was + clever enough to figure out. + + But I had run the risk to no purpose; the new will was not in the + despatch-box, and John Thaneford would be disinherited after all. + Then I reflected that it was a bare possibility that Cousin Francis + had postponed the making of the new will; in this case the earlier + testament would remain in force. Obviously, I must get the + despatch-box containing it back in the library before any formal + examination should be made of the surroundings. My chance came + unexpectedly when Effingham was left on guard at the library door. + As you already know, I sent him upstairs on an errand, having + first secured from him the master-key. I re-entered the library, + put the box back in its original position, and was standing quietly + at the door when Betty and Doctor Marcy arrived. + + While it is true that the signal came to me from John Thaneford it + is not necessary to jump to the conclusion that he had a hand in + bringing about Francis Graeme's death, either as principal or + accessory. He did know that it was about to happen, but nothing + more; I say this upon my own responsibility, and to the best of my + knowledge and belief. You will give me credence in this matter, + realizing that I owe little of love to the Thaneford name. + + Yet I will try and be just to John Thaneford, for, brute though he + be, I do believe that he loved me after his fashion; yes, and would + have made me his wife had not his heart been turned against me by + his father--may the soul of Fielding Thaneford dwell in darkness + for evermore! + + Let us premise that the elder Thaneford was jealous of me and of my + influence over John. The old man was determined that some day his + son should be lord of "Hildebrand Hundred," and if John should + marry Betty Graeme his object would be automatically attained. And + so Fielding Thaneford did the devil's work, and I was cast out; the + very fact that I had given to John Thaneford all that a woman has + to give was subtly twisted against me; my very sacrifice was plain + proof of my unworthiness to be an honorable man's wife. Do you + wonder now that I had no love for Fielding Thaneford. You, Hugh + Hildebrand, surprised me one day while I was taking the afternoon + relief for Miss Davenport. Before that particular occasion I had + been content with inventing purely material means for disturbing + the sick man's repose. I used to throw his medicine out of the + window, under his very eyes, and then force him to go through the + solemn mockery of swallowing doses of plain water. Or, on a warm, + damp day, when the flies were particularly troublesome, I would put + a saucer containing treacle close by his pillow, and then sit, + comfortably fanning myself, on the opposite side of the room. + Horrible! you say, but I tell you that Fielding Thaneford was a + devil; I was only anticipating by a little space his doom of + eternal torment. + + And then, on the particular day of which we were speaking, I + discovered how cruelly mere eyes could sting and burn. And so I sat + and looked at Fielding Thaneford, and laughed to see him writhe + like a beetle impaled upon a pin. But you came in and spoiled my + amusement. + + There isn't much more for me to say or tell, nor am I very sure how + much time is left me in which to make my final warning clear. + Whatever was the nature of Fielding Thaneford's secret he has taken + it with him to the grave. So far as I know, he said nothing more + definite to his son John than that he should possess his soul in + patience, and then all things should come to him. But he also + intimated plainly that he had foreseen how Yardley, and Randall, + and Horace, and Richard Hildebrand should die; and it was at his + suggestion that John Thaneford sat that day at the observation + point on Sugar Loaf, and waited for death to come to Francis + Graeme. + + Hypothetically, that death was due to natural + causes--hypothetically! Or possibly there was someone who entered + that postern-door before I did, and struck a foul blow--possibly! + Or perhaps, John Thaneford, from his safe retreat on Sugar Loaf, + may have been able to direct some hitherto unknown form of lethal + attack--a tiny shell charged with a poison gas of instantaneous + deadliness, or a devouring blast from a flame-thrower of unexampled + precision--perhaps! + + But, frankly, none of these hypotheses appear to me to be tenable; + the mystery does not lie so plainly on the surface. Moreover, I + believe that the heart of the Terror continues to beat in this very + place, the library of "Hildebrand Hundred," where I am sitting. + Something is in this room, something that is eternally menacing and + eternally patient. It may be in one year and it may be in three and + fifty years that it chooses to strike, but strike it surely will + and no art or cunning will avail to avert the blow. Yes, there is + _something_ here, the _something_ for which I myself am waiting. + But search as you will, you shall not find the Terror; you must + await its coming as I am doing. Fielding Thaneford has gone to his + own place, but his works of darkness remain behind him. + + There is just one more thing that I might tell you, but I shall not + do it--you would then seek to compromise the situation, and that I + will not have. I put my own wits to work and so was able to lift + one corner of the veil; that is why I wait so confidently to-day + for that which will surely come. + + And so I leave you but the one door to safety--the abandonment of + the "Hundred" to John Thaneford, the same "Black Jack" Thaneford + who once loved me and who finally cast me off. This is the last + thing I can do for him--for him whom I both hate and love to the + death. Why? Ask any woman---- + +The MS. had ended as abruptly as it had begun. I took the sheets from +Betty's hand, arranged them in order, and put the bundle in my pocket. +"I don't think we had better discuss this any further to-night," I said +decisively. + +"Quite right," assented Warriner. "Betty looks pretty white, and you +have been traveling for two days. Let me know, at any time, if I can be +of service." + +We both of us accompanied Warriner to the porch, and saw him drive away. +As we re-entered the hall the closed door of the library shone white and +ghostly at the end of the passage. + +"That horrible room!" panted Betty, her hand tight clutched on my arm. +"I can never, never enter it again." + +I tried to soothe her as best I could, but the poor girl's nerves had +been badly overstrained, and it was a long time before I could get the +upper hand of her hysterical mood. I positively refused to say one more +word on the general subject of the tragedy, or the particular contents +of Eunice Trevor's _ante mortem_ statement; and, after a while, Betty +gave in and was reasonable again. But both of us knew that the question +had not been settled, that it was only postponed. And to-morrow it would +return again to plague us. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +_Ad Interim_ + + +I never sent for Warriner to come and discuss Eunice Trevor's +astonishing communication. Why? Well, what would have been the use? +After all, the woman had told us little or nothing which we had not +known already; certainly, there was no definite information in her +statement upon which to base a working hypothesis. Granted that there +was a guilty secret, it lay hidden for all time in S. Saviour's +churchyard. Both Eunice Trevor and John Thaneford may have been innocent +of any actual participation in the tragedy of Francis Graeme's death, +but it was by no means clear that they could not have taken steps to +prevent it. The coroner's jury had given their verdict, the magistrate +had found no case against the one suspected person, Dave Campion, and +there was really no valid warrant for reopening the inquiry. Besides, +this was a purely family affair, and Chalmers Warriner was an outsider. +I dare say it was despicably small-minded of me, but Betty was now my +wife, and both she and Warriner ought to realize that the intimacy +between them could not be continued on the old free footing. Jealous. +Well perhaps, I was uneasily conscious of an unworthy feeling in the +matter. But I was master of "Hildebrand Hundred," and surely I had the +right to determine what friendships were desirable and what were not. +Warriner was a man of mature age, Betty was young and impulsive; it was +my bounden duty to guard her from every sidelong look, from every +whispered word. Not that I ever discussed the question with her; I +merely took my stand and it was her wifely obligation to yield to my +judgment. So far as I could tell, she never even noticed that Warriner +no longer came to the "Hundred" in the old informal way. And that was as +it should be. + +But the issues raised by Eunice Trevor's statement were not to be set +aside so easily. It was annoying, but Betty persisted in taking the dead +woman's warning both literally and seriously; she actually begged me to +formally abandon the "Hundred" to John Thaneford, as the legal +next-of-kin, and perhaps leave Maryland altogether. + +This I could not consent to do; I was too proud, or perhaps too +stubborn, to be frightened by the vaporings of a highly wrought and +undoubtedly neurotic imagination. There was not the shadow of a proof +that Francis Graeme's death had been due to premeditated violence, and +as for the alleged tragedies in the dim past, I neither knew nor cared +anything about them. What if five men had died, under unexplained +circumstances, in that particular room? All this was ancient history +running back over a period of sixty odd years, and there are many +coincidences in life. There is no greater tyranny than that of +superstition, and once in bondage to its shadowy overlordship orderly +existence becomes impossible. + +But my decision had been finally influenced by a still stronger +consideration. As I have said a little further back, I had unconsciously +become attached to the "Hundred" by ties that I now found it impossible +to break. This was my home and the home of my fathers before me; I now +found myself an integral part of the ancestral homestead, my life had +rooted deeply into the very soil, with its sacred dust my own corporeal +remains must finally be mingled; no, I could not suffer "Hildebrand +Hundred" to pass out of my hands, and I would hold it against every +enemy visible and invisible. Even granting that something deadly and +menacing did lurk in the dim corners of that great room with its painted +windows and booklined walls, was I not man enough to grapple with the +Terror on its own chosen ground? Better to die even as my Hildebrand +forebears had died, alone and unafraid, than to drag out a coward's +existence in some wretched backwater of life. Yes, I had decided; I +would stay on at the "Hundred," _coute qui coute_. + +It was not so easy to maintain my resolve in the face of Betty's quiet +but determined opposition. I could make every allowance for the +successive shocks to her delicately organized nervous system, and mere +prayers and tears I was ready to cope with. But there was an invincible +spirit in her attitude that I could not shake. "It is a part of my inner +sense," she would reiterate with gentle obstinacy, and how can one argue +rationally with feminine intuitions! + +In the end we compromised--as always. It was agreed that we should +continue to live on at the "Hundred," but the library should be +permanently and effectually closed. Betty even proposed that a brick +wall should be built at the end of the passage entirely blocking the +entrance, but to this heroic measure I steadfastly refused to assent; it +was enough of a nuisance to lose the use of the best room in the house, +and to be obliged to transfer the working part of the library to the new +living room. So we compromised again by locking the door and keeping all +the keys in my immediate possession. In addition, I had to promise that +I would not enter the room unless my wife was told of my intention and +invited to accompany me. "At least we'll die together," said Betty, +trying to smile through her tears. What could I do but kiss them away, +and give the required assurance. + +In October of that same year our son was born. Of course Betty insisted +that he should be christened Hugh, and while I have always thought the +name an ugly one and should have preferred Lawrence, after the first +American Hildebrand, it would have been most ungracious to have entered +any demurrer. But when Betty furthermore suggested that Chalmers +Warriner be invited to stand as godfather I made plausible objections in +favor of Doctor Marcy. I fancied that she seemed unaccountably +disappointed, but she yielded when she realized that my preference was a +decided one. However, Warriner was present at the ceremony in S. +Saviour's, and endowed the baby with a magnificent silver mug. That +particular gift should have been the prerogative of the titular +godfather, but Doctor Marcy did not seem inclined to stand upon his +rights, and I could not act the churl in so small a matter. And so this +epochal phase of my life had come to a triumphant close; possessed of +"Hildebrand Hundred," a son to inherit my name, and the best wife in the +world. What more could heart of man desire! + + + + +Chapter XVII + +_The Midsummer Night's Ball_ + + +And now I come to a certain chapter of my book of life which I would +fain leave unwritten. But I am bound to set down the full truth, no +matter how unpleasant the bare, ugly facts may be. No one can blame me +more hardly than I did myself, and assuredly I was well punished for my +misdoings. So here goes. + +I had become jealous of Chalmers Warriner, bitterly, almost insanely +jealous; and this in spite of my sober judgment, my real inner +conviction of Betty's unswerving loyalty and wholehearted love. It is a +humiliating confession for a man to make, but since I did play the fool +to the top of my bent I ought to be willing to endure my penance; as it +turned out, I came within an ace of paying the ultimate price of my +folly. So much by way of _apologia pro mea culpa_. + +The winter, spring and early summer had passed without incident. In June +it occurred to me that it would be well if Betty were away from the +"Hundred" for the period covered by the double tragedy of Francis +Graeme's death and Eunice Trevor's mysterious taking-off. Accordingly, +we went to the "Old White" for three weeks, returning to our home the +first day of July. Betty had certainly been benefited by the change, and +I hoped that the current of our family life was now to flow smoothly on +for an indefinite length of time. + +The immediate rock upon which our matrimonial barque proceeded to wreck +itself was the Midsummer Night's ball at "Powersthorp" on August the +fourth. As Hilda Powers was Betty's most intimate friend we had motored +over early to assist in receiving the guests; half of King William +county seemed to have been invited, and the crush was tremendous. + +I was standing near the receiving line of ladies when Chalmers Warriner +came up; and, in spite of my secret dislike and suspicion, I could not +help thinking how distinguished looking he was--just the sort of man +that a woman invariably favors with a second glance. And now he was +lingering for that maddening hundredth part of a second over Betty's +hand; I heard him whisper: "The supper waltz then?" and I saw Betty +start and flush and finally nod a smiling assent. Ignoble of me to be +standing there, actually spying on my own wife! I admit the justice of +your censure, dear reader, but have you ever endured even the smallest +pang of the jealous man's agony? One ought to be competent to testify in +this particular court. + +I suppose I went through the ordinary motions of a man attending a ball; +I have a vague recollection of dancing at least half a dozen times; I +comforted innumerable elderly dowagers and flagons of near-claret cup, +and encouraged several flappers to venture on their first cigarette in +the friendly dusk of the pleached lime alley; I even played one rubber +of auction with the colonel, the commodore, and the judge, while they +were awaiting the arrival of the rector to make up their accustomed +coterie. But my eyes were always fixed on the big clock at the end of +the hall; according to our simple country fashion supper was invariably +scheduled for midnight, and was preceded by the principal waltz number +of the dance program. + +There it came at last! the opening bars of Strauss's "On the Beautiful +Blue Danube." Why is it that smiles and tears lie so close together in +the lilt and swing of a fine waltz tune? And, by that same token, the +saddest music in all the world to-day is that same "Blue Danube," the +last, faint exhalation of an old regime that, however rotten at its +core, continued to present a lovely and gracious exterior. At least +there were no war-brides and greasy Israelitish profiteers on the +polished boards of the ancient Hofberg when Maestro Johann raised his +baton, and his incomparable band, in their gay Hussar uniforms, breathed +out the intoxicating melody which the great Brahms himself would not +have been ashamed to have composed, the veritable apotheosis of the +dance. + +Gone, all gone! and this old, gray world, albeit made safe for +democracy, has yet lost something of perennial beauty and enchantment +that can never be renewed--a broken spell, a vanished vision. The wax +candles have guttered to their sockets, the shimmering waves of color +are graying under the merciless white light of a proletarian dawn, the +haunting violins have sobbed themselves to sleep; and of all that +brilliant, bewildering, phantasmagoric past there remains but one +poignant and exquisite echo--the "Blue Danube." + +I watched Betty as she circled past me held close in the hollow of +Warriner's arm; she was looking up at him, her eyes intent and her +cheeks glowing. I pushed through the throng and caught them temporarily +halted in a re-entrant swirl of dancers. "I'll take the rest of this +turn," I announced, with small pretense of civility. Warriner would have +been fully justified in resenting my rudeness, for this was no ordinary +case of give-and-take cutting in; but he instantly relinquished his +claim, and I whirled Betty away to the farther end of the great hall. +"We won't wait for supper," I said curtly. "You know Hilda well enough +for that, and she won't mind. Or I don't care if she does." Betty's +lower lip went out and her eyes flashed. But a woman, in an emergency, +can summon a control over her nerves that mere man may only wonder at. +"As you like, Hugh," she said with quiet composure. "I'll just slip up +to the dressing room, and you can have the motor brought around to the +side door, where it won't be noticed." + +We exchanged only a few, indifferent words on the way home, since Zack +was acting as chauffeur and sat within easy earshot. + +Betty confronted me under the swinging hall lantern of "Hildebrand +Hundred," her small figure straight and tense as a grenadier on parade. +"Well?" she said briefly. + +"You know what I mean," I evaded weakly enough. But she only continued +to look at me, and I had to come out in the open. + +"I object to your dancing with that man," I growled. + +"What man?" + +"Chalmers Warriner, of course." + +"Chalmers Warriner! Why----" Betty bit her lip and choked back the +coming words. + +"Go on!" I demanded, instantly alert to the possible significance of +that suddenly checked utterance. + +But Betty only shook her head--mutinously so as I chose to think in my +green-eyed madness. + +"You won't tell me?" I persisted hotly. + +"I can't." + +"Then I've nothing more to say except just this: You are my wife, and so +long as you continue to bear my name you are to have no communication of +any kind with Mr. Warriner." + +Betty made no reply, and we parted without another word. + +I had to be in Calverton all the following day on some law business; and +I had left the "Hundred" before Betty appeared at the breakfast table. +When I returned, late in the afternoon, the house was fairly upside down +with hurried preparations for a departure; everywhere trunks and +handbags were being packed for the journey, and the station car was +already in waiting at the front door. Betty met me as usual in the lower +hall. I lifted my eyebrows interrogatively. + +"You know little Hugh has been feeling the hot weather of late," she +answered steadily, "and Doctor Marcy strongly advised a change to a +Northern climate." + +"Where are you going?" + +"To my Aunt Alice Crew's in Stockbridge. We can stay there through +August and September." + +"And then?" + +"Probably to the Davidsons at Irvington-on-Hudson." + +"For how long?" + +"That depends on you, Hugh." Betty was actually smiling as she looked up +at me, and that made me angrier than ever. + +"You mean until I am ready to trust you," I blurted out. + +"If you like to put it that way." + +The discussion had let us into an _impasse_; there was nothing more to +be said. I accompanied Betty to the Crown Ferry station, and saw my +little family party of wife, baby, and nurse safely aboard the sleeper. +Even at that last moment I should have dropped everything and gone +along had Betty given me the smallest opening. But she said no further +word, and I could not conquer at once my masculine pride and my jealous +fear. I watched the red tail lights of the train disappear around a +curve, and told myself that I was the unhappiest man and the biggest +fool on God's green earth. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +_I Break a Promise_ + + +Needless to say that the summer dragged heavily with me. Betty wrote +regularly, but her letters were of a strictly impersonal nature, and I +took especial care to answer in the same vein. Luckily, there was little +Hugh as a point of common interest, and we made the most of it. But +neither of us offered the least allusion to the real crisis in our +relations. I was frankly and wretchedly unhappy, and I could only hope +that Betty was no better satisfied with the situation. I kept busy, of +course, with the care of the estate. There was a new drainage system to +be installed, and the long neglected acres of "Thane Court" to look +after. Of Warriner I heard little and saw less. He was busy with his +laboratory work at Calverton, and there was really small opportunity for +us to meet. Indeed for months we lived as rigidly apart as though at +opposite poles; once I ran across him at a granger meeting in Lynn, and +again on a cold, rainy afternoon in October when I chanced to drop in +at "Powersthorp" for a cup of tea. I fancied that there was marked +restraint in his manner as I walked into Hilda Powers' drawing room, but +in the presence of an hostess the amenities must be preserved, and we +managed to rub along for the half hour of my stay. I was annoyed, +nevertheless, for I had been hoping for a confidential chat with Hilda +about Betty, knowing that the two corresponded regularly. Illogically +enough, I charged up my disappointment to Warriner, and disliked him +more hotly than ever. I dare say he divined my veiled antagonism, and I +could see that it made him uncomfortable. As to that I did not care a +button, but I had wanted to hear about Betty, and now her name was +barely mentioned. I reflected that people were probably wondering over +her protracted visit in the North, but no one had ventured to broach the +subject to me, and I would have suffered it least of all from him. So +the months went on. + +Actually it was now Christmas time, and I was still a grass widower. +Betty and Little Hugh had come down to the Davidsons at Irvington, and +it was evident that she was thoroughly fixed in her resolve not to +return to the "Hundred" until I was ready to adopt a more "reasonable" +attitude. You note that I quote the adjective; at the time I was +stubbornly convinced that I was right in my contention and was not +inclined to alter my determination by one jot or tittle. + +Pride and anger are delicious morsels under the tongue so long as they +come fresh and hot from the griddle. But how tasteless and unappetizing +when served cold; how devoid of vital sustenance in the making up of the +bill-of-fare day after day, week, after week, month after month! Yet I +chewed savagely upon the tough, stringy gristle of my wrath, and refused +to admit that I was starving for one touch of Betty's hand, one faintest +inflection of her beloved voice. But I could stick it if she could and I +did, letting myself go only in the despatching of an extravagant +Christmas box; the one item of Betty's sables made Carolina perfectos an +unthinkable luxury for months. And all I got in return was a pleasant +note of thanks, little Hugh's photograph, and a handsome set of +English-made razors. I wondered grimly if Betty expected me to cut my +throat, and was not averse to supplying the means for the operation. + +Incredible as it seems to me now, Betty's absence continued through the +winter and spring. In May she wrote me that she was again going to +Stockbridge for the summer. Little Hugh's health could not be the excuse +this time, for he had thriven famously during the winter, and was as +fine a boy as any father could wish to see. I reflected dourly that I +would have to take Betty's word for this assertion, there being no +opportunity for using my own eyes in the appraisement. However, Betty +did not trouble about explanations or apologies; she took it calmly for +granted that the situation was to be continued indefinitely; she even +had the exquisite effrontery to refer to the terms of my promise about +entering the ill-omened library of "Hildebrand Hundred"; she intimated +plainly that I was to be held to the exact letter and bond of that +ridiculous agreement. What irony, seeing that she seemed bent upon +breaking every other tie that united us! Of course I ignored the subject +entirely in my reply (I wonder if I have made it plain that I wrote and +received a letter every single day), and I comforted myself with the +reflection that my silence might make her a bit uneasy. It did, but I +persisted in my standoffish attitude on that particular point of +contention. What indeed did that matter when compared to the actual gulf +that continued to separate us! + +And now I come to the swift-moving, final act of the drama; the center +of the stage is still mine up to a certain point; thereafter, as you +will see, it will be Betty's turn to figure in the limelight, and take +the principal speaking part. + +May had come and gone; now it was June again and past the middle of the +month; to be precise it was the morning of Tuesday the nineteenth. + +I had been a _sub rosa_ subscriber to the local Stockbridge paper, +probably from the secret hope of finding an occasional paragraph about +Betty and her doings, even if it were but the bare mention of her name. +The paper habitually reached me on Monday, but this was Tuesday and it +had but just arrived; some delay in the mails, I dare say. Upon +unfolding it I turned at once to the column of personalities, and saw +that among the recent arrivals at the Red Lion Inn was the name of Mr. +Chalmers Warriner, of Calverton, Maryland. + +Have you ever suffered the unutterable pangs of jealousy, you who read +these words? If so there is no need for me to picture them; if not, +there is no possible medium through which I could make them even dimly +comprehensible. But that day I died a thousand deaths. + +Manifestly Warriner had come to Stockbridge for a purpose, and it was +unthinkable that he should have done so without a direct invitation from +my wife. So Betty had made up her mind; she had taken an irrevocable +step, and the die had been finally cast. What was I to do? Twice I +ordered out the motor, intent upon taking the first train to the North, +and as often I sent it back. I had just sense enough left to realize +that I must wait for something more definite; that much I owed to the +woman who was the mother of my child; perhaps the post would bring me a +letter of enlightenment. + +But when the ten o'clock delivery came over from Calverton I found +myself as completely in the dark as ever. Betty's letter was full of +Hilda Powers, who had arrived on Saturday for a stay of ten days. What +did I care about Hilda Powers! And then in a postcript: "Chalmers +Warriner is registered at the Red Lion, and I suppose that we shall see +him by this afternoon at the latest." Now all the authorities agree that +the significant part of a woman's letter is the postscript. + +Fortunately, a matter of pressing importance had been brought to my +attention. Zack reported that he had noticed, from the terrace, an +inward bulge of one of the stained glass windows of the library. He +thought that the leading might have become weakened, and if so, an +immediate repair would be necessary. To determine the question he +proposed that we should make an examination from the inside of the room. + +I give you my word of honor that, for the time being, my promise to +Betty had gone clean out of my head. All I could think of was that +something of the dignity and beauty of the house--my house--was in +jeopardy; and I, the Master of the "Hundred," must look to it ere +irremediable damage were done. I got the key from my writing desk and, +together with Zack, hurried along the corridor, unlocked the door, and +entered the well-remembered room. + +The apartment had the dreary aspect of long untenancy. The books, most +of the furniture, and even the tapestries had been removed, and the air +was dead and musty; there were cobwebs in the corners, and the dust lay +thick on the oaken floor. But this was no time for sentimentalities, and +I incontinently dismissed the crowded recollections that flooded my +mind. "Where is it?" I demanded impatiently. + +Zack pointed to the third (running from left to right) of the long +windows that flanked the great fireplace. If you recall my earlier +description of the library, the window in question represented the +flight of the Israelitish spies from the land of Canaan, bearing with +them the gigantic cluster of grapes. + +"Dere it am," answered Zack, pointing to the upper part of the painted +scene, the depiction of an arbor from which depended bunches of the +glorious fruit as yet unplucked. + +True enough, there was a significant inward bend at this particular +place, and it was evident that the leading of the tracery had partially +given way. It was imperative to make repairs at once, and, fortunately, +there was a stained glass manufactory in Calverton, and skilled workmen +could be obtained there on short notice. I telephoned my request, and, +an hour later, a couple of men were on hand to do the work. + +Apparently the weakness was comparatively trifling, and it was only +necessary to remove a small portion of the upper half of the window. The +men were experienced and intelligent; they knew their job, and after the +temporary scaffolding had been erected they took out the injured +sections, carefully numbering the separate pieces of glass so as to +ensure their correct replacement. Among the smaller bits were a dozen or +more bullseyes of purple glass simulating a cluster of grapes. They +seemed to be all of the same size, each enclosed in a diminutive leaden +ring. + +"How about it, Jem?" asked the assistant workman. "They be alike as peas +in a pod." + +"No call to number 'em," decided Jem promptly. "It's all the same in the +picter, so don't bother about marking the bullseyes." + +I, listening to the colloquy, commended Jem's dictum as being eminently +sensible, particularly in view of the fact that the weather was +threatening and time was of value in getting the window in proper shape +to resist a blow. The purple bullseyes were tumbled into a basket, and +the work went on. + +It was rapid and clever craftsmanship, for by six o'clock the damage had +been repaired and the glass had been replaced; to my way of thinking, as +strong as ever. I said as much, but Jem, to my surprise, shook his head. +"All that tracery work ought to be gone over," he said, "to make the job +a good one. You can see for yourself," he went on, "that a lot of the +main leading is none too solid--look here; and there!" and he pointed +out several places where indeed the glass seemed very insecure in its +setting. + +"I don't want to run any risk," I said, "How about coming back to-morrow +to make a thorough job of it?" + +"Sorry, Mr. Hildebrand, but me and my mate are due at Baltimore in the +morning, setting a chancel window at S. Paul's. I don't think your work +can be managed before the first of next week." + +"Then I'll have to take the risk?" + +"I'm afraid so. But we've put the really bad place in decent order, and +I don't see why the glass shouldn't stand any ordinary wind. Just got to +chance it, sir." + +Of course there was nothing further to say, so I thanked the men and +dismissed them. Yes, there was no alternative; I should have to chance +it. + +When I wrote my usual nightly letter to Betty I told her of the +circumstances which had caused me to break the letter of my promise +about entering the library. I dare say I nourished a secret hope that +the news would upset her; that it might even have the effect of inducing +her to make a hasty return to the "Hundred." But that would imply that +she still cared for me, and the cold fact remained that, at this very +moment, the name of Chalmers Warriner stood inscribed upon the register +of the Red Lion Inn at Stockbridge. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +_The Seat Perilous_ + + +Wednesday, the twentieth of June, was the blackest of all black days. +When Betty's letter came I found it very unsatisfactory reading. +Warriner had been making the most of his opportunities; that was +certain. He had been over twice for five-o'clock-tea, and a number of +pleasant affairs were in prospect--a water party on the Bowl, a day's +golf at Pittsfield, a masked ball at Lenox; so it went. Apparently Betty +was in for a royal good time, and she had no compunction in making me +aware of the fact. My intrusion upon the forbidden ground of the library +was, it seemed, a matter of no importance; not even mentioned. Later on, +I realized that she could not have received my communication on the +subject--but never mind; I felt aggrieved, and the black dog of jealousy +heeled me wherever I went that long, beautiful June day. Surely, I was +the most miserable man alive, and it is not surprising that I diligently +continued the digging of the pit into which I was so soon to fall. + +Thursday, the twenty-first, brought a number of business matters to my +attention, and under the pressure of these imperative duties I half +forgot about my troubles. Again Betty's letter was non-committal and +made no references to my doings or delinquencies. I should have enjoyed +calling it evasive, but that was hardly possible seeing that Warriner's +name was mentioned three or four times; the fellow was assuredly making +hay. After my solitary evening dinner I thought it wise to keep my mind +at work, and, accordingly, I started in on a big batch of farm accounts. + +I had heard the trampling of a horse's hoofs on the gravel drive, but +had paid no attention; now a heavy step echoed along the black-and-white +chequers of the great hall, and I became conscious that Marcus, the +house-boy, stood at the door in the act of announcing a visitor. I +looked up and saw John Thaneford. + +Amazement held me speechless for a moment; then I found my feet and +blurted out some form of greeting; I can't be sure that we actually +shook hands, but this was my house and he had come as a guest; I must +observe the decencies. + +"Black Jack" had changed but little in the two years since I had seen +him. Perhaps a trifle broader in girth, while the cleft between his +sable eyebrows was deeper than ever. Apparently, he was quite at his +ease, and I fancied that he took a furtive and malicious pleasure in my +embarrassment. Now we were seated; I pushed the box of cigars to his +hand, and waited, tongued-tied and flushing, for the conversational ice +to be broken. + +"So we meet again, Cousin Hugh!" he began, with perfect aplomb. "You +don't appear to be overjoyed." + +"Why should I be?" I retorted. "But I don't forget that you are under my +roof. Naturally, I am somewhat surprised." + +"At my return, or because I am seeking you out at the 'Hundred?' +Possibly, you have forgotten that I no longer possess even the apology +of a shelter that was once 'Thane Court.'" + +"You can hardly hold me responsible for the fire," I said, feeling +somewhat nettled at his tone. + +"Oh, surely not," he assented, flicking the ash from his cigar with an +airy wave of his hand--that well remembered, big hand with its +black-tufted knuckles. + +"As for the property, I bought it in at public sale to protect myself. +You can have it back at any time for the price I paid. And no interest +charges." + +"Very good of you, Cousin Hugh, and later on I may hold you to your +offer. I may say that I am in quite the position to do so," he added +with a boastful flourish. + +"Glad to hear it," I said shortly. And in my heart of hearts I did +rejoice, for I had an acute realization of what this man's heritage in +life might have been had Francis Graeme and I never met. Somehow the +whole atmosphere of our foregathering had suddenly lightened, and I +experienced a feeling of hospitality toward Thaneford which was +certainly cordial and almost friendly. "By the way, have you dined?" I +asked. "The cook has gone home, but I dare say Effingham could find some +cold meat and a salad." + +"I had supper at the hotel in Calverton, but a drop or two of whiskey +wouldn't go amiss. The prohibition lid is clamped down pretty tight +around here." + +I rang for Effingham. "Bring a bottle of 'King William,'" I ordered. "Or +perhaps you would prefer rye or bourbon?" + +"Scotch suits me right enough," he answered carelessly. He rose and +began pacing the room. "I heard something in Calverton about your +closing up the library," he said abruptly. + +"It was Mrs. Hildebrand's wish. You can understand that Miss Trevor's +death was a great shock to her." + +Not a muscle in his face moved, but he stopped short in his tracks. +"Eunice dead!" he ejaculated. "When and where?" + +"In June two years ago. She was found dead, sitting in the library." + +John Thaneford drew a long breath. "I wondered that her letters ceased +so suddenly," he said coolly. "But Eunice was always doing something out +of the common, and I laid it to some queer slant in her mind. You never +can tell what a woman will do or won't do." + +The callous selfishness of the man was still rampant, and it disgusted +me. Doubtless, he had no idea that I was well aware of the relations +that had existed between him and the unfortunate girl. And then, to my +astonishment, a new note of softness, of regret even, stole into his +voice. "Do you mind opening up the room?" he asked. "So much for +remembrance," he added in an undertone that I barely caught. + +This time my promise to Betty did occur to my mind, but already the +covenant had been broken, and further infraction could not greatly +signify. + +We walked down the corridor, and I unlocked the door and pushed it open, +calling to the house-boy to bring in a lamp. + +"So you've cleaned everything out," remarked Thaneford, as he glanced +around. "That is, about everything but the big teak desk, the leather +screen, and the swivel-chair." + +"The desk was too cumbersome for use in the other room," I answered. "As +for the chair you see it is riveted down into the floor--not even +screwed in the ordinary way. I fancy it would be a job to get it free." + +"And no object either. Poor Eunice, you say, died here?" + +"Sitting in that very chair." + +"Like Francis Graeme before her," mused Thaneford. + +"Yes, and before him four other men, all masters of 'Hildebrand +Hundred'--Yardley, and Randall, and Horace, and Richard. But perhaps you +know these things even better than I do." + +"Evidently a seat perilous," he said sardonically. "No wonder you do not +choose to occupy it." + +I don't know what mad, foolish impulse moved me to go and sit down in +the big, swivel-chair, but there I presently found myself, my face +reddening a trifle under the quizzical stare of John Thaneford's dull, +black eyes. Effingham entered with the whiskey and glasses, and I bade +him put the tray on the desk and fetch a chair for Mr. Thaneford. + +"Good medicine!" approved my guest as he tossed off his glass. There was +a plate of biscuit at his elbow; he took one of the little round +crackers and bit into it; then, with a smothered ejaculation, he spewed +forth the half masticated fragments. I looked my natural surprise. + +"I never could abide those damned saltines," he explained, with a touch +of his old glowering sulkiness. "I'll drink with you, Cousin Hugh, till +the swallows homeward fly, but I'll not taste your salt; I reserve the +right to withdraw the flag of truce without notice." + +Well, I should have had warning a-plenty by this time, but it was all to +no purpose; I had the full realization that I was treading a dangerous +path, and yet it was not in my conscious power to take one single step +toward safety. Call it fatalism if you will, or the pure recklessness +engendered by the growing conviction that Betty was lost to me for good +and all; whatever the secret springs of my present course of action, +the outcome inevitably must have been the same; a Scotchman would have +said that I was fey. And perhaps I was. + +I never had been what you call a drinking man, but to-night I was +matching glass for glass with "Black Jack" Thaneford, who could put any +man, yes any three men in King William County, under the table. The +night came on apace, and twice Effingham had been ordered to bring in +another supply of spirits. Suddenly John Thaneford broke away from the +trivial subjects which we had been discussing. + +"Some two years ago, Cousin Hugh," he began, "I gave you a choice--Betty +Graeme or the 'Hundred.' Do you remember?" + +"I remember," I answered steadily. + +"But you would not make it; you took them both." + +"What right had you to force such an issue?" I demanded hotly. + +"That is beside the point. I did force it." + +"Well?" + +"I'll give you the final opportunity." + +"Possibly, you have forgotten that Betty is now my wife?" + +"I have not forgotten it." + +"And as for the 'Hundred'----" + +"The 'Hundred,'" he repeated, a dull, red flush dyeing his high +forehead. + +"There is another interest now besides my own that I am bound to +protect; I have a son." + +"Ah, I had not heard. Of course that does make a difference." + +"All the difference. See here, Thaneford," I went on impulsively, "I +don't want to play an ungenerous part, and I can see something of your +side of the case. I am prepared to make some provision, indeed an ample +one; but the 'Hundred' must remain where it is." + +"And that is your last word?" he queried almost indifferently. + +"My last word," I answered, looking him straight in the eye. + +"Then we know where we are," he responded. "The bottle stands with you, +Cousin Hugh." + +We renewed our potations, but thenceforth in silence; for the space of +an hour and more not another word passed between us. + +And the silence was an hostile one, the quiet of watchful and eternal +enmity. I know that I hated John Thaneford and that he hated me; +moreover, this condition could never change or alter until the end of +time itself. Well, anything was better than the false cordiality of +conventional speech; at least we knew where we stood. And still our grim +wassail went on. + + * * * * * + +I can't recall falling to sleep in the great chair, but now, with a +sudden, painful start, I awoke to realize that it was broad +daylight--Friday, the twenty-second of June. My head was aching +frightfully, and my arms and legs seemed singularly cramped and +constricted. Then I came face to face with the ugly fact that I was +bound fast in my chair by stout cords that secured my shoulders, wrists, +and ankles; I could move my head a trifle to one side or the other and +that was all. + +John Thaneford sat opposite me, smoking a cigarette and looking as +though he had remained entirely unaffected by the amount of liquor he +had consumed. Seeing that I was awake he rose, came over to where I sat, +and examined carefully the various ligatures that constrained my +movements. Not a word was uttered on either side, and indeed there was +no need for any speech between us. Doubtless I should be informed in due +time of whatever fate might be in store for me; and, for the present, I +could only wait with what show of patience it were possible to muster. + +A discreet knock sounded on the closed door leading to the corridor. +Thaneford snapped back the locking-bolt and stepped across the +threshold; I realized that Effingham was standing there, but the leather +screen prevented my seeing him, and of course it hid, in turn, my +mortifying predicament. Now I might have called out, shouted for help, +raised the very roof in indignant protest at the humiliation to which I +had been subjected. And yet I did none of these obvious things, and I +think John Thaneford was shrewd enough to know that my tongue would be +held out of very shame; otherwise, he would have taken the precaution to +slip a gag into my mouth. + +I heard Thaneford tell Effingham, speaking of course in my name, to +bring a large pot of black coffee and a plate of crackers. "The unsalted +kind," he added, as though actuated by an afterthought whose +significance became instantly clear to my own mind. "Or better yet," he +continued, "some of those big, round biscuits that they call 'pilot +bread.' No, Mr. Hildebrand doesn't care for any tea this morning--what's +that! a telegram? Then why the devil didn't you say so! Give it here, +and mind you hurry up that coffee--hot and black, and strong as sheol." + +The door swung to, and I could hear Effingham's carpet slippers padding +softly away. Too late now, I regretted that I had not given the alarm. +Even if Thaneford had used violent means to silence Effingham my voice +would have rung all through the lower part of the house, prompting some +sort of inquiry and a probable rescue. But that chance was gone. + +Thaneford returned to my immediate vicinity, the buff telegram envelope +in his hand. I could see that it was addressed to me, but he broke the +seal without even the pretense of hesitation, and glanced over the +message. His lips curled into a genial sneer (if one can imagine such a +combination); then he deliberately held up the sheet for me to read. + +_If indeed you still care for me, don't enter library again under any +consideration or for any purpose. Coming._ + +The message was signed with my dear girl's initials, and it was plain +that it had been written under stress of emotion. In spite of my +equivocal position (for really I could not bring myself to believe that +John Thaneford intended actual personal violence), and the extreme +discomfort of being trussed up like a hog going to the slaughter pen, I +was conscious that, after all these months of alienation, some +mysterious barrier had fallen and the long misunderstanding was in a +fair way of being cleared up. And so, although my temples were thumping +like a steam engine and the pain in my arms and legs was deadening to a +terrifying numbness, my spirits rebounded to an extravagant height; my +heart sang again. + +"If you still care for me!" And then that wonderful word: "Coming." I +was wildly, deliriously happy, for now everything must come right. What +a fool I had been through all these doleful months! how wholeheartedly +would I make my confession; how tender and generous would be my +absolution--but a sudden realization of things as they really were +checked, like a cold douche, my satisfying glow of well-being. If danger +actually existed for me within the library walls I was ill prepared to +meet it, sitting fast bound in my chair with "Black Jack" Thaneford +opposite me, an evil smile upon his lips and the glint of a spark in the +dead blackness of his half-closed eyes. + +And then, of a sudden, I became horribly afraid. Not of John Thaneford, +for all that he hated me and had me in his power, but of the Terror, +unknown, unseen, and unheard, that lurked within the circle of these +walls; whose coming none could foresee and none prevent; for whose +appearance the ultimate stage had been set and the final watch posted. + +Remember, I had nothing tangible upon which to base even a fragment of +theory, and all of our original clues had proved worthless. Here were +neither dim, midnight spaces, nor hollow walls, nor underlying abysses. +Just a big, almost empty room, devoid of alcoves and odd corners, and +withal flooded with the sunshine of a perfect June day. The only feature +out of the common was the secret outlet behind the chimney-breast, and +some time ago I had replaced the original lock by one of the latest, +burglar proof pattern. There were only two keys, one on my own bunch and +the other in Betty's possession; certainly the peril was not likely to +appear in that quarter; that would have been too obvious, even +amateurish. + +The morning dragged on. When Marcus knocked at the door, seeking +admission to carry in the breakfast tray, he was roughly ordered to set +it down on the threshold and take himself off. Thaneford, waiting until +the house-boy was well out of hearing, unlocked the door and carried in +the tray for himself; evidently, he did not intend to give me a second +opportunity to send out any S. O. S. calls. With the massive door once +more _in situ_ I might halloo and shout until I burst my bellows, +without anyone being the wiser. + +Thaneford, in quick succession, drank two big cups of the coffee. He +did not go through the form of offering me a taste of the beverage, and +much as I longed for its comforting ministrations, I was hardly ready to +ask the boon of my jailor. Effingham must have been unable to find any +of the unsalted pilot bread, for he had provided, in its stead, several +rounds of buttered toast and a dish of scrambled eggs. But Thaneford +would have none of these forbidden viands. Strange! that he should balk +upon the purely academic question of a few grains of salt. But we all +enjoy our pet inconsistencies. So he finished the pot of coffee and fell +to smoking again, while I continued to speculate, a little grimly, upon +the chances of ever getting clear of this infernal coil. Apparently, +there was nothing for either of us to do but to go on waiting, waiting. + +The hours dragged along and now it was hard upon high noon, as I could +see by Thaneford's gold repeater that lay on the desk between us; with +an indescribable thrill I realized that he, too, was watching the minute +hand as it slowly traveled upward to the sign of the Roman numerals, +XII. Unquestionably, some fateful moment was approaching, and yet there +was nothing in the physical surroundings to give rise to uneasiness +even, let alone apprehension; nothing unless it were the occasional +rumble of distant thunder, a sullen drone underneath the pleasant song +of the birds and the cheerful humming of bees among the rose bushes. + +Through the painted window, depicting the flight of the Hebrew spies, +the sunshine poured in full volume, the white light transformed to +gorgeous color by the medium through which it passed. One broad bar lay +close at hand upon the oaken floor, a riotous splash of red from Rahab's +scarlet cord intermingled with purple blotches from the circular bosses +that simulated the huge grapes of the Promised Land: I watched the +variegated band of color as it crept slowly toward my chair; at present, +it lay to the right, but as the sun approached the zenith it swung +around, little by little, so as to finally bring my person into the +sphere of its influence; now a piercing purple beam struck me directly +in the face and I blinked; an instant later and the dazzle had passed +beyond; again I saw clearly. + +Thaneford had risen, his teeth clenched upon his lower lip, a half cry +choking in his throat. Together our eyes fastened on the dial of his +watch, where the hands now pointed to eight minutes after twelve +o'clock. With one convulsive movement he snatched up the time-piece, +and dashed it in golden ruin to the floor; then he sprang toward me, and +I knew in another moment those strong hands, with their black-tufted +knuckles, would be gripping at my throat. + +But that moment never came. On he leaped, lunging straight through the +colored stream of sunlight. And then a purple flash seemed to strike +fair on his black-shocked head; he reeled and fell. Down at my feet he +rolled, his limbs twitching in the death throe; simultaneously came a +tremendous crash of thunder, echoing and re-echoing from the straining +and cracking walls, while the blazing band of gold and purple and +scarlet went out like the flame of a wind-blown candle. I looked up to +see Betty's pale face framed in the archway of the secret passage behind +the chimney-breast; back of her stood Chalmers Warriner. + +Betty had an automatic pistol in her hand, and she kept it trained on +the motionless, sprawling figure at my feet. She must have realized that +the precaution was unnecessary, but it was all part of the preconceived +plan, and she could not have borne to have stood idly by. + +Warriner now entered the room, but he did not come directly toward me; +on the contrary, he kept close to the wall until he had arrived at a +point diagonally behind my chair; then he made his dash, and I could +feel my bonds falling apart under the keen edge of the hunting knife +that he carried. "Can you walk?" he asked. "Wait and I'll help you." + +He dragged me to my feet, and I stumbled back to the wall, holding onto +his arm; now the room was in almost complete darkness save for the +recurrent flashes of steel-blue radiance from the incessant electrical +discharges; the rolling thunder drowned out any further exchange of +speech. + +Together we crept toward the secret entrance, still hugging the line and +angles of the wall. Betty's arms drew me into the sheltering warmth of +her breast; now the floor rocked beneath our feet as the lightning bolt +sheared through the doomed roof, and the great painted window of the +Israelitish spies, bending inward under the pressure of the on-rushing +wind, crashed into multitudinous, iridescent ruin, obliterating in its +fall the white, twisted face of the man who had been John Thaneford. + + * * * * * + +At last we were in the open, shaken and trembling, drenched to the skin +by the descending floods, but safe; we pulled up short and looked back. + +The library wing was in flames which seemed to blaze the more fiercely +under the lash of the down-slanting rain. But it might still be possible +to save the main house, and I ran to the fire alarm, the familiar rustic +apparatus of a great, iron ring suspended from a stout framework; and +made it give furious tongue, swinging the heavy hammer until my arms +seemed ready to pull away from their sockets. But help was at hand, Zack +and Zeb at the head of a body of field hands; and with them the +old-fashioned hand-pumping fire engine which had been preparing itself +for just such an emergency through a full century of watchful waiting. + +Our domestic fire brigade had been well drilled, and the immediate +danger was soon past; finally we succeeded in getting the blaze in the +library wing under control. The interior had been entirely gutted, and +the roof had fallen in. But the walls remained standing, and, +apparently, they had suffered but little damage. + +The storm was over and once again the sun was shining. Innumerable +brilliants flashed on the smooth emerald of the lawns, the leaves of the +lindens were rustling softly, and a Baltimore oriole, gorgeous in his +orange and black livery, returned scornful challenge to a blue jay's +chattering abuse. I might have deemed it but the awakening from a horrid +nightmare, were it not for the incredible fact that Betty's hand lay +close in mine and Chalmers Warriner was asking me for a cigarette. + +Whereupon I distinguished myself by crumpling down at Betty's feet; +somebody drew the cap of darkness over my eyes. + + + + +Chapter XX + +_The Blind Terror_ + + +For three days I wandered in a phantasmagoric wilderness, my principal +obsession making me identify myself with that pair of Hebrew spies +staggering under the weight of those enormous grapes; would we never +lose sight of Rahab's scarlet cord, and be again in safety and quiet! +Then the confusion in my head cleared away, and I saw that it was really +Betty who sat by my bed and not "Black Jack" Thaneford. + + * * * * * + +Yes, John Thaneford lies quiet and still in S. Saviour's +churchyard--with his forefathers and mine--and enmity should end at the +edge of the grave. God knows that each one of us needs forgiveness, both +human and divine, for the deeds done in the flesh. + + * * * * * + +This morning I am allowed to sit up. Betty is busy at her household +accounts, and Little Hugh is playing on the floor with blocks and tin +soldiers. What a tremendous big chap he is! Perhaps a trifle shy of me +at present, but time will soon put that to rights. + + * * * * * + +A beautiful day, and I am feeling almost if not quite myself. To-morrow +I am to get up, and Chalmers Warriner is coming to dinner. + + * * * * * + +It is a long and well nigh incredible story to which I have been +listening this evening. But it explains everything and clears up +everything, and the shadow that has hung over "Hildebrand Hundred" for +so long has finally fled away; never, thank God! to return. + + * * * * * + +_Imprimis_, let me register full and frank confession of my unutterable +folly in ever doubting Betty; or, for that matter, my dear friend +Chalmers Warriner. And the explanation was so absurdly simple--the +secret engagement between Warriner and Hilda Powers. Of course, Betty +had been Hilda's confidante and could not betray her even to +re-establish a foolish husband's peace of mind. The ridiculous side of +the affair lay in the fact that there had been no particular reason for +keeping the engagement under cover, outside of Hilda's whim to have the +announcement delayed until after the marriage of her elder sister Eva. +Anyhow it _had_ been a secret and Betty had kept it loyally, even to her +own hurt. Moreover, she may have detected other traces of the green-eyed +monster in my make-up, and had decided that I needed a salutary lesson. +Let it go at that. + +Of course, the mere statement of fact was enough to untangle the whole +coil; explained at once was the confidential understanding which +certainly had existed between my wife and my friend; also Warriner's +appearance at Stockbridge (where Hilda was already Betty's guest), and +all the other straws that seemed to show which way the wind blew, and +yet were nothing but straws, hopelessly light-minded and wholly +irresponsible. I made my amends humbly enough, and they were generously +accepted; we will say no more about it. + +Dinner was over, and we were taking our coffee on the front portico. It +was a perfect June night, the heavens a sable pall studded with +innumerable star-clusters, the little vagrant breezes redolent of new +mown hay, a nightingale singing in a nearby boscage. An atmosphere of +heavenly peace and quiet that I must needs disturb with the blunt +question: + +"And now what was it that killed John Thaneford?" + +Chalmers Warriner threw away the butt of his cigar. "What was it that +killed all the Hildebrands throughout two generations?" he retorted. +"Yardley and Randall and Horace and Richard, and Francis Graeme? The +answer to the one question is the answer to them all. And, finally, +there was Eunice Trevor, who went voluntarily to meet the invisible +angel of death--a brave woman if there ever was one! Of course you +remember the unfinished letter which she left behind her. There was a +particular paragraph in it that impressed me, and I copied it down in my +note-book." He pulled out the little volume and began to read: + + ... moreover, I believe that the heart of the Terror beats in this + very place--the library of "Hildebrand Hundred." Something is in + this room, something eternally menacing and eternally patient. It + may be in one year or it may be in three and fifty years, but in + the end it will surely claim its own. Yes, something is here, the + something for which I myself am waiting; but, search as you will, + you shall not find the Terror; you must await its coming. At least + you may be certain that it will not fail to keep tryst. + +"It must be evident," continued Chalmers, "that Eunice Trevor was aware +of the very real danger attendant upon the occupation of the room we +call the library at 'Hildebrand Hundred.' But she did not know what was +the nature of that danger; in the same breath she speaks of the peril as +being eternally menacing and eternally patient--a contradiction in +terms. How could the Terror be always ready to strike, and yet, in one +case at least, wait half a century for the opportunity? This discrepancy +bothered me from the very first; but let me explain myself more exactly; +I made some other notes at the time." + +Warriner ruffled the leaves of his note-book, and began again: + +"Eunice Trevor gives a list of the owners of the 'Hundred,' together +with the dates of their succession and death, running back to 1860, when +Yardley Hildebrand succeeded his father, Oliver; Yardley himself dying a +year later under mysterious circumstances. At least I assume that they +were mysterious, for Effingham has assured me that he died alone and +while engaged in looking over some papers in the then newly completed +library. The list continues with Randall and Horace and Richard +Hildebrand, and ends with Francis Graeme. Now for Miss Trevor's +comments: + + "As we analyze these dates and periods we come upon some curious + coincidences, and also upon some marked discrepancies. Yardley + Hildebrand reigned for one brief year, and the same is true of + Randall Hildebrand and of Francis Graeme. But Horace Hildebrand + enjoyed three full years of sovereignty, while Richard was + Hildebrand of the "Hundred" for no less a period than fifty-three + years. Yet all five went to their death along an unfrequented road, + and no man can say of a certainty what was the essential damnation + of their taking-off. They died, and they died alone--here in this + very room where I sit waiting, waiting." + +Warriner lit a fresh cigar. + +"Making due allowance for feminine hyperbole," he said judicially, "and +for the writer's excited state of mind, we arrive at certain definite +facts. Here are six deaths--seven if we include that of John +Thaneford--and all of them happening under apparently natural but really +abnormal conditions. The constant factors in the series of equations are +the _locale_ and the general circumstances--an unattended death and no +visible cause for dissolution. The period is a variable quantity--from +one to over fifty years. We therefore may conclude justifiably that Miss +Trevor was wrong in her assertion about something deadly and menacing +being always in the room, ready to spring upon its prey. Under that +hypothesis the apartment would quickly have become impossible for human +occupancy. The alternative theory is that, granting certain conditions, +the lethal agent might enter the room and accomplish its deadly +purpose, and then immediately withdraw. Finally, this agency might be +human or purely mechanical in character. You see what I'm driving at. +From the first, I believed that the attack was delivered from without, +while Betty and Eunice held that it was what the police call an inside +job." + +"And neither theory was wholly right nor wholly wrong," observed Betty. + +"Perfectly," rejoined Warriner. "As usual, the truth lay in the middle +distance. Now you go on, Betty; this is your part of the story." + +"My part of the story!" echoed Betty deprecatingly. "I'm not an author; +I'm merely the amanuensis, the typist, if you please." + +"Mock modesty," proclaimed Warriner. "Even now we would still be +standing before a closed door were it not for Betty and her master-key." + +"Yes, my master-key," scoffed Betty. "Only it doesn't seem very clever +of me to have carried it all these months without ever thinking to use +it." + +"Perhaps you couldn't find your pocket," suggested Chalmers. + +"Enough of this bush-beating and persiflage," I commanded severely. +"Will you go on and tell me, Betty?" + +"Well," began my wife obediently, "we had been warned away from the +'Hundred,' but you were obstinate and wouldn't budge; you had to be +saved in spite of yourself. + +"Of course I was right in going North immediately after the Midsummer +Night's ball at 'Powersthorp.' Little Hugh really needed the change, and +I wanted to be able to call at will on Chalmers for assistance in +working out my problem. I couldn't do so if I stayed on at the +'Hundred,' even by means of correspondence. I don't suppose, Hugh, that +I need to particularize any further in this direction?" + +I mumbled something unintelligible, and, to add to my discomfiture, +Warriner actually laughed. Never mind; I deserved it all. + +"I could feel reasonably easy in my mind," went on Betty, "since I knew +that the library had been dismantled and locked up. Besides, I had your +solemn promise that you would not attempt to enter it for any purpose." + +"I forgot," I murmured. + +"That sounds like honest penitence, and I can forgive you--now. But I +shall never be able to forget the afternoon your letter came with its +calm announcement that you had been in the room to see about the +damaged window; yes, and would probably have to go again. + +"That letter reached Stockbridge at ten o'clock in the morning of +Thursday, the twenty-first. Fifteen minutes later an express train left +for New York, and Chalmers and I were the passengers on it, leaving +Hilda to follow with the nurse and the baby. At the first opportunity I +sent you a telegram. Did you receive it?" + +My thoughts went back to the yellow telegraphic sheet clutched in John +Thaneford's black-knuckled hands, and held up before my helpless eyes. +"Yes, it came," I answered slowly, "but too late to be of any use." + +"I was afraid of that," said Betty, "but we were leaving no stone +unturned. We were missing connections all the way down, and I knew that +the trap was ready for springing. And someone else knew it, too--John +Thaneford." + +"But," I objected, "Eunice expressly says that John Thaneford did not +know the secret; except perhaps in part." + +"What did he mean then by stupefying you with whiskey, and placing you, +bound and helpless, in the big swivel-chair?" put in Warriner. + +I was silent. + +"Finally," continued Warriner, "it seemed certain that something had +gone wrong with the working of the machinery, whatever it was. Whereupon +he started for you--you remember--with bare hands." + +Ah, yes, I remembered. + +"Unquestionably, Thaneford was carrying out a perfectly definite plan of +procedure. He knew what ought to have happened." + +"But it didn't happen," I protested. "I'm here and very much alive." + +"It did, and it didn't," retorted Warriner. "John Thaneford is dead." + +"You mean--you mean----" I boggled. + +"Yes, the Terror had entered the room; don't you recall how close I kept +to the wall when I was trying to reach you? But it had become a blind +Terror, and John Thaneford got in its way." + +"But how and why?" I asked helplessly. + +"Betty, it's your turn again," said Warriner, settling back in his +chair. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +_A Lost Clue_ + + +"Suppose we admit, for the sake of argument," began Betty "that John +Thaneford was in possession of the secret. Then everything points back +to his father, old Fielding, who certainly had all the brains of the +family. Last and most important, it was a secret which Mr. Thaneford, +senior, desired to impart to me; he did tell me all he could." + +"The series of numbers, you mean? I recall them perfectly: 1-4-2-4-8. +And what then?" + +"Do you remember the story of Christian and his fellow pilgrim, Hopeful, +imprisoned in Giant Despair's stronghold of Doubting Castle? After +languishing for a week or more in darkness and misery, Hopeful suddenly +bethinks him of a key which he has in his bosom, a key that will unlock +any door in the castle. The rest is easy. + +"So, too, I had my key, but I had only used it once--to unlock the first +and most obvious door----" + +"The combination of the safe," I interrupted. + +"Precisely. It never occurred to either of us that it might be a +master-key to which all locks must yield. But so it was. + +"Not that I learned to use it without a lot of trouble and +discouragement. It took months and months, and I only got it fully +working on the train trip down from Stockbridge. + +"Of course, you have guessed that the whole story lay buried in that +leather-bound book belonging to Fielding Thaneford which we found in the +safe. I remembered all that you had told me about 'Le Chiffre +Indechiffrable,' but even granting that that particular cypher had been +employed, how was I ever to stumble upon the indispensable key-word, or +more likely, key-sentence? + +"One day I had an inspiration. There was the series of numbers: +1-4-2-4-8. Considered as numbers merely they could be of no use, since +most cypher codes are built up on letters. But I might put the numbers +into their written word equivalents, thus: One-four-two-four-eight It +was certainly conceivable that these letters might form the +key-sentence; it would be all the more easily memorized since, in its +numerical form, it served as a combination to the safe. + +"I had with me the magic square which you had made for me, and I began +very carefully to work out the problem according to your directions. + +"The initial procedure was to put down my theoretical key-sentences, +thus:" + + O N E F O U R T W O F O U R E I G H T + +"Underneath I must write the cypher message, and half a dozen letters +would be enough to show if I were on the right track. I opened Mr. +Fielding Thaneford's old book, and copied down the first seven letters, +ranging them vertically under the key-letters. That gave me this +arrangement:" + + O N E F O U R + Q W O T T U I + +"Now the rule goes on to say that you must find the letter O in the top +horizontal column, and follow that column vertically downward until you +come to the first cypher letter, in this case Q. The letter at the +outside, left end of this second horizontal column, will be the first +letter of the original message. + +"Well, I tried it, and got the letter B. The next pair yielded an I, +which was encouraging, as one would expect a vowel in this position. But +the third try gave me a J, and that was not so promising; then I got an +N and an E. So far my decoded message read: BIJNE; not very +enlightening. The next pair showed the letter U in both key-sentence and +cypher. Such a combination is impossible on our magic square, and I had +to put down a blank space. The final letter obtained was a Q, and the +complete result read: BIJNE-Q. Pure gibberish of course. I tried out a +few more pairs, and then gave up in disgust; my beautiful theory had +fallen to pieces. + +"Just the same, I wasn't ready to give it up. I knew, right in my bones, +that old Mr. Thaneford had wanted to tell me something of supreme +importance at that last moment on his deathbed, when my hand lay in his +and I could feel the intermittent pressure of his fingers. It was +impossible that I should be mistaken about any of the figures, for he +went over the series three or four times; besides, they did open the +safe. + +"I was still sure that the numbers meant something more than the mere +combination to an old strong-box that held nothing of any pecuniary +value. The real secret lay between the covers of that leather-bound +book, and I was certain that the old man had been desirous that I should +discover it. The Thanefords and the Hildebrands had not been friends for +a long while, although nobody knew just why. Probably, it was some +ancient grudge Or unforgiven wrong, and old Mr. Thaneford had done his +part in keeping it up. But now that he was sick and paralyzed and dying, +and especially since he and I had become friends of a sort, he was +willing to bury the hatchet. So he told all he could--you remember that +he couldn't speak--and he seemed to feel satisfied that I would find the +hint sufficient, that I would be clever enough to solve the puzzle. + +"And surely it was a puzzle. My best guess had come a flivver, and I +didn't see how I could go a step further. Perhaps it was silly to attach +so much importance to what the old man had tried to tell me, but I had +an intuition that our future happiness and safety were bound up in those +crumbling leather covers. + +"Time went on, and the solution was as far off as ever; at least +apparently. Little Hugh and I had come to Irvington for the winter; it +was close to Christmas, and I had the blues terribly. Just to think of +Christmas and that abyss lying between us! For I knew that you would not +come unless I called, and I could not send for you quite yet. Suppose +that the discovery of the secret should be close at hand; I might need +Chalmers to help out on some difficult scientific point. + +"It is always the little things that show the way out. Hilda's weekly +letter had come, and I was reading it eagerly hoping to find some +mention of you. Now Hilda, poor dear! is an awful speller; she never +could learn to visualize words. As I read along I came on a word which +looked odd; then I saw that she had committed the careless +stenographer's error of spelling 'forty' with an u, thus: 'fourty.' Of +course, the pronunciation is the same in either case--and then it was +that I got my _big_ idea. Was it possible that the phonetic sounds in my +series of numbers might fit words of entirely different meaning than +their ordinary equivalents in letters? Let me try. + +"1-4-2-4-8. Why, yes, 1 is 'one' and also 'won'; 4 is 'four' and also +'for'; 2 is 'two' and also 'too'--quick! let me get them all down. And +here was the result: Won--for--too--for--ate. You see that, in every +instance, the phonetic sound of the number can be represented exactly by +a word of entirely different meaning. But this peculiar quality in the +series, 1-4-2-4-8, would not be apparent at a casual glance, and the +figures could even be written down for future reference, or sent to a +distant correspondent, without any probability of that inner +significance becoming revealed. Very clever of Fielding Thaneford--that +is if my deductions were really correct! + +"The first step was to set down the new key-sentence with the cypher +writing underneath. Here it is; this time using fifteen letters." + + W O N F O R T O O F O R A T E + Q W O T T U I J X I S V A Z P + +"Applying the decoding rule I got the following in my first six tries:" + + T H A N E C + +"You can imagine how excited I was. If my theory were correct the next +four letters should be OURT, completing the word 'Thane Court,' Eureka! +it is coming! It is coming! I got both the O and the U. + +"From the height of exultation to the depths of despair. For instead of +R in the ninth place, I had to set down an I; and then, in succession: +CDD-FKL. Perfectly impossible! Look at it: THANECOUICDD-FKL, etc. + +"And yet the cypher had certainly started to uncode; what could have +thrown me off the track? For I had succeeded in getting 'Thanecou,' and +that unusual combination was significant in the highest degree. What +word could it be but 'Thane Court,' the ancestral home of the +Thanefords? Why the chances were a million to one against my reaching +such a series for--for----" + +"Fortuitously," I prompted. + +"Yes, that's it; something like the 'fortuitous concourse of atoms' that +the philosophers talk about. I remember the phrase from my school days. + +"And yet the mix-up came to spoil everything. For what could any +sensible person make of THANECOUICDD-FKL? + +"I tried carrying on the series until my brain was positively dizzy, but +I got nothing except incomprehensible rubbish. And yet I knew that I had +found a real clue; how in the world had I lost it again? I used to work +until I actually went fast to sleep at my desk, but nothing came of it. +It was enough to drive one mad. + +"The middle of May I went up to Stockbridge, and of course I carried my +troubles with me. Wherever I looked I seemed to see that tantalizing +key-sentence: Won--for--too--for--ate; it was as bad as the squaring of +the circle. Just some little, insignificant error was keeping me from +the solving of the puzzle, but for the life of me I couldn't put my +finger on it. Honestly now, Hugh, do you think you would have been +clever enough to have figured it out?" + +I checked up Betty's "layout" and went over the decoding process with +meticulous care. I got precisely the same result: THANECOU--and then +chaos. + +"It beats me," I confessed. "It's enough to make one dotty." + +"I dare say that is what Aunt Alice Crew thought of me in her heart of +hearts," laughed Betty, "although she was too polite to say so. And, +really, it was getting on my nerves. I couldn't eat, and a _nuit +blanche_ was no uncommon thing with me. I couldn't get it out of my +head, you understand, that the solving of the problem must be of immense +importance. There _was_ a mystery at the 'Hundred,' and so long as it +remained a mystery there could be no enduring peace or happiness for us. +If you had been willing to sell the 'Hundred' there might have been some +chance of escaping the curse; hadn't poor Eunice said as much in that +weird statement which she left behind her. But you would not consider +the suggestion even." + +"I suppose I was pig-headed and altogether in the wrong," I admitted +humbly. "But it all seemed so fantastic and incredible--here in the +twentieth century." + +"Granting that the mystery had continued unsolved," said Betty, looking +me straight in the eye. "What then?" + +"But you have given me to understand----" I began. + +"Never mind that," interrupted my wife. "Even now you don't know the +secret, and I might find it inadvisable to tell you. Admitting the +possibility that the ghost has not been truly laid, would you still +insist upon remaining master of 'Hildebrand Hundred'?" + +A vision of those strong, cruel hands, with their black-tufted knuckles, +rose before me, and I shuddered. + +"Or would you be willing that Little Hugh should enter upon his +inheritance with this cloud hanging over it?" + +"No, I wouldn't," I said soberly. "To be honest, I hadn't thought of it +in that light." + +"You see a woman has to consider all these things," rejoined Betty. "But +you have been very patient, Hugh, and the winding up of my yarn won't +take long. The crisis begins with Chalmers' coming to Stockbridge." + +"For me, that was the denouement, the end of all things," I said +shamefacedly, and Warriner roared. + +"You see, I never suspected even that I was cast for the role of breaker +up of homes," he remarked meditatively. "Betty and I were good friends, +of course, but once you appeared on the sky line I was reduced to +playing gooseberry. Besides, there never had been anyone else than +Hilda for me." + +"I'm only trying to explain my conduct," I retorted. "I'm well aware +that nothing can excuse it. Shoot, Betty." + +"Of course, Chalmers was coming to Stockbridge," went on Betty, "for the +simple reason that Hilda was visiting me. Nevertheless, I was looking +forward to his arrival, because he had promised to dig up certain data +for me. + +"You remember the list of Hildebrand tragedies as given by Eunice; how +Yardley Hildebrand had succeeded his father, Oliver, in 1860, and had +died the following year; then how his younger brother, Randall, had +become master of the 'Hundred,' and had only lived a twelvemonth; and so +on. + +"Well, I thought it might be useful to ascertain all these dates +exactly, and, in order to do that, it would be necessary to take +transcripts from the parish register at S. Saviour's. I wrote to +Chalmers, and asked him to look up this information and bring it with +him when he came to Stockbridge. Not only did he do this, but he took +the trouble to type out the complete record, so that all the facts in +the case might lie under the eye. I'll read it." + +Betty pulled out a folded sheet of paper from the portfolio lying in her +lap and began: + + Yardley Hildebrand, b. March 5, 1806; succeeded his father, Oliver, + 1860; d. June 20, 1861. + + Randall Hildebrand, b. May 11, 1809; succeeded his brother, + Yardley, 1861; d. June 22, 1862. + + Horace Hildebrand, elder son of Randall, b. December 4, 1830; + succeeded his father, 1862; d. June 22, 1865. + + Richard Hildebrand, younger son of Randall, b. June 1, 1835; + succeeded his elder brother, 1865; d. June 20, 1918. + + Francis Hildebrand Graeme, great-nephew to Richard, b. April 13, + 1874; succeeded his great-uncle, 1918; d. June 21, 1919. + + Eunice Trevor, b. September 2, 1892; d. June 20, 1920. + +"And now we may add a final entry," continued Betty: "John Thaneford, +nephew to Richard, b. July 16, 1892; d. June 22, 1922." + +Betty handed me over the list. "Do you notice anything peculiar about +those dates?" she asked. + +I read the paper through, and then again. "You have already pointed +out," I began hesitatingly, "that the tenure of 'Hildebrand Hundred' was +for the comparatively brief period of one to three years. Except for +Richard, who held the property for over fifty." + +"I don't mean that. Examine the actual dates." + +I scanned the record with still greater attention. "Ah!" I exclaimed, +"here _is_ something strange. Everyone of these men, and Eunice, too, +died in June; yes, and on a day of the month that varied between the +twentieth and the twenty-second. Is that what you had in mind?" + +"Yes, and it seemed to indicate clearly that those particular three +days, the twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second of June----" + +"In astronomical parlance, the summer solstice," interrupted Warriner. + +"----was the danger period." + +"Yes, and then?" + +"Your letter came, saying that you had been obliged to enter the library +to look after the window repairs; you added that you would probably have +to go again to finish up the job. As I have already told you, that +letter reached me on Thursday morning, June the twenty-first; Chalmers +and I left at once for New York. On the way down I succeeded in reading +the cypher, and so got Fielding Thaneford's message in full." + +"But how in the world----" I began. + +"You'll know in good time," cut in Betty. "First, I want you to consider +another of my sources of information. Here it is," and she held up a +small book bound in tattered leather. + +"This," continued my wife, "is a diary kept by Horace Hildebrand, who +succeeded to the 'Hundred' in 1862, and died June 22, 1865. The notes +refer chiefly to the weather, a record that many country gentlemen are +fond of keeping for their own amusement. The only period which interests +us is that covering those fatal June days in 1863, 1864, and 1865." + +Betty thumbed over the leaves, and stopped at the latter part of June, +1863. + +"You see that the twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second are +described as overcast and rainy. Now for 1864: + +"'June 20, cloudy; June 21, clear. (Note: A total eclipse of the sun +took place to-day, the period of partial and complete darkness lasting +from 10.45 A. M. to 2.10 P. M.); June 22, cloudy.' Finally, we take +1865: + +"'June 20, rainy; June twenty-first, heavy rains; June 22, fine and +clear.' This is the last entry in the book as Horace Hildebrand was +found dead later on in that same day. + +"Just one more point. What possible hypothesis can we establish to +account for Richard Hildebrand's half century of immunity? Now it +happened that I had questioned Effingham on this very subject before I +left the 'Hundred.' Effingham had lived, as boy and man, on the +Hildebrand estate for over sixty years. Consequently, he knew Marse +Richard, as he called him, very well, and was familiar with his habits +of life. + +"According to Effingham, Richard Hildebrand disliked the warm weather, +and always left the 'Hundred' the first of June; he would spend the +summer at the 'Old White,' returning to Maryland toward the end of +September. But in 1918, the last year of his life, he was too feeble to +go away from home. His favorite room was the library, and there he was +found dead the evening of the twentieth of June, 1918. He was supposed +to have died of heart disease; certainly there was no suspicion of foul +play. + +"So that was the sum total of my investigations to date," concluded +Betty. "Do you make anything of it?" + +"It's beyond me," I confessed frankly. "What is the answer?" + +"Only Fielding Thaneford himself can give it," replied Betty. "Here is +his fully decoded statement, and I'll ask Chalmers to read it aloud. As +I said a moment ago, we worked it out together that long day on the +train. When we reached town we had the whole story, and knew what to +expect. Except one thing: Would it be a cloudy day? But it turned out +fair and hot, with only a faint suggestion of thunder in the air. There +was a bad wreck on the Cape Charles route, and anyhow we had missed the +connection for the morning train. So we hired a car, threw away the +speedometer, and made to strike the 'Hundred' by midday. We couldn't +quite do it, but the tide of chance had turned at last, and it didn't +matter. Now go on, Chalmers." + +Warriner ruffled the dozen or more sheets of paper between his fingers +and began: + + + + +Chapter XXII + +_The Grapes of Wrath_ + + + Thane Court, August third, eighteen-ninety-two. Now that a son is + born to me, Fielding Thaneford of King William county, Maryland, it + is fitting that I set down in order the form and measure of my + vengeance upon the traitor Yardley Hildebrand; also upon those who + may come after him until the end of time. + + Back in 1854 I was a young man of nine-and-twenty. Yardley + Hildebrand was some twenty years my senior, yet we were close + friends owing to our common interest in scientific studies, he as a + chemist and I as a physicist, specializing in optics. Then Evelyn + Mansfield came and stood between us. + + It was his wealth which turned the scale. Not that Evelyn was + mercenary, but financial disaster had overtaken the Mansfields, and + Yardley Hildebrand had promised to play the part of a ministering + angel in rehabilitating the family fortunes, the inexorable + condition being that Evelyn should favor his suit. And I was a + comparatively poor man. + + They were married in 1855, she a slip of a girl of barely nineteen + years, and he a mature man of fifty. It is hardly necessary to say + that he kept none of his lavish promises. I cared nothing about + that, but when he began to mistreat his wife, to the extent of + using personal violence, my half-formed plans started to take + definite shape. + + Evelyn died suddenly in the late summer of 1860, the same year that + Yardley Hildebrand succeeded his father in the ownership of the + "Hundred." As S. Saviour's was then undergoing repairs, the funeral + had to take place from the house. I stood by her coffin, set up in + state in the long ballroom; and, snatching a favorable opportunity, + I pushed back the loose sleeve of her gown, and saw with my own + eyes the blue and purple marks of his hands on her delicate flesh. + Whereupon, I made oath that both Yardley himself and his heirs + forever should pay in their own bodies for all that Evelyn had + suffered and endured. Perhaps I was a little mad then; it may be + that I am still of a disordered brain, and so not fully responsible + for the things which I have done in making up the tale of my + revenge. Whatever the legal aspects of the case, be sure of this: I + am neither sorry nor ashamed. + + My opportunity quickly came. Yardley determined to go abroad; the + pretense was that he needed a change to divert his mind and blunt + the keen edge of his grief. But I managed to keep a straight face + when he mumbled out his excuses and explanations. + + Yardley Hildebrand had it in mind to build an adequate library at + the "Hundred"; the villain had his cultivated tastes, and he wanted + something which should be unique of its kind. Since my regular + profession was that of an architect he naturally consulted me. I + sketched out my ideas, and they met with his approval; he offered + me the commission, and I accepted with alacrity. Then he sailed + away, leaving me to carry out the plans--those in my sketchbook and + some others that I had not taken the trouble to show him. + + Modern physicists are just now beginning to talk about the + invisible heat and light rays composed of high frequency + vibrations. But long before Crooks gave the X-ray to the world I + had discovered and had succeeded in isolating what I choose to call + the Sigma ray. Some fine day it will be rediscovered, and the lucky + man will get a new lot of capital letters to tack onto his name; + and perhaps a ribbon for his buttonhole, and a pension from his + grateful government. I shall not care; the Sigma ray has repaid me + a thousandfold for the trouble I took to establish its existence; + as a lethal agent it stands without a peer, instantaneously + destructive to all forms of organic life. + + Naturally, I do not propose to state the formula by means of which + I was enabled to construct a filter capable of segregating my + beloved Sigma ray _from ordinary sunlight_. Ah, that statement is + illuminating, is it not! Suffice it to say that my filter looks + like common glass. It may be moulded so as to resemble the familiar + bullseye lens; and, if desirable, it can be colored. Now do you + begin to appreciate the significance of the stained glass window on + the right of the great fireplace in the library of "Hildebrand + Hundred," the one depicting the Israelitish spies carrying their + clusters of purple grapes? + + If you choose to make an interesting experiment, arrange for the + erection of a staging or an extension ladder outside the "Spy" + window, so as to bring your eye on a level with the third grape in + the upper row of the largest bunch. You will find that the line of + your view, through this particular bullseye, impinges upon the head + of any person who may chance to be sitting in the swivel-chair + before the big, teakwood desk. As the chair is immovably secured to + the floor by steel bolts passing through its mushroom base, it is + evident that the relationship of the chair and of that particular + bullseye will remain fixed; at any rate, one would have to go to + some trouble to disturb it. + + But the mere haphazard introduction of the Sigma ray into the room + would not suit my purpose; my revenge would not be complete unless + I could see it in operation. And so it was necessary to arrange + some sort of clockwork mechanism to spring the trap. I confess to + being somewhat grandiose in my conceptions, and accordingly I + decided to press into my service no less an agency than the solar + system itself. + + If you will go into the library of "Hildebrand Hundred" on any + month of the year outside of June you will see that the direct rays + of the sun never reach the upper part of the "Spy" window; + consequently, the Sigma ray is not brought into being. But, as the + summer solstice approaches, the sun continues to rise higher and + higher in the heavens until, in the three or four days around the + twenty-first of June, it has reached its ultimate altitude with + reference to the zenith. For the few minutes immediately before or + after high noon on any of the aforesaid days the sun is in such a + position that its beams will pass through the purple bullseye lens + that forms the third grape in the upper row of the largest + cluster. And in passing through it will become decomposed into the + Sigma ray, and will fall on the head of him who sits at the great + desk, exercising the authority of his lordship over "Hildebrand + Hundred." + + This is all plain and straightforward, I think. It is unfortunately + true that any innocent person who chances to be occupying the seat + perilous at the fateful moment will have to bear the weight of the + vengeance intended for the guilty. But that risk is really remote, + since the great desk and chair are the natural appanage of the + Master of the "Hundred"; it will not be usual for anyone else to + trespass upon that prerogative. And what more natural procedure + than that the Master of the "Hundred," after a tour of his hay + fields on a hot June day, should go to the cool of his library and + finish up his office business at his desk? + + True, there are other contingencies. The Master may come to the + room and yet choose to sit elsewhere. Or he may forestall the + hammer stroke of doom through the chance of rising from his chair + to select a book from a distant shelf; or, finding his match-safe + empty, he may go over to the chimney-breast on the hunt for a + vesta. + + Or again, he may be away from home during the three or four days of + fate, or lying ill in an upstairs room. Finally, should the period + of danger be cloudy and overcast the sun may not shine at all, and + the whole business must go over for another year. But my patience + is very long; I have learned how to wait. + + I need not go into the intricate calculations necessary to provide + for all the conditions of the problem. Fortunately for my purpose + the walls of the projected addition lay at a favorable angle for + the carrying out of my designs, and I had only to work out the + correct position for the windows and make the proper allowance for + the overhang of the roof cornice. The stained glass was made from + my own drawings, and I personally set the bullseye lens in its + appointed place. The work was finished in May, 1861, and I should + have liked to have made a test of my apparatus before Yardley's + return from abroad; if there had been any error in my calculations + and measurements it would be difficult, later on, to trump up an + excuse for making the necessary structural alteration. But, as it + turned out, I had made no mistakes. + + However, Yardley forestalled my intentions by appearing at the + "Hundred" early in May. I bade him welcome, and showed him my + completed work. He was pleased and said so, frequently and warmly. + I could only smile in acknowledgment of his plaudits and fulsome + thanks. + + June the twentieth of that same year I sat in my observation post + on Sugar Loaf. Through my high-powered telephoto lens I saw Yardley + come into the room and sit down at his desk. It was then ten + minutes of twelve o'clock. Five minutes later, what looked like a + streak of purple flame leaped through the semi-darkness of the + room, and Yardley Hildebrand toppled to the floor. The apparatus + had worked with meticulous exactness, and Evelyn Mansfield was + avenged--at least in part. + + Since then I have watched two others of that black line of + Hildebrands go to their doom--Randall and Horace. Poor spirited + creatures, both of them, and hardly worthy to receive the accolade + of my splendid Sigma ray. Randall held his sovereignty for just a + year, but Horace had the devil's own luck. Cloudy days saved him, + together with one quite unforeseen contingency, an eclipse of the + sun on June 21, 1864. On June 20 and 21, 1865, there were heavy + rains, and I was furious. But the twenty-second was clear and fine, + and lo! he, too, was gathered to his fathers. + + Finally, my dearly beloved brother-in-law, Richard, succeeded to + the family honors, and perils. That was in 1865 and for + seven-and-twenty years he has managed to evade the stroke through + the annoying accident that he prefers the summer climate of "Old + White." I intend to give him still further leeway now that my son + John, born July 16, 1892, to me and Richard's sister, Jocelyn, is + in the field. For Richard is a bachelor, and John Thaneford is the + natural heir to the estate. If Richard will listen to reason and + make due provision in his will, I am agreeable to allow him full + usufruct of the "Hundred" until my son arrives at his majority. + Otherwise he, in his turn, shall die like the dog he is, even as + the Hildebrands before him have died, alone and in silence, with + none to pity and none to save. The instrument of my vengeance is + very sure and very patient, and the passage of the years is as + nothing to me, sitting perdu in my secret seat on the cliff of + Sugar Loaf. + + * * * * * + + October 1, 1892. Richard is not inclined to listen to my proposal + to recognize John as his rightful heir; he even talks of leaving + the "Hundred" to his great-nephew on the distaff side, one Francis + Graeme. + + Be it so; let him eat of the grapes of wrath, and let his teeth be + set on edge, even to the third and fourth generation of that + accursed race upon which my hate is poured out, now and for + evermore. + + FIELDING THANEFORD. + + June 20, 1918. Richard Hildebrand died to-day, and Francis Graeme + became Master of the "Hundred." + + July 10, 1918. I have offered Francis Graeme his chance on the same + terms. He has accepted, and John Thaneford is to be nominated the + heir in his will of the residuary estate. But the Sigma ray stands + on guard until I am convinced that he intends to keep his plighted + word. + + F. T. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +_The End of the Coil_ + + +Warriner laid the book on the table, and pulled out his pipe. I think it +was a full five minutes before any of us said a word. But Betty kept her +hand close-locked in mine. + +"Any particular questions?" said Warriner at length. + +"If I've got the hang of it," I began, "the Sigma ray was bound to get +the man or woman who happened to be sitting in that big chair on the +specified dates in June when the sun was in position to shine through +the bullseye lens." + +"Yes." + +"Then I escaped through the accident that, when the window was repaired, +the lens got mixed up with the ordinary glass bullseyes." + +"Precisely. It had been replaced in a new position, an entirely unknown +one. As it happened--pure chance, you understand--the ray of sunshine +that fell upon your face at noon that day had passed through a bullseye +of common purple glass, and therefore it was harmless. But the Terror +was in the room; somewhere it was lying in wait, ready to strike. Do you +recall how I kept close to the wall, so as to avoid getting in the path +of the direct sunlight? You understand now that I realized the danger, +and took the obvious precaution. But John Thaneford was unaware that any +change had been made in the position of the death-dealing lens. And so +he walked straight into the line of destructive force; and the Sigma +ray, being no respecter of persons, proceeded to strike him down." + +"I wonder how much he really knew about the whole affair?" queried +Betty. "You remember that Eunice expressly acquitted John Thaneford of +any actual part in my father's death." + +"But he certainly must have been cognizant of the nature of the trap," +answered Warriner. "He was the observer at the time of Mr. Graeme's +death, the elder Thaneford being physically unable to take his +accustomed post on Sugar Loaf. Again, his putting Hugh, bound and +helpless, into the fatal chair is unanswerable evidence that he did +possess a guilty knowledge of his father's secret. It makes no moral +difference that he had no hand in inventing or setting up the instrument +of vengeance. He knew of its existence undoubtedly, and hoped to profit +by it. That's enough." + +"Have you any theory about the Sigma ray itself?" I asked. "Or rather +its effect upon the physical organism?" + +"Do you happen to recall the medical testimony given at the coroner's +inquest by Doctor Williams of John Hopkins? Well, he testified, in +brief, that the autopsy had revealed a most peculiar lesion of the +brain; in unprofessional language, the injury might be characterized as +a case of greatly intensified sunstroke." + +"Yes, I do remember." + +"Now there are unexplained anomalies about even ordinary sunstroke," +continued Warriner. "Just what are the conditions under which exposures +to the rays of the sun may be dangerous? + +"In the first place, we may affirm confidently that the peril is not +dependent upon the amount of humidity that may be present in the +atmosphere. Down in New Orleans, where the air is full of moisture and +the thermometer stands high in the scale for weeks at a time, sunstroke +is virtually unknown; men and beasts seem equally immune. But let a +ten-day heat wave submerge New York City and the emergency hospitals +will be full up, while the horses will be wearing plaited straw-bonnets +as a protection against the deadly sun. + +"Again, there is Fort Yuma in Arizona, the hottest place in the United +States, with the possible exception of Death Valley. Yes, it is +abnormally hot at Yuma and the air is furnace-dried; the old-timers will +tell you that, on really bad days, a man can't drink water fast enough +to keep from dying of thirst. Of course, men do die from the effects of +the heat, but it isn't our ordinary form of sunstroke. To sum up, then: + +"No sunstroke at New Orleans, where it is abnormally humid and hot; and +none at Fort Yuma, where it is abnormally dry and hot. But plenty of +cases in Paris, Chicago, and New York, where the climate is supposed to +be temperate. + +"The inference is logical: under certain conditions, one of the +invisible, high frequency rays, always present in sunlight, is enabled +to get in its deadly work. Unfortunately, we don't know what those +conditions are. Perhaps the proportion of static electricity in the +atmosphere may have something to do with it. Anyway, the fact remains +that men do die of heat stroke in New York and Paris, while Louisiana +and Florida are comparatively free from that particular peril to life." + +"Then, according to your theory, it is the Sigma ray which is the active +lethal agent in sunlight?" + +"Yes, and Fielding Thaneford's invention enabled him to isolate the ray +in question, at the same time enormously intensifying its action. Both +Graeme and John Thaneford died the instant that it touched them." + +"And that was Fielding Thaneford's secret," said Betty, just returned +from a flying visit to the nursery, where Little Hugh lay sleeping. +"Such a horrible secret!" She shuddered. + +"Just as well that it died with him," assented Warriner soberly. + +"Still, in the end, he sought to stop the evil thing that he had set in +motion," persisted Betty. "He told me all he could; all indeed that it +was necessary to know, once I really began to use my wits." + +"Which reminds me," I put in, "that you have yet to explain how you +finally managed to read the cypher. What put you back on the track?" + +"So simple a thing it was, too," laughed Betty. "And so easy to +overlook." + +"I remember years ago," remarked Warriner, "that, on account of certain +rare astronomical conditions, it was possible to see the planet Venus at +midday. It took me the longest time to find the star, although I thought +I knew just where to look; also all my friends were admiring the +spectacle. At last I saw it, and then it was an easy matter to locate it +again. I suppose the reason is that I didn't know what to expect; some +sort of junior sun, I reckon. In reality, it was only a pin-point of +light, but brilliant as a diamond." + +"And there's the game of challenging an opponent to find a word in a +geographical map," said Betty. "It isn't the one printed in fine type +and tucked away in a corner that is so hard to discover. The really +invisible word is the one stretching in big, widely separated letters +clear across the page." + +"Will you _tell_ me?" I asked impatiently. + +"Here goes then. You remember that I set down my theoretical +key-sentence, thus:" + + W O N F O R T O O F O R A T E + +"The uncoding went along splendidly for eight places, thus:" + + W O N F O R T O + T H A N E C O U + +"The rest was gibberish. It follows then that the running off the track +must have happened at the ninth substitution and nowhere else." + +"Obviously." + +"The very morning that your letter about the library window +arrived--that is, on June the twenty-first--I was sitting at my desk; +for the ten thousand time, more or less, I printed out those distracting +capitals:" + + W O N F O R T O O F O R A T E + +"As I looked at the line of letters I suddenly discovered something +entirely new: the five end ones formed the perfectly good English word, +_Orate_. + +"There is a game, you know, in which you mix up the letters of a long +word, such as _Plenipotentiary_, and then try to recombine them into +subsidiary words, the biggest list winning the prize. Perhaps there were +other esoteric or inside words in my key-sentence, a still deeper +meaning and significance to this apparently haphazard collection of +alphabetical symbols. I started experimenting, and almost immediately I +did get another word, _Fort_. Now I'll write out the series again, +using vertical lines to divide off the word-groups. Here it is:" + + W O N | F O R T | O O F | O R A T E + +"The only perplexity was in the third section, for although _OOF_ is a +Yiddish slang word for money or cash it isn't much in use in our rural +locality; in all probability, old Mr. Thaneford had never even heard of +it. All the other words were good English. + +"What was the ninth letter, the alphabetical rock upon which my fine +theory had gone to pieces? Why it was none other than the second O in +that very word, _OOF_. Then I saw the solution in a flash. Do you?" + +I shook my head. + +"There is another English work which corresponds phonetically to the +number 2 or two. Of course it is _TO_. Let us make the substitution, +thus:" + + W O N | F O R T | O F | O R A T E + +"A complete English sentence, you see. It doesn't make very good sense, +but that is of no consequence, since it is merely what Chalmers calls +er--er--well, what _do_ you call it, Chalmers?" + +"Mnemonic guide," smiled Warriner. "An artificial aid to one's memory. +It would be somewhat easier to write down the key-letters correctly if +this absurd sentence were kept in mind. You have to be absolutely +accurate in the coding of a cypher message." + +"Now then, Hugh, do you see?" demanded my wife. + +"Of course I do," I answered eagerly. "The extra O in your original +key-sentence is not only wrong in itself, but its inclusion in the +series throws everything which follows it into hopeless confusion. Let's +try it out." + +Rapidly I wrote down the correct key-letters, and underneath them a +score of the cypher symbols, thus: + + W O N F O R T O F O R A T E W O N F O R T + Q W O T T U I J X I S V A Z P I H N X J X + +Taking up the magic square I asked Betty to repeat the formula for +uncoding. + +"Find where the first key-letter occurs in the top row," said Betty +glibly. "For example: W. Then follow that vertical column down until you +reach the first letter of the cypher message; in this case: Q. Follow +that horizontal line to the extreme left, and you will recover the +initial letter of the original message, namely: T. _Da capo ad +infinitum. Q. E. D._" + +Together we worked out the first line of the cypher in the leather-bound +book. The complete layout ran as follows: + + W O N F O R T O F O R A T E W O N F O R T + Q W O T T U I J X I S V A Z P I H N X J X + T H A N E C O U R T A U G U S T T H I R D + +"And so on, world without end," commented Betty. "You can imagine how +like mad I worked once we were on the train and rushing Southward. For +now I knew _why_ it was necessary to avoid entering that room, +especially at this particular time of year." + + * * * * * + +The clocks were striking nine, and Chalmers wanted to drop in at +"Powersthorp" on his way home. So he bade us good night, climbed into +his car, and was off, the red star of his tail-light twinkling through +the linden trees bordering upon the driveway. And I remained alone with +Betty; only, for a long time, we did not speak; it was not necessary. + + * * * * * + +There is but a word to add. The walls of the library wing had sustained +but little damage in the fire; consequently, the process of rebuilding +and refitting was made so much the easier. The stained glass, of +course, had been entirely destroyed, but for that there could be few +regrets; all those Old Testament pictures had been scenes of hatred and +violence and divine wrath. It were better that Little Hugh should never +see them and so have his childish imagination darkened. They have been +replaced by windows of a softer nature--green pastures and still water, +the lilies and poppies of the Parsifal meadows on Good Friday morning, +and the peace of the everlasting hills. No chance here for even the +unwitting insertion of that terrible purple boss; indeed the grapes of +wrath were no longer in existence, for Chalmers Warriner had taken pains +to have every bit of the _disjecta membra_ of the old windows gathered +up and buried in some inaccesible pit, its very location to remain +forever hidden from human eyes. + + * * * * * + +To-day the library at "Hildebrand Hundred," exorcised of its dark +spirit, is again our favorite living-room. The teakwood desk and the +great swivel-chair were destroyed in the fire, and indeed all the old +fittings and hangings have given way to bright and cheerful modern +furnishings. As I sit at my desk, writing the final page of these +memoirs, the sun lies warm and glowing upon the oaken floor, but there +is no hidden menace in its beauty. The scent of roses floats through the +open windows, and I can hear the clip of Betty's garden shears as she +cuts off the perfumed coupons of her floral treasures; one by one the +gorgeous blooms fall into the waiting basket; our dinner table must be +resplendent to-night for Chalmers and Hilda, just back from their +honeymoon journey, are coming to us for an intimate _partie carree_. + +And in the middle distance stands Little Hugh, the breeze roughing up +his sleek, black poll, his legs planted confidently wide apart, and his +gaze traveling outward upon the fair, broad acres that some day will be +all his own; my lawful son and heir, a true Hildebrand of "Hildebrand +Hundred." + +Truly, God is good and life is sweet. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Jeopardy, by Van Tassel Sutphen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN JEOPARDY *** + +***** This file should be named 38477.txt or 38477.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/7/38477/ + +Produced by Annie McGuire. 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