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diff --git a/40347-0.txt b/40347-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a962a7c --- /dev/null +++ b/40347-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8626 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40347 *** + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/cowardbehindcur00marsgoog + (Oxford University) + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + THE COWARD + BEHIND THE CURTAIN + + + + + + + BY THE SAME AUTHOR + + The Girl and the Miracle + In the Service of Love + A Duel + The Marquis Of Putney + The Twickenham Peerage + A Metamorphosis + Both Sides of the Veil + Marvels and Mysteries + The Seen and the Unseen + The Goddess: A Demon + The Joss: A Reversion + The Romance of a Maid of Honour + The Beetle: A Mystery + A Woman Perfected + + + + + + + THE COWARD + BEHIND THE CURTAIN + + + + + BY + RICHARD MARSH + + + + + METHUEN & CO. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + + + + + _First Published in 1908_ + + + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + + I. DOROTHY SETS OFF WITH HER GUARDIAN. + + II. THE CURTAIN. + + III. THE COWARD. + + IV. THE MAN IN THE CHAIR. + + V. DOROTHY IS LEFT ALONE WITH HER GUARDIAN FOR THE NIGHT. + + VI. HOW DOROTHY MADE HER EXIT. + + VII. THE CARAVAN. + + VIII. MR FRAZER GOES SHOPPING. + + IX. WHAT THE GIRL TOLD THE MAN. + + X. WHAT THE CARAVAN LEFT BEHIND. + + XI. DANGER AHEAD. + + XII. HEADLINES. + + XIII. THE VERNONS--PARTICULARLY FRANCES. + + XIV. STRATHMOIRA. + + XV. DOROTHY GILBERT OF NEWCASTER. + + XVI. THE SPREADING OF THE NEWS. + + XVII. A FRIEND'S ADVICE. + + XVIII. THE MAN WHO DID IT. + + XIX. AN INTERLUDE. + + XX. THE HOUSEBOAT. + + XXI. WHY HE KILLED HIM. + + XXII. THE TELEGRAM. + + XXIII. THE SURGEON AND THE LAWYER. + + XXIV. TIDINGS. + + + + + + + THE COWARD BEHIND + THE CURTAIN + + + + + CHAPTER I + + DOROTHY SETS OFF WITH HER GUARDIAN + + +The girls were in the convent garden, when word came that Dorothy +Gilbert was wanted. Dorothy was walking with Frances Vernon. Ever +since she could remember her world had been that garden, with its +shaded walks and its high walls; never before had a visitor come to +her. The moment she was told that someone desired her presence she +turned to Frances, exclaiming: + +"It is he!" + +With characteristic impetuosity Frances threw her arms about her, +remarking as she did so: + +"Just as we were speaking of him!" + +As if there were anything strange in that. The strangeness would have +been if he had come when they had not been speaking of him; for, of +late, they had spoken of little else. Elsie Farquhar, who had brought +the message, pressed it home. + +"You had better be quick, Dorothy. Sister Celestine said you were to +hurry." + +So Dorothy hurried, her tall slender figure held very straight, her +pretty head a little in the air, in her eyes a gleaming light. She +believed herself to be passing from a world she knew into one of which +she had dreamed. But she was mistaken; she was going into a world of +which she had not dreamed. Sister Celestine met her at the door. + +"It is Mr Emmett?" she inquired. + +"Yes," replied the Sister, "it is Mr Emmett." + +Something in her tone; on her face; in her glance; struck quick-witted +Dorothy. + +"What is the matter? Why do you look at me like that? What is he +like?" + +"Who am I that I should be able to tell you what he is like, when I +have seen him for scarcely five minutes?" + +The Sister smiled, it seemed to Dorothy, not with that brightness +which she knew so well. The young lady's mental processes were rapid. +She divined, on the instant, that Sister Celestine was disappointed +with Mr Emmett. As she went with the Sister from the garden to the +guest-room she wondered why. Would she be disappointed also?--after +all her talks with Frances?--her communings with herself? She had +fashioned the unknown Mr Emmett in so many shapes that she could not +have told which of them she expected to see; certainly it was not the +person she actually saw. Her knowledge of men had practically been +restricted to the personages in the storybooks which found their way +into the convent precincts. These had to undergo a severe examination +before being admitted, as one bad character was enough to damn them; +and, as the conventual standard of masculine morals was peculiar, even +if the individuals who figured in the tales were not drawn from +imagination they certainly were not taken from life. One requirement +all the men in the books had to satisfy: they all had to be gentlemen, +or what the convent censor took to be gentlemen. Dorothy Gilbert might +have had more or less vague doubts, but it never had been brought +clearly home to her that a man could be anything but a gentleman till +she entered that guest-room and was introduced to Mr Emmett. When she +saw him, any illusions she may have had upon that point were shattered +at once and for ever. + +A big, burly man was sitting on the edge of the table. One foot rested +on the floor, the other dangled in the air. He did not move when she +entered; he merely looked round at her and stared. His great bald head +had a narrow fringe of sandy hair which was just turning grey. He wore +a huge sandy moustache, whose hue was more than matched by his head +and face. A large, angry-looking spot was on the left of his big nose, +a smaller one was on his right cheek near the ear. His eyes were so +bloodshot that it was not easy to tell what colour they really were; +they reminded her of the eyes of a wicked giant who had played a +prominent, and disreputable, part in a fairy tale she had once read. +Indeed, the whole man recalled that giant; she had an uncomfortable +feeling that he might, at any moment, set about the--to him--agreeable +business of devouring her. Sister Celestine performed the ceremony of +introduction. + +"This, Mr Emmett, is Dorothy Gilbert." + +Still he kept his seat on the edge of the table, and his hands in the +pockets of the huge overcoat which he wore, although the weather was +so warm. Only he stared at Dorothy a little harder. + +"No! You don't say! Well I'm damned!" + +There was that in his voice, his words, and his manner which affected +Dorothy almost as if he had struck her. Sister Celestine was shocked +nearly into speechlessness. + +"Sir!" was all she could say. + +"Beg pardon, I'm sure, forgetting where I was; I suppose you ladies +don't do much of that sort of thing in here." He addressed himself to +Dorothy, with what apparently was meant to be jocosity. "So you're +Bully Gilbert's girl? I shouldn't have thought it; it only shows that +you never can tell. I don't know where you get your looks from--not +from him. Why, you really are---- Do you know who I am?" + +"Sister Celestine says you are Mr Emmett." + +"Georgie Emmett, your father's best friend--in fact, his only friend, +because he was not the kind of person who gathers them round. When, +some nine months ago, he departed this life, he left it owing me a +hatful of money; and I'm damned--beg pardon, I'm blessed if he hadn't +the cheek and impudence, by way of wiping off his owings, to appoint +me your one and only guardian; as if you were a little bit of +something which could be turned into cash. I'd have come and looked at +you before if I'd known you were so well worth looking at; but who +would have guessed that your father would have had a girl with a face +like yours. However, here I am at last; and I daresay you won't be +sorry to say good-bye to this queer old shanty, and to come with me to +have a peep at what the world looks like outside. I rather think there +aren't many men who can show you more of it than I can. Anyhow, I've +come to take you along; so run upstairs and put your hat and jacket +on, and your things in your box. My car's outside, a 60 F.I.A.T.--if +there's anything on earth can move it's her: but that's no reason why +she should be kept waiting, so if you can manage to do your packing +inside ten minutes I'll be obliged." + +Sister Celestine and Dorothy looked at each other, as if both were at +a loss for words; as, indeed, they were. It seemed incredible that +Dorothy should be expected to quit, at a moment's notice, the place +which had sheltered her her whole life long; to go, with this uncouth +stranger, she knew not where. The Sister asked where he proposed so +take her; his reply could scarcely have been vaguer. "Oh, for a bit of +a run round; just now I'm rather at a loose end; my future movements +depend upon circs." + +To the Sister's orderly mind the prospect seemed uncomfortably +nebulous; yet there seemed nothing to do but to let the girl go. The +man was her lawful guardian. In his method of paying the convent dues +the late Mr Gilbert had been erratic. Quite a considerable sum had +been owing when he died. During the intervening months that sum had +become still larger. Taking out a fat pocket-book, Mr Emmett paid all +demands with bank-notes: in that respect nothing could have been more +satisfactory. The convent, which could ill afford to lose the money, +had become anxious; the sight of those bank-notes removed a burden +from the Sister's mind and Dorothy was sent upstairs, to put her hat +and jacket on, and her things into her box. The process was not a +lengthy one. She still had the small wooden box which she had brought +to the convent as a tiny child. But her stock of clothes had not grown +much larger; those which would not go into the box were wrapped in a +sheet of brown paper. As, theoretically, Frances Vernon assisted in +the business of packing, she plied Dorothy with questions. The answers +she received were very short; gradually Frances became conscious that +some subtle change had taken place in her friend during the last few +minutes. + +"What is he like?" she demanded; as Dorothy had done of Sister +Celestine. In her answer Dorothy paraphrased the Sister. + +"How can I tell you, when I have been acquainted with him only ten +minutes?" + +Frances leaped to conclusions as she herself had done. + +"I know what that means--it means that he's horrid. Is he very +horrid?" + +"I didn't say he was horrid." + +"No, but you didn't say he wasn't. You might at least tell me what he +looks like. Dolly, do!" + +And Dolly did. She painted Mr Emmett exactly as he had appeared to +her. She had a pretty knack of description; by the time the portrait +was finished Miss Vernon was gazing with wide-open eyes. + +"Why," she cried, "he must be perfectly hideous!" + +"He is not," admitted Dorothy, "what some people would call +good-looking." + +"Fancy going you don't know where with such a man as that!--you who +have always said that in a man you must have beauty of mind, and soul, +and form!" + +Dorothy bent over the frock she was folding. + +"We have been taught that a plain casket may contain a priceless +jewel." + +She might have been taught it; yet she doubted if Mr Emmett was a +casket of that kind. Before long she was sure that he was not. Her +box, whose appearance produced uncomplimentary remarks from her +guardian, was fastened on the top of the car; presently she had +quitted the convent, with all her worldly possessions. Mr Emmett was +his own driver. She sat beside him, on the front seat, while the +chauffeur sat behind. She would have preferred to have had it the +other way round, but it was settled for her without her having a voice +in the matter. A big coat was slipped over her shoulders; she was on +the seat; a rug was wrapped round her knees; they were off; before she +clearly realised what had happened; certainly before she had said all +the adieux she would have liked to say. It was all like some strange +dream; whose strangeness was accentuated by the subsequent flight of +the throbbing monster through the air. + +What was the name of the town at which they stayed that first night +she never knew. She had not curiosity enough to ask; no one +volunteered the information. After dinner, which was to her a wholly +unaccustomed feast, at which she ate scarcely anything, in spite of Mr +Emmett's well-meant gibes and jeers, she stole up to bed as soon as +she could; to a big bed; in a big room, in the old inn, there she lay, +a lonely, forlorn maiden; thinking, puzzling, doubting, wishing, with +all her heart, that she was back again in the safe shelter of the +convent. She wished it often during the days and weeks which followed. +She was a young girl, and, like a young girl, all agog to stand on +tiptoe, if needs be, and open the windows which would enable her to +look into the house of life. Under normal circumstances, that motor +cruise might have been to her one long delight; but the circumstances +were abnormal; so that for long afterwards a motor car stood for her +as a sort of synonym for a nightmare. + +Everything was spoilt by Mr Emmett's presence. From the first moment +he had impressed her disagreeably; that impression grew with each hour +that she spent in his near neighbourhood. The trouble was that it was +so hard to get away from him. He would have her sit beside him on that +front seat; ignoring utterly her reiterated requests to be allowed to +sit behind. During the first days they motored continually; stopping +in the daytime only to eat and drink--principally, so it seemed to +Dorothy, where Mr Emmett was concerned, for the latter. The quantity +he drank amazed and frightened her; always, when night fell, he had +drunk too much. During the day the liquor he consumed had an unhappy +effect upon his driving. He was quick enough to perceive that he had +not inspired the girl with sentiments of affection; and this he +resented. But, instead of setting himself to get the better of any +distaste she might have for him, he seemed to take a malicious +pleasure in paying her out for entertaining a feeling of the kind. +Discovering that she felt a not unnatural girlish timidity in her new +position as passenger on a motor car, he went out of his way to +increase instead of lessen it, so that, before long, her timidity +became actual terror. Nearly always he took the car along at what +appeared to her to be a dangerous speed; as the day advanced, and the +drinks multiplied, the speed grew more. At first she remonstrated, +feebly enough; but he only laughed, and pressed the car still faster. +Afterwards she sat silent; but she could not prevent her cheeks from +turning white, or her mouth from shutting tighter. When he saw these +signs he delighted in taking risks which made her heart stand still. +One afternoon he knocked down a child in a village street on the other +side of Blois. At first, in her agony, she thought it was killed; but +it appeared that only its arm was broken. When the people came +flocking round he gave the parents two thousand francs in bank-notes; +one could not but feel that they would have been willing to have their +own arms broken on those terms. He was lavish enough with his money. +They spent that night in Tours. The next day he offered her a wad of +notes, and suggested that she should go into the town and provide +herself with a sufficient wardrobe. She had not realised till lately +how scanty it really was; continual travelling made drains on her +resources which she found it hard to meet. But he offered her cash in +a way which jarred on her every nerve; she would not buy herself +clothes with money which came from him. When she made this clear to +him he called her an adjectived fool; and broke into a torrent of +language from which she fled in terror. + +At Lyons he tried to kiss her; whereat she burst into a frenzy of rage +which surprised herself, and startled him. It was in the hall of the +hotel after dinner, just as she was going up to bed; always, so soon +as dinner was over, she went straight to her room. Billson, the +chauffeur, happened to enter at the moment, to get orders for the +morrow. Emmett, turning, saw him grinning at his discomfiture. + +"By----!" he cried, eager to vent his fury on someone. "If you don't +take care I'll kill you!" + +But Billson never flinched; and he continued to grin. He was a +shortish, youngish man, with a white, clean-shaven face, and black +hair, which he wore parted in the middle. He seemed to have a gift for +silence; Dorothy had hardly heard him speak a dozen times. She had a +feeling that, for some cause, his master stood in awe of him. Although +he went on grinning, Mr Emmett made no attempt to carry out his +threat--at least, while she was flying up the stairs. + +They spent some days at Aix-les-Bains. There he made to her his first +proposal of marriage; he was in his cups at the time. To say that she +refused him is to say little. When she gained the sanctum of her own +apartment she was in an agony of shame and distress. Her dilemma was +not a pleasant one. It seemed to her that it was just as impossible to +remain in this man's company as it was to escape from it. She was +penniless, friendless. How was she to get away from him? To whom was +she to turn? Her ignorance was pitiable. For all she knew, his +position as her guardian gave him powers over her against which it was +vain to struggle. If she ran away from him, she thought it very +probable that he could compel her to return; in which case her last +plight would be worse than her first. Besides, with no money in her +pocket, where could she run? Despite her horror of the man, to her, in +her childlike ignorance, it seemed as if he had gripped her to him +with bonds of steel. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + THE CURTAIN + + +When they landed in England it was to her as if she had been for years +with Mr Emmett, and Billson, and the car; though, in reality, they had +only been associated for a very few weeks. She felt as if, during +those interminable weeks, the best of her life had gone from her, and +already she had grown old, before she was eighteen. She had forgotten +how to smile; at night she could not sleep; her head was always +aching; her nerves were in such a state of tension that she was +beginning to be afraid of the sound of her own voice; the world had +become to her a prison from which there was no way out. She had not +been to England since she was a small child; returning to it was like +coming a strange country. She would have forgotten her own tongue had +not so many of the girls in the convent been English. They went up to +town on the inevitable motor; on the way she kept looking about her +with eyes which, in spite of herself, would grow dim. She had often +dreamed of the journey she would make, one day, to London; she had +never dreamed that it would be like this. They put up that night in a +huge railway station hotel. On the morrow, for once, they parted +company with the motor; Mr Emmett took her with him to a midland town +by rail. Some race meeting was on; Dorothy had a hazy notion that her +guardian had something to do with horses and with racing: it was a +subject of which she had heard him speaking more than once. Some +horsey acquaintances travelled with him in the same compartment; they +played bridge all the way, to Dorothy's relief; she was glad that they +should do anything which would keep them from speaking to her. + +Mr Emmett took apartments at the principal hotel. There, in the +private sitting-room, after a _tête-à-tête_ dinner, he proposed to her +again. He was more sober than he sometimes was at that hour; perhaps, +on that account, he expressed himself with a clearness which she found +appalling. In various fashions he had asked her again and again to +marry him since that first time at Aix-les-Bains. She had begun to +understand that not only was he a man who would not take No for an +answer, but also that he was not likely to stick at anything which +would enable him to gain an end he had in view. If she had had any +doubts upon that latter point they were dissipated then. He did not so +much ask her to be his wife, as tell her that she would have to be his +wife; informing her, with complete candour, that if she was not an +utter fool she would grasp that fact without any further fuss and +nonsense. He added that, when she was his wife, he would give her a +good time--an A1 time. There wasn't a better-natured fellow going, if +you rubbed him the right way, nor a more generous one--he would give +his wife all she wanted, and more, if she was only nice to him--that +was all he wanted her to be--nice to him. He had sacks full of +money--ask anyone who knew George Emmett if he was a poor man. Why, he +thought nothing of lending anyone twenty or thirty thousand pounds, if +the security was decent--that was all he asked, decent security; and, +he went on with a grin, a chance of making cent. per cent. He might +tell her, in confidence, that he had his fingers round the throats of +more people than anyone had an idea of--all sorts of people, some of +them the highest in the land. He never talked; even when he was drunk +he kept his tongue off delicate subjects; but if he were to talk he +could mention names, male and female, which would make her sit up +straight. There was scarcely a man or woman who had anything to do +with horses who did not sometimes find himself, or herself, in a tight +corner about settling day. Those were the times they came to him. The +number of services he had rendered of that kind--well, they'd fill a +book. Everybody knew Georgie Emmett was a friend in need when a bad +settlement had to be faced. He winked, and Dorothy shuddered. + +Knocking off the ash from his cigar he filled himself another glass of +champagne. If she had only had the courage she would have sprung from +her chair and rushed from the room; but just then all her courage +seemed to have deserted her. This man seemed to have for her the +fascination which a snake is said to have for the victim it proposes +to swallow. The worst of it was that, despite herself, his influence +over her seemed to be momentarily increasing, as if he were weaving a +spell which, as it proceeded, placed her more and more at his mercy. + +It was not, he went on, as if her father was anything, or anyone. He +was not one to say a word to a child against her father, but she had +only to think of how he had treated her to know what sort he was. What +kind of a parent had he been to her? How often had he written to her? +How many times had he been to see her? What had he ever given her? +What had he ever done for her? He dare bet that the bills he had paid +for her keep in the convent had been paid with other people's money. +There was no disguising the fact that Bully Gilbert was a regular +rip--and there it was. Not only had she not got a penny of her own, +but she had no right to the clothes she stood up in--and pretty things +they were to call clothes. Let her say the word, and she should have +the run of the Rue de la Paix; then she'd know what clothes were. Why, +as things stood, there wasn't a chambermaid in that hotel who wasn't +in a better position than she was ever likely to be, if she was left +to herself. And yet here he was, ready and willing to marry her. He'd +get a special licence tomorrow; or, if she liked, he'd have the banns +put up in church--any church she chose to name; though, for his part, +he never could see what was the pull in going to church to be married. +She might take a long day's walk without meeting one woman who +wouldn't snatch at the chance of getting him; women of birth, and with +money in their pockets too. What he saw in her, hanged if he knew +himself; but he did see something. The first moment he set eyes on her +he'd made up his mind he'd marry her--that's why he took her away from +that adjectived convent--and marry her he would. So what was the use +of talking? Men and women were curious creatures. The sooner she said +Yes the more comfortable it would be for everyone. So she wasn't to be +silly, but was to come and kiss him, and sit on his knee, and he'd put +a prettier ring on her finger than she had ever dreamed of seeing +there. Here it was--what did she think of it? + +From a small leather case he took a ring which was set with diamonds; +holding it out, moving it so that as the lights fell on it from +different angles the stones sparkled and gleamed; luring her with it +as an angler tries to lure a fish with the bait which hides the hooks. +She sat, her slender body pressed against the back of her chair, +gripping the sides of it with both hands, looking at him with staring, +hopeless eyes. All the strength seemed to have gone from her, as if +this man had drawn it all out of her, as out of a well, and left her +dry. His vitality was crushing hers; in the fight to hold her own she +was beaten; she knew it, and the knowledge was agony. She felt that +presently he would only have to hold up his finger, and what he bade +her do, that she would have to do. He continued to twiddle the diamond +ring between his great fingers; dilating on its various beauties; +dwelling on all that it would mean when it was in its place upon her +hand; and each moment she expected that he would order her to go to +him, and let him brand her with it as with a stigma which might never +be effaced. What would happen if such an order were given she could +not, dared not, think. While she still awaited it there came a tapping +at the door; a waiter entered. + +"A gentleman, sir, to see you." + +Mr Emmett turned towards him angrily. + +"A gentleman? What gentleman? I'm not going to see anyone +to-night--whoever it is, tell him to go to the devil." + +The waiter held out to him an envelope which was on a silver tray. + +"Gentleman told me to give you that, sir." + +Tearing the envelope open Mr Emmett read what was on a half-sheet of +paper which was within; then he crumpled it up, and swore. + +"Confound him! What's the hurry? Why won't the morning do? Tell him +I'm coming down to him." + +The waiter went. Mr Emmett looked again at Dorothy, still sitting as +if she were glued to the back of her chair; replacing the ring in its +leather case, he made as if to return it to his waistcoat pocket; +then, suddenly changing his mind, he called out: "Come here!" She did +not move; but clung tighter to her seat. He laughed, as if amused by +her obvious fear of him. "You little idiot! Of what are you afraid? +There'll come a time when you'll not need any calling; and you'll come +uninvited, and perhaps when I don't want you. I know you women; you're +like badly trained dogs. When you're whistled to heel you'll not come; +but when you're not whistled you keep messing about a man till he +feels like giving you a dose of prussic acid. Very well, don't come; +I'll come to you." He went to her, at the other end of the table. +"Give me your hand!" He took it, her left; she offering no resistance, +but looking up at him with a great terror in her eyes. On the third +finger he slipped the ring. "There!--that's in token that you're mine; +you're as much my property now as if we'd been together to church; and +don't you forget it. There's a fool downstairs who wants to see me; +and, as he is a fool, he shall; but I'm not going to let him keep me; +I shall probably be back inside ten minutes, and mind I find you here +when I do come back. None of your games--going to bed, or any of that +rot; if you do I'll fetch you down again. There are all sorts of +things I want to talk to you about, before you think of bed; I want +you to show that you can be nice to me; and that you can treat me as a +girl ought to treat the man who's going to be her husband--especially +a husband who's going to give her the best time a girl ever did have. +So you understand?--I'm to find you here when I return." He moved a +step or two away; then halted. "I ought to have a kiss--a man ought +to have a kiss from his girl, when he gives her the ring; but that +sort of thing won't spoil with keeping--there'll be interest to +collect--I'll take a couple when I come back." + +He went. She sat staring at the door through which he had passed, his +last horrid threat ringing in her ears. He would take a couple when he +came back; and she was to stay there till he came to take them, with +that dreadful ring scarring the flesh on her finger. She felt sure +that it was being scarred; it certainly burned. Yet she did not dare +to take it off; although he was gone she was still afraid of him. A +curious paralysis seemed to have attacked her limbs. She remained +motionless for some seconds after he had left her, her hand stretched +out, staring at his ring. When she moved it was with an effort; when +she gained her feet she had to hold on to the back of the chair, to +aid her to stand. + +What was she to do? She tried to think; as she had tried so often of +late; her brain, like her muscles, played her false; clear thought was +beyond her. One thing she realised--that she must not be there when he +came back; in spite--because--of what he had said. Yet how was she to +avoid being there? He had told her that if she went to bed he would +fetch her back again; and she believed him. Once, at a hotel in +France, he had made a great clatter at her room door; and was only +prevented by practically the entire staff of the establishment from +breaking it down. Somehow she felt that that night nothing would keep +him from having her out of her room again, if she disobeyed his +command, and fled to it. But, if she did not, what was she to do, +where was she to go, so that she might not be there when he came back? +Again and again, in France, had she meditated flight; only the +conviction that the result would be fiasco had restrained her. Was she +more likely to succeed, here, in England? Even through her mental haze +a feeling was borne in upon her that in that direction lay her only +hope. If she could only put a descent distance between herself and him +she might escape him altogether. The point was, could she? An idea +occurred to her--the railway. The first time in her life, so far as +she remembered, she had, that day, been in a train. She had, of +course, read about trains; she had even seen them; the probability was +that she had been brought in one to the convent. But, in those days, +she was a toddling child; she had certainly not been in one since. Mr +Emmett had brought her in one from London. Then why should she not go +alone in one, if not back to London, then at least to some place, a +long way off, where she would be beyond his reach. + +No sooner had the notion occurred to her than she started to put it +into practice; and was already moving towards the door when a second +reflection held her back. Mr Emmett had bought a ticket, with money. +She was not so ignorant as not to be aware that railways were not +public highways; that one could not travel in a train without a +ticket; which had to be paid for, in advance with cash. She had seen +Mr Emmett pay for two tickets--one for her, and one for himself. They +would not let her get into a train without a ticket; how was she to +pay for it? She was confronted, as before, in the midst of her wild +desire to flee, by her eternal lack of pence--that insuperable +barrier. She had had no regular pocket-money at the convent like the +other girls; their parents either sent them cash direct, or made +arrangements with the Sisters. Occasionally, on saints' days, she was +given a sou to put into the box; but, as a rule, she was without even +that humble coin. Never having known what it was to have money she did +not miss it; there were no temptations to spend; her modest wants were +supplied. It was only when she set out through the world with her +guardian that it began to dawn upon her what an important part money +played in the affairs of men, and women. She had no idea how much cash +would be required to purchase a ticket; she took it for granted that +the more she paid the farther the ticket would take her; the mischief +was that she had no money at all--not even a paltry _sou_. + +How was she to get money? From where? She looked about her. Dessert +was still upon the table; there were knives and forks; other articles +which were possibly of silver; but they were not coin of the realm; +though she had a vague idea that they might be turned into it. How the +transformation might be effected was a problem which was beyond her +altogether. She had sense enough to know that it would be no use +proffering a handful of silver ware in exchange for a ticket. + +In that moment of her desperation, if she had only known where money +was to be had, she would have made free with it, if the thing were +possible, even without the owner's sanction, oblivious of any +consequences which her action might entail; being persuaded that no +worse fate could befall her than that that man should find her still +in the room when he came back. Spurred by this conviction she was +about to rush forth and seek for money, she knew not where nor how; +already her fingers were near the handle, when she heard footsteps +approaching on the other side. He was coming back. In the frenzy of +her terror it was all she could do to keep herself from screaming. She +glanced behind her, as a mouse might do which is caught in a trap, and +knows that its doom is approaching. There was a recessed window on one +side of the room. She had watched the waiter draw the heavy curtains +across the recess as he lit the lights. She went flying towards it; +gained it; had just slipped behind the curtain as the door of the room +was opened. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE COWARD + + +The curtains were so thick, and were drawn so close, that in the +recess it was nearly pitch dark. Only in one place did the lights of +the room shine through. That was where the stuff had worn so thin that +only a few threads remained. But for some seconds Dorothy was +unconscious both of the darkness and the light; she was conscious of +nothing. She scarcely dared to breathe; she did not dare to move; +though she trembled so that she had to lean against the side of the +recess to keep herself from collapsing in a heap upon the floor. Each +moment she expected that the curtains would be drawn aside and her +hiding-place discovered. She felt sure that Mr Emmett's sharp eyes +must have seen them moving as he entered the room. As the moments +passed and the curtains remained untouched, she began to wonder. Was +he playing with her? Knowing well where she was, had he seated himself +at the table; proposing to sit there drinking, till she was tired of +pretending to hide, or till it pleased him to drag her out? She was +sufficiently acquainted with his disposition to be aware that that +kind of sport amused him. If he thought that she was shivering behind +those curtains, he would let her go on shivering, ever more and more, +until it suited him to play some sudden trick which might cause her to +tumble in a nerveless heap on the floor. If he could succeed in +bringing her to that pitch, his sense of humour would be tickled; he +would enjoy the joke. + +Thinking that might be the meaning of his non-interference she had +half made up her mind to reveal herself, and so spoil his sport, when, +on a sudden, she became conscious that a voice was speaking--a strange +voice, which was not Mr Emmett's. Then Mr Emmett spoke. Then the voice +again. What did it mean? She listened. It is a sufficient commentary +upon her mental and physical condition to state that until that +instant she had heard nothing. Yet, so soon as she began to listen, it +became obvious that the speakers must have been talking together for, +at anyrate, some little time; and that in tones which, to say the +least, were audible. + +Dorothy presumed that, after all, Mr Emmett had not noticed the +quivering curtains, and had taken her disappearance for granted. If he +had made a remark on it, it had been a passing one; clearly she was +not the subject of the conversation which he was carrying on with the +stranger. What they were talking about she did not know, but it became +each second plainer that it was a matter on which they were both of +them very much in earnest. If they were not actually quarrelling they +were very near to it. The language which was being used on both sides +was warm; the stranger was addressing Mr Emmett in terms which were +the reverse of complimentary, and which Mr Emmett was vigorously +resenting. His resentment seemed to add flame to the stranger's anger. + +All at once there came something into his tone which struck the unseen +listener's ear. She had become conscious of the ray of light which +penetrated her hiding-place. Moving gingerly, so as to avoid coming +into contact with the hangings, she approached her face to the worn +place in the curtains. It was worn so bare that the few threads which +remained formed scarcely any obstruction to the view; she could see +through quite easily. The scene on the other side was clearly +revealed; she saw the two actors in it as well as if the curtain had +not been there. The stranger was a young man, possibly a year or two +on the shady side of forty. He was tall, and held himself straighter +than some tall men are apt to do. His chest was broad; he held his +shoulders well back; about the whole man there was a suggestion of +strength. His head was square, and was poised easily upon a rounded +throat. He had an odd, clever-looking face, a fine, open brow. His +eyes, which were rather small, were wide apart. His mouth was large, +but his lips were thin, and shut so closely that when, in silence, he +looked at Mr Emmett, only a slender red line was visible to show that +a mouth was there. His black hair, parted on one side, was a little in +disorder, some of it straggled over his forehead. Disorder, indeed, +was the dominant note of the man. As she watched him the girl had a +feeling that he was too much moved by some inward excitement to be +over-particular about the small niceties of his attire. His tie was a +little crooked; his jacket had a lopsided air. + +Ordinarily the expression of his queer-looking face was probably a +pleasant one; there was that about it which hinted that, in a general +way, the man's outlook on to life was that of a humorist. But there +was little pleasant about it then, or humorous either. It was not +likely that his complexion ever was his strongest feature--at that +moment it had a peculiar pallor which was singularly unattractive. +Like many dark men, evidently nature had meant him to have a strong +beard. His cheeks and chin and upper lip were shaven, but apparently +that day they had not known the razor. In consequence they were of a +bluish tint, which was in ghastly harmony with the almost unnatural +colour of his skin. The appearance of the man fascinated the girl who +was peeping at him from behind the curtain, as if he realised some +picture which, in some occult fashion, had unwittingly been present in +her mind, of a man in a rage. His pose; his attitude; his disordered +attire; something which looked out of his eyes; the obvious mental +agitation which caused his countenance to wear that singular hue; the +gleam of scarlet which was all that marked his tightly closed mouth; +the ominous fashion in which, while standing perfectly still, he never +took his glance from off the man in front of him--although she might +not have been able to put the thing into words, everything about him +spoke to the sensitive imagination of the girl of one who, for a very +little, would throw everything aside in the fullness of his desire to +gratify the lust of his rage. + +The man in front of him was angry too; but with him anger took a +different form: his was rather bad temper than genuine passion. It had +about it a suggestion of bluster, of effort; as if he would have liked +to be more angry than he actually was. Beyond doubt he was +sufficiently annoyed with the stranger; so annoyed that he was quite +willing to do him a mischief; to knock him down, for instance; even to +throw him from the room. Yet, disposed as he evidently was to be as +disagreeable as he could be, his rage altogether lacked that quality +of intensity, of white heat, which marked the other; the something +which caused the girl, when she appreciated, though only vaguely, the +scene which was being enacted before her, to feel that it would be +well that, at the earliest possible moment, she should make her +presence known, for Mr Emmett's protection. + +There, in those last four words, was the barrier which held her back. +Had it been borne in upon her, in even the faintest degree, that, for +the stranger's sake, it would be well that she should step out from +behind that screen, she might have done it on the instant. But for Mr +Emmett--no! In some odd way the stranger's rage communicated itself to +her. The terror with which her guardian had imbued her began to change +into resentment. As she observed the stranger his fury fired hers. As +surely as she believed herself to have a just cause for anger, so +surely was she persuaded of the justice of the stranger's anger also. +She was convinced that Emmett was in the wrong. That she arrived at +this conclusion from very inadequate premises was nothing; from what +she had seen of Mr Emmett she was prepared to assert, offhand, without +knowing anything of the facts, that in nine disputes out of ten he was +in the wrong--that this was one of those nine she did not for an +instant doubt. + +What they were talking about she did not understand. When she began +really to listen there was nothing in their conversation to give her a +definite clue; they had reached that stage when, like two dogs, they +were disposed to do little but bark at each other. The stranger +informed Mr Emmett, after a brief pause, as if for reflection, +that he was a thief. Mr Emmett paused, in his turn; then assailed the +stranger with a flood of vituperation which was characteristic of the +man--there was such a redundance of offensive suggestions. Dorothy +felt as if each one of them had been aimed at her; with each her +choler rose; just, as she was sure, the stranger's rose also. An +uncanny desire came to the tips of her fingers to grip the speaker by +the throat and choke an apology out of him. She would have liked to +see the stranger do it; with all her might she longed to inspire him +with her feeling. Presently she realised that he had it on his own +account, without any urging from her. When Emmett had finished he +remained still, motionless; never once removing his eyes from the +other's inflamed features. Then he said, more quietly than he had +spoken before--there was something in his lowered tone which pleased +the girl behind the curtain-- + +"Would you mind repeating those observations?--or, if that is not +convenient, the substance of them?" + +Dorothy heard the threat which the words conveyed more clearly than if +he had yelled it out. It is possible, since he was not dull-witted, +that Mr Emmett heard it too. If such was the case then it seemed that, +at least, he was no coward; for, with complete sincerity, he treated +the other with contempt which was even more galling than his words. +Thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets; holding his great head a +little on one side; looking at the other as if he were something +altogether beneath his notice; laughing that brutal laugh of his, +which had hurt the girl more than speech could do; he began at him +again. He poured forth on him a stream of abusive epithets, with a +lavish copiousness which showed how truly great was the wealth of his +resources; he surpassed himself. There was not a vice which he did not +attribute both to him and to his progenitors; if the tenth of what he +said was true then this man was a wretch indeed. When he had finished, +at least for the moment, he laughed--a second time. The laugh did what +his insults had failed to do--it moved the other to action. He +remained quiescent before the opprobrious torrent; but that laughter +surpassed the limit of his endurance. Still with his eyes fixed on the +other's face he reached out towards the champagne bottle which stood +beside him on the table. Mr Emmett, perceiving his intention, made +haste to intercept it. He too moved towards the table. + +"No, you don't!" he cried. But already the other's fingers were round +the bottle's neck. "By----, you'll be sorry if you try that, you----!" + +While he still was vomiting adjectives the bottle swung into the air; +Dorothy saw that as it was turned upside down some of its contents +went down the stranger's sleeve. Mr Emmett tried to stop it, and did, +with his head. As he endeavoured to grab the other's arm, the +stranger, swerving, brought the heavy bottle down upon his unprotected +head with murderous force. The head and the bottle were smashed +together; even then Dorothy was struck by the difference there was +between the two sounds, the breaking of the bottle, and the breaking +of the head. Mr Emmett and the bottle vanished together, with +something of the effect of a conjuring trick. Mr Emmett disappeared +behind the table; all that was left of the bottle was an inch or two +of splintered glass, which the stranger still gripped. The result +appeared to surprise him. He looked down at the floor on the side of +the table which was hidden from Dorothy, and continued to look, as if +he saw something there which was beyond his comprehension. Then he +looked at the splinter of glass, which was all that was left of the +bottle; approaching it to his face, as if to enable him to see it +better. As he looked at it he smiled; and he said, as if he were +speaking to himself, though his words were distinctly audible to +Dorothy: + +"My word! if it hadn't smashed!" His glance returned to the floor. He +spoke again. "Emmett!" None replied. Something in the silence seemed +to tickle him, because he both smiled and spoke again. "It seems it +held out long enough." He observed the broken splinter with what +appeared to be amused curiosity. After seeming to hesitate what to do +with it he placed it carefully on the table, splintered end upwards. +Then again he spoke. "Emmett!" When there was still no answer he bent +over what he saw lying on the floor. Presently he kneeled. Dorothy +could not see what he was doing with his hands; she did not need to +see; she knew. When he rose it was with difficulty; his arms were +about Mr Emmett; he raised him with them. As Mr Emmett did nothing to +raise himself, since he was such a heavy man, the stranger had not an +easy task. When he had regained his own feet he was holding his burden +closer to him than could have been quite convenient. It was with +curious sensations that the unseen witness observed how limp her +guardian was; his head waggled with the stranger's every movement, as +if the muscles of the neck refused to hold it up. Staggering forward, +the stranger deposited Mr Emmett on the chair on which he had been +seated at dinner. The effect was singular. It was an old wooden +arm-chair, with a capacious seat, and a high back. Mr Emmett could +not be induced to sit up straight. The stranger made one or two +well-meaning efforts; but the results were not so satisfactory as his +labours deserved. Mr Emmett would persist in assuming a lop-sided +attitude: his chin on his chest, his body in a variety of curves, his +arms hanging anyhow. Realising that it was futile to try to induce him +to take up a more dignified position, apparently the stranger decided +to let him stop as he was. He drew back a little, as if the better to +observe the effect. The spectacle he offered seemed to move him to +reflection, and reflection to speech. He said, out loud: "If ever +there was a scoundrel----" and then stopped, leaving the sentence +unfinished; possibly recalling the old school tag, which recommends us +to say objectionable things of our friends only while they are living. +A cloth cap, a cane, and a pair of gloves were lying on a side table. +Turning away, taking up these three articles, the stranger moved +briskly towards the door, and out of the room, never once looking back +at what was on the chair. + +And Dorothy was left alone with her guardian. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE MAN IN THE CHAIR + + +It was only then that the full meaning of what had taken place began +to dawn upon Dorothy. It was only when the door had been opened and +shut, and the stranger was gone, that she commenced to realise what +kind of a drama this was which had been enacted before her eyes; that +it was not a comedy, but a tragedy; in which the most tragic part was +probably still to come. It was odd how silent it was when the stranger +had gone. Unconsciously she had found comfort in his neighbourhood, +his presence. When that was withdrawn, only the unspeakable remained. + +Not the least terrible part of it was that, so soon as it became clear +to her that she really was alone, she could not take her eyes off the +figure in the chair. She would have given more than she had ever had +if Mr Emmett would only have moved; if only he would make some effort +to alter what must be a position of such obvious discomfort. Though +she had come to regard him almost as if he were the bad ogre of some +fairy tale, at that moment she would rather he should do anything than +keep so still; she was more afraid of him dead than alive; especially +as each instant the feeling oppressed her more and more that he was +dead because of her. Actually--practically--it was she who had killed +him. If she had only made her presence known; if she had only moved; +if she had only uttered a sound--the thing would not have been done +which had been done; of that she was assured. That, morally, she was +an accomplice in this man's killing, she knew, if no one else did. +From the moment in which she had discovered the stranger in the room, +and had begun to watch, and to listen, she had seen the coming event +casting its shadow before; she knew that now, as she had known it +then. Some instinct had told her that the fury which possessed the +stranger was of the sort which, to use a phrase, makes a man "see +red"; that because of him Mr Emmett was in danger--although Mr Emmett +himself had not suspected it, she knew. She had seen it in the +stranger's face, in his manner; she had felt it in the air. + +Not only had she had, in a sense, the prophetic vision, she had +rejoiced to have it. She herself had had such a loathing for the man, +had stood in such terror of him, that when that queer instinct began +to tell her that it was quite within the range of possibility that the +stranger might act as executioner the blood began to run pleasurably +faster through her veins. Expectation became desire; she waited +eagerly for him to strike the blow; knowing, before it came, that it +was coming. Was that not to be his accomplice? Her hope had been that +he would do what she felt he was about to do; although she might have +stayed him with the movement of a finger she had given no sign. It was +useless for her to tell herself that she had not expected that he +would actually kill him: perhaps the stranger himself had not meant +actually to kill him. She had foreseen that he would probably assail +him with violence; and had been willing that he should use what +violence he chose. A little more--a little less--what did it matter? +Only in the event of the stranger getting the worst of it would she +have interposed; she would not have cared how much worsted Mr Emmett +might have been. The proof that he had been worsted was there before +her, in the chair. The result being, so far as she herself was +concerned, that, as has been said, she was more afraid of him dead +than alive. + +How long, after she was left alone with her guardian, she remained +motionless behind that curtain, she never knew. Before, while the +drama was being acted, she would not have revealed herself on any +account, lest she should balk the principal player; now her capacity +to do so seemed to have left her. It was so still in the room that she +dared not disturb the silence. She kept her eyes fastened to that bare +place, looking at what she could not help but look; motionless, +scarcely breathing; as if some form of paralysis had riveted her in +that one position. But, by degrees, in spite of the horror which held +her, there did come to her some dim appreciation of the fact that she +could not stay there all night; for ever. She would have to leave her +hiding-place some time, and show herself to the figure in the chair. +The necessity was a terrible one; but it was a necessity; therefore, +the sooner she came out from behind that curtain the sooner the ordeal +would be over; only let her be sure to go as softly as she could; so +that, making no noise, none might hear her. With this idea of moving +quietly she lifted her hand to part the curtains, and had just +insinuated her fingers between them when the door was opened, and her +hand fell back. + +Her first impression was, as she saw the door swinging back upon its +hinges, that it was probably the stranger, who had come back to do she +knew not what. But the person who actually entered was the waiter. His +appearance made her conscious of a sense of shock; she began to shiver +all over; though the strange thing was, not that he should come in +when he did, but that he should not have come before. + +This was not one of your foreign waiters; plainly he was English to +the core--an elderly man, with grey hair, slight side-whiskers, a +stoop, and that air of deprecation which comes to some waiters, +possibly because they spend so much of their time in considering the +wishes of others without reference to their own. A decorous person; +possibly one of the institutions of the house. His professional attire +was in better condition than it is apt to be; there was a suggestion +about him of unusual cleanliness, even his hands seemed decently kept; +the napkin which he carried over his arm was spotless. Apparently he +had taken it for granted that, since the meal must have been long +since over, the diners had departed, and that therefore it was not +necessary to knock. He paused at the door for a moment to look about +him. Mr Emmett was hidden by the broad high back of the chair on which +he was sitting. After his momentary hesitation, seeing no one, the +waiter moved forward with the peculiar gait which comes to waiters +after performing, for many years, balancing feats with plates and +dishes. He had not only reached the table, he had begun to gather +together the dessert plates, before he saw Mr Emmett--in his surprise +he nearly dropped a plate. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, for not noticing you before, but I'd no +idea----" He stopped short, as if struck by the singularity of the +gentleman's attitude. "I hope, sir, that nothing's happened----" Again +he stopped, perceiving that something indeed had happened. His bearing +changed, his voice dropped. "I do believe----" Leaving his sentences +unfinished appeared, with him, to amount to a habit; he stopped again. +Raising his left hand, with his fingers he rubbed his bristly chin, +delivering himself of a complete sentence at last: "Well, I never +did!" To an outsider the words might not have conveyed much meaning; +they seemed to convey enough meaning to him. Then came the half of a +query. "Whatever is----" + +He got no further; seeming to be in a state of such perturbation that, +for the time, he had lost his wits. He stood staring at the man in the +chair as an anxious rabbit might look at a fox which it is not sure is +dead. Suddenly he seemed to make up his mind what was the best thing +for him to do. He went hustling towards the door; when he reached it +he checked himself as if seized with an idea. What the idea was was +made plain when he took the key out of the lock, opened the door, and, +as Dorothy could hear, locked it again on the outside. And again she +was left alone with her guardian. + +This time her sensations were worse than before: she was being +punished for her share in what had been done. She became awake to the +fact that with that door locked--and egress, therefore, rendered +impossible--her position had become a most unpleasant one. No doubt +the waiter, declining, wisely enough, to accept more responsibility +than he could help, had gone to tell the news to someone. Soon that +someone would come back with the waiter; the news would be passed on, +sooner or later, to the police. The girl had, of course, no actual +knowledge of the procedure in such cases; she knew more about French +methods than English, but she had sufficient intelligence to be aware +that, ultimately, the police would appear upon the scene. If she was +unable to escape before they came, as, if each time someone went out +of the room, the door was locked, would be the case--and the police +found her there behind the curtain--what would happen to her then? +What conclusions would they draw? + +The terror of such a prospect moved her to action--or, at least, to +attempted action. Was there no other way of getting out of the room +except by the door? She turned to the window which was behind her. +Drawing aside the blind she found that it was set with small panes of +coloured glass. She was quick-witted enough to guess that that was +probably because it looked out upon a stable or a yard, or something +equally agreeable; and therefore a good view was a thing not to be +desired. If that were the case then to attempt to escape that way +would be to court discovery. Besides, she remembered that the room was +on the first floor, that the approach from the hall was up a flight of +several stairs; whatever might be on the other side of that window, it +was not likely that it would be easy to reach the ground. Was there no +other way out of the room? She thrust the curtains aside to look--and +heard the key being put into the lock of the door. + +She was back again behind the curtain when the door reopened, and the +waiter reappeared, with, at his heels, somebody who was evidently a +personage. A short, cobby man, middle-aged, wearing a gloire de Dijon +rose in the buttonhole of his frock-coat, about him a general air of +being well groomed. The waiter moved quickly towards the table, the +other following close behind him. When they reached the chair the +waiter said nothing; it was unnecessary; the other saw. What he saw +seemed to impress him with a sense of having been subjected to a +personal affront. He asked pettishly: + +"What's the meaning of this?" Receiving no answer--the waiter was +again stroking his bristly chin with the fingers of his left hand, +with about him still that suggestion of the anxious rabbit--he +addressed himself to the figure in the chair. "Mr Emmett! Sir!" No +notice being taken he repeated his former futile inquiry: "What the +deuce does this mean?" Then he added, as if the notion had all at once +occurred to him: "He's dead!" + +"I'm afraid he is, sir." + +The personage went on from discovery to discovery. + +"He couldn't have done it himself--look at his head--he couldn't have +smashed it like that--someone must have done it for him." + +"Looks as if that were the case, sir." + +"Then who can have done it?--in my hotel; with the house full of +people; in a private sitting-room; seated at his own dinner-table! +What have you been doing?" + +"Several things; there have been a great many things, sir, to do, with +the house so busy. I've seen and heard nothing of what was taking +place in this room since I came to say there was a gentleman wished to +see him." + +"A gentleman? What gentleman?" + +"That I couldn't say, sir. A message and a note were brought to me; +which I brought in to Mr Emmett; and he went out to see the +gentleman." + +"Went out, did he? He didn't bring the gentleman in here?" + +"Not so far as I am aware, sir. They ought to be able to tell you +better about that downstairs." + +The personage was looking about him. + +"What's all this broken glass?--and what's that?" + +He was pointing to the splintered neck of the bottle which the +stranger had left on the table. + +"Seems, sir, as if a bottle had been broken." + +"A champagne bottle--perhaps----" The personage looked at the waiter; +the waiter looked at him. Possibly it was because of what each saw in +the other's eyes that the speaker left his sentence unfinished. He +broke into petulant anger. "Nice thing this is to happen in my house +right at the beginning of the race week, about the only time in the +year when one does have a chance of making a little money--goodness +only knows what mischief it may do me when it gets known. Who's that +at the door? Shut it at once! You can't come in here!" + +It seemed that someone could come in, because someone did--a woman. +She was what is sometimes described as a fine woman, still in the +prime of life; big and well covered, she would probably have turned +the scale at sixteen stone. She wore a black silk dress, which had a +generous train; her ample bust glittered with chains and gewgaws. +Unmistakably this was the hostess, the personage's wife. She stood in +the doorway. + +"What's the matter?" she asked. + +"First of all, Mrs Elsey, be so good as to shut that door. Then, when +you've done that, if you'll take the trouble to walk as far as this, +you will see what is the matter for yourself." + +Shutting the door, she walked to the table--and saw. + +"Why, whatever! Good gracious! Who's done it?" + +"Seems as if someone had--by the looks of him." + +"Bob!--what a sight he is! Goodness knows he never was much in the way +of looks, but who'd have thought he ever could have looked like that? +Don't you know who did it?" + +"I'd make it hot for him if I did--doing a thing like this in my +house, in my busiest season!" + +"There's plenty who might have done it--plenty. No one ever had much +love for him--and small blame to them. Why I only heard, with my own +ears, a man say to him this afternoon: 'By God, Emmett, for two pins, +I'd have your life'--sounded as if he meant it too." + +"Perhaps someone gave him the two pins." + +This was the waiter. Whether the remark was meant to be humorous, or +merely a suggestion, was not clear. No one heeded him. The personage +went on: + +"What man was that? Be careful what you say, Mrs Elsey." + +"No need for you to tell me to be careful; I can be that without your +telling me--as careful as anyone. What I say I heard I did hear--I'm +ready to swear to it anywhere, though who the man was I don't know; he +was a stranger to me--but I should know him again among a hundred. He +was a smallish man, with a sharp, clean-shaven face, and a brown suit, +and a white billycock, which he wore a little on one side--he'd +something to do with horses, of that I'm sure. But he's not the only +one who had a grudge against George Emmett. Who, who had anything to +do with him, hadn't? Why, if it comes to that, we'd no cause to love +him." + +"Now, Mrs Elsey, none of that sort of talk, if you please; that's a +sort of talk I won't have. It doesn't follow that because a man has a +grudge against another man he wants to kill him." + +"Doesn't it? It depends on the man. But whatever did he do it with? I +never saw such a sight as he has made of him!" + +"Seems as if he did it with a bottle--a champagne bottle." + +"He must have hit him a crack, to make a sight of him like that--why, +his head's all smashed to pulp." + +"You can hit a man a crack with a champagne bottle, if you mean +business, and know how to. But this sort of thing won't do--the first +thing we've got to do is to send for the doctor and the police; and, +till they've been, nothing's to be touched; let them find things just +as we did, then they'll be able to draw their own conclusions, and +blame no one. So out you go, Mrs Elsey, and you too, Timmins, and I'll +lock the door, and keep it locked, and, Timmins, you hang about and +see that no one comes near; and, if you want to keep your place, mind +you don't say so much as a syllable to anyone about what's in here, +till I give you leave." + +It was not such an easy business as, possibly, the personage would +have wished, to induce his wife to leave the room: she evinced an +uncomfortable curiosity in the details of the scene of which the man +in the chair was such a gruesome centre; had she been left alone, she +might have pushed her curiosity beyond desirable limits. As it was, +her husband had to put his arm through hers, and positively lead her +from the room, she remonstrating as she went. So soon as she was out +the door was slammed, and the key turned on the other side. And once +more, for the third time, Dorothy Gilbert was left alone with her +guardian, from whom there seemed to be as little chance as ever of +escaping. It was by some ironical stroke of fate that he appeared to +guard her better dead than living. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + DOROTHY IS LEFT ALONE WITH HER + GUARDIAN FOR THE NIGHT + + +With the passing minutes the girl's plight took a different shape. +When she had first rushed behind that curtain it had been with a +childish desire to hide; to avoid the man who had threatened her with +kisses; and perhaps worse--for her maiden soul had warned her that he +was one who, if opportunity offered, would not stop at a little. In +sheer childish terror she had fled to the first refuge she could think +of; as if it were a refuge; as if, after an instant's search, he was +not sure to discover her hiding-place, and have her out. The advent of +the stranger if, in a way, it had saved her, had also complicated the +situation; it was not, then, so much discovery she had to fear, as +something it was not good to think of. Indeed, the situation was +reversed; because, had she then taken the initiative and discovered +herself, not only would she have been saved; but also Mr Emmett, and +the stranger. Too late she was beginning to realise that all three +were destroyed: the two living, and the one dead. Practically, in +killing Mr Emmett, the stranger had killed himself, and her. It might +turn out that he had done it actually. And in his action she was aware +that she had been an aider and abettor. So in remaining hidden she had +thrown away her own salvation. + +The position now, however, wore a different aspect. Her mental +faculties were more on the alert than they had been; as it seemed to +her, they kept coming and going; so that now she saw clearly, and now +not at all. So far as they enabled her to judge, now, again, her only +hope of immunity rested on her continuing undiscovered. If they found +her all sorts of dreadful consequences would immediately result. For +one thing they would quite probably accuse her of having had at least +a hand in her guardian's death, if she were not the actual assassin; +not unnaturally taking it for granted that her persistent concealment +could only have a criminal meaning. She could only disprove the +charge, if it could be disproved, by shifting the onus of guilt on to +the vanished stranger's shoulders. Already--though, as yet, the thing +might not be acknowledged to herself--in her heart she had arrived at +a final resolution that under no conceivable circumstances would she +bear witness against him. Happen what might; where, in this matter, he +was concerned she would be dumb. Although she had not formulated it in +so many words, she felt that, in what had been done, they had been +partners, even friends; that, though unwittingly, it had been done for +her. Therefore, if to prove her innocence, it should become necessary +to prove his guilt, her doom was sealed. In that case, so soon as they +drew aside the curtain, and found her behind it, her fate was sealed. + +It amazed her to think that she had not been discovered already. She +herself was so conscious of her imminent proximity to what had taken +place; was so well aware of how slender a protection that screen of +hanging drapery really was; that it bewildered her that she should +have played, with complete impunity, for so long the part of a +spy--and more. But the continuance of such impunity could not be +counted on. When the police came--and, possibly, they were already on +the threshold--the room would be searched for evidence. Then, in a +moment, her hiding-place would be revealed. She could not wait for +that; she must get away out of the room, before they came. But +how?--since the door was locked. + +Parting the curtains, she stepped out from between them, looking about +her eagerly for a key to the riddle. The wildest notions came into her +head. There was a sideboard at one end of the room, with a cupboard +beneath. It might not occur to them to look inside that cupboard; +might there not be room in it for her? A moment's consideration made +her doubt it. She might be able to squeeze herself into a small space; +but, compress herself as she might, she doubted if there would be room +for her inside that cupboard; even if it was empty, which was by no +means sure. Then there was the fireplace; but, though it was +old-fashioned, it was not a large one; she was pretty certain that she +would not be able to force herself up the chimney. But though she +crammed herself into the cupboard, or rammed herself up the flue, she +would still be little better off. That was not at all the sort of +thing she wanted. She would still be in the room: what she wanted +was to get out of the room. Plainly there were only two ways out of +it--the door, and the window. Since the door was locked, only the +window remained. + +Drawing back into the recess she turned towards the window; it would +have to be that way, since there was no other--though she threw +herself out of it. Getting inside the blind she tried to raise the +sash; it was immovable; obviously, it was fastened. She knew nothing +of English windows; this was the first she had seen, but she presumed +that it was meant to open. She searched for the fastening, above, +below, on either side; so far as she could learn, there was none; +apparently this window was a fraud--it was not meant to open. +Examining it more closely she saw that there was nothing on either +side to show that it was intended to be moved up and down; the paint +was unbroken; the thing was a fixture. + +The discovery startled her; was it an English custom to have no +practicable window in a room? Nothing which would admit fresh air? If +that were so, then, since the door was secured against her, beyond the +slightest shadow of a doubt, she was caught like a rat in a trap, and +only God could help her. She noticed that what looked like two wooden +handles were hung on the ends of cords on either side of this dummy +window, near the top of the sash. Did they mean anything? If they did, +what was it? She gripped the two on the right, and pulled; then the +two on the left, and pulled at them; nothing happened. Then she +perceived that one handle on either side was of dark, and the other of +light, wood; perhaps that might mean something. She took hold of the +lighter handle on either side, and was about to tug, when she heard +the key turned in the lock. Instantly the handles slipped from between +her fingers; but before she could get from behind the blind she heard +the door open, and footsteps come into the room. + +This time she was indeed at a disadvantage. To all intents and +purposes she was pinned between the blind and the window; she dared +not move, since the slightest movement caused the stiffened blind to +make an ominous rustling; if she tried to get away from under it she +would be certain to make a noise which would ensure discovery. The +only thing she could do was to stay where she was, and to refrain, if +the thing were possible, from moving even so much as a muscle. She +could see nothing. At first, in the shock of being taken unawares, her +limbs trembled so; her brain was in such a tumult; there was such a +singing in her ears, that she could not even hear. It was only by +degrees that the sounds resolved themselves into distinct voices; and +she became conscious of what was being said. + +The personage, who was the landlord, and whose name was Elsey, had +entered the room; and his wife, who declined to be kept out; and a +fair-haired, spectacled young man, who was a doctor; and a policeman, +who chanced to be the nearest at hand. The procession of four moved +towards the table. The landlord spoke; his manner suggested a sense +both of importance and of resentment. + +"Here, Dr Nichols, and officer, is Mr Emmett, as you can see for +yourselves. You see him exactly as he was found by Timmins, one of my +waiters; Timmins is outside the door, and can give testimony to that +effect, if required. He has not been touched; and nothing has been +touched; each thing is just as it was when discovered, as Timmins can +testify; and as, for that matter, I can testify; because I know it to +be a fact. As regards this unfortunate man the question now is, is +life extinct?" + +He spoke as a showman might have done, who wished to call attention to +the special features of his show. The doctor was bending over the +figure in the chair. + +"How long is it since he was found in this condition?" + +"It might be ten minutes; it might be a quarter of an hour; it might +be more. Timmins is outside, and will corroborate me, if required. At +the earliest possible moment I sent for you, you happening to be the +medical gentleman who lived nearest." + +"I should say that there can be little doubt but that, as you put it, +life's extinct; but it's not easy to examine him properly in this +chair." He looked round the room, his glance passing over the +curtained recess--if he had only known of the girl who shivered within +it! "That couch wouldn't be convenient either: it's not long enough. +Couldn't you have a mattress, or something, placed upon that table? We +might lay him on it, or, for the matter of that, we might manage +without." + +"Certainly you can have a mattress. I wish to do everything for Mr +Emmett, who is an old customer of mine, which possibly can be done, +though nothing can be more serious than the inconvenience, to say +nothing of the positive loss, which he is likely to occasion me. +Timmins!" The waiter came just inside the door, rubbing his chin. +"Fetch me a mattress--at once!" + +"Yes, sir; where from, sir?" + +"Anywhere! Don't be a fool, sir, and stand gaping there; do as you're +told!" + +His wife interposed. + +"It's you who's the fool, Mr Elsey! Where do you suppose Timmins is +going to get a mattress from? Who do you suppose is going to give it +him?--without my sanction! Come with me, Timmins; I'll see that a +mattress is got." + +When she reappeared the waiter was carrying one doubled up on his +shoulder. A space had been cleared on the table, on which the mattress +was placed. Then the landlord, the waiter, the doctor, and the +policeman lifted Mr Emmett between them; the united four seemed to +find him no easier burden than the stranger, singlehanded, had done. +While the doctor was still conducting his gruesome examination someone +else came into the room, an inspector of police. Him the landlord +greeted with bustling cordiality. + +"Most dreadful thing has happened, Mr Tinney; so unfortunate for me +that it should have occurred in my house, at this, my busiest season; +one of my oldest customers too, Mr Emmett; I daresay you know him." + +"George Emmett? Oh yes, I know him; who doesn't? How did it happen?" + +"That's what we don't know--what nobody seems to know--that's the +mystery; the whole affair is most mysterious, and--and lamentable. To +put it at its lowest, with every desire to put self on one side, one +can't help feeling that someone has been guilty of a very unfriendly +act to me. In my business one never knows how this sort of thing may +be taken, especially by one's best customers. At this moment every +bedroom's full; yet directly this becomes known I may have my house +empty on my hands, my race week spoilt!" + +"What's the cause of death?" The inspector put this question to the +doctor. + +"A blow with some blunt instrument, which must have been delivered +with tremendous force. Some of the frontal cranium bones seem to be +broken in two or three places. Of course my examination has at present +only been superficial, but that appears to be the case." + +The landlord proffered an addition of his own: + +"It looks as if the blow had been delivered with a champagne bottle." +He held up the broken neck. "We found this on the table, and the +remaining pieces are here upon the floor." + +The inspector again addressed the doctor. + +"Could it have been done with a champagne bottle?" + +The doctor settled his spectacles on his nose. Being a young man, a +sense of responsibility seemed to weigh upon him. His reply was +guarded: + +"It might. Of course you understand that I am not prepared to give a +definite opinion, but, to some extent, my present impression is, that +it might have been." + +The inspector turned to the landlord. + +"Don't you know who was in the room with him?" + +"That's the point--we don't; that's to say, not so that we can speak +with certainty. You see, this is a private sitting-room, and occupants +of private sitting-rooms have visitors of whom we know nothing. We +can't keep an eye upon them as if they were public rooms--it stands to +reason. But one of my waiters, named Timmins--this is Timmins--informs +me that he brought a message and a note to Mr Emmett, who was enjoying +his wine after dinner, to the effect that a gentleman wished to see +him; and that he went out to see the gentleman; but whether the +gentleman returned with him Timmins cannot say." + +The inspector addressed the waiter. + +"When you brought that message was he alone?" + +"Yes, sir, he was alone; except for the young lady." + +The landlord exclaimed. + +"Young lady!--What young lady?" + +"Why, sir, the young lady he dined with; he and she dined together." + +"This is the first time you've mentioned a young lady." + +"Well, sir, he and the young lady had dinner together--dinner was +ordered for two. I thought you knew that." + +"I knew nothing about it--this is the first I've heard about it; this +is the first time I've heard about any young lady. Did you know about +it?" This last question was put to his wife. "I knew a lady came with +him; he took two bedrooms, one for himself and one for her; his was +No. 238, hers was No. 49, on the floor above. He wanted her next to +him, they tell me in the office; but the rooms on either side of his +were engaged." + +"What was the lady's name?" + +"That I don't know; I find he entered himself in the book as 'George +Emmett and Lady.' When I asked Miss Wilson, who was there when he came, +why she let him do it, she said that she asked him what was the lady's +name; and he said it was all right and didn't matter." + +"Did you see her?" + +"No; I can't say that I did. I'm told she's quite young. She seems to +have brought precious little luggage. There's only a small battered +old tin box in her room." + +"I can only say that this is the first mention I've heard of any young +lady; I'd no idea that anyone came with him. I can't understand, +Timmins, why you didn't speak of her before." + +"Well, sir, I thought you knew." + +"Don't I tell you I didn't know? What do you mean by persisting in +thinking I knew? I understood you to say that when you brought the +message he was alone." + +"So he was, sir--except for the young lady." + +"Except for the young lady! What the devil do you mean by 'except for +the young lady'? He wasn't alone if she was there--was he?" + +The inspector interposed. + +"That's all right, Mr Elsey; you leave this to me--this is more in my +line than yours." He tackled the waiter, whose expression, as they +worried him, became more and more rabbitlike. "You say that Mr Emmett +and this young lady dined together?" + +"Yes, sir, they did--I waited on them." + +"Did she strike you as being young? How old would you have set her +down as?" + +"Well, sir, not more than seventeen or eighteen, at the +outside--though perhaps she might have been a little more or +less--it's not easy to tell a young lady's age." + +"Did she strike you as being a lady? You know what I mean." + +"Yes, sir, I do. Well, sir, I daresay--I should say, sir, she was +quite a lady; most certainly a lady; though plainly dressed; in fact, +for a lady, almost shabby." + +"Did she and Mr Emmett appear to be upon good terms?" + +"Well, sir, I couldn't exactly say that they did." + +"What do you mean by that? On what sort of terms were they? Explain +yourself, man." + +"Well, sir--for one thing she never uttered so much as a single word +while I was in the room, neither to me nor to Mr Emmett; not even so +much as yes or no when I handed her a dish. And she scarcely ate +anything; and she never drank anything neither. Mr Emmett told me to +fill her glass with champagne; but I don't believe she ever so much as +put her lips to it--in fact, when I came in and found him there was +her glass just as it was when I filled it. Mr Emmett, he did all the +talking. From the way in which she sat right back in her chair--that's +the chair in which she sat, sir--and never spoke or moved, it seemed +as if she were frightened half out of her life of him." + +"Why should she be frightened? Did you hear him say anything to +frighten her?" + +"No, sir, nothing I could swear to; but he kept speaking to her in a +chaffing sort of way, which I could see she didn't like." + +"Did she seem to be angry?--in a bad temper?" + +"No, sir, not so much that as afraid of him." + +"When he went out to see this gentleman, did he leave her behind?" + +"Yes, sir, he did, on that chair; and I couldn't help noticing how +queer she looked--so white that I couldn't help wondering if she was +feeling ill." + +"Was she here when you found him?" + +"No, sir; the room was empty." + +"Did anyone see her go out of the room?--did you?" + +"No, sir; I haven't seen her since I saw her sitting in that chair." + +"Then where is she now? Where is she, Mr Elsey?" + +"I've no more idea than you have, Mr Tinney. As I've already tried to +explain, till a moment or two ago I hadn't the faintest notion that +there was a lady in the case." + +"Mrs Elsey, where is this interesting young lady?" + +Dorothy, behind the blind and the curtain, could scarcely refrain from +shrieking: "Here!" + +Mrs Elsey shook her head. + +"That's more than I can tell you, Mr Tinney. Beyond knowing that a +young lady came with Mr Emmett, I don't know anything. What Timmins +has been telling you is all news to me." + +"Someone must know where she is, if she's in the house. I don't want +to make any statement, but it seems to me that she's a most important +witness, and the sooner she's produced the better. If, as Mr Timmins +hints, she was feeling ill, she may have retired to her room. Perhaps, +Mrs Elsey, you won't mind making inquiries. If she isn't in her room, +wherever she is, she must be found, so don't let there be any mistake +about it. I must have an interview with this very interesting young +lady before we are either of us very much older--you understand?" + +"No, Mr Tinney, I can't say I do understand; not as you put it. I will +have inquiries made; in fact, I'll make them myself; but as for +finding her, wherever she is, that's another question altogether, and +one for which I decline to be held responsible. Things are coming to a +pretty pass if I'm to be held responsible for the comings and goings +of anyone who chooses to take a room in my house." + +The lady sailed out of the room, with her head in the air. The +inspector looked at her husband. + +"I'm afraid I've trodden on Mrs Elsey's toes." + +"She's very sensitive, Mrs Elsey is--very sensitive. I'm far from +saying that you mean anything; but, as you must see for yourself, she +has enough to bear already, without having more put upon her." + +"I'm putting nothing on her. I simply say that that young woman must +be found, and, if your good lady can't find her, someone else will +have to, because found she's got to be--and pretty soon." + +"Quite so, Mr Tinney, quite so; no one denies it for a single instant. +I only wish that I had known of her existence sooner; much trouble +might have been saved." + +How that was, was not quite clear. The inspector made no comment. He +turned to the waiter. + +"Now, Mr Timmins, about this gentleman whom you say Mr Emmett went out +to see. Did you know him? Was he a stranger? What did he look like?" + +"That, sir, is more than I can tell you, seeing that I never saw him. +The message and the note were both brought to me by one of the +coffee-room waiters, of the name of Dowling--he may be able to tell +you more than I can." + +"Then fetch Mr Dowling here." + +The landlord interposed. + +"Excuse me!--one moment, Mr Tinney! At present no one knows what has +occurred except ourselves; and, if it is possible, I should like as +few persons as possible to know, till the morning." + +"I don't see how you're going to prevent people knowing; you can't +cover a murder with a napkin." + +"Exactly; still, at the same time, if you wouldn't mind interviewing +Dowling in my room, instead of here, I shall be only too glad to place +it at your service; and to ensure you all possible privacy." + +"Very well; there need be no difficulty about that. Have you finished, +Dr Nichols?" + +"I think I may say that, for the present, I have. Of course, a further +examination will be necessary; but I think, under the circumstances, +that that may be postponed till the morning; when, perhaps, I may be +able to have the assistance of one of my colleagues." + +"Have the assistance of whoever you like. Have his pockets been +touched, Mr Elsey?" + +"Certainly not, Mr Tinney: nothing has been touched--nothing; at +least, not by anyone in my employ. I took care of that." + +"Then I'll go through them, in your presence. It's just as well to +have witnesses in cases of this sort." Mr Tinney "went through" the +pockets of the man on the table; subjecting him to a process to which +he would probably have strongly objected had it been in his power to +object. A heterogeneous collection they produced. + +"I'll put these things in my handkerchief, Mr Elsey; and, if you don't +mind, I'll draw up a list of them, in your presence, in your room +downstairs. In these cases you can't be too particular; and, as it's +quite within the bounds of possibility that circumstances might arise +in which someone may wish to hold you responsible for the property +which he had in his possession when he came to your hotel, it's only +right and proper that you should know exactly what I have got of his +in my keeping. Now there's one other thing, before we go downstairs; +about this room. If the corpse is to be left here--and I think it'll +just be as well that it should be--then I must lock the door, and take +the key. Have you a pass-key?" + +"I believe I have one, somewhere." + +"Then you must let me have it; you must let me have any keys which fit +that lock. And you must give me your undertaking that no one, neither +you nor Mrs Elsey, nor anyone, shall come into this room until I +unlock it in the morning. If you won't, or can't, give me such an +undertaking, then I shall have to leave one of my men outside there +all night, to keep an eye on the door, to see that no one does come +in." + +"I will certainly give you such an undertaking--certainly I will! I +promise you that no one shall come near the room; no one! You need +have no fears upon that score." + +"Then that's all right. Now, I think, we can go downstairs; and I'll +hear what Mr Dowling has to say, about that mysterious gentleman, who, +maybe, wasn't so very mysterious after all. And perhaps Mrs Elsey may +have some news for us of that very interesting young lady; though it +doesn't seem as if she's found her, or we should have heard. I'm not +giving away any official secret when I say that I shouldn't be +surprised if that young lady turns out to be the key of the situation, +and on that account it's just possible that she may not be so easy to +find as we should like her to be. But found she'll have to be; and +found she will be; if our good hostess can't do it, then I will. I +always was reckoned pretty good at hide-and-seek; I generally knew as +well as another whether I was hot or cold. Now, gentlemen, if you +please." + +The party passed to the door. The inspector switched off the lights; +drew the door to after him; locked it, and drew out the key; and +Dorothy was left alone, in the darkness, to spend the night with her +guardian. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + HOW DOROTHY MADE HER EXIT + + +In the darkness--that was the worst. When she realised that they +indeed had gone, and that she was alone, she came out from behind the +blind, parted the curtains, and found that the room was all dark. That +was the worst. She could see so much better in the darkness, for +though she might not be able to use the eye of sense she was at the +mercy of the more vivid eye of the imagination--at its mercy. It made +her see what she never would, what she never could, have seen in the +light. Within sixty seconds of her having been left alone in the +darkness she had already begun to have a vision of horrors. Yet she +dared not switch on the electric lights; although she knew how +to--there were none in the convent, but she had learnt all about them +since--she did not dare. The inspector had spoken of leaving one of +his men outside to keep an eye on the door; if he had not done so it +was only because the landlord had promised that he would make it his +especial charge; which meant that he would see that a watch was kept +on it. Therefore, if she switched on the light, it would be seen at +once; you could always tell from the outside if there was a light +inside a room. If it was seen, they would know that she was there. +Beyond a doubt that woman had not found her; probably the hue-and-cry +was already out. Quite possibly it might dawn upon them ere long, +that, since no one had seen her go out, she might have been in the +room all the while and no one had had the sense to look. The danger of +their repairing the omission, and coming back to look, was quite great +enough, without the added danger of a light being seen inside the +room. + +And yet, to be left alone with her guardian lying on the table--that +was much worse than seeing him huddled upon the chair. What might he +not be doing, lying stretched out on the table at which she herself +had such a little while ago been seated? Was he turning round to look +at her? Turning what was left him of his head? It was so still. How +loudly she breathed. She could hear her own respirations. Could he +hear them too? She caught at the curtains with tightened fingers. Was +that not someone trying to speak in a whisper? + +All at once there was a sound. Someone was in the room. She felt +herself trembling from head to foot; she clung to the curtains as for +dear life. It was only after some consideration that she understood +that the visitor was probably a mouse. She had been used to mice at +the convent. There they had scampered about all over the place; +sometimes about the room in which she had slept. The convent was old; +the hotel was old; evidently the small marauders had taken up their +quarters in the one building as they had done in the other. + +The new-comer was joined by others. She had an impression that, after +a while, numbers of mice were in the room. If they were conscious of +her presence they ignored it. Certainly they cared nothing for the +dead. She wondered if they were attracted by the smell of the +champagne which had been spilt upon the floor when the stranger broke +the bottle. Suddenly there were sounds quite close to her feet; she +felt as if something ran over one of them; as if a fresh detachment +were coming out of some crevice in the wood panelling of the recess in +which she was standing. Was she to be shut up all night--alone with +the dead, while the mice held festival? Was she to remain there, +upright? Or should she seek rest on the floor? On the floor the mice +might run to and fro across her body. She did not mind that so much as +the thought that her guardian might be peering down at her from his +place upon the table. There was a couch on her left; should she take +refuge on that? To what purpose? Even suppose she slept, when they +came in the morning would she rather that they should find her on it +asleep or waking? If they were to find her at all, then it would be +better, on all accounts, that she should turn on the lights at once, +ring the bell, and bid them do with her what they would. Besides, she +would be afraid to go to sleep with that in the room. The whole place +was full of it. Each time her glance strayed, on this side or that, +seeking, in the darkness, for she knew not what, with, as it were, an +irresistible jerk, her head was brought right round again, so that she +had to look towards where she knew the table was, with its burden. She +could not remain standing through the night; she dare not lie upon the +floor; she dare not take refuge on the couch; she was unwilling to +venture out from the sheltering curtains into the room; for all she +could tell he might have got off the table, and be waiting for her +just on the other side of them. + +As she realised, more and more clearly, the disagreeable nature of her +position, her thoughts recurred to the window, to the handles which +hung on either side of the lower sash. It seemed incredible that a +window, even a silly English window, should be made not to open at +all, either at the top or bottom. After an interval of she knew not +how long, she summoned up resolution enough to make another effort. +Moving very softly, being anxious to be heard by no one, most of all +by what was on the table, turning towards the window, she felt for the +handles, and, finding them, began to pull, It was impossible to +discriminate between the colours: she could only learn from experiment +if she had the right ones. Apparently, to commence with, she had not: +pull as she might, nothing happened. When, however, after one or two +fumbling changes she tugged again something yielded: the handles came +down towards her with a run. She did not doubt that she had succeeded +in opening the upper portion of the window, at least in part. Not only +was the movement so unexpected as to occasion her a sensation of +shock, it was accompanied by a noise which made the sensation greater +still. Either she had not tugged just as she should have done, or else +the sash, or something which actuated it, stood much in need of +oiling: it moved with a creaking sound which seemed to Dorothy to be +one of the most frightful sounds she had ever heard. In her agitation +she did not improve matters. So completely was she taken unawares that +she loosed the handles as if they had been hot coals; swinging back +they hit the window and the woodwork a series of raps as with a pair +of hammers. To the girl's excited imagination it seemed very much as +if pandemonium had all at once broken loose. That such a tumult could +have remained unheard seemed to her incredible. If it had not actually +called attention to the experiments she was trying on the window, +beyond a doubt it had roused suspicion; which was already sufficiently +on the alert, owing to the significant fact--with which, probably, the +entire establishment had been made acquainted before now--that the +mysterious young lady who had accompanied Mr Emmett had disappeared. +She clearly realised how general a theme of conversation her +inexplicable evanishment had probably become. How the men were asking +the maids if they had seen anything of her; and how the maids were +replying by putting the same question to the men. If anyone had heard +the clatter she had caused--and someone must have heard it--he or she +would promptly report the fact; inquiries into its origin would at +once be set on foot; before many minutes had passed it would be traced +to its source. + +The girl crouched against the side of the recess, every nerve on edge, +quivering with apprehension, expecting each moment to hear the key +being inserted in the lock of the door, the click of the turning lock, +the opening of the door, the steps of those who had decided, at last, +to leave no nook or cranny of the room unvisited in which she might, +by any possibility, be hidden. But as the minutes went, and no one +came, her immediate fears grew less. Perhaps, after all, she had been +unheard. In which case it might be wise, and safe, to endeavour to +find out what had really been the fruit of all her tugging. + +Drawing aside the blind, she looked up. The window was open, but the +blind prevented her seeing how much. It was in the way; it would be +difficult, in any event, to take advantage of the open window while it +was there. With anxious fingers she began to draw it up. It rose more +smoothly than she had feared. It was only when it was half way up that +it struck her that if anyone's eyes were on the window they could +hardly fail to see the mounting blind. The tardy appreciating of the +fact occasioned her another touch of panic. Pausing, she had a mind to +let it stay where it was; then, with sudden recklessness, drew it +right to the top, holding her breath, when it was up, fearful of the +result. She still seemed to have attracted no one's attention. It +seemed to be a clear night, she could see the stars in the sky. By +their light she saw that she had drawn the top sash down some nine or +ten inches, so that it was plain that at least part of the window was +meant to open. She had only to draw it down as far as she could; it +might mean for her a way of escape. Again she gripped the handles--it +was easy now to grip the right ones; in the dim light she could see +that they hung down below the others; again she tugged; again the sash +came down, with that horrid creaking noise. In desperate recognition +of the truth that hers was a case in which she might as well be hung +for a sheep as a lamb she went on tugging, in spite of the persistent +creaking, till she could tug no more. Apparently she had opened the +window to its widest extent. + +When she ceased to tug she strained her ears to listen. This time she +heard a sound which seemed to make her feel that all which had gone +before had been as nothing. It came from within the room. At first she +had not the vaguest notion what it was; what it meant. Yet, the +instant it reached her ear, she was oppressed as by the consciousness +of something strange. It came, and went, so quickly that it left her +in terrified doubt as to whether it had not been born of her +imagination. + +Then after an interval, which seemed to her of grimly portentous +length, it came again--the sound. There was no mistake that that was +real. Equally certain was it that it came from the other side of the +curtains, from the room which was empty, save for the mice and the man +stretched out upon the table. No mouse, no gathering of mice, could +have produced that sound; and the man on the table was dead. Was it +possible that anyone could have come into the room without her +knowledge? Surely she must have heard the opening of the door if it +had been opened. She had noticed that the key turned in the lock with +a grating noise, as if either the lock or the key were rusty. She was +convinced that if the door had been opened she must have heard it; +there was no other way into the room, yet she had heard that sound. + +It came a third time. Was it not someone breathing, or trying to +breathe? It sounded like it. As if someone were gasping, struggling +for breath, as if some too heavy sleeper were making a stertorous +effort to wake out of slumber. If no one had come into the room--and +how could anyone have come without her knowing it--who could it be? +There was another point: such a noise could hardly come from a person +who was in a normal condition. It had gone again; all was still, +though she listened with all her ears, with every sense she had. Just +as she was wondering if it had gone for good, hoping that it had, it +came again--louder, more obvious, more terrible, than before. For +there was a terrible quality in the noise itself, quite apart from the +circumstances under which it was audible. A sensitive soul, hearing it +in broad daylight, anywhere, would have shuddered; it had about it +such a suggestion of physical discomfort: as though someone, +spellbound in unwholesome sleep, strove to regain consciousness, in +order to escape from some agonising nightmare, and strove in vain. Had +Dorothy had any experience of modern medicine she would have +recognised its likeness to the noise some surgical patients make as +they gradually come back to life from the stupefying effects of some +powerful anæsthetic. + +What Dorothy did realise was that, after all, her guardian might not +be so dead as everyone had supposed. How that might be she did not +understand; she did not try to understand. The appreciation of the +fact was enough for her; indeed, it was too much, though her +appreciation was imperfect. She did not wish to make sure if her +guardian really had still in him the spark of life, however dim the +spark might be; she desired nothing less. It did not occur to her to +think that the spark might be indeed so dim that only instant, expert +aid could succeed in fanning it back to flame. She did not stay to +consider that if the man was not entirely dead; that if prompt +attention might bring him back to a hold on life, however precarious +that hold might be; then it was her business, and her duty, to use +every available means to procure for him that assistance with the +least possible delay; and that if she neglected, wittingly, to do so +and, in consequence, he met that fate which, but for her, he might, at +least temporarily, have been snatched from, then the actual +responsibility for his death lay at her door, as something for which, +one day, she might be called to account. Believing that he was +struggling back to life, her one wish was to escape before he +succeeded; it was his success she feared, not his failure. Failing +to recognise the fact that, if he did succeed, the burden of +blood-guiltiness would be lifted from the stranger's shoulders, and +from hers; all she cared for was that he should not find her there. + +Panic made her callous. Plainly his struggles increased; each second +he fought harder and harder for his life. It never occurred to her +that if she did escape he would probably be left alone till the +morning, when the odds were that assistance would came too late. She +gave no heed to the thought of the strong man contending, in the +pitch-black room, helplessly, with death, with help, willing help, so +close at hand; that was a picture which was to occur to her later. By +standing on tiptoe she could just get hold of the top of the open +window. Pulling herself up; getting her feet on to the sill; leaning +out of the open upper half, she tried to see what was beyond. It was +not easy to decide. The light was puzzling. Although the stars were +visible overhead they were not sufficiently bright to enable her to +make out, with certainty, what was below. She seemed to be looking +down into some sort of yard, in which dark objects were dimly visible. +She supposed it was probably the stable yard; what the dark objects +were she could not determine. There were no lights; no one appeared to +be moving about; they could hardly be vehicles which, at that hour, +had been left out in the open. She seemed to be higher than she +expected. Although the ground was invisible it seemed to be very far +below. How she was to reach it from the window she had not a notion; +her heart failed at the thought of trying to do so. The only way would +be to scramble, somehow, over the top sash; then to descend, also +somehow, to the sill without; then to lower herself, for the third +time, somehow, till she hung from the sill by her hands; and drop, she +did not know how far through space, nor did she know into, or on to, +what. The prospect was not an alluring one. + +At the convent there had been a girl, a refractory young lady, who, +finding herself ill at ease in her surroundings, essayed to elude them +by way of a window which looked out, over the wall, on to the road. +That it was unnecessary to take such an unusual route, since she had +only to give utterance to her desire to leave to find herself outside +as quickly as she could wish, was nothing to her. She was a young lady +of a romantic turn of mind. Possibly she wished to make an impression, +not only on her schoolfellows and the Sisters, but also on her +parents. She knotted together the sheets which she took from her bed; +it was presumed that she tied one end to a bar which ran across the +window, and, squeezing past it, began to descend by means of the +sheets to which she clung. If she did tie one end of the sheet to the +bar, then, apparently, it was not tied very securely; because, +seemingly, before she got very far, it came unfastened, with the +result that she descended with a degree of rapidity which exceeded her +expectations. She struck her head, it seemed, with great force against +the wall; so that by the time she reached the ground, on which they +found her, some twelve feet below, she was, in all human probability, +already dead. + +That young lady's tragic fate was the one event which marked the +fifteen years Dorothy had spent in the convent. Now, as she leaned out +of the open upper half of the window, peering down at the impenetrable +darkness which masked whatever might be below, the story came back to +her with a vividness which was most unwelcome. Dorothy's plight was +worse than hers. She had made elaborate preparations for what she well +knew was in front of her; yet she had come to utter dire grief. How +much more likely, Dorothy felt, was disaster to overtake her, if she +plunged, practically blindfold, through unknown depths into unknown +perils? She turned giddy at the thought of trying to climb on to the +top of that open sash. Almost involuntarily she drew her head back +into the room. Better, almost, anything rather than that she should +risk being dashed to pieces by flinging herself blindly into space. +She would give up her mad attempt. + +Moved by this new impulse to observe discretion, she had begun to +lower herself on to the floor of the room, when, again, there came +that sound--louder, more insistent, as if someone were bursting his +lungs in the violence of his gasps for breath. Then there was a crash, +which shook the room, as someone, something, fell from the table on to +the floor. All was still. In that ominous silence, the girl, seized +with a sudden frenzy of panic, was on to the top of the sash probably +before she clearly realised what it was that she was doing; over on +the other side; standing on the sill; from which she began to lower +herself with a swiftness and an agility of which she would scarcely +have been capable had the conditions been normal. For some seconds she +clung with her small hands to the rough edge of the sill. She was +conscious that she had brought her leg into unpleasant contact with +the wall, and inflicted on herself various contusions. Even in that +eleventh hour, as she hung between earth and heaven, conviction came +to her of the madness of what she was doing. Had it been possible she +would have drawn herself back into the room even then, but it was not +possible. From where she was there was no way back. Her slender arms +were incapable of raising even her slight body. Such muscles as she +had became relaxed; she seemed to be dragging her arms out of their +sockets; her hands were slipping. Though she gripped the sill till she +felt the rough stone cutting her fingers she could get no hold. The +question as to whether she would risk death by dropping into space was +no longer one for her decision; with all the unwillingness in the +world to let herself go, she could not keep from falling. She made an +effort to stay where she was for yet another breathing space; so that, +at least, she might collect her thoughts before she went, perhaps, +into eternity. The effort had the contrary effect to that which she +intended. Instead of delaying it, it hastened the end. Her hands could +grip the sill no longer. Her finger-tips were on the very edge. In +another instant they would be over, and then---- Of what might happen +then she dared not think. + +That instant came. The slip came quickly at the last; the sill seemed +suddenly to be jerked away. She tried to catch at something, and could +not. She closed her eyes; convulsively rather than of intention; as if +she would shut out the sight of what was about to happen; she held her +breath, and fell. As she fell strange noises were in her ears, which +seemed to come from the room from which, at last, she had escaped. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE CARAVAN + + +How long she had been there she did not know. She looked about her, +wondering where she was; how she had come there. She was in the open +air; above her were the stars in the sky. She seemed to be lying on +some rubbish; but something hard was underneath. How her head ached; +it made her feel so stupid. Putting up her hand to soothe it, she +found that it hurt her almost as much as her head. Staring at it, in +the dim light she could just make out that it was covered with +something wet. All at once she remembered, hazily; and sat up +straighter. She had dropped from the window--it must be somewhere +above her; she could not see it from where she was. This rough surface +which she touched when she put out her poor, hurt hand must be the +outer wall of the hotel. + +One thing was plain: she was not dead; and so it behoved her not to +stay where she was a moment longer than she could help; she had not +dropped from the window to spend the night on the ground immediately +beneath. She raised herself to her feet; the process occasioning her +more pain than she had expected. It was all she could do to stand. One +ankle showed a disposition to double up; her left leg smarted so that +the pain of it brought the tears into her eyes. Indeed, there were +smarts and aches all over her; her arms seemed limp and her hands +nerveless; her whole body felt hurt, and bruised, and shaken. Her +first impulse, when she learnt the plight she was in, was to sink back +on to the ground, from which she had with such difficulty raised +herself, and cry. But, even in the half-dazed condition in which she +was, she recognised that such a mode of procedure would be worse than +futile. Since she had risked so much to get so far she might at least +try to get a little farther. Now, in all probability, only a little +courage was needed to enable her to get at least clear away from that +immediate neighbourhood. + +Which way should she go? She looked about her. The light, if dim, was +sufficient to enable her to make out something of her surroundings. +Seemingly the place in which she was had nothing to do with the hotel. +It was apparently a yard which was associated with the adjoining +house. What kind of house it was she could not see; she could see +windows, but behind them no lights were visible; the whole place +seemed to be in darkness. There were buildings on three sides of the +yard. She could just see what seemed to be a door which led into the +house; it was hardly likely to be of much use to her--she would be +little better off in the adjoining house than in the hotel which she +had just now quitted. She looked for another door; and saw that there +was one in the wall which bounded the yard on the fourth side. She +moved towards it, stumbling over unseen obstacles as she went. +Reaching it, she raised the latch; the door was open. Passing through +she found herself in a narrow alley, which ran between two walls. +Since, to her, direction mattered nothing, she turned to the left; +then, when she had gone some little distance, to the left again; and +presently came to what was apparently the principal street of the +town. Conscious of the singularity of her appearance: dressed, as she +was, for indoors; hatless; with her attire in disorder; being +unwilling to attract notice, she peered anxiously about her alley. At +that hour of the night even the town's chief thoroughfare was nearly +deserted. Gaining courage from the fact, passing into it, she pressed +forward with hurrying footsteps, leaving the hotel more and more +behind her as she went. + +Occasionally she met both pedestrians and vehicles; but no one seemed +to take any special heed of her. Either they were too occupied with +their own affairs; or else they saw nothing about her to rouse their +interest. On and on she went; always along the same broad street; the +farther she went the fewer people she encountered. At last it seemed +to her that she had gone some distance without meeting a soul. Looking +round she perceived that she seemed to have left the town behind; the +high street seemed to have become a country road. Here and there by +the roadside were detached villas and houses; but the long unbroken +line of buildings had come to an end. Pressing on she found that the +villas and the houses were becoming fewer and farther between; she was +in the open country. On a sudden even the fertile country, with its +fields and trees and hedges, seemed to have gone; the road seemed to +be passing over an illimitable expanse of open heath. + +She was so tired; so stiff; and in such pain. Her ankle hurt her so +that she could hardly put her foot to the ground. The leg which she +had grazed against the wall, as she had lowered herself from the sill, +smarted almost beyond endurance. Her bruised body ached all over; her +head ached worse than her body. As she paused to take her bearings all +these things forced themselves on her at once. She became conscious +that, however great the need, she could not go on much farther without +a rest. Where was she to rest? Out here the world seemed brighter; the +stars brighter. Certainly the air was clearer. She could see on all +sides of her, by the light of the stars, ever so far; little enough +there seemed to see. Here and there, the way she had come, were the +outlines of houses; but in front, and on either hand, was nothing but +the open moor; broken by what probably were clumps of furze and +bushes. Should she lie down by the side of one of those clumps, to +rest? The turf ought to be dry; there was promise of fair weather; she +would be better there than alone in a room with Mr Emmett, be he alive +or dead. The thing to be desired was to get at some distance from the +road, so that she might escape observation from passers-by. She began +to pick her way, as best she could, across the grass. Her objective +was a patch of brushwood which, so far as she was able to judge, was +at a distance of perhaps a couple of hundred yards; far enough from +the road to ensure her privacy. Gaining the edge of the patch, she +began to thread her way among the bushes; determined, if she could, to +reach the centre, so that they might stand up round about her, and so +serve as an effective screen. She had just decided that she had got as +far in among them as she need, and was about to allow herself the +luxury of sinking down upon the turf, when there was a rustling sound, +and, looking up, a man seemed to rise out of the solid earth, within a +few feet of where she was standing. + +Which of the twain was more surprised there was nothing to show; the +man was the first to speak; which he did in a voice which at least +hinted at cultivation: + +"Who are you?" + +The girl, taken wholly unawares, replied, in faltering tones, as a +child might have done: + +"I'm--I'm Dorothy." + +"Oh, you are Dorothy; that's good hearing. And pray, Dorothy, from +where did you happen to have sprung?" + +She echoed his word. + +"Sprung?" + +"Yes; literally and correctly, sprung; for since a minute ago there +was no one within a mile, one only can conclude that you have sprung +clean out of mother earth. If you haven't, how do you come to be +there?--from where have you come?" + +"I've come--from the road." + +"From the road. That's very illuminating. Did you come to this +particular spot because you knew that I was here?" + +"Knew--that you were here!" + +Her manner seemed to strike him. There was an interval before he spoke +again. + +"I think, if you don't mind, I'll come and have a better look at you." + +He came striding towards her through the bushes. Her impulse was to +turn and flee. But, partly because she was no longer capable of +flight, partly because there was something in his tone which spoke +pleasantly to her ear, she stayed quite still, without making an +effort to move. He advanced until he was within a yard of her; then he +stopped. She had watched him coming with sensations which she would +have found it hard to define; when he stopped she trembled. In silence +he stood and looked at her; while she, on her side, looked at him. She +realised, with a distinct sense of relief, that there seemed to be +nothing to offend her in his appearance. So far as she could judge, in +that uncertain light, he was not old, nor very young. He had a small +beard and moustache. His head, like her own, was uncovered. He seemed +to be decently attired--though he wore no waistcoat, and his shirt was +open at the neck. In his left hand he had a pipe, which, as he +continued to inspect her, he placed in his mouth. She could see the +smoke issuing from between his lips. + +When he spoke, the question which he put to her was as unconventional +as their meeting: + +"How old are you?" + +Without hesitation she replied: + +"I'm nearly eighteen." + +"Nearly eighteen? That's a great age. Aren't you a lady?" + +"I--I don't know." + +"Don't you? Then you're wise. Very few women do know if they are or +are not ladies; they only think they know; and how often they think +wrong. However, as a matter of simple fact, I think we may take it for +granted that, for present purposes, you approach as near to the +accepted definition of what a lady is as needs be; and, therefore, I +should very much like to know why, at this hour of the night, you're +here." + +"I came to rest." + +"You came to rest?--where?" + +"Here." + +"What do you mean by here?" + +"Here, among the bushes, where--where they won't be able to see me +from the road. I didn't know that you were here. If I am in your way +I'll--I'll go." + +"It isn't that you're in my way that's the trouble. The difficulty +which presents itself to my mind is, why do you want to rest among the +bushes?" + +"Because I'm tired." + +"That's a good reason, so far as it goes; and you both look and sound +as if you were tired; but why the bushes, when you might be safe and +snug at home in bed? Where is your home?" + +"I have no home." + +"Is that true?" + +"Quite true. I never have had a home." + +He seemed to be considering her words. + +"There's a quibble about that statement somewhere. Girls like you +don't attain to the ripe age of nearly eighteen years without ever +having had a home; you're not a product of a vagabond life. However, +I'll feign to believe you, if I don't; since, just now, the point +seems to be that you do propose to spend at least this one night with +no canopy above you but the sky. Is that so?" + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Then you're dull; my meaning's not opaque. Am I to understand that +you seriously propose to spend the night out in the open?" + +"I am tired; I want to rest; I must rest somewhere; I--I can't keep +walking all night." + +"No; you certainly can't; and, since that is the case, you had better +come with me." + +He turned, as if to go. She drew back. + +"Where to?" + +He noted the gesture. + +"Not far; only a few steps. Are you afraid of me?" + +"No; I don't think I am." + +"Be sure, please. Doesn't your instinct tell you that there's nothing +about me which you need fear? It's hard on me if it doesn't, since my +one prayer is that no one who is helpless, hopeless, and in trouble +shall ever be afraid of me. So please be sure that you are not afraid; +and come." He moved off; this time she followed; though still a little +doubtfully. He led her, between the bushes, to where the ground began +to fall away; pausing on the crest of the slope, he pointed to a +caravan which was immediately in front, at the bottom of a little +hollow, which was just deep enough to hide it from view till one was +right upon it. "You say that you've no home; that's mine--_pro +tem_.--for this summer time, which flies all too quickly. And, while +it's summer, it's a home fit for a lord; a king need want no better; +and, for this night, it's yours." He stopped; then, seeing that she +looked at him askance, went on: "By that I mean that if, instead of +spending the night in the open, resting beneath the bushes, you will +accept the hospitality of my caravan, and take up your quarters in it +till the morning, I shall be honoured, flattered, and obliged." + +She was staring at him with wide-open eyes. + +"Do you mean that you wish me to sleep in there?" + +She pointed to the structure down below. + +"If you will so far honour me--if you will be so very good." + +"But--where are you to sleep?--if that's your home?" + +"I'll show you." She went beside him down the slope till they came to +where some things were lying on the ground. "That's my bed; my +sleeping-place. There's a waterproof sheet stretched out upon the +grass, pegged down at each of the four corners. On it are all the +wraps I need for covering. On a night like this I'd sooner lie under +those"--he pointed upward to the stars--"than under a painted ceiling. +So, since my house is empty, it'll be glad to have a tenant. You'll +find in it all the bed and bedding you require. I'll be out here, +sleeping, like a watchdog, at your door. You've only to bolt and bar +it, and you'll be as safe from molestation as you could be in any +hotel that ever yet was built." He ascended the two or three steps +which mounted to the door of the caravan, and went inside. "If you'll +wait till I've lighted the lamp I'll show you what excellent +accommodation my establishment has to offer." Presently she found +herself standing with him in the queerest room she had seen. Tired +though she was, she could not help noticing its spotless cleanliness; +and, in spite of its small size, how dexterously its contents were +arranged, so that not only was nothing in the way, but there were +conveniences of many kinds which one would not expect to find in such +cramped quarters. On a sort of shelf on one side a bed was made. +"That's your couch for to-night. I always get it ready for immediate +occupation when the shades of evening fall. In this dear English +climate prophecy is vain; one never knows what may happen between +sunset and sunrise. You go to bed under a cloudless sky, to wake, an +hour later, because you are being pelted by the rain. Since my +education has not yet gone far enough to enable me to enjoy sleeping +in the rain, under those circumstances I pick up my bed, and beat a +hasty retreat in here. And as one generally wants to get to sleep +again with the least possible delay, I make a point of having this in +readiness, so that I may tumble in upon the instant. See; here's a +bolt, and here's a bar; push them home, when I am gone, and you'll be +as safe as if you were in the Tower of London." + +When he had gone she acted on his advice. Apparently he was listening +without; because, when the door was made fast, he called to her. + +"Good-night!--sleep well!--may the angels touch your eyelids if you +dream!" + +She bade him good-night, in her turn; though hers was spoken scarcely +above a whisper. Her desire was to look about her; to take some stock +of her new and strange surroundings; but her weariness was greater +than her desire. Half unconsciously she sank down on the bed upon the +shelf, just as she was. As she touched it, she sighed; and was asleep. + +She was roused by the sound of knocking. She was vaguely aware that +someone was making a noise for some little time before she succeeded +in waking sufficiently to make quite sure. Lifting her head she +perceived that though the lamp still burned its light was quite +superfluous, since the sun was streaming in through the narrow window +which ran along one side of the caravan. There was no mistake about +that noise. Rat-tat-tat! Someone was keeping up a sustained and +vigorous rapping against the door. + +"Who's there?" she asked. + +"No one in particular; only me. I was beginning to wonder if you were +going to sleep the clock right round. You must forgive me for +disturbing you; I wouldn't have done it only I've a sort of feeling +that it's nearly breakfast-time; especially as, in a general way, I've +had my breakfast, washed up, and put away the things, a couple of +hours ago. The trouble is that all the cooking utensils of which my +establishment boasts are inside with you; so, if you're awake wide +enough, if, at your convenience, you could manage to come outside, I +could come in, and start upon that morning meal." For some seconds, in +her drowsy state, she could not conceive who it could be who was +talking. When she remembered, although she was alone, she put her +hands up to her face to hide her blushes. In that convent of hers +maidens were taught to be maidenly; it burst upon her, with some +force, that there was that about her situation which was scarcely +conventual. The voice without went on: "There's a can of water just +outside the door; if you put two fingers out you'll be able to get it +in. If you'll open the cupboard above your head you'll find a +looking-glass--which you'll be able to hang on any one of a dozen +different hooks--a basin, and, I believe, all the essentials necessary +for an elementary toilet." + +Getting off the bed, she was conscious, although she still ached, of +feeling distinctly rested; and that though she had slept with all her +clothes on. Unbarring the door she drew in the can of water; saying, +as she did so: + +"I am so sorry to have kept you waiting; but I--I did sleep so +soundly. I won't be a moment longer than I can help." + +Nor was it long before she threw the door wide open, and came out on +to the ledge at the top of the little flight of steps. He was lying on +the turf, with a pipe in his mouth, a newspaper in his hands. She was +conscious, as she came out into the open, of the glory of the morning. +He seemed to be conscious only of her. Jumping up he saluted her with +his hand. + +"Why," he exclaimed, "you're a living advertisement of the excellence +of my domestic arrangements; you look as fresh as a new pin. If you +had been able to indulge in the luxury of a marble bath, and a barber, +you could look no fresher. Good-morning--I need not ask you how you've +slept--and here's the sun in a cloudless sky to greet you." + +She came down the steps, all blushes; smiling as she had not done +since she left the convent. The process of preparing breakfast began. +She was conscious that she ought to intrude no longer on this +stranger's hospitality. But, in the first place, her shyness kept her +from giving expression to that consciousness; and, in the second, +something told her that, say what she might, he would not let her go +till she had shared with him his morning meal. So, making a virtue of +what really was necessity, she held her peace upon the subject of her +going; and helped him with his preparations for the meal. + +Girl-like, she found those preparations most amusing; she had not been +so entertained for many a day. There were eggs and bacon to be fried; +the kettle to be boiled; bread and butter to be cut; the table to be +laid. Acting on instructions, this latter she made her special +business. The table was the ground. On it she spread a tablecloth; on +the white cloth were placed the necessary cups and saucers, plates and +spoons, knives and forks. The cooking was done on an oil-stove inside +the caravan. + +"Read the advertisements," exclaimed the stranger, "and an oil-stove +can do anything that the most unreasonable camper-out can possibly +require--up to cooking a dinner for any number, anywhere, in a torrent +of rain and a storm of wind. As a matter of plain fact it won't really +cook out-of-doors at all; that's the one advantage of a house on +wheels: you can keep it under cover, though it smells the place out. +Humour an oil-stove; coddle it; and it may cook something, sometimes, +which a hardy stomach may be able to digest. Subject it to any one of +the ten million conditions it dislikes, fight as you will, it will +beat you out of sight; and, in spite of all your struggles, you'll go +hungry in the end. I know! I've tried every sort that's made; each is +worse than the other. Now where's that dish? I've a constitutional +objection to eating my food out of a frying-pan, if it can possibly be +avoided; so if you'll be so good as to take the dish out of the oven, +where it's supposed to be getting hot, I'll turn these eggs and this +bacon out upon it, and we'll start on them while we still have +strength enough to do it." + +Presently the girl and the man were seated on opposite sides of that +impromptu table. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + MR FRAZER GOES SHOPPING + + +The morning was bright and clear; the air was sweet and buoyant; the +food was good, the man and the girl were hungry, they both made an +excellent meal. And, while they ate and drank, and, between whiles, +talked, each, more or less furtively, took stock of the other. Dorothy +found that the hazy impression she had formed of the stranger +overnight was not in the least bit like him. He was younger than she +had thought. She was not much of a judge of men's years; since her +experience of them was so extremely limited, it was hardly likely that +she would be. In the darkness she had set him down as somewhere in the +forties; now, in the bright sunshine, which ages some of us, she +supposed him to be somewhere in the early thirties. There was about +him an appearance of vigour--the vigour which goes with youth--for +which she was unprepared. Then, too, he was so much better-looking +than she had taken him to be--perhaps in thinking so she was +influenced by the accident that she was dark and he was fair. His eyes +were very blue, and very bright; the skin of his face and neck, though +slightly tanned, was delicate as any girl's; his hair and beard were +flaxen. He was taller, too, than she had imagined--when he stood up +she saw that he must be at least six feet; his shoulders were so +broad, he held himself so straight, there was about him such a glow of +health and strength, that it did her good to look at him. And his +attire suited him well; or she thought it did--certainly there could +scarcely have been less of it. He wore no cap or coat or waistcoat; +his canvas shirt was open at the neck; his grey flannel trousers had +as belt a handkerchief of scarlet silk; he was shod with stout brown +shoes. It was a costume suited to fine weather out-of-doors; and, free +and easy as it was, both it and the wearer pleased the lady's +undoubtedly inexperienced eyes. + +What impression she made on him it was not easy to determine; not +impossibly the morning light had brought a surprise also to him. One +felt, not only that she puzzled him, but that the puzzle continually +grew. In his speech he owned as much. When the dish and the plates +were empty he regarded her with a whimsical smile. + +"It's good to eat when you're hungry." + +"Yes," she agreed; "it is." + +"Do you know that it's past eleven o'clock; and that when I'm abroad +in this house of mine I make it a rule to have all signs of breakfast +cleared away before the clock strikes eight." + +She began to stammer. + +"I beg your pardon; I am so sorry; it's all my fault; but I--I did +sleep so late. Now I--I won't hinder you any longer; I'll go." She +stood up. "I--don't quite know where; I--I don't know this part of +the country very well--I am very much obliged for all you've done for +me; you--you've been very kind. I have no money; but when I have +I'll--I'll pay you for what you've done, if you'll let me know to what +address to send." + +"I think you're very stupid." + +She crimsoned. + +"Good-bye." + +"I also think that you're ill-mannered." + +She had turned to go; but there was something in the quiet finality of +his tone which caused her to turn to him again. + +"Why?" + +"I think you're the first because you speak of paying for what, you +ought to know, I'm only too glad to give; as if I were the sort of +person to accept money from a lady who has been my guest!" + +"I beg your pardon; I--I'm so stupid." + +"I said you were. I think that you're the second because, no sooner +are you through your own meal than you rush off, before your host has +finished." + +"I thought you had; I did not mean to be ill-mannered; I thought you +wanted me to go." + +"You are mistaken. It is another rule of mine--and this is a rule +which I don't propose to break--when I am done with the actual eating +and drinking, to smoke a pipe; I regard that pipe as an integral part +of my breakfast. I don't know why you should wish to deprive me of +it." + +"I don't; I didn't know you wanted another; I saw you smoking one just +now, before we began." + +"That was because breakfast was unwontedly delayed; also that is no +reason why now I shouldn't have another. When I am enjoying my +breakfast pipe I like, when opportunity offers, to have a chat. You +spoke of payment. I suggest that your payment takes the form of +sitting down and talking to me till I have smoked my pipe right out. +Have you any particular objection?" + +"I don't mind staying, if you want me to, till you--you've done your +pipe." + +"Thank you; then will you have the goodness to resume your seat while +I load up? One can't talk to a person who will persist in standing." + +She sank down again upon the turf. As he crammed the tobacco into the +bowl of his briar she regarded the tablecloth with doubtful eyes. + +"Can I--can I clear away the things, and wash up for you?" + +"No, you can't; all you can do is sit still, and talk. Let me begin by +introducing myself; my name is Frazer--Eric Frazer. You were so kind +as to tell me last night that yours was Dorothy. As it is unusual for +a man to address a woman by her Christian name after such a short +acquaintance as ours hath been, may I ask you to tell me what your +surname is, so that we can start fair?" + +She hesitated; then told him a falsehood; she herself could not have +said why. + +"My name is Greenwood." + +Somehow, the instant she had spoken, she felt he doubted. He looked at +her, over the lighted match which he was holding to the bowl of his +pipe; and, though she did not try to meet his glance, she knew that in +it there was something sceptical. + +"Greenwood?--your name is Greenwood? Dorothy Greenwood--Miss +Greenwood. Thank you; I am flattered by the confidence in me which +your telling me your name implies." Having completed the operation of +lighting his pipe, folding his arms across his chest, he observed her +with a steady attention which made her feel curiously uncomfortable. +She began to wish that, ill-mannered or not, she had gone when she +said she would. Nor were matters improved when he began to ask her +questions; which he did in a cool, level voice which, for some cause, +jarred upon her nerves. "You were so good as to inform me, also last +night, when I inquired how it was that I was so fortunate as to be +favoured with your society, that you came from the road. Now the road +runs both ways; which one did you come from?" + +Summoning her courage she looked at him with what she meant to be +defiance. + +"I would rather not tell you, if you don't mind." + +"That's better; much better." What he meant she did not know; yet she +felt that it was something which she would rather he did not mean. He +went on: "Do I understand that, not knowing this country very well, +you are journeying you don't know where--without money, without +luggage, without even a hat on your head?" + +Again she tried to defy him. + +"I can't help your asking questions; but I'm not forced to answer them +if I'd rather not; and I would rather not." + +His manner, if anything, was blander than ever; her attitude did not +seem to wound his sensibilities one bit. + +"Quite right; you are perfectly right; if you don't want to answer, +don't; never be coerced into answering a question which you don't want +to answer. Impertinent curiosity is not to be encouraged. There is so +much interest taken in our goings and our comings, merely because some +people deem them peculiar, that the liberty of the subject threatens +to become seriously abridged. I know what I am speaking of; I have +suffered from that kind of thing myself. By the way, this morning, +while you were still fast asleep in bed I--went shopping." + +He laid a stress on the last two words which caused her to prick up +her ears; she herself did not know why. + +"Shopping? Where?" + +She looked about her, as if she expected to find a shop, or shops, in +sight. He shook his head. + +"No, not here; there are no shops upon the heath that I am aware of; +and I know it pretty well. I ought to. Where I went shopping was to a +town called Newcaster. Have you ever heard of it?" Newcaster was the +town from which she had fled the night before. So soon as he spoke of +it a dreadful feeling began to come over her that she knew what was +the point which he was approaching. She tried to shake the feeling +off; but it would not be shaken. With beating pulses she sat and +watched him drawing closer and closer. "Newcaster," he explained, +speaking with what seemed to her to be hideous deliberation, "is a +town not far from here; an old town; a racing town; it is to horse +racing that, in all human probability, it owes its continued +flourishing condition--for it continues to flourish. One of its +numerous meetings is taking place now; there is to be racing on this +heath to-day. You hear that humming and buzzing sound which comes and +goes, so that now it fills all the air, and now seems completely to +die away." She had heard it, and had vaguely wondered what it was. "If +you were to go to the top of that bank you would understand--it is the +noise made by the people who are going to the races; on foot, in motor +cars, in vehicles of all sorts and kinds, and by the people who are +already there. The race-course is over yonder, about two miles from +where we are. A great crowd will be there to-day; and, though it's +early, probably thousands are there already. It's all open country +between it and us; and, on a day like this, with what breeze there is +blowing from it towards us, sound travels. You'll know when a race +begins by the noise the people make; and when it ends, by the +comparative silence which follows." He paused to puff at his pipe. As +he did so the humming and buzzing sound of which he had spoken grew +distinctly louder. He pointed upwards with the stem of his pipe. "You +hear?" + +"Yes," she said; "I hear." + +He stayed still a little longer, as if to listen. + +"It dies away; perhaps the wind has changed a point or two; these +light breezes seldom blow from exactly the same quarter many minutes +together." He returned to the subject from which he had diverged. "In +Newcaster I made one or two small purchases--even my larder must be +occasionally restocked, especially when I've a guest whom I desire to +honour--and, having made them, I paid a call--at a hotel." Again he +paused; then added: "A hotel called 'The Bolton Arms'--perhaps, if you +have any knowledge of Newcaster, you may be acquainted with 'The +Bolton Arms.'" She was; that was the name of the hotel to which her +guardian had taken her yesterday; in which so much had happened. A +sort of paralysis seemed to be settling about her heart, so that she +could scarcely breathe, or move. She wished that he would get on +faster; come quicker to the point to which some instinct told her he +was coming. His drawling speech was bad enough, but each time he +paused it was as if he had given a tug at the hook which he had +got in her throat. "It's a hotel which I know very well, 'The Bolton +Arms'--very well indeed, considering. The landlord is a man named +Elsey; of him also I have some personal knowledge, and of his wife. +Not a bad fellow, in his way, is Elsey, though of late years he has +grown so much that, metaphorically, he has to take a larger size in +boots, and in hats. His wife has also grown. It's odd how people do +grow when, as they suppose, they become people of importance. When I +last saw John Elsey I should have said that his consciousness of his +own dignity had put him on a perch which it would not be easy to get +him off. Yet when I saw him this morning he was off it with a +vengeance. I have seldom seen a man mentally, morally, physically, in +a more lamentable state than he was. Poor Elsey!" Once more there was +one of those pauses which so distressed her. He seemed to be in an +introspective mood; as if he were contemplating a picture which was +present to his mind's eye. Yet--the feeling was growing in her, that, +all the while, he watched her as a cat might watch a mouse. She +avoided his glance; keeping her eyes fixed on the sugar-basin which +was on the tablecloth in front. In some indefinable way, though with +all her faculties she hung upon his words, she noticed how the flies +were making free with the sugar; she soon began to count them as they +came and went. And, all the while, she was trying to brace herself, so +that she might maintain an unruffled front when the blow fell, which +she knew was coming. If only her heart would not play such fantastic +tricks, and he would get on faster! His drawl seemed to be getting +more pronounced. "On such a day as this one finds it hard to credit +that in the world there's tragedy. In the winter it is different; +winter is itself a tragedy. But, when nature's radiant, and the sun's +in a cloudless heaven, surely all's right with the world, and comedy's +the only fare. When I reached 'The Bolton Arms Hotel,' in Newcaster, +the world was even more--_riant_--it's a word which the French use, +for which I can't hit on an exact translation. Do you know French?" +She nodded. "Then you'll know what I mean--than it is now; for, to my +thinking, there's nothing like the first sweetness of a summer +morning. Then, again, there are persons whom one does not find it easy +to associate with tragedy; God seems to have intended them to strut +through life as unconscious comedians; and the unconscious comedian's +the finest of all. Elsey's such a one. Have you, by any chance ever +seen the man?" She was silent; he went on. "Although I daresay that +the possession on which he most prides himself is his dignity, in +reality he's the most undignified of men. Surely there's no tragedy +where there's no dignity. Tragedy's austere; Elsey never could be +that. Yet, last night, there was a tragedy at 'The Bolton Arms'; and +it seems that Elsey played a leading part in it. And the strangest +thing was that, as he told me all there was to tell, the inherent +comicality of the man made him the most tragic figure imaginable. +Here's the story as it was told to me by Elsey; with addenda by other +hands." She had known, all along, that it was coming. With clenched +fists, and tightly closed lips, she waited for him to tell her what +she knew so much better than he did. In the tale as he had it, +however, she found that there were variants which to her were strange. +"Among the guests at 'The Bolton Arms' was a man named Emmett, of whom +I know a thing or two. Last evening, after dinner, he was found in his +chair, seated at the table, dead. Someone had killed him. It seems +that his head had been smashed in with a champagne bottle, the +broken fragments of which were found upon the floor. The irony of +it!--because, of all the things in this world there were few which +George Emmett loved better than champagne. They laid him on the table, +at which he had just done himself so well; and, a doctor having +certified that he was dead, they left him there, alone, in the room in +which he had dined and died." She knew, although she did not look at +him, that he had taken the pipe out of his mouth, to press the tobacco +closer; and she felt his eyes upon her face. She wondered what was +coming next. It proved to be hardly what she had expected. Nothing +could have been more casual than his tone and manner. To her, the very +indifference with which he spoke seemed to heighten the effect of what +he said. "There was the dead man on the table in the room. Some time +after they had left him there there came a crash from within the room +which, according to my informant, shook the house. That might have +been an exaggeration, about shaking the house; because 'The Bolton +Arms' is a substantial, solidly built, old-time structure, which, I +should say, is not easily shaken. At anyrate there came a noise from +within that room which was so loud, and so curious, that all the +people in the hotel seem to have heard it, and most of them went +rushing off to learn what it was. Elsey was among the first. When he +got to the door he was confronted by an unexpected difficulty; he, the +landlord, couldn't get into the room. The inspector of police had +taken away, not only the ordinary key, but the pass-key also; to make +sure that, in his absence, no one should get in. So the only thing, if +they wanted to get in, was to send for the inspector, and the key. +They sent for him. While he was coming they hung about outside the +room. They must have been an odd sight--Elsey, his wife, his guests, +and his servants, as they stood there listening. It seems that, +considering there was nothing in the room but a corpse, some amazing +sounds issued from it. Elsey says he never heard anything like them; +they were indescribable. He knocked, he even says he hammered, at the +door again and again, demanding to be told who was inside; and what +whoever it was was doing; and similar cognate questions; but both his +hammerings and his questions went unanswered; and apparently unheeded. +The noises had ceased before the inspector came; he pooh-poohed the +notion that there ever had been any. But he stopped pooh-poohing when +he entered the room. They had left the dead man stretched out on his +back on the table; they found him on his face on the floor, with his +knees drawn up beneath him. The natural presumption would have been, +since he was dead, that somebody must have pushed him off the table on +to the floor; but when the doctor came he knocked that theory on the +head. He declared that, in the first place, he had not been really +dead; that when they left him alone he had returned to some sort of +consciousness; that, probably, in his struggles to attract attention +he had tumbled from the table on to the floor; to a man in his +condition a serious matter; and that fall had finished him; for this +time he certainly was dead. Isn't that an odd story?" Although he +paused, as if for her to answer, she said nothing; she was waiting for +what was yet to come. And, presently, it came; as she knew it would +do. + +"The tale has a postscript; and, as they say is sometimes the case +with a lady's, it seems to me to be the most pregnant part of it. When +they got into the room, and found the dead man lying on his face upon +the floor, they also found that the blind before the only window was +drawn right up, and the window itself was open at its widest, which +seems a trifle; but then trifles are often of such importance. The man +who waited on George Emmett at dinner declared that the blind was down +and the window shut before dinner began; and more, much more, Elsey, +his wife, and the inspector, are all three convinced that the blind +was down, and the window shut, when they left the dead man alone in +the room. Had the window been open it would have attracted their +attention; because the wind was on that side of the house, and, apart +from the draught, they could not help noticing the curtains being +blown about--as they were being blown about when they found it open +then. But if the window had been closed then, it must have been opened +since, in which case the question arises--by whom. And here comes what +seems to me to be the queerest part of this really queer story. +Doesn't it strike you as being a rather curious tale?" Again he +paused, as if for her to answer, but still she held her peace--she +still waited. It was like the game the cat plays with the mouse; he +was coming nearer and nearer, presently he would pounce. The problem +she had to consider--though it was still unshaped--was, could she +elude him when he did? It seemed to her that his eyes observed her +more and more keenly as he continued. "George Emmett had a lady with +him when he arrived at 'The Bolton Arms Hotel'--an elderly lady; well +advanced in years, stout and unwieldy; with grey hair and a false +front; the sort of person one who knew the man would expect to find in +his society." She winced at this description, she felt that he was +speaking with malice prepense. "In spite of her grey hairs she seems +to have been a mysterious sort of person. She dined with him; she was +in the room with him when the waiter last saw him alive, but when, +some little while after, he came in and found him dead, she had +vanished: and she has remained vanished ever since. It hasn't been for +want of looking for her. They looked for her, not only in her own +bedroom, but in everybody else's bedroom also; it seems that they +looked in every room in the house; in every nook and cranny of it to +boot: nowhere was a trace or her to be seen. They were puzzled; but +that open window with the blind drawn up set them thinking; when they +found on a splinter of wood, at the top of the window, a small piece +of material, which looked as if it had been torn out of a woman's +dress, they thought still harder; and came to a conclusion which was +hardly flattering to themselves. It had not occurred to them to look +for her in the room itself; nor what an excellent hiding-place was a +recess and a curtained window. While they hunted for her upstairs and +down, high and low, all the time she was in the room itself--the room +in which George Emmett was done to death; she had never left it. She +was there when the waiter discovered him, as he supposed, dead on his +seat, she was still there when they left him, as they thought, dead on +the table. Whether she was there when he came back to life; and, if +so, what took place between them, she only knows. She had gone when +they returned and found the dead man on the floor; she had opened the +window, and made her exit through it; and, in going, had, unknowingly, +left behind that pattern of her frock which may prove to be a very +awkward piece of evidence against her, when, one day, she's found. She +possibly supposes that she's done rather a smart thing in getting +away, as she thinks, scot-free. But has she? She's covered herself, in +consequence, with more than a suspicion of murder. They're reasoning +this way. They say that it was she who used that champagne bottle to +so much purpose; and that was why she hid, like a coward, behind the +curtains, when the waiter came into the room; and why she stayed +hidden; and when the coast, as she thought, was clear, dropped, at the +peril of her life, from the window. And because they're accounting, in +that way, for her singular behaviour, all Newcaster is hot-foot after +her; and, so I'm told, they're having placards printed, describing +her, and offering a reward for her apprehension." He knocked the ashes +out of his pipe with his boot; blew down the stem to make sure that it +was clear; then went on. "There's one item I may add to make the tale +complete. They've not only her description, they've her name. It +appears that, for some reason, George Emmett did not enter her name in +the register when he entered his own; but when it dawned on them that +she was missing they opened the box in which her clothes were, and +found that all, or nearly all of them, were marked--'D. Gilbert.' 'D' +might stand for Dorothy, mightn't it?--which is by way of being a +coincidence, but, of course, Gilbert has no affinity with Greenwood. +Miss Gilbert seems to be rather a remarkable old lady; isn't that how +she strikes you?" + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + WHAT THE GIRL TOLD THE MAN + + +The question remained so long unanswered that one was disposed to +wonder if the girl had heard it; and this time Mr Frazer persisted in +waiting for the reply which did not come. He showed no inclination to +press her. Picking up his pouch from the turf, he began, leisurely, to +refill his pipe; and, for the first time since he had begun his story, +he withdrew his glance from Dorothy; using his eyes to observe the +tobacco as he pressed it home. She sat motionless; her hands in front +of her; her gaze fixed on the sugar, which the flies still harried; a +slight slip of a girl, with black hair, drawn tightly back from her +temples, and twisted in a knot behind. That was how they had taught +her to do it when, in the convent, she had put it up; she knew no +other way, and had no notion of the wonders which an artist in +hairdressing could perform with her luxuriant tresses. Although her +face was so white and thin that one doubted if she had had enough to +eat, it was good to look at. When she raised the long lashes which +veiled her eyes, one seemed to see right through the violet orbs which +were beneath into her very soul. But the man on the other side of the +tablecloth had known many varieties of women's eyes; he was aware how +apt they are to look one thing and mean another; he had little faith +in that imponderable essence, the feminine soul; he merely thought +what curious eyes the girl had got; quite out of the common. And as, +with practised fingers, he packed his pipe, he waited, patiently, for +her to speak. + +At last she did speak; and, when she did, her words were not an answer +to his question. + +"You know she's not an old lady." + +The attribution of such knowledge seemed to surprise him; he seemed, +for a moment, to be in doubt as to what, exactly, her words referred. +Then when he understood he smiled. + +"Is that so?" + +He continued to fill his pipe; and she to look at the sugar. Then she +asked: + +"What are you going to do:" + +"I am going to light a match." + +He did so as he spoke, holding the flickering flame to the bowl of his +pipe. + +"You know that's not what I mean." + +"Do I?" The tobacco was becoming ignited; he sent a puff of smoke into +the air. "What do you mean?" + +She looked round at him. + +"I am Dorothy Gilbert." + +"Of course you are." + +Nothing could have been more matter-of-fact than the air with which he +said it. She spoke with a catching of her breath; as if she resented +his coolness. + +"Did you--know it?" + +"Of course I did." + +"Did you--know it all along?" + +"Certainly--that is, let me be exact; it's as well to be exact--now +and then. When I heard that story at 'The Bolton Arms' I would have +bet that you were; when you came out of my house, and I saw you +standing on the ledge, I was sure that you were. They have your +description so pat, over at Newcaster, that it was impossible not to +recognise you." + +"Then--then why did you give me my breakfast?" + +"Why shouldn't I? You were my guest." + +"When--when you knew that I was Dorothy Gilbert!" + +"Well? What follows? Even so you were my guest." + +"When--when you believed I'd done that thing?" + +"I didn't say that I did believe it; you jump at conclusions." + +"Do you believe it?" + +"I am not sure that I do." + +"You are not sure!" She twisted herself round towards him, heat in her +voice, fire in her eyes. "You are not sure! How dare you--how dare you +say----" She stopped; as if suddenly conscious that her warmth was +uncalled for; continuing, with downcast eyes, in a different tone: +"What do you mean, when you say, you are not sure?" + +"I mean that I don't believe you did do it. Still, in order that we +may have all things shipshape and aboveboard, I confess that I should +like to have your assurance that you didn't." She was silent. "Won't +you give it?" + +"I'm not sure that I can." + +"Can?--or will?" + +"I--I'm not sure if I did do it, or if I didn't." + +She put her hands up before her face; he could see her shivering. He +eyed her with what seemed to be growing curiosity. + +"What was George Emmett to you?" + +"Nothing! Nothing! I hated him!" + +"That would seem to suggest that he might have been something to you +once; or--you would hardly hate him." + +"I don't know what you mean; he never was anything to +me--never--except my guardian; at least, he said he was my guardian; +and I suppose he was; but from the first moment I saw him I hated +him." + +"Isn't that, under the circumstances, rather a dangerous admission to +make?" + +"Why?" + +"Mayn't some people think that your feeling towards him may have +furnished a motive for--what happened?" + +"Do you mean that some people may think that because I hated him I +killed him? I hadn't the courage; I shouldn't have dared, I'm such a +coward; it's because I'm such a coward that I'm here--it's all my +cowardice!" + +She sat with clenched fists staring in front of her; there was +something in her expression which suggested to her companion that she +was not quite such a coward as she asserted. When he spoke again it +was as if a note of sympathy had, unawares, crept into his voice. + +"You observed, Miss Gilbert, that George Emmett was your guardian, +which seems to point to your having lost at least one of your parents. +Is it your mother?" + +"I never knew my mother--never; so far as I know, I never even saw +her. I suppose I must have had a mother, but I don't know who she was, +or anything at all about her." + +"And your father?" + +"I believe I was three years old when I saw him last, and now Mr +Emmett says he is dead." + +"Mr Emmett says? I presume you have some proof of the fact beyond Mr +Emmett's bare word." + +"I daresay the Sisters have." + +"What Sisters?" + +"At the convent." + +"At the convent? Were you in a convent?" + +"Of course; I was at the Convent of the Sacré C[oe]ur at +Vannes--Vannes is in Brittany, if you know where that is." + +"I do happen to know where that is; indeed, I happen to have some +knowledge of Vannes. Were there any other girls there besides you?" + +"Lots and lots, at different times." + +"Could you give me the names of any of them?" + +"Why, if I were to think, I could give you a list as long as that." +She stretched out her arms. "I was there for more than fourteen +years." + +"I don't think I'll trouble you for quite so long a list as that, but +could you give me the name of, say, one, who's been there within the +last twelve months?" + +"Rather!--for one thing, there was my special friend, Frances Vernon." + +"Did you know Frances Vernon?" + +"I should think I did, and---- Do you know Frances Vernon?" + +"It's odd, but I do chance to know something about Miss Frances +Vernon." + +"She was there when Mr Emmett took me away." + +"Was she? Then, in that case, I rather fancy she's left since." + +"I shouldn't be surprised. She said she shouldn't stop a moment longer +after I had gone than she could help." + +"I fancy she has a knack of getting her own way--at times." + +"Isn't she lovely?" + +"That's scarcely the word I should have applied to her. I should have +said she was a handful." + +"If that's all you can say then you don't know much about her. I say +she's lovely, because I know all about her, and I know she's lovely. +But--what did you say your name was?" + +"Frazer; Eric Frazer." Presently she shook her head. "What," he +inquired, "are you doing that for?" + +"I don't remember it; nor one in the least like, and I should have +done if she had mentioned it." + +"If who had mentioned what?" + +"You see, Frances and I were tremendous friends; we had no secrets +from each other. She used to tell me about everyone she knew; hes and +shes; their names, you know, and all about them. And she used to make +a list of their names, on a sheet of paper; so that she might be able +to check them, and find out if anyone had been left out; and I don't +believe she ever so much as even breathed your name, Eric Frazer; or I +feel sure I should remember." + +"Such an omission on Miss Vernon's part was unkind; it shows how +little I was in her thoughts. I gather from what you say, Miss +Gilbert, that you have a large number of friends." + +"I!" The girl's eyes were suddenly opened wide. "Why, I haven't a +friend in the whole world, except Frances, whom I may never see again; +and, perhaps, Sister Celestine; who, I daresay, never wants to see me +again--at the convent they found it so hard to get money from father. +I don't believe they'd have let Mr Emmett take me away if it hadn't +been that he paid all that father owed. Whatever made you think I'd +lots of friends?" + +"Then, if you haven't, you might give me a trial. It seems to me that, +at this particular moment, a friend's an article you're rather in want +of." + +"I am; but--when you think what you do--I couldn't!" + +"Miss Gilbert, if you could see my thoughts, I doubt if you'd object +to them; only, I'm older than you are, and I just feel that, if you're +not careful, you're likely to be in a tighter place than you have any +notion of; and, being so much older, if you were to tell me just what +happened last night at 'The Bolton Arms,' I might be of some slight +use in getting you out of it. That's all there is at the back of my +mind, as regards you. So, if you can bring yourself to make of me a +confidant, I'll respect your confidence, and whatever kind of trouble +it is you're in I'll be all the service to you I can." + +She looked at him, carefully; as if considering what kind of person he +really was; and then she told him, everything there was to tell. She +did not seem to find it easy to start; but, when she once had started, +she poured out all that was in her heart, as a child might have done. +As he listened, strange though her story was, he knew she was telling +the truth. The pathos of it, of which she herself seemed to be so +oddly unconscious, touched him more than he would have cared to own. +And, manlike, because that was so, his outward manner put on an +additional shade of gruffness. Suddenly she startled him by putting a +leading question. + +"Now do you think that I killed him, or that I didn't?" + +He tried to fence. + +"That's not altogether an easy question to answer." + +"Oh yes, it is; it's perfectly simple and perfectly easy; either I did +or I didn't: there can only be one answer." + +"Pardon me, but, from what I can gather, it's a point on which you +yourself seem to have some doubts." + +"I know I have. Of course I know I never actually touched him; +but--perhaps I might have prevented him being touched; and--when he +began to make those noises I might have got him help; and so--I don't +quite know how it is. What I want to know is what you think; if you +have the slightest atom of a doubt you had better take me over to +Newcaster, and hand me over to a policeman." + +"In any case I certainly sha'n't do that." + +"Then I'll give myself up. I--I daresay that I--I sha'n't be so very +much afraid when I--I've quite made up my mind I ought to." + +"You'll do nothing of the kind, if I can help it." + +"If you can help it?--why, would you try to stop me?" + +"I shouldn't only try. Let me disabuse your mind on one point; putting +casuistry on one side, you're no more to blame for what took place +than I am." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Perfectly sure." + +"It's very sudden." + +"What's sudden?" + +"Your being so sure. You weren't sure just now; you were anything but +sure. I wonder if, for some cause, you want me to believe that I am +better than you believe I am." + +"Nothing of the kind. However, I don't want to discuss the matter with +you. I am going immediately to tell you what I do propose to do. But, +before I get to that, there is one question which I should like to put +to you, in order that we may know exactly where we are. You saw the +man who made use of that champagne bottle? You had a distinct view of +him?" + +"I saw him as distinctly as I see you." + +"You would know him again?" + +"Anywhere; always." + +"Did you ever see him before?" + +"Never." + +"Of that you are certain?" + +"Quite." + +"Did he remind you of anyone you had seen before? Think!" + +"I am thinking; but--I can think of no one. Why are you asking me +these questions? Do you--do you know him? And--are you thinking of +giving him up to the police? If you are--if you are, nothing will make +me say that I ever saw him before--nothing!--nothing! He sha'n't come +to harm because of me!" + +"My dear child----" + +"I'm not a child--and anyhow I'm not yours!--nor am I dear! Are +you--are you daring to think of playing the traitor?--of taking +advantage of what I've told you to--to get him punished? Are you?" + +"I am doing nothing of the kind--how you do jump to conclusions! I +don't know the man from Adam. Why do you credit me with such sinister +intentions?" + +"Why did you ask me those questions--like that?" + +"I've half a mind to tell you; then perhaps we shall begin to +understand each other." + +"Perhaps it is just as well that we shouldn't understand each other; +but you will please to tell me." + +"Miss Gilbert, you're a young lady with a temper." + +"If you wish to speak to me like that----" + +She half rose from the ground; he checked her. + +"I don't--pray stay where you are! What times you and Frances Vernon +must have had together!" + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Nothing--I suppose you must have had a good time with her in the +convent, if she was such a friend of yours." + +"Are you going to tell me why you asked those questions?" + +"I am; then I think you will be sorry you have taken up such a tone +towards me. I asked those questions because the person whom you saw +strike George Emmett informed the waiter that his name was Gilbert." + +"Gilbert!--Mr Frazer! But--I heard the waiter tell Mr Emmett that the +gentleman wouldn't give his name." + +"What seems to have occurred is this. Someone came to one of the +coffee-room waiters and told him that he wished to see Mr George +Emmett. The waiter asked him his name; he said 'Gilbert'; then +immediately added: 'Never mind my name; you need mention no name; give +him this.' He scribbled a line or two on a sheet of paper, in pencil; +put the sheet into an envelope, which he fastened, and gave to the +waiter. So it came about that the waiter who delivered the note +supposed the stranger to have given no name; while the original waiter +is prepared to swear that, in the first instance, he said his name was +Gilbert--which is why I asked if you had seen him, or anyone at all +like him, before." + +"But I haven't--ever! Who can he be? I haven't any relatives." + +"Your acquaintance with your family history seems to be so nebulous +that I scarcely see how you can say that of your own knowledge. Do you +remember what your father looked like?" + +"Only very dimly." + +"Try your hand at a description." + +"I seem to remember him as very tall, and dark, and----" She stopped; +the fashion of her countenance was changed, as if by a sudden access +of fear; then, as if because she realised how closely he was watching +her, she broke into what seemed to be a fit of pettish temper. "But +what does it matter what he looked like? What does it matter? My +father is dead." + +"According to George Emmett." + +Something in his tone caused her to look swiftly round at him. + +"What do you mean by 'according to George Emmett'? Don't you believe +that my father is dead?" + +"I merely mean that I had sufficient acquaintance with Mr George +Emmett to be disinclined to accept any statement of fact on his mere +_ipse dixit_. It is possible--if you like, it is probable--that he +gave the Sisters at the convent proof of his assertion; but I rather +fancy that their ideas of proof would be their own. You certainly seem +to have had nothing in the shape of proof. The fact that he paid money +on your account makes his tale--well, we'll say, peculiar; that he +should have done this if, as he told you, your father died owing him +money, makes it--well, very nearly incredible. It doesn't sound at all +like what is generally known of George Emmett's character. If he had +come and dunned you, or done worse, because your father died in his +debt, there I should have recognised the man; but that, having lost +money by your father, he should be willing also to lose money by +you--George Emmett must have had very odd reasons of his own for doing +that. You can't remember what the stranger said to Emmett?--what they +were disputing about?" + +"I can't; I may do later, but I can't now. My brain was so stupefied, +I was in such a state of cowardice, that I heard--without hearing; +certainly without understanding." + +"You can't recall even a single phrase?" + +"No, I can't; I tell you I can't! Why will you persist in asking?" + +"Please don't suppose, Miss Gilbert, that I wish to worry you; to +cause you pain; nothing can be farther from my wish; but I do want you +to appreciate the situation; to put you on your guard. If by any +diabolical mischance this stranger who gave your name should turn out +to be some more or less distant relative of your own it's as well that +you should be prepared for such an eventuality. Circumstanced as you +are, and may be, the one thing you don't want is to be taken +unawares." Twisting himself round, he drew towards himself a large +brown paper parcel which had been reposing on the turf at his back. +"Now to business. You have no money?" She shook her head. "Not any?" + +"I haven't a penny." + +"And--forgive me if I seem intrusive; but, if you will bear with me, +you will see that mine is not a merely impertinent intention--your +wardrobe is limited?" + +"I have no other clothes except those I have on. + +"And--forgive me again--those are not fresh from the dressmaker?" + +"Indeed they are not. I have had this dress---- At the convent I had +one dress a year; this is my last year's frock." + +"What has become of your hat? Don't you generally wear one?" + +"Oh yes, I wear one, but I left the one hat I had behind at the +hotel." + +"I told you that I went into Newcaster to do some shopping; and among +other things I bought the contents of this parcel. If you'll take it +to the room in which you spent the night I think it possible that +you'll find it contains some articles which may be of use to you. +While you're trying them on to see if they're any sort of a fit I'll +be putting things to rights; and harnessing that horse of mine, who's +very much mistaken if he thinks that he's in for a whole day's +holiday." + +She stared at him in amaze. + +"Why should you buy things for me?" + +"Why shouldn't I? You are Frances Vernon's friend; and she's a young +lady whom I happen to know rather a deal about." + +"But that's no reason why you should buy things for me!--you know it's +no reason!--you know it's not!" + +"Pray don't imagine that I'm offering to give you these things; I've +expressed myself ill if I've conveyed that impression. An exact +account of their cost will be rendered to you, for which I shall +receive payment in due course." + +"From whom will you receive payment?--from me? How can you imagine +that I shall be able to pay you; when, as I tell you, I haven't a +penny; and don't suppose I ever shall have one." + +"As a man, Miss Gilbert, you must allow me to understand commercial +matters better than you do--as a business man I know I shall be paid, +in full; so please make your mind easy on that score. When you have +changed your clothes--and I think that, considering all things, the +sooner you do change them the better--and I have stuck my steed +between the shafts, I will drive you, at the rate of about four miles +an hour, to a railway station; then, with your permission, acting as +your personal conductor, I will take you, with the help of a train, to +Mrs Vernon's house. Mrs Vernon is Frances Vernon's mother; and is by +way of being some sort of a kind of a relation of my own. She will be +delighted to give you house room, until inquiries have been made into +the truth of Mr Emmett's statements, as to your father being dead and +his having left no money--I feel sure he did leave money, or Emmett +would never have paid that bill at the convent; to say nothing of his +having expressed a wish to marry you--and in short, till your affairs +are placed upon a regular footing." + +"Which may be never. Why should Mrs Vernon give me what you call house +room?" + +"You are full of whys. I tell you that she will be delighted--for your +sake; for her own sake; for Frances' sake; and, perhaps, a little for +mine." + +"For your sake!--it's perfectly ridiculous to suppose that you can +care either one way or the other." + +"Quite so; it's very good of you to say so." + +"Mr Frazer, are you deceiving me? Are you sure that you know Frances +Vernon--and her mother?" + +"Extraordinary though it may seem, facts are facts; and I not only +know Frances Vernon and her mother, but also her father and her +brother." + +"That's Jim." + +"Yes, that's Jim; I perceive that you are acquainted with the young +scoundrel's name." + +"He's not a young scoundrel. Frances told me he was a darling. She +showed me his photograph; I could see for myself that he's very +good-looking." + +"You said Frances was lovely; I am therefore not surprised to hear +that you think her brother's good-looking. My word! However, on a +question of taste there is no disputing." He stood up; the brown paper +parcel in his hands. "Shall I place this inside that private apartment +of yours? And will you be so good as to make your toilet with all +possible expedition? I should like to start from here well inside +thirty minutes--if you could manage to be ready?" + +"I'm very sorry to intrude; or to interfere with what seems to be a +very nice little arrangement; but it isn't only a question of what the +young lady can manage--what price me?" + +This question came from a figure which all at once rose from a clump +of furze which was at the back of Mr Frazer. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + WHAT THE CARAVAN LEFT BEHIND + + +Swinging round in the direction from which the voice came, Mr Frazer +stood still to stare. The girl, rising to her feet, stared also; with +her pale cheeks a little paler, and her eyes wide open. + +The speaker was one of those shambling, half-grown youths who are +generally found attached to gipsy caravans, as hangers-on. That he had +gipsy blood in his veins, his hair and eyes and skin suggested; but +that he was as much Cockney as gipsy his tongue betrayed. With a +ragged cloth cap on the back of his head; the remains of a +black-and-white checked woollen scarf about his sinewy neck; a faded +old red flannel shirt plainly visible under an unbuttoned sleeved +waistcoat; his fingers thrust into the band of his trousers: he +grinned first at the man, and then at the woman, in evident enjoyment +of their something more than surprise. He showed no inclination to +break the silence which followed his wholly unexpected, and undesired, +appearance on the scene; from his point of view the joke was +apparently too good a one to spoil. It was Mr Frazer who spoke next. + +"Who are you?--and what business have you to be here?" + +The stranger's grin grew more pronounced, so that he showed a set of +perfect white teeth; which again suggested the gipsy. + +"I'm General Lord Kitchener, that's who I am--don't you know me from +the photographs? And as to what business I have to be here, I always +thought that Newcaster Heath was common grazing ground, and that +people could go about all over it just exactly as they please." + +"What have you been doing behind those bushes?" + +"What have I been doing?--that's it, what have I?" + +"Have you been listening?" + +The stranger looked his questioner straight in the face, with a grin +in his eyes and on his lips; then he winked. The action was more +significant than any words could have been; it moved the man to sudden +anger. + +"You young hound!" + +"Steady on! I'm no more a hound than you. No names; if it comes to +that perhaps I'm as good at chucking names about as you are--Mr +Frazer." + +"You know my name?" + +"I heard you tell her what it was; and very nice it was of you to tell +her." + +There was an insinuation in the grin with which the words were +accompanied which stung the man again. + +"My lad, I've a mind to break your neck." + +"Have you? Then you take my tip, and keep your mind to yourself. I've +some friends not far from here, and if you try to come any of your +games with me I'll give them a call, and they'll be here in double +quick time; then you'll find that breaking necks is a game that more +than one can play at." + +Mr Frazer regarded the speaker as if he were considering whether or +not to take him at his word, and let him give his friends a call. Then +he turned to the girl, his tone as easy and courteous as ever: + +"I think I'll put this parcel inside there, and then, while you're +changing, I can have a talk with this young gentleman." + +The girl seemed uncomfortable, undecided. + +"What does he want?" + +It was the younger man who replied: + +"That's it, miss--what does he want? I wouldn't mind having what he +thinks he's going to get; you can take that from me." + +Mr Frazer ignored the other's words. Going to the caravan with the +parcel in his hand he placed it just inside the door. Then he turned +to the girl again, beckoning to her with his hand. + +"If you please! You remember what I said about half-an-hour? I shall +be so glad if you can make it convenient to be ready." + +She hesitated; looking sideways at the stranger. Then she moved to Mr +Frazer, who was by the steps which led into the caravan. + +"Why won't you tell me what he wants?" + +"Because I don't know--but I soon shall; and all the sooner if you'll +leave us alone together." + +The young man called out from among the gorse: + +"He thinks he's going to bounce me as soon as your back's turned, +miss--oh, he's a deep 'un!" + +Mr Frazer, still ignoring him, said to the girl: + +"Please will you try to be ready inside those thirty minutes?" + +"Will you be ready?" + +"I think I shall--I don't think you'll find I'll keep you waiting." +She looked into his blue eyes, as if she were trying to decipher what +was in them; then, glancing half affrightedly over her shoulder, she +went up the steps into the caravan. She paused on the ledge to give a +flying look at Mr Frazer, and another at the lad among the bushes, +then passed inside, drawing the door to behind her. Mr Frazer said: "I +think that, if I were you, I should bolt the door, and close the +window." + +The lad called out: + +"That won't keep the cops out, miss, don't you think it!" Mr Frazer +waited, as if to ascertain that his hint had been acted on. Then he +crossed the little hollow, towards the bushes on the slope among which +the lad was standing. "Don't you come too close," observed the lad. + +"I don't intend to; I only wish to come close enough to enable you to +hear what I have to say without making it necessary for me to raise my +voice." + +He ascended the slope until he was within a few feet of the other. + +"That's near enough; none of your games." + +"There's a bush between us; that is something. Now, sir, what is it +you want?" + +"What do I want? Why, I want five and twenty pounds, that's what I +want." + +"What for?" + +"You know what for." + +"Since, from your appearance, you never had so much money in your +life, I suppose, in a general way, I do know what for. But do you +expect me to give you five and twenty pounds?" + +"That's for you to say. If you don't I can get it from someone +else--that all." + +"From whom?" + +"From the police over at Newcaster." + +"Indeed; why should they give you five and twenty pounds?" + +"Oh, come off of it!--what do you think you're playing at? You know +very well why they'll give me five and twenty pound, and if you don't +I'll tell you--I'm not afraid." + +"Why?" + +"Why!--for putting them on to Miss Dorothy Gilbert, what's wanted for +that little job last night at 'The Bolton Arms.' Now do you +understand?" + +"I hope I don't." + +"Then you needn't hope; because you do. I speak plainly enough, Mr +Frazer." + +"From your post of vantage, behind these bushes, did you hear all that +was said?" + +"I did; every blessed word; and I'm not going to forget one either, so +don't you make any blooming error." + +"Then, in that case, you are aware that this lady is guiltless." + +"If she didn't, her father did, or one of her lot--you told her +yourself his name was Gilbert--so what's the odds? She can explain all +about that to them when they've got her, and I hope she'll like the +job. Anyhow, it's no business of mine, all that; it's the pieces I'm +after. I lay they offer more than twenty-five, and I'm going to have +it. All the same, I'll take twenty-five from you, if I lose by it. You +give me five and twenty pounds, where I'm standing now, and I'll keep +my mouth shut--I don't wish no harm to no one; I can't say nothing +fairer." + +"Till when will you keep it shut?" + +"Why, till----" + +The youth seemed to hesitate; Mr Frazer finished his sentence for him. + +"Till the money's spent: or till you get within hail of a policeman." + +"Now, governor, you didn't ought to talk to me like that; you really +oughtn't--I'm not that kind at all--I give you my word I'm not. When I +say I'll do a thing, I do it; I'm not like some of them. You can trust +me--straight, you can." Apparently he was endeavouring to train his +countenance to wear an expression which would inspire confidence. All +at once he seemed to see something in the steadfast gaze with which +the other was regarding him which filled him with uncomfortable +qualms. "Now then, stow it--I'll call!" + +Shaping his lips to whistle, he moved back. But before he could utter +a sound, or get out of reach, or make an effort to defend himself, Mr +Frazer had sprung at him over the intervening bush. With one hand he +gripped his throat, with the other his arm; with a sudden, curious +twisting movement he spun him round, and flung him face downwards, +with a force which seemed amazing. Where the lad fell he lay, +motionless. Mr Frazer looked down at him. + +"One doesn't always spend money in acquiring the art of ju-jitsu for +nothing, after all. I always had a feeling that that fall might come +in useful one day; and it has. For the present, you young blackguard, +I can trust you; but the point is, for how long. I sent him down with +a little more vigour than was perhaps absolutely necessary; there +wasn't time to be particular; so it'll probably be a good twenty +minutes before he comes back to consciousness; but I'm afraid that's +not quite long enough. Better make sure." He took the woollen scarf +off the young man's neck. "There's not very much strength about it; +but I think it'll serve." He drew the young man's arms behind his +back, and with his own scarf he tied his hands together, being careful +about the sort of knot he used. Taking off the belt with which the lad +held up his trousers, placing his ankles close together, he passed it +round, then drew it as tight as he could, with the buckle behind. +Turning him over on to his back, tearing off a handful of grass, he +crammed it between the young man's jaws. Then he regarded the result +of his labour with what seemed to be a smile of satisfaction. "When he +does come to I don't think he'll be able to make much noise; he +certainly won't be able to make enough to attract the attention of +those friends of whom he spoke; and I doubt if he'll be able to move +much either. By the time a friend does come and find him we ought to +have reached a port of comparative safety; and if it's some time +before a friend does come, it'll serve him right--and that'll pay him +anyhow; it's more money than he ever had in his life." He took a piece +of crinkly paper out of his own hip pocket which he placed in the +inside pocket of the young man's jacket. "Still, lest a friend should +come too soon, we'll place him a little more under the shade of the +bushes; which will also serve to protect him from the heat of the +sun." Lifting the unconscious lad, he placed him right among the +gorse, in such a position that, as he put it, not only was he +sheltered from the glow and glare of the sun, but also from the +observation of any stray passer-by; indeed, so long as he kept still +it would be necessary for such a one to look for him in exactly the +proper place before he would become aware that he was there. "He +remains quiet; with luck he may continue quiet for quite a +considerable number of minutes. When he finds out what has happened to +him, and where he is, he'll find it difficult to make much noise, for +a time. He'll have to chew, and swallow, a good deal of that green +stuff before he'll be able to make much use of his lungs. Before then +we ought to be--some distance from this." Leaving the lad under the +gorse, moving to where they had had their morning meal, gathering +together the breakfast things, Mr Frazer deposited them, together with +the bundle which contained what had served him as a bed, on one side +of the broad ledge which was outside the caravan door. In a few more +minutes he had the horse harnessed between the shafts, and was ready +to start. He rapped at the door. + +"Are you all right in there? Don't worry if you've not quite finished; +only look out for yourself, because we're starting." + +A question came from within: + +"What's become of that man?" + +"Man!--boy, you mean. I soon disposed of him. Are those things a +decent fit?" + +The girl's voice seemed tremulous: + +"They're--they're not at all a bad fit, thank you. What did that boy +want?" + +"What I gave him." + +"What did you give him?" + +"Just enough to keep him quiet. Don't you bother about that boy. How's +that hat do?" + +Again the tremor in the voice. + +"I--I haven't put it on yet; but it's a very nice one; it must have +cost a great deal of money; I don't know how I shall ever pay you back +again." + +"I'll see that I'm paid; you'll be surprised when you know how little +it did cost--I'm an expert in the art of shopping. You'll notice +there's a window at the end inside there, which looks out over the +horse's head. When you've quite finished, if you open it you'll find +me sitting on the shelf immediately beneath, ready to be entertained +by any remark which you may deign to address to me--for making the +miles seem less there's nothing like a little intellectual +conversation." + +He had taken his place on the shelf to which he had referred, and had +gathered the reins in his hand, when he was hailed by a woman who +appeared on the crest of the slope behind him. + +"I say, mister!--one moment, if you please!" + +He looked round. + +"Two, madam, if you desire it." + +"Have you seen a young chap anywhere about here?" + +"I believe I did see one, some time ago." + +"Did you notice what he looked like?" + +"I fancy he had on a red shirt." + +"That him--he's my husband, he is--I thought he came this way, he said +he wouldn't be gone more than five minutes, but he's been gone a good +deal more than an hour--I can't make out what he's up to, because he +knows we're in a hurry. Did you notice which way he was going?" + +"I rather think he was going over there." + +He motioned with his whip towards the horizon on his right. + +"Was he? That's very nice of him, I don't think, as he knows very well +I'm over here. I should like to know what he's thinking of. If you +come across him, mister, I wish you'd ask him if he's Ben Hitchings; +and if he says he is you tell him that I've had about enough of +waiting, and that I've gone on to the course, and if he wants me he'd +better come and look for me there--see?" + +"Yes, madam, I think I see; and if I do come across Mr Hitchings I'll +make a point of giving him your message." + +Mr Frazer gave a jerk to the reins; the horse moved; the caravan was +off. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + DANGER AHEAD + + +They had got on to the road, and the hollow was already left some +little distance behind, when the window over the driver's seat was +opened, and Dorothy asked a question. + +"Which way did he really go--that young man in the red shirt?" + +"Frankly, between ourselves, I don't believe he went very far from the +spot at which he introduced himself to us--the young scamp!" + +"He can't be so very young if he has a wife." + +"Gentlemen in his class of life marry while they're in their teens; +and the ladies, some of them, apparently as soon as they're out of +their cradles. How's that hat?" + +"Thank you, it's--it's very nice. It's odd, if he didn't go far from +where we were, that she shouldn't have seen him." + +"Perhaps the young gentleman is lying low. I say. This establishment +of mine doesn't need much driving. I can do all the driving that's +required standing up; and if I were to stand up I could see inside +that window, and be able to judge for myself what that hat really does +look like. Do you think I might?" + +"You--you can stand up if you like; only--take care of the horse. + +"The horse will take care of us--never fear; she's a remarkable +animal, this mare of mine." His face appeared on one side of the +window, and the girl's on the other. "I say. I had a sort of feeling +that that hat would suit you, but I never guessed it would suit you +quite so well as that." + +"Do you--do you think it does suit me--really?" + +"If you were to ransack all Newcaster I doubt if you'd find another +which, artistically, would be such a success." + +"I am glad you like it; it was very good of you to buy it." There was +a pause; then she added: "Would you mind sitting down again, so that I +might see the country--it seems to be rather pretty." + +He glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes, whimsically. + +"It is rather pleasant hereabouts--am I so much in your way? Can't you +see the country with me here?" + +Her answer was decisive: + +"Not so well as I should if you were sitting down." + +So he sat down, where he could not see her: and the caravan went on. + +Although for a vehicle of its sort it was of light construction, it +still was cumbrous. The rate of progression was not fast; evidently +the mare had her own idea of how fast it ought to be. Perhaps it was +because she was such a sleek and well-fed animal that she objected to +being pressed. One could not but feel that, when she hauled that house +on wheels, with Mr Frazer at the reins, she was used to going as she +pleased; that it was she who set the pace, not the driver and that the +pace she preferred was a walking pace, of about five miles an hour. +When she discovered, as she presently did, that, on that occasion, she +was desired to go a little faster, she evinced her resentment in a +fashion which was unmistakable. Occasionally Mr Frazer induced her to +break into what was really a bad imitation of a trot; at the end of +perhaps a hundred yards she would relapse into a walk, with an air +which suggested that she had been forced to gallop a mile; and as it +was plain that, where she was concerned, her driver could not bring +himself to use strong measures and equally plain that the creature +knew it, before they had gone very far the vehicle was being drawn +along the highroad at a rate which suited the mare, if it suited no +one else. + +They had been moving a good hour, and had covered perhaps six or seven +miles, when a man, who was again of the gipsy class, came trotting +towards them, sitting on a bare-backed beast, which, although it +might have been exhibited as a living skeleton, could have given the +well-fed mare many points in the matter of speed. He glanced keenly at +the caravan; as soon as he had passed on one side he stopped, turned +his horse, and came back on the other, until he found himself abreast +with Mr Frazer. Stooping over he addressed him in a husky undertone. + +"I say, governor, are you going to Timberham?" + +"It is possible that I may get there, in time." + +"Is your name Frazer?" + +"Right; what's yours?" + +"Never mind what mine is. If you take my advice you'll give Timberham +as wide a berth as ever you can." + +"Why?" + +The husky undertone became still huskier: + +"The cops are looking out for you. Don't ask me how I know--ask no +questions and you'll hear no lies--but I do know. I don't know what +they want you for--I don't want to know--but they've got the office to +look out for a yellow van, with black stripes and red wheels, driven +by a party named Frazer, who's got a girl with him; I expect that's +her looking out of the window." + +Mr Frazer glanced over his shoulder. For some time conversation with +his passenger had languished. He had told her where he kept his little +store of books, and she had withdrawn into the van, nominally to read +one; but that she was doing more thinking than reading was a fact +which she would not have cared to deny. Now, attracted by the +appearance of the stranger, she had drawn close to the open casement. +Stopping the van, Mr Frazer descended to the ground. He spoke to the +man on the bareribbed horse. + +"Would you mind coming on one side for a moment?" They moved to where +the grass fringed the road, and where, if they spoke in lowered tones, +they were out of earshot of the girl at the window. "Are you sure of +what you say?" + +The two men looked each other in the face. Frazer saw that this man +was a wild-looking fellow, whose experience of the police and their +methods was probably of a practical kind. So far as he could judge he +seemed to be sufficiently in earnest. + +"Dead sure. I tell you they're looking out for you for all they're +worth. I shouldn't be surprised but what they're looking out for you +over the whole countryside. I know 'em?" He both sounded and looked as +if he did. "Just this side the town, about a couple of miles from +where we are, there's one of 'em coming along the road; I dare lay +he's coming to meet you." + +"That's kind of him." + +"I don't say he is, mind; I'm only telling you to look out." + +"Thank you; I'm obliged by your doing so." + +He slipped a coin into the other's long, thin, brown hand. The man +looked at it. + +"Here, what's this? It ain't this I'm after; I told you the cops was +on the watch same as I'd tell anyone, no matter what they'd done. +However, if you have got this half-sovereign to give away, I don't +mind taking it; and I thank you. It may make all the difference to me. +Sorry I can't stop to lend you a hand, in case one's wanted; but, the +fact is, some of them wouldn't mind seeing me as well as you, and, as +I'm not the only one that's in it, time's precious." + +What might have been meant for a smile passed over the man's saturnine +visage. Mr Frazer stood watching him, as he urged his bony steed along +the road. It seemed as if Ben Hitchings, having come back to sense, +had found a friend sooner than was quite desirable; or perhaps his +wife had found him, and this was his revenge. He wondered how the lad +had managed to set the machinery of the law in action so quickly. +Moving towards the van he was met with the question he had expected. + +"What did that man want?" asked Dorothy. + +She had her head half out of the window. Stooping, he passed his hand +up and down the mare's leg. Then, lifting her foot, he asked a +question of his own: + +"Would you mind getting out and walking a little?" + +"Why don't you tell me what that man wanted?" + +"What! that fellow who's gone down the road? He brought me a message." + +"What message? From whom? I heard what he said." + +"Then, if you heard, you won't need me to tell you." + +"I only heard part--you know I only heard part. Tell me what he said! +Tell me at once!" + +Mr Frazer was passing the fingers of his left hand through his hair. +He seemed to be in a quandary, which caused him to be oblivious of the +young lady's peremptory tone. + +"I don't fancy it's anything serious; but--I don't think I ought to +make her go much farther, with that great thing at her back. Poor old +girl!" + +He patted the mare on the shoulder, as if in sympathy. She looked +round at him, as if she wondered what he meant. An inquiry came from +the window: + +"Is there anything the matter with the horse?" + +"I'm not sure that there is--I'm not sure, that's the point. I don't +take any risks, with an old friend.--she and I have been friends too +long. That's why I asked you if you'd mind walking a little way." + +"Of course I wouldn't--you know I wouldn't." + +"Then in that case I think I'll take her into the field, and leave her +there." + +He was leading the mare through a gate in a hedge, which opened into a +field on the right. + +"Whose field is it?" asked the face at the window. + +"No doubt it belongs to someone who wouldn't wish to cause a horse +needless suffering." + +"But is it suffering? It seems to me to walk all right, and to be all +right." + +"Now it does--now! She's not one to make a fuss about a trifle. +Besides, it may be spasmodic." + +"What may be spasmodic?" + +"I am not a veterinary surgeon, so I can hardly pose as an authority +on the ailments of horses; I can only hope for the best." He was +fastening a nosebag round the creature's neck. "I don't want her to +eat a stranger's grass, however soft a heart he may have for a +suffering beast. If that door's still bolted, would you mind unbolting +it? I'm coming round to the back." When he did get round the door was +open, and the girl was standing on the ledge, in her new attire. He +exclaimed at sight of her: "Why, that frock might have been built for +you; you look as if you had been melted into it." + +Her pallor had gone; she was rosy red. + +"It does fit rather well." + +"And that hat's a stunner; no one who saw you last night would know +you now. If you wouldn't mind coming down, I'll come up; I want to do +a little changing." + +When she had descended he climbed into the van; he drew the door to in +his turn; she heard him bolt it. She moved to the horse at the other +end. The sagacious quadruped seemed as if she did not quite know what +to make of the situation. The presence of the nosebag seemed to puzzle +her. She had recently eaten her fill of grass; there was grass again +all round her; nice, luscious grass--then why the nosebag? She really +did not seem to feel as if she needed it, amid all that grass. She +regarded the girl as if, while wondering who she was, she desired to +convey to her her feelings on the subject. + +When Mr Frazer reappeared, for a second Dorothy scarcely knew him--the +metamorphosis he had wrought in his appearance in such a short space +of time was so complete. He had on a pair of buttoned boots; coat and +trousers of dark blue serge; a white waistcoat; a stiff white collar; +a neat green necktie; a dark green soft felt hat; and, to crown all, +he had shaved off his beard. His chin was as innocent of hair as a +baby's; his moustache was his only hirsute adornment. She stared at +him in amazement. + +"Why, whatever have you been doing?" + +He smiled. + +"I've only been cleaning up. Please don't glare at me like that. Am I +such an ogre?" + +"No, you're not an ogre; at least, you don't look as if you were; +only--it's difficult to believe that the person who went in is the one +who's come out." + +"That's the idea. Now, if you're ready, hadn't we better start?" + +"Are you really going to leave the horse and van in here?" + +He was locking the door of the van; the windows were already shut. + +"Why not? They'll be all right; trust me to take care of that." + +"I don't believe there's anything the matter with the horse; it seems +perfectly all right, and I believe you know it. You're doing this +because of what that man said--that man on the horse. What did he say? +I insist on your telling me! I--I wish you wouldn't be so mysterious! +What became of that young man in the red shirt? I believe you knew +where he was all the while, though you pretended to his wife that you +didn't. You may mean to be kind, but it isn't kind to treat me as if I +were a doll, and tell me nothing. It is I who am chiefly concerned, +not you." + +The girl spoke warmly, but the man seemed to be unaware of the fact. +Having finished locking the door, he was contemplating the vehicle +with an air of careful consideration. + +"I think that everything's shipshape--it's hardly likely that thieves +will break in and steal; especially as I've left nothing worth +stealing; if the owner of the field turns up all he can do is to run +the whole thing into what serves as the local pound, and that'll do no +harm to anyone." He turned to Dorothy. "Now, if you are ready, I'll +answer all your questions as we go along. Hollo! what's that?" He +listened. "Sounds as if it were a car." He went hurrying to the gate. +"It is--with only the chauffeur on board--I wonder----" He did not +finish his sentence out loud, but he moved into the middle of the +road. As the car came closer he held up his hand; it stopped. He said +to the driver, who was obviously the mechanic: "Would you like to earn +a couple of five-pound notes?" + +The man grinned. + +"I shouldn't have any particular objection." + +"Drive me and this young lady over to Ashington, and you shall have a +couple." + +"Ashington's fifteen miles from here--I've just set my governor down +at the races--I have to fetch him again in a couple of hours." + +"What's fifteen miles to a good car?--or thirty? Without pressing you +ought to be there and back with nearly an hour to spare. Here are the +fivers; you might as well earn them as do nothing." + +The man, who had pushed his goggles up on to his forehead, was +regarding the pieces of paper with greedy eyes. + +"That's true--and there's nothing special I've got to do." + +Mr Frazer advanced the notes closer to the man. + +"Is it a deal? It won't hurt the car." + +"No; it won't hurt the car." + +"Then put the pair into your pocket; why not?" + +"All right; I'm on." + +The man subjected the notes to an attentive scrutiny. Apparently he +knew a good note when he saw one, because, lifting up his poncho, he +put them into his jacket pocket with an air of satisfaction. + +"There's a good deal of dust about," observed Mr Frazer, in that +casual way of his. "Have you anything in the way of a cloak which the +lady might slip on while you're pushing through it?--and a pair of +goggles, which will keep it out of her eyes?" + +"There's the missus' dust cloak in the back there--she might put that +on, and there are some goggles in here." + +He unbuttoned a leather flap. + +"Make it two pairs, if it runs to it--I could do with some as well." +He was shrouding the girl in a long, tan-coloured garment, with a hood +to it. She drew the hood well over her hat, and, under his directions, +buttoned it under her chin. There was a mutinous glint in her eyes; +one felt that she would have dearly liked to express strong +disapproval of the whole proceeding; but, somehow, the matter-of-fact, +take-it-for-granted air with which he bore himself, seemed to have on +her a mesmeric influence which kept her dumb. Having inducted her into +the back seat of the car, and arranged a rug about her knees, he +handed her some goggles. When they were in their place her identity +was concealed beyond all likelihood of recognition. He used a second +pair, which the driver produced from the leather flap, for himself, +slipped on a sort of oilskin coat, and a cloth cap--both of which +articles, it seemed, belonged to the "governor"--and, seating himself +beside the chauffeur, said: "Now, let her whiz!" + +And they were off, at a pace which was in striking contrast to that at +which they had so recently been moving; that they were not, however, +going at anything like the rate at which the car could travel was +suggested by a remark which the chauffeur presently made: + +"It's all very well for you to say whiz, and if I were to let her whiz +she'd startle you; she's a 60, she is, and it's all I can do to keep +her slow enough; but the police aren't fond of motor cars round these +parts. Nice I should look if they were to trap me with you on board! +The governor wouldn't say anything--he can't say anything--oh no! That +would be about the end of me." + +"Are the police hereabouts an active lot?" + +"Active? I should think so! I seem to have seen more of them about +to-day than I've ever seen. I thought it was the racing; but a chap I +was talking to back there said there was something special up; he +didn't quite know what it was, but he did know there was something. +Like ferrets, the police are round here; I'd be sorry for anyone that +they were after--they'd have him." + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + HEADLINES + + +They were entering the outskirts of a country town. The easy-going +vehicles which characterise country towns occasionally took up more +than their fair share of the road. The chauffeur reduced speed. + +"This is Timberham; slow as you can's the best game here--never know +when you may run up against a peeler; seems to me they've nothing else +to do except pounce on you if you're moving above a crawl; some of +them would like to make out that you're doing twenty miles when you're +hardly doing two." Suddenly the chauffeur spoke in a half whisper. +"What did I tell you?" They had come along a narrow, winding street, +where discreet driving was certainly a matter of necessity; it had +suddenly widened out into a broad, open space, from which streets +branched off in all directions. In the centre a constable was standing +with a superior officer. At sight of the car the latter raised an +authorative hand. "Now, what's he want?" growled the mechanic, under +his breath. "Drat them fellers!" + +The officer approached. + +"You leave him to me," said Mr Frazer. "I'll talk to him. What is it, +officer?" + +"Sorry to stop you, sir, but have you passed a caravan on the road?--a +primrose-coloured van, with black stripes, and red wheels--something +rather unusual in the way of vans; you could hardly help noticing it." + +"I'm afraid I haven't been paying much attention. Whereabouts would it +be?" + +"Somewhere between here and Newcaster Heath. Which way did you come?" + +"We've come from the Heath. Why do you ask?" + +"Well--we're rather anxious to get news of that caravan." + +"Why?--been stolen?--or anything of that sort?" + +"No, it's not been stolen--no, nothing of that sort; only--there's +someone with it with whom we should very much like to have a little +conversation." + +There was a significant twinkle in the speaker's eyes. Mr Frazer +smiled, as if with perfect comprehension. + +"In that case I hope it won't be long before your wish is gratified. +There'll be plenty of people on that road to-day--I don't suppose I +need tell you that it's race day--if it's anywhere about you ought to +have news of it soon." + +"As I said, if anyone does see that caravan they can hardly help +noticing it. Thank you, sir; sorry to have kept you waiting." + +Stepping on one side the officer saluted; the car went on. + +Until the town was left behind the chauffeur said nothing; but when +they began to bowl along the open road beyond he smiled, with much +meaning. + +"I saw that van he was asking about in the field which you came out +of." + +"Did you? That shows that you've the faculty of observation--odd how +many people are without it." + +"And as it was in the same field in which you were you must have seen +it too; in fact, you couldn't help it." + +"I never said I hadn't." + +The chauffeur considered this statement. + +"No, I suppose you didn't, if it comes to that--very artful the way +you put him off. He thought you said you hadn't seen it." + +"Some of those policemen do think at times." + +When he had duly pondered this cryptic saying the chauffeur chuckled. + +"I can see that you're a deep one." + +"I am not sure that I quite deserve that compliment. What are we doing +now? Thirty? At this rate we ought to be in Ashington in under +half-an-hour." + +"We're doing all of thirty--we ought to be in Ashington in less than +twenty minutes. That peeler was looking for you." + +"Short-sighted mortal--surely I was near enough for him to see me." + +"What have you been doing? I hope it's nothing--you know; I don't want +to be mixed up with anything fishy." + +"I assure you there's nothing fishy about me. It is not only you +gentlemen who drive motor cars who have differences with the police; +lesser folk have them also--especially when there's a lady in the +case, and a stony-hearted guardian." + +"A lady is it? Ah!--I might have thought of that--now I see what the +caravan was for--and she sitting behind there all the time saying +nothing. Well, you're a couple of cool ones. But when there's a lady +about you never know what's about. Not long ago one of my governor's +daughters ran off with a young chap what was a riding master. Wasn't +there a rumpus! Every policeman in the county was looking out for +them--but they were married before they got them--and she only turned +seventeen; sandy hair she had." + +"It's a dangerous age, seventeen." + +"Where a woman's concerned all ages are dangerous." + +"That's true. I perceive that you also are a deep one." + +"When you've got to drive a motor car, and keep her properly tuned up, +you've got to be about all there. By the way, would you mind giving me +ten sovereigns instead of those two fivers?" + +The change of subject was rather sudden; Mr Frazer glanced round, as +if a trifle startled. + +"With pleasure--if I have them. But what's wrong with the notes?" + +"There's nothing wrong with them--as notes; I know that well enough, +only--their numbers might be known, and, if they're traced, it +wouldn't suit me to be asked how they came to be in my possession--not +by a long chalk." + +"I catch your meaning--you're a far-sighted man. However, I give you +my word that the numbers of those notes are not known, in the sense +you mean--thanking you very much for the insinuation." + +"I daresay; still--I'd rather have the sovereigns. I sha'n't forget +how artful you were in putting that peeler off the scent. Whereabouts +in Ashington do you want me to put you down?" + +"I don't care, so long as it is in Ashington. Aren't we nearly there?" + +"That's Ashington, round the bend--that square tower's the town hall. +It's new, the town hall is; they think more of it than I do--I call it +a common-looking building." + +"If you'll slow down I'll see if I can find the ten sovereigns you +would rather have." He took several gold coins from a pocket in his +trousers. "I've got them--here they are. If you'll give me those two +notes, I sha'n't mind their being found in my possession. Now if +you'll take us, say, a quarter of a mile farther, and then set us +down, I'll be obliged." + +"I'll set you down by the town hall--I know the chap who built +it--he's a sort of cousin of my old mother's. It's the biggest job +he's ever had, and he thinks no end of it. I tell him opinions +differ--it does make him so wild." + +When they had alighted in front of the edifice in question, and had +divested themselves of their wraps, the car drove off--possibly to +fetch the "governor" from the races. The girl turned on her companion +with flashing eyes. + +"Why did you tell that policeman such a lie?" Nothing could have been +better done than Mr Frazer's air of deprecation. + +"Did I tell him a lie? I was not aware of it." + +"You as good as told him a lie; you prevaricated--you meant to deceive +him, and you did. If I hadn't been such a contemptible coward I should +have jumped up and told him the truth--that it was me he was looking +for. I believe that every policeman is looking for me everywhere--I +feel sure they are. Every fresh lie you tell to screen me makes me +feel more ashamed--especially as I know they're certain to find me in +the end. There's a policeman over there; I'll go and tell him who I +am--now!--and then at least you need tell no more falsehoods for me." + +Fortunately, Mr Frazer seemed to think, as he looked about him, there +was no one within earshot to notice her wild words and manner, and the +constable to whom she referred was some little distance off, on the +other side of the way, with his back towards them. He laid his hand +upon her arm, speaking with that matter-of-fact coolness which the +girl seemed to find herself powerless to resist. + +"I shouldn't do that, just now, especially as a train will soon be +starting which I am rather anxious to catch. Let's get into this cab, +and see if we can't catch it." + +Feeling as if she were doing none of these things of her own +volition--which, indeed, was the case--the girl suffered him to hand +her into it. Presently she found herself entering a railway station at +his side; then, a little later, seated alone with him in a first-class +compartment--a passenger in a train for the second time in her life. +The rate at which it moved; the noise it made; the occasional +oscillation; the strangeness of it all--served to increase her mental +confusion. She caught herself wondering, with what seemed to be some +remote lobe of her brain, if her mind ever would be clear again. He +held out towards her a cigar which he had taken from a case. + +"May I smoke?" She said yes; and he did, talking as he smoked, in that +clear, gentle, musical voice, which made itself audible above the roar +of the train, affecting her as nothing had ever done before. + +"This is an express, which runs through to town without a stop; we are +lucky to have caught it. You look tired." + +"I am; I don't know why: I have done nothing; but I feel as if I shall +never again be anything but tired." + +"You wait--till you're not tired." He was silent; examining his cigar, +which did not seem to be lighted quite to his satisfaction. She +thought, hazily, how handsome he looked; handsomer in what seemed, to +her, to be his smart attire, even than he had looked in his shirt +sleeves on the heath. He went on, speaking rather as if he were +soliloquising than addressing himself to her: "Queer world! Yesterday +you were non-existent; yet to-day your life has become so intertwined +with mine that I feel sure that we must have been associated in some +prior state of existence." + +"That's absurd! My horrid troubles have nothing to do with +you--nothing! To you I am only a stranger--a disreputable stranger +too." + +"You're a foolish child." + +"I may be foolish, but I am not a child--and I wish you wouldn't +persist in treating me as if I were a child! I believe you have been +doing all the things you have been doing--and ever so many of them you +ought not to have done--simply and solely because you think I'm a +child. Do get that idea out of your head, I beg of you; I'm quite old +enough to be able to take care of myself--and if I'm not able I ought +to be. Please, when we reach London, leave me, when we get out of the +train, and I'll go to the first policeman I see, and tell him +everything there is to tell--I feel sure that if you keep going on as +you have been I shall get you into trouble as well as myself, and--and +I'd rather anything than that. Why should you suffer because of me?" + +"When we reach town I'm going to take you to the Vernons'--Frances' +father and mother." + +"Why should you do that? Why should you try to thrust me on people who +know nothing about me, and who wouldn't wish to have anything to do +with me if they did? Why should they take me in?" + +"All those whys in one sentence! I never knew such a child for whys. +Your fondness for asking questions shows you are a child." + +"You won't tell me anything unless I do; I have to keep on asking you +questions--and even then you don't answer them--I don't know why, but +you won't--it's not kind of you!" + +"The Vernons have a house on the river, not far from Hampton Court; +it's a decentish place; you'll find yourself comfortable there." + +"Shall I--that's all you know! In a stranger's house!--where I know +I've no right to be, and feel I'm not wanted!--with that nightmare +haunting me!--afraid to look a policeman in the face!--comfortable! +Thank you; you don't understand!" + +"Have you any sense at all?" + +"You think I haven't; or you wouldn't treat me as you are doing--but +I'm not an utter idiot." + +"Then prove it, by acting on my advice. Forget all that it is better +to forget; all unpleasant things are best forgotten; and, at your age, +forgetting is so easy. Leave the conduct of things in more experienced +hands; meaning mine. I'm pretty idle; I expect to find, in the process +of putting your affairs in order, congenial amusement. A little bird +whispers in my ear that I sha'n't find it nearly such a difficult job +as you imagine. You don't seem to have had a very good time up to now; +you shall have a better in the days which are coming; you'll find that +your worries will vanish, and it will be roses, roses, all the way." + +"Why should you do all this for me?--if it can be done; which I +doubt." + +He sighed. + +"Mild remonstrance is plainly useless; you'll have to keep on whying! +Did Frances Vernon know that George Emmett took you away from the +convent?" + +"Of course she did--besides, I told her all about it. She was there +when he came--she saw us start." + +"Then, in that case, I shall tell Mrs Vernon that Mr Emmett is not so +well as he might be, which is a fact, and that, since, therefore, he +is not able to take so much care of you as is desirable, which is, +again, the fact, I have assumed the charge of you, _pro tem_. You +understand? It may not be necessary for you to say anything--I will +endeavour to make it unnecessary--but if you must, you must support my +story." + +"Your lie, you mean--another!" + +"I hardly think that ugly word is called for. What I shall say will be +the truth." + +"Part of it, you mean. If you were to tell them the whole truth, those +people wouldn't let me inside their door--that's what I understand. +And yet you say that, knowing that, I shall be comfortable." + +"Permit me to observe, since you persist in assailing me, that you +speak with that merciless severity which marks the ignorant child, or +the green girl who flatters herself that she is just ceasing to be a +child. I am as good a judge of what is improper as most people of my +acquaintance; if I thought that you were an improper person to +introduce into Mrs Vernon's household you would not be introduced by +me. I feel, strongly, that you are an inexperienced child; that you +have had many things against you; that you are at a period in your +career in which you need, above all else, an experienced hand, to keep +you from coming to eternal grief. I am going to play the part of the +experienced hand, for quixotic reasons, if you choose. Don Quixote +didn't have such a bad time of it, first and last; he was a gentleman. +If I were to tell Mrs Vernon what you would perhaps call all that +occurred last night at 'The Bolton Arms' I should still be telling her +what, from your childish point of view, would be a lie; because you +don't know all the truth, nor I either; there's much about the affair +which needs a great deal of explanation, and I'm going to see that it +is explained. In the meanwhile, if there is anything about your +connection with the business which you have concealed, and which is +not to your credit, now's the time to get it off your mind." + +Her manner was much meeker. + +"There isn't; I've told you all there is to tell, at least, I--I've +told you all I can think of." + +"Very good; having weighed what you have told me, holding you +innocent, I am going to stand surety for your innocence to Mrs Vernon. +Now, do you understand the position I am taking up?" + +"But why----" + +"No more whys, please; I've had enough of them. Don't you, out of the +fulness of your ignorance, presume to set yourself up to judge me, +because I, out of the fulness of my knowledge, do or say certain +things, which may be beyond your limited comprehension, but which I +know to be right--in other words, don't set yourself up to be a +censorious little prig--I had almost rather you had broken Emmett's +head. I am going to do nothing for you that I ought not to do, but I +am going to do for you everything I can. You hear?" + +"Yes; I hear." + +"Then don't you play me false." + +"Play you false? As if----" + +"You'll be playing me false if you don't endorse what I tell Mrs +Vernon, and if you're not as comfortable in her house as everybody +about it will unite in trying to make you. Here are some picture +papers for you to look at." + +He handed her half-a-dozen, while he unfolded, for his own perusal, a +journal of the day. If his intention was to close the discussion he +had taken a drastic means of doing it. Ominous headlines stared at him +from the open sheet: "Extraordinary Occurrence at Newcaster.--Murder +of Mr George Emmett.--Mysterious Disappearance of a Young +Lady.--Reward Offered for Dorothy Gilbert." As he read, reflections +passed through his mind. "Vernon has often boasted to me that he never +reads the police news, or any of his family either. This is a local +rag; perhaps they won't make such a fuss of the thing in town. Anyhow, +let's hope that on this occasion he's as good as his word, or I shall +have to tell a longer story than I intended." + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE VERNONS--PARTICULARLY FRANCES + + +Dorothy had never seen a prospect which pleased her better. There was +grass beneath her feet--the exquisite grass which one seems to find +only on an English lawn--thick and soft and springy, of such a restful +green. There was croquet on one side; two tennis courts were beyond; +with a well-shorn piece of grass, with big numbers on it, whose use +she did not understand, which was really a clock for putting at golf; +flowers were in beds and borders, on banks, and everywhere; there were +great trees and smaller ones, shrubs and clustered bushes; behind was +the long, low, old house, with its rose and creeper covered walls; in +front was the river, sparkling, laughing in the sunshine, already +alive with a greater variety of small pleasure craft than she had ever +heard of. She had read of such places in English books at the convent; +but she had scarcely even hoped ever to see one. Yet, here she was, +transported, as if by the touch of a magician's wand, into what seemed +to her to be a more perfect paradise than any of those she had read +of, which she had been told she might regard, at least for some little +time to come, almost as if it were her own home. After fourteen years +spent within one set of walls, where nothing ever happened, events had +crowded on her, all at once, so quickly; she had been so passed, as it +were, from hand to hand; so hurried from scene to scene, that it was +not strange if this final transformation almost seemed to her as if it +were part and parcel of some long-continued dream, and that as she +stood there, inhaling the pleasant air, the smell of the flowers, the +sunshine, the indescribable aroma of the whole delightful scene, she +was conscious, amid all the charm and sweetness, of a sense of +shivering fear, lest this, the only pleasant phase of that drawn-out +dream, should pass, as the rest of it had done, and its terror should +return. + +It was in an effort to escape this haunting fear that she moved +quickly down to the river's brink. There was a sloping bank at the +foot of the lawn; the stream ran just beneath; the grass growing +almost down to the water's edge--there was nothing whatever to prevent +your stepping from the bank into the river if you felt disposed. She +stood on the slope to take in new aspects of what seemed to her to be +the ever-changing scene. How nice some of the boats looked--and how +pretty were some of their occupants--and what pretty clothes they +wore! Dorothy was wearing the frock and the hat which Mr Frazer had +brought with him in the parcel from Newcaster; yesterday they had +seemed to her to be in the height of fashion--and compared to the +garments which she discarded for them they were. Now she felt how out +of harmony they were with her surroundings. The frock was of dark blue +serge, the hat of dark grey felt; both good in their way--she did not +doubt that they had cost more money than any two garments of hers had +ever done before. But then the men in the boats were all in white +flannels, and the girls and women in gossamer fabrics of the airiest +kind, with hats which were radiant visions. They were in accord with +the spirit of the scene. The longer Dorothy stood to watch the +stronger her conviction grew that she was not. As far as appearance +went she was nothing but a blot on the landscape. Ashamed though she +was of such a feeling it was there, and would not away. She knew, none +better, how indebted she was to the generosity of a stranger for being +able to look as well as she did. She called herself a little pig for +wishing that her clothes went better with that fairylike garden, those +radiant skies, the silver stream; were more in the vein of poetry +which marked the costume of the girl in the boat with the two men, an +old and a young one, which was crossing from the opposite bank towards +the lawn on which she stood. She was a study in the palest of pale +blues; Dorothy thought what a charming bit of colour she made, in the +smart boat; in which the two oarsmen, of such contrasting ages, were +evidently so much at home. What a good-looking pair they were, in +their different styles! The fact became plainer as the boat drew near; +the one with the silvery hair and moustache, the other with the light +brown curls, and smooth cheeks on which was the glow of youth and +health. + +It had just dawned on Dorothy that the boat was being steered, by the +vision in blue, towards the spot on which she was standing; when, on a +sudden, the young lady in question, rising in her seat, began to +exclaim aloud, in a state of unmistakable agitation: + +"Why, if it isn't Dorothy Gilbert! Dorothy Gilbert, where have you +come from?" + +The white-haired gentleman seemed to find in the steerswoman's conduct +cause of complaint. + +"If," he observed, in quite audible tones, "you do want to have us +over, would you mind letting us have a little notice of what to +expect?" + +The expression of this seemingly reasonable wish the young lady +treated with scorn. + +"Don't be silly, dad! What does it matter? Especially when there's +Dorothy Gilbert actually standing on our lawn! Dorothy Gilbert, where +have you tumbled from?" + +"Excuse me, sir, if we've taken much paint off your boat; but if +you'll kindly have it put right, and will send the bill to my +daughter, who's at present suffering from one of her periodical +attacks, I've no doubt she'll be glad to see it settled--she's +supposed to be steering us, and this is the way she does it." + +"Dad!--how can you?" The young lady had all at once discovered, to her +confusion, that these remarks were addressed to two young men who were +in a skiff with which their own craft had nearly come into collision. +"If you or Jim will row I'll take you in." Presently the boat was +brought along to some steps which Dorothy had not previously noticed, +but which she now saw led to the lawn. The young man stepped ashore, +with the painter in his hand; and was followed by the young lady, who +sprang up the steps, two at a time, and rushed to where Dorothy was +standing, exclaiming as she went: "Dorothy! Dorothy! my darling child, +have you tumbled from the skies?" + +And, almost before she knew it, Dorothy found herself in the arms, and +submitting to the caresses, of the vision in blue. + +"Why," she said, when at last she had a chance to speak, "do you know, +I didn't know you; you look so different." + +"Different from what?" + +"Different--from what you looked at the convent." + +"The convent? My dear!--I should hope I do! How we all looked at that +silly old convent! But, tell me, how do I look?--really?--that +miserable Jim just said I looked a perfect fright." + +"I was just thinking how lovely that girl in the boat did look; +and--she turned out to be you." + +"My dear, you're an angel! I always was fond of you, but if you keep +on saying darling things to me like that----! What's become of your +guardian? Where is Mr Emmett?" + +"I--" Dorothy was about to say, "I left him behind in Newcaster"; but +she changed the form of her sentence to--"I haven't brought him with +me." + +"Brought him with you! I should think you hadn't! The idea of +bringing him! The great thing is, you've brought yourself. Honestly, +I'd sooner see you than that the Fates should buy a motor car; and if +you knew how set I am on that--you mayn't believe it, but we only go +driving about behind frumpy old horses--you'd understand how glad +I am--especially to-day. My dear, to-day's our regatta, and our +garden-party--it's our day of days! You couldn't have dropped on us at +a better time; you little schemer, I believe you planned it! Father, +if you will kindly come here I will present you to my friend, Miss +Dorothy Gilbert, of whom, in my moments of emotion, you have heard me +speak. Dorothy, this is my father; a more desirable parent you could +not ask for; though I regret to say that he treats his daughter with a +lack of respect which I fear is one of the signs of the day. Fathers +did not treat their daughters like that when I was young." + +"No, Miss Gilbert, nor when I was young either; in those days +daughters stood in awe of their fathers--but we've changed all that. I +trust you know my daughter sufficiently well to be aware that she has +her moments of sanity." + +"Dad!--you shouldn't speak like that!--the child will misunderstand +you. Fortunately Dorothy does know me. James!--Jim!--when you've +finished trying to tie that boat up might I ask you to step this way? +Dorothy, this is Mr James Harold Arbuthnot Vernon, better known as +Jim--he is my brother; which is the only complimentary thing I can say +of him. Jim, I believe you can be almost nice if you try very hard--do +try your very hardest to be nice to Miss Gilbert." + +"Miss Gilbert, I assure you I can be very nice to you, as this little +object puts it, without trying in the least; in fact, I don't believe +I could be anything else." + +"Jim! Dorothy, did you ever hear anything like him? Please try to bear +with him, for a time, for my sake." + +The father of the pair managed to get in a word. + +"I trust, Miss Gilbert, that this is not a flying visit you are paying +us, but that you have come to stay some time." + +Dorothy's was a stammering answer. + +"I--I hardly know; my--my movements are uncertain." + +Miss Vernon echoed her last word. + +"Uncertain!--but, my dear child, what I'm dying to know is what +favouring wind of providence it was which blew you here. When did you +come?" + +"Last night." + +"Last night!--at what ever time?" + +"It was very late." + +"It must have been. You see that houseboat by the paddock +there?--that's ours; sometimes some of us sleep in it, and sometimes +none of us do--last night we three did--but we never started till +quite late, and you weren't here then. Why ever didn't you let me know +that you were coming? I'd never have gone to that silly old houseboat +if I had." + +"I didn't know that I was coming till--till I'd almost come." + +"My dear child!--what do you mean? You must have made up your mind in +a hurry, or--did your guardian make it up for you? Did Mr Emmett bring +you?" + +"No; I came with Mr Frazer." + +"Mr who?--Frazer?--and who's Mr Frazer?" + +"He says he knows you--and your mother seems to know him very well." + +"Says he knows me!--and mother knows him very well?--what Frazer can +it be? I know no Mr Frazer." + +Her brother offered a suggestion. + +"Perhaps he's one of Billy Frazer's lot--Miss Gilbert, do you know +Billy Frazer? He's up at Magdalen; stroked their boats in the torpids; +Bones they call him because--well, because he's bony. Perhaps your +man's a relative of his." + +"I don't know; I don't know any of his relations--his name is Eric." + +Miss Vernon turned to her father. + +"Dad, who is Mr Eric Frazer?" + +"I daresay, if you put Miss Gilbert on the witness-stand, and bombard +her long enough, you may get from her the information you require; +though in my time it was not supposed to be the thing to cross-examine +one's guest the moment one met her--however, we have also changed all +that. I am going into the house to speak to your mother. I am very +glad to see you, Miss Gilbert; I don't care how you came, or with +whom; I am only sorry that I was not here to welcome you. I trust now +you have come you'll keep on staying." + +The old gentleman moved towards the house; with a figure as erect as +if nothing had ever happened to bow his head or bend his back. His +daughter looked after him with smiling eyes; then turned to the +visitor with a question which took the girl rather aback. + +"Well, Dorothy, what do you think of my father?" + +"Frances!--what a thing to ask me!--when I've seen him for scarcely +five minutes!" + +"Well?--isn't that long enough to enable you to form an opinion? I've +summed up most people inside two seconds." + +"Yes--all wrong. Frances, you are an idiot; I never did know anyone +talk quite such drivel as you do." + +"Thank you, James; I am obliged to you. Would you mind going away to +play? I have something which I wish to say to my friend, Miss Gilbert, +which I would rather not have overheard by boys. And please remember +how easily a bad impression is formed--don't let Miss Gilbert find out +your true character in the first two minutes." + +"All right, ducky; don't you worry. I give you my word I've no wish to +listen to the sort of stuff I know you are fond of talking. Miss +Gilbert, you have my sympathy." + +The young gentleman strolled off, his hands in his pockets, whistling +a popular air. Miss Vernon regarded his back with the same smiling +eyes with which she had followed her father; and put almost the same +question to her friend. + +"Dorothy, what do you think of Jim?" + +"Frances!--how can you?--when you know very well that I think +nothing." + +"You are quite right, my dear; I am glad you show such penetration. +All the same, you can't deny that he is good-looking." + +"Is he? I didn't notice." + +"You didn't notice! Child!--you're not in the convent now." + +"No; sometimes I wish I were." + +"That's a flattering thing to say!--considering where you are!--and +that I am here!" + +"Frances! I didn't mean that! You don't understand." + +"You are wrong; I do. I've a feeling that there's something mysterious +about you, about your presence here; and, Dorothy Gilbert, if there's +anything I do love, it's mystery. I suppose it's too much to hope that +it's one of those frightful mysteries, of which one only speaks with +bated breath--that sort of blood-curdler never crosses my path. But, +whatever it may be, I foresee a perfectly delightful time ahead, while +I am engaged in wriggling out from you the secret. However insinuating +I may be, baffle my curiosity; and for goodness sake don't let it +burst on me too soon. Let it dawn on me by degrees; in instalments, my +dear; and let me have a shock with each instalment; each one greater +than the last; so that the full comprehension of the mystery comes +with a culminating shock which turns my hair almost grey--almost, my +pet, not quite, if you please. I've heard that grey hair suits some +girls; but I don't believe I'm one of them. By the way of beginning my +insinuating, let me remark that you have changed since I saw you." + +"So have you--and you must have changed more than I have, because I +didn't know you, and you did know me." + +"That's true. Now, Dorothy, no flummery, and no fibs--in what respect +do you consider I have altered?" + +"Well--for one thing you seem to be so much more of a woman." + +"Do I? Isn't that natural?" + +"I don't know; it isn't so very long since I saw you last." + +"A great many things may happen in a very short time." + +"That's true." + +Dorothy sighed; but Miss Vernon was smiling. Then she said, with an +air which would be grave, but was not: + +"There are women and women. I have heard people say that when one +becomes a woman one should show a consciousness of the responsibilities +of womanhood. I hope I don't show too much of that kind of thing." + +"I don't think you ever will do that." + +"Sha'n't I? You never can tell. A man I danced with last week--he was +quite old, over thirty--said that it bursts upon you all at once, what +it means to be a woman. I don't know what he knows about it, as he's +only a man; but I've noticed that some men, when they're old, do seem +to know a good deal about women--or they pretend to. What do you think +of this dress?" + +"It's a perfect dream!" + +"Really?" + +"I never saw anything so lovely." + +"I fancy it is rather--too-too; and I believe that's what Jim thinks; +that's why he keeps calling me a perfect fright. Oh, those brothers! +they have such ways of paying a compliment. What do you think of the +hat?" + +Again Dorothy sighed; but this time it was a sigh of admiration. + +"Frances, it's simply sweet!" + +"Notice the hair?" + +"Rather; and I believe it's the hair which is more responsible for the +change which I see in you than anything else. Of course the clothes +have something to do with it--you didn't wear frocks and hats like +that in the convent." + +"My dear! what are you talking about? Fancy the sensation I'd have +made! Can't you see the Mother's face?" + +"No; and I'd rather not, thank you. But it's the hair which has +changed you more than the clothes. I can't think how it's done. I +wonder----" + +Dorothy stopped; the other finished the sentence for her. + +"If I will do yours for you? Come into the house, and then I'll show +you. I've discovered I've quite a genius for dressing hair. I'll make +a perfect picture of you--you won't know yourself when I've finished. +Which room have you got? You don't know? You think that's the window? +That's the pink room--we call it the pink room because once upon a +time its decorations were pink; and we still call it the pink room, +though now they're what I call a symphony in chaste French-grey. Talk +about this frock! You wait till you see me this afternoon! I say, you +were lucky to drop on us on our day of days! There'll be tons of +people here; and, among them, one or two nice ones. Honestly, did you +know what day it was?" + +"Of course I didn't; and, if you don't mind, I'd--I'd just as soon +stay in the house while all those people are here. I--I don't feel in +a mood for that kind of thing." + +"What kind of thing? Stuff! You don't know what you're talking about; +shyness is what's the matter with you; and that's a complaint of which +little convent-bred girls have got to be cured. Wait till I've tried +my hand upon your hair! Come along, I'll start on it at once. Why," +she had taken Dorothy's hand in her own, "I say!--whatever's this?--a +ring!--on her engagement finger!--diamonds!--and such a beauty! +Dorothy, what is the matter with the child? She's staring at her own +finger as if she were staring at a ghost!" + +Dorothy was staring at Mr Emmett's ring, which gleamed at her on the +third finger of her left hand. Until that moment she had been +unconscious of its presence--a fact which was a sufficient commentary +on her mental state during the last several hours. She could not think +how it had got there; to her it was something worse than a ghost; it +brought back to her, on the instant, all that she would have been so +willing to forget. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + STRATHMOIRA + + +Mr Vernon found Mrs Vernon in the morning-room, engaged with what +seemed to be household accounts. As is apt to be the case when people +have been married to each other for more years than they sometimes +care to remember, morning greetings were with them a minus quantity. +He began without any preface: + +"Everything all right for this afternoon?" + +She looked up from a bill. + +"Yes, I think so; as far as I know." She looked back at the bill. "I +am confident Barnes has made a mistake, he is always doing it." She +looked up again, turning half round in her chair. "But, Harold, have +you seen her?" + +"You mean Miss Gilbert? I have; and--I'm rather prepossessed with her. +I confess that Frances' ecstasies made me a trifle nervous; but so far +as appearance and manner go she strikes me as being distinctly good +style, as girls run nowadays. But she--or someone--might have let us +know that she was coming, considering, so far as we're concerned, that +she's a perfect stranger. She seems to have dropped from the clouds; +she doesn't seem as if she were the kind of girl who'd do it. Who's +the Mr Frazer she speaks of?" + +"Mr Frazer?" + +"She says she came with Mr Frazer--Eric Frazer?" + +"Eric Frazer? She must mean Strathmoira." + +"Strathmoira?" + +"Of course, his name is Frazer--Eric Frazer." + +"But, why should she speak of the Earl of Strathmoira as Mr Frazer?" + +"My dear Harold, it's no use putting questions to me, because I keep +putting questions to myself, and I get no answers. Directly I begin to +think I feel I am getting out of my depth, so I try not to think. I +console myself with the reflection that I always have known that +Strathmoira's stark, staring mad." + +"But, do you mean to say that Strathmoira brought Miss Gilbert to this +house without letting us have the least hint that he was coming, at +goodness knows what hour of the night?" + +"You may well say goodness only knows. You had been gone what seemed +to me hours, and I was just getting into bed, when I heard a vehicle +coming up the drive. I called to Parkes not to open the door till he +had asked who it was through the window; but I suppose I must have +spoken louder than I meant, and of course the windows in my room were +wide open; and, as you know, it's right over the hall door, which for +the moment I'd forgotten; anyhow, a voice answered from without: 'It's +all right, Adela, don't you let me be the cause of Parkes straining +his vocal chords; it isn't burglars, it's yours to command.' When I +realised that the voice was Strathmoira's you might have knocked me +down with a feather." + +"I daresay. Why, how long is it since we've seen or heard anything of +the fellow?" + +"As you put it, goodness only knows. I replied to him through the +window: 'I'm alone in the house, I don't know if you're aware what +time it is; I'm just going to bed--couldn't you come round in the +morning?'" + +"He answered: 'No, I couldn't; I've got Miss Gilbert here, Frances' +friend, so perhaps you won't mind hurrying down to let us in!'" + +"Pretty cool, upon my word." + +"Cool! When Parkes had opened the door, and I went down, looking I +don't know how, he was as much at his ease as if he'd dropped in to +pay an afternoon call; and there was a tall slip of a girl, with black +hair, big grey eyes, and a white face, whom I took to at once." + +"So did I, when I saw her just now." + +"He introduced her; and said she had come to make a long stay; +and asked if I'd mind her going to bed at once, as she'd had a very +tiring day, and was tired out. She looked it, to me she seemed +unnaturally pale. As she stood there, without speaking a word, I felt +quite sorry for the child. So I took her upstairs and lent her +Frances' things to go to bed with--she hadn't even so much as an extra +pocket-handkerchief of her own." + +"I thought you said she'd come to stay." + +"So he said--but she hadn't so much as a handbag in the way of +luggage." + +"I suppose it's coming--or has it come?" + +"It is not coming; nor has it come. If you'll allow me I'll try to +make you understand as much as I understand--which is very little. The +whole thing seems to me to be mysterious; however, by this time I +ought to know Strathmoira. When I came downstairs again he told me a +story of which I did not find it easy to make head or tail. It seems +that Miss Gilbert has a guardian, in whose charge she appears to have +been." + +"You remember Frances said she'd left the convent with her guardian; +and that was why she didn't want to stop." + +"I do remember. It seems that the guardian is not in a state of health +to take proper care of his ward, though what ails him I couldn't make +out; so Strathmoira brought her to me." + +"Of course we are very glad to see her; but--what has Strathmoira got +to do with Miss Gilbert? And why as a matter of course has he brought +her to you?--without giving you any notice, in that unceremonious +fashion? Hasn't she any friends of her own?" + +"My dear Harold, you are sufficiently acquainted with Strathmoira to +be aware that you can rain questions at him, and that, without +refusing to answer one, he can evade them all, and do it in such a way +that you are not sure if he knows that you ever put them. I asked him +everything I could think of in the short time he stayed; but all that +he told me amounted to this--that he hopes I'll treat Miss Gilbert as +a daughter." + +"Upon my word!--and she a stranger!" + +"He also hoped that I'll see her properly fitted up with clothes from +top to toe!" + +"With whose money?" + +"With his--or hers--I don't know whose; I only know that he gave me a +hundred pounds in notes, and here they are. When he wondered if that +would be enough to start with, I said it depended on the circumstances +of the girl, and I asked if she had any means; and he replied: 'Ample! +ample!' twice over; and he added that no expense was to be spared in +fitting her up with all that a girl of her age ought to have. Now you +know how Frances told us she was neglected by her people, and +continually left without a penny of pocket-money; and how that man who +took her away informed her that her father had died and left her +penniless; and how sorry I was for her; and, because I was so sorry, I +gave Frances permission to ask her to spend the summer with us--and +Frances couldn't, because she didn't know her address. I believe I am +not a person to judge hastily and harshly; but I cannot reconcile +those facts with Strathmoira's statement that her means are ample." + +"You've got the money; you needn't spend all of it; what's it matter?" + +"Harold, it does matter. I should like to know whose money it is; and +if more is coming when it's spent." + +"Strathmoira will give you all the explanations you want before very +long; you're sure to hear from him--what's his address?" + +"Harold, I haven't a notion--I asked, but he didn't say. When he'd +gone I found that he'd left me with a general impression that I might +hear from him--I didn't know when." + +"Well, that's something. Anyhow, here's the girl; we know of nothing +against her even if she did make an informal entry; she's Frances' +friend; the child will be delighted to have her; you felt drawn to +her." + +"I did, and I do; what I've seen of her I like, there's something +about the girl which appeals to me." + +"Very well, then--as I'm prepossessed we sha'n't do much harm if we +give her house-room for her own sake. As for Strathmoira--although he +is stark mad, he's an excellent fellow, and long-headed, in his way. +Whatever the connection may be between this girl and him I'm quite +sure that there's nothing discreditable about it to either side." + +"Harold, I never for an instant thought there was. I quite agree with +you in thinking that Strathmoira's one fault is that he's stark mad." + +"Then all we have to do, for the present, is to make the girl +comfortable and happy. Did I understand you to say that she has +nothing with her but the clothes she is wearing?" + +"She hasn't another rag--not so much as a toothbrush. + +"In which case you'll have to expend a part of that hundred in buying +her a toothbrush--and other odds and ends." + +"That's exactly what I'm going to do. I've drawn up a list of some of +the things she must have; I've ordered the landau, and I'm going to +drive the two girls over to Ringtown as soon as I have my hat on. Here +are the girls." As she spoke, the two girls appeared at the open +French window. She spoke to her daughter. "Good morning, Frances; you +see your fairy godmother has sent you a present--the visitor you so +much wanted." + +"Isn't it lovely? I've just been telling her that I'd sooner see her +than that father should buy a motor car--and you know what that means. +But I don't understand--she says she's brought no luggage." + +"That's all right; I'm going to drive the pair of you over to +Ringtown, and there I'm going to buy Dorothy what she wants. The other +day I saw some pretty model gowns at Wingham's; if only one of them +fits her it might do for this afternoon. What do you say, Dorothy?" + +The girl, who had been standing by the window, came a little farther +into the room; she spoke with painful hesitation. + +"Mrs Vernon, I--I have no money." + +"My dear child, I have some money of yours." + +"Of mine?--money of mine?" The girl looked as if she did not +understand, then flushed--as if with sudden comprehension. "Did +he--give it you?" + +"By 'he' do you mean the Earl of Strathmoira?" + +Mrs Vernon smiled; but the girl looked as if she understood less than +ever. + +"The Earl of Strathmoira?--no; I mean Mr Frazer." + +Miss Vernon broke in: + +"Mother, what Mr Frazer does she mean? She says she came with Mr Eric +Frazer. Who is Eric Frazer?" + +"Mr Frazer is Dorothy's quaint way of speaking of the Earl of +Strathmoira." + +Miss Vernon stared at her mother, then at her friend; a look of +puzzlement was on her pretty face. + +"Dorothy, do you know Strathmoira?" + +Dorothy's look of bewilderment more than matched her own. + +"Strathmoira?--no; is it a place or a thing?" + +"Dorothy, are you joking?" + +"Joking?--Frances!--what makes you think I'm joking?--I haven't the +faintest notion what you mean." + +Miss Vernon turned to her mother. + +"Mother, what is this mystery?--because it seems to me that there is a +mystery somewhere. I hope that you and Dorothy understand each other +better than I do either of you." + +"My dear Frances, I'm bound to say that I don't understand; especially +if, as she says, she isn't joking. Dorothy, do you seriously wish to +tell us that you don't know that the gentleman who brought you to this +house last night was the Earl of Strathmoira?" + +The girl's eyes opened wider and wider; no one who saw the look almost +of fear which came on her face could think that she was jesting. + +"He--he told me that his name was Frazer--Eric Frazer." + +"And so his family name is Frazer, and his Christian name Eric; but +his style and title is the Earl of Strathmoira; by that style and +title he is generally known; indeed I, who have known him all his +life, and am his cousin once removed, was not aware that he was ever +known as anything else. How long have you known him, my dear?--and who +introduced him to you as Mr Frazer?" + +The girl shrank back. Inchoate thoughts were pressing on her harassed +mind. She remembered what he had said about her endorsing his story; +but what story had he told? Was it true that he was who these people +said he was? If so, then--perhaps she had betrayed him already; with a +word she might betray him further. She recalled his words about +playing him false. If she did, what would he think--after all he had +done for her? How they all three were looking at her! She wished she +could think what to say without--without committing any one. But--she +could not think. + +While she was still struggling within herself for the words which +would not come, Frances went flitting towards her across the room; +drawn to her by the anguish which was in her eyes, and on her face. + +"Dorothy! my darling! what is the matter? Don't look like that! Mother +didn't mean to hurt you! You poor thing, how you're trembling! Mother, +tell her that you didn't mean anything!" + +In her turn the elder woman, crossing the room, came and stood by the +still speechless girl, into whose eyes, for some cause which she could +not fathom, there had come a pain which was too great for tears. Her +voice was very soft and gentle. + +"I assure you, my dear Dorothy, that nothing was further from my wish +than a desire to pry into what, after all, is no business of mine. If +my cousin is Mr Frazer to you then he is Mr Frazer. He's one of the +most eccentric creatures breathing; but he is also one of the best. +I'm sure, from the way in which he spoke to me of you last night, that +he regards you with the utmost respect and reverence. He commended you +to me as a very precious charge. He told me that you had never known +your own mother; and he asked me to try to be a mother to you." The +speaker paused to smile, whimsically. "You know, Dorothy, I don't +think that one can be quite like one's mother if one isn't one's +mother, but, if you'll let me, I'd like to play the part, as well as a +substitute can." + +Mr Vernon's interposition prevented a reply from Dorothy, if she was +capable of one. Perhaps he saw that she was not; and his words were +dictated by a masculine desire to cut short what was very like a +scene. + +"Now, Adela, if you're going to put your hat on, you'd better put it +on--I heard the carriage come ten minutes ago. And, you girls, if +you're not ready, perhaps you will be ready inside a brace of shakes. +Frances, do you hear?" + +The young lady took the hint. + +"All right, dad; we'll both of us be ready in ever so much less than a +brace of shakes!" + +Slipping her arm through Dorothy's she led her from the room. When the +two girls had gone husband and wife looked at each other. The man was +the first to speak. + +"It's odd that she shouldn't know him as the Earl of Strathmoira--it +strikes me that my gentleman's a queerer fish even than I thought." + +His wife eyed him for a moment, as if quizzically; then she turned +aside, ostensibly to collect the papers on which she had been engaged. + +"Harold, have you ever heard of blindfold chess?" + +Under the circumstances it seemed a curious question--so it seemed to +strike him. + +"Adela, what on earth do you mean?" + +"It occurs to me that we are about to act as pawns in a game of chess +without even knowing who are the players." + +Her husband stared at her, as if with a total lack of comprehension. +When he spoke his tone was irascible. + +"Adela, there seem to be puzzles enough in the air without your making +them worse. Perhaps you'll be so good as to tell me what you may +happen to mean." + +"I am not so sure that I know myself; only, as I looked at that girl's +face, I had the queerest feeling." + +"Of what kind?" + +"I'm not fanciful--am I?" + +"I can't say you are--as a rule." + +"Which makes it all the queerer." + +"I wish you'd be more explicit. To hear you take on this tone of +mystery--you know how I hate mysteries--makes me conscious of a +feeling which it would be mild to describe as queer. It didn't strike +me that there was anything remarkable about the girl's looks, except +that she looked pale and worried. You don't know what she may have had +to go through lately." + +"No, I don't; and--I don't think I'd care to." + +"Adela! Now you're at it again! Will you go and put your hat on? I +don't know if you're aware that the time's going; I suppose you don't +want to keep that carriage waiting all day." Mrs Vernon went out of +the room without another word. At the door she turned and favoured him +with a look which he instinctively resented. He gave vent to his +feelings as soon as she had gone. "Now what did she mean by looking +at me like that? There's something about the best of women which +is--trying. She's got some notion into her head about that girl; +and--I wonder what it is? When I do get within reach of Strathmoira +I'll speak a few plain words to him. The idea of his treating me, in +my own house, as if I were a pawn--Adela's too absurd!--I should like +to see him try it!" + +On Mr Vernon's face there was a smile which, if the Earl of +Strathmoira had been there, he might have been excused if he regarded +as a challenge. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + DOROTHY GILBERT OF NEWCASTER + + +Mrs Vernon was standing looking out on to the lawn, pinning some +flowers in her blouse. Her daughter, coming on her from behind, laid +her hands upon her shoulders, and then her cheek against her mother's. +The mother, continuing to arrange her flowers, suffered the soft cheek +to remain against her own, for some seconds, in silence. + +"Well, are we ready? The people will be coming directly--we told them +four. Some of Jim's friends appear to have come early, judging from +the group of what seem to be boys he has with him at the end of the +lawn." + +"So I see. Jim's friends have hours of their own--they don't care what +time people put on cards. Mother, I'm worried about Dorothy." + +"Doesn't the dress fit?" + +"Perfectly!--and the hat; and the hairdressing is a complete success. +She looks lovely, as I told her she would do--she's certain to cut me +out." + +"I don't think you're afraid of that." + +Frances sighed. + +"I'm not--if only for the simple reason that she won't even try." + +"Doesn't she want to come down?" + +"It's so provoking; she's not a bit like my Dorothy--at least, in a +way she isn't. I can't think what's the matter with her. She seems to +be a bundle of nerves. I hardly dare open my mouth for fear of saying +something which will make her jump." + +"She does seem to be more sensitive than, from your description of +her, I expected; I've noticed it myself." + +"My darling mumkins, she's not the same girl. Something's wrong with +her--I can't think what--and I daren't ask." + +"She doesn't seem to be an easy person to ask questions of." + +"She used to be; we used to tell each other every single thing; we +used to delight in answering each other's questions; but now---- I +believe she's bewitched, I really do!" + +"What do you mean by she's bewitched?" + +"Why, she's--she's so strange; she gives me the feeling that only her +body's here, while she is somewhere else; it--it really is uncanny. +She never speaks unless you speak to her, and when you speak to her +she doesn't listen. You can see she tries to listen; then, when you're +in the middle of a sentence, you find that she's paying not the +slightest attention to you, and that she's staring at something in +such a way that you turn, with a start, to see whatever it can be; and +you have quite an uncomfortable feeling when you discover that, +whatever it is she's looking at, it's something which you can't see." + +"Did you say she doesn't want to come down?" + +"I didn't say so; but she doesn't. She makes me really cross; it is so +annoying! There she is, looking a perfect picture: she has only to +show herself to take the people by storm. I had no idea she was so +pretty! And she says she would rather stay indoors, after all the +trouble I have taken with her, because she doesn't feel like seeing +anyone." + +"My dear Frances, she is your guest; it is her feelings you must +consult, not yours." + +"Of course! All the same, if we were at the convent I should pick her +up and plank her down right in the very middle of the lawn; I +shouldn't care for her tantrums; she'd get the fresh air if she got +nothing else. As it is, I don't mean to let her have all her own way, +if I can help it." + +"I don't doubt that, or it wouldn't be you." + +"Well, mother, I believe that, at the bottom, it's just shyness; she's +ridiculously afraid of meeting strangers; after the first plunge she'd +be cured. So, after a while, I'm going up to see how she is, and to +ask if she wouldn't like to come down; and I'm going to keep on asking +if she wouldn't like to come down till she comes; then you'll see if +she'll be any the worse for coming." + +On this programme Miss Vernon acted. But the people, when they did +begin to appear, arrived so fast, by land and water, and occupied her +so completely, that it was some time before she was able to pay a +first visit to her friend; and then, so far as inducing her to put in +an appearance on the lawn was concerned, it was paid in vain. A second +and a third time she tried; and it was only on the fourth occasion she +prevailed; then the girl yielded less to her importunity than to her +assurance that many of the people had already gone, and the rest were +presently going. The consciousness of the false position she was in +weighed on Dorothy so heavily that again and again that afternoon she +had wished, with all her heart, that she had never allowed the +individual she had known as Eric Frazer to inflict her on these good +people. If she had held out against him, as she ought to have done, he +never could have brought her there. But she had not understood; it +seemed to her that he had taken advantage of her ignorance. + +The worst of it was she did not understand yet; exactly how false her +position was still she did not know. For instance, was he really the +Earl of Strathmoira? Her simplicity, on such points, was pristine. To +her, an earl was a person so far above her that he was, practically, a +being of a superior world. If he was such an effulgent creature why +had he passed himself off to her as a common man?--a plain mister? Why +had he condescended to notice her at all?--to give her shelter?--to +feign interest in her sordid story?--it could only have been feigned. +Why had he lied and played the trickster to save such an one as she +from the fate which he, so superior a being, must have known that she +deserved? His whole attitude in the matter was incomprehensible to +her; it added to that confusion of her mental faculties which had been +great enough before. + +It would have been something if she had been able to ask questions; to +glean information from those who knew him so much better than she +did--if she could have gained some insight into the kind of man he +actually was. But she dare not ask a question. One thing she did see +clearly--too clearly--and that was the impression she had made upon +the Vernons by what had struck them as her amazing statement that she +had only known him as Mr Eric Frazer. Another word or two and, for all +she could tell, she would have done what he had warned her not to +do--she would have played him false. That he had played her false, in +a sense, seemed true; but then, what he had done he had done for her; +it behoved her to be careful that what she did was done for him. + +So it came about that, for his sake, she was tongue-tied. Wholly in +the dark as to his actual identity, as to the real part which he was +playing; not knowing, even, what was the story he had told on her +account, she had to walk warily lest, by some chance expression, she +should do him a disservice. This was one of those girls who, when +forced by circumstances into situations of the most extreme +discomfort, are indifferent for themselves, and anxious only for +others. She had taken that diamond ring off her engagement finger; but +there was a tingling feeling where it had been, as if it still were +there; and that tingling caused her, now and then, as it were, against +her will, to glance at it; and, as she glanced, all that the ring +stood for to her came back to her--she saw it all. She saw the room in +'The Bolton Arms,' in the light, and in the dark; and, in the dark, +what was on the table. She saw herself, the coward behind the curtain, +with quivering flesh, as that grisly something glowered at her through +the silence of the darkened room. She heard--the awful sound--in the +pitch blackness; and she fled headlong through the window, like a +thing possessed, and dropped through the unknown depths below--she had +only to shut her eyes to feel herself dropping. She saw people looking +for her--everywhere she saw them looking; and when she saw what was in +their eyes--that was the worst of it all--she was as one frozen with +fear. Yet, could she have had her way, she would have gone straight +off and given herself up to those who sought her, to let them do with +her as they would--because she was afraid of what would come, of her +not doing so, to others--to him whom she had known as Eric Frazer; to +the good people of this house. That would be the worst drop of +bitterness, in her bitter cup, if hurt came to others because of her. +She had a feeling that, at that moment, the owner of the caravan, +whatever his name might be, was plunging deeper and deeper into the +mire, in a frantic, hopeless effort to get her clear of it. If he were +to get in so deep that there would be no getting out of it again, for +him, so that they were both of them engulfed in it, for ever? And +these Vernons--what right had she to bring her sordid story into their +pleasant lives? Would they not suffer when it became known that they +had harboured, though unwittingly, one on whose head was set the price +of blood? What would be their judgment on her when they knew? + +These were the thoughts which racked her as, in the pink room, she +sat, burning with shame, in the pretty frock, and hat, which Mrs +Vernon had bought her with money which she had supposed to be +Dorothy's, but which Dorothy herself knew was Mr Frazer's. Yesterday +he himself had bought her clothes across the counter; to-day he had +done it by deputy--yet she had not dared to tell his deputy the truth, +lest she should play him false. Looked at from any point of view, +could anything be more hideously false than her position? And without, +in the sunshine, on the grass, amid the flowers, were crowds of happy +people, with light hearts, clear consciences, who could look the whole +world in the face, knowing they had done no wrong; and Frances--the +friend whom she was using so ill--wanted to take her--a leper--into +that unsuspecting throng. And in the end she yielded, and +went--because that seemed to her to be the lesser evil. Frances made +it so clear that if she did not go she should think that Dorothy no +longer looked upon her as a friend. Rather than she should think that; +since many of the people had gone, and the rest were about to go; with +a sigh, whose meaning Frances wholly misunderstood, against her better +judgment, she suffered herself to be persuaded to show herself +outside. + +"All I want you to do," Frances had reiterated, over and over again, +"is just to show yourself--if you love me, dear. No harm can possibly +come of that." + +Which was all she knew. Dorothy was to learn that, in suffering +herself to be persuaded--because she loved, she had played the coward +again--more harm was to come of her just showing herself than she +might ever be able to undo. + +Before quitting the pink room, Frances looked her over, as if she had +been a picture, and, as an artist might have done, gave her here and +there a finishing touch; expressing herself as only half satisfied +with the ultimate result. + +"I've half-a-mind, do you know, young woman, to put a touch of colour +on your cheeks--a dab on each of them; because, though I won't deny +that pallor suits you, and even makes you fascinatingly interesting, I +don't want folks to think that you've met with a tragic fate beneath +this roof; or I shall have them nudging each other in the side; and +wondering to what cruel treatment you've been subjected; and eyeing me +askance, as if I must be the wretch. Don't you think you might manage +to wear, when you notice that people are looking at you, what I have +seen described, in print, as the ghost of a smile? It will anyhow let +them know that you've as much as the ghost of a smile left in you." + +It was with curious sensations that Dorothy found herself, in what she +felt were borrowed plumes, moving, on Frances' arm, amid a gaily +attired crowd of persons, not one of whom seemed to have a care in the +world. If, as Frances had said, many had already gone, then the lawns +must have been inconveniently thronged, for certainly enough people +for comfort still remained; and if, as Frances had also said, those +who stayed, proposed, immediately, to depart, then they managed to +mask their intentions with considerable skill. It seemed to Dorothy +that not only had many of them no present intention of leaving, but +that they intended to stop where they were as long as they possibly +could. + +As the two girls passed together, arm-in-arm, across the lawns, they +were the subjects of general attention. As Frances had prophesied, +Dorothy made a sensation. People asked each other who she was, +giving to their inquiries different forms: one wondering who the +"curious-looking," and another who the "striking-looking," girl might +be. A lady who was standing by Mrs Vernon gave her question a shape +which was still more flattering to its object. + +"My dear!" she exclaimed, "who is that lovely girl with Frances?" + +"What lovely girl?" Up to that moment Mrs Vernon had been unaware that +her pertinacious daughter had, at last, succeeded in her avowed +design; and when, on turning, she beheld proof of the fact, she +smiled. She replied to the question with another. "Do you think she's +lovely?" + +"Don't you? My dear! she's such good style!" + +"Yes, she is good style; and, now, she does look lovely." + +"Why do you say 'now'--in that tone?" Mrs Vernon was thinking what a +difference the frock made, and the artist's hand in the treatment of +the hair, and suffered the words to go unheeded. The speaker pressed +her former query: "Who is she?" + +"She's a school friend of my daughter's." The girls came towards them. +Mrs Vernon spoke to Dorothy. "I am glad to see that this insistent +child of mine has managed to persuade you to come among us. In such +weather as this it seems almost wicked to stay indoors, even if one's +head is bad. I think that here, also, is someone who is glad to see +you." + +She referred, smilingly, to the lady who was standing by her--who +said: + +"One always does like to see decent-looking people; but I especially +like to see pretty girls at such times as these, if only because they +fit in with the sunshine, and the flowers, and the decorations. I was +asking Mrs Vernon who you were, but she hasn't told me." + +The hostess went through the ceremony of introduction--with mock +formality. + +"Mrs Purchas, permit me to have the honour to present to you--Miss +Gilbert." + +Falling into Mrs Vernon's vein Mrs Purchas favoured Dorothy with an +exaggerated curtsey. + +"Delighted to have the pleasure, Miss Gilbert. No connection, I +presume, of Miss Dorothy Gilbert, of Newcaster--are you?" + +Dorothy had flushed a little at the compliment which Mrs Purchas had +paid her; she even showed some faint sign of being amused at her +laughing pretence of treating her as if she were a person of +importance; but when she asked her that last question all signs of +amusement faded. Was she connected with Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster? +No doubt the question was asked in jest; though, as a jest, it was +scarcely in the very best taste. It struck Dorothy dumb. It was such a +bolt out of the blue, so unexpected, that, for the first moment, she +did not clearly realise what was meant; but, when she did, any humour +which the thing might have had was lost on her. In that first moment +of shock she could not have spoken to save her life. And, when the +first force of the blow--for it was as if she had been struck a +blow--had begun to pass, and the significance of the lightly uttered +words commenced to dawn on her, she would have liked to be able to +sink into the ground, if only to escape the woman's eyes. + +That the singularity of her bearing had impressed those about her was +plain. Mrs Vernon and her daughter had already grown accustomed, in a +measure, to the strange effect chance words were apt to have upon +their guest; so that they were not so altogether taken by surprise as +was the unintentional cause of the girl's visible emotion. Her +amazement was not mirrored in Mrs Purchas' face; it was in her +bungling attempt to offer an apology for having done she knew not +what. + +"I--I'm sure, my dear, I--I beg your pardon." The girl looked so very +queer that the lady burst out in sudden alarm: "My dear!--what have I +done?" + +Frances came to the rescue. + +"It's all right, Mrs Purchas--Miss Gilbert is not very well; it's my +fault for making her come out." + +She drew the girl away, intending to lead her back to the house, which +she inwardly realised that she had been foolish to induce her to +leave. Dorothy certainly was exasperatingly trying. But there was +worse to follow--they were waylaid on the road; this time by Mr Jim +Vernon, who escorted a masculine acquaintance, the tale of whose years +was eloquently suggested by a question which he had addressed to Jim: + +"I say, Jim, who's that ripping-looking girl who's with your sister?" + +And Jim had responded: + +"She's a topper, my boy--a fair topper. But, as I'm in a generous +mood, if you'll come along with me I'll do the needful." So they went +along together, and they came to Miss Vernon and her friend; and Jim +immediately observed, in that free-and-easy way which is popular with +latter-day youth: "Awfully glad to see you, Miss Gilbert--frightful +blow when I was told you weren't showing. Mr Denman--Miss Gilbert." + +Mr Denman acknowledged the introduction with the remark: + +"Gilbert!--that name's rather in the air just now. Ever been to +Newcaster, Miss Gilbert?" + +Jim asked: + +"Why Newcaster?" + +"Why, old chap, haven't you seen the papers? I expect Miss Gilbert +has--there's a lot in them about the doings of Dorothy Gilbert at +Newcaster--is there a Dorothy in your family, Miss Gilbert?" + +It seemed that Mr Denman was a humorist of Mrs Purchas' type--only +more so; with the bump of obtuseness unduly developed. Had he fired a +revolver at the girl he could hardly have produced a greater effect; +coming after the question which she had just had aimed at her every +word he uttered seemed to hit her on a tender spot. Frances could feel +her trembling. She flared up in the astonished young gentleman's face. + +"Boys, nowadays, are the stupidest and rudest creatures--or else Jim +has some most unfortunate specimens of them among his acquaintance." + +Before either Mr Denman or her brother could get out a word in excuse +or self-defence she was bearing Dorothy Gilbert off as fast as she +could induce her to move. In her heart she was fearful lest Dorothy +should collapse, or do something undesirable in the way of making a +scene upon the lawn; she was only too painfully conscious of how +incapable the girl seemed to be to keep herself from shivering; but +Dorothy still had sufficient control over herself to be able to reach +the house without making of herself a public exhibition. Frances +accompanied her up to her room; but at the door the girl said, +speaking with an effort which it was painful to witness: + +"Leave me--please do--do leave me!" + +Frances left her; going downstairs with a fixed determination in her +mind. + +"Now where's to-day's paper? I don't care--it isn't often that I do +look at a newspaper; there's so seldom anything in a newspaper to +interest me that it's not generally necessary for dad to forbid me to +look at one; but I am going to see what there is in to-day's paper +about Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE SPREADING OF THE NEWS + + +There are still young women who do not read newspapers; and of these +Frances Vernon was one. Her father and mother belonged to that +lessening section of society to whom the crudities of the modern press +do not appeal. Mr Vernon held that even to the pure some things are +impure; and that it was not necessary that everyone should become +acquainted with all the vice and sin that is in the world. He admitted +that this point of view was perhaps old-fashioned; but he was an +old-fashioned man and--it was his. He did not like to read the records +of the police and the divorce courts; he hoped those who were near and +dear to him would not like them either. So not only did he not +encourage his children, and especially his daughter, to read the daily +papers; but, also, he took care that such journals as he admitted to +his house were not those which made a feature of topics of the kind. +So it came about that the only journal of that day's issue which Miss +Vernon could discover was _The Times_. + +_The Times_ is an excellent paper; it does not make a feature of +"dreadful tragedies"; but, unless one is acquainted with its methods, +it is not a paper in which one can put one's finger on any particular +item of news after an instant's search--even with the aid of the +index. So far as Miss Vernon was concerned, it never occurred to her +to glance at the "Contents of this Day's Paper"; and, possibly, she +would have been little benefited if she had. She turned over page +after page, advertisements and all, and went up and down column after +column, without seeing anything about Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster; as +a result, she jumped at some very hasty, and very unfair, conclusions +on the subject of the value of _The Times_. + +"Silly old paper! I've heard lots of people say there never is +anything in it--and there isn't!" + +However, so anxious was she to find what she sought, that she +travelled up and down the columns a second time; and, before she had +got to the end, was forced to admit that there did seem to be +something in _The Times_; even though there might be nothing which +would throw light on the subject she had at heart. + +"I wonder what paper he saw it in?" The reference was to the youth, +Denman. "He said 'papers'; and as Mrs Purchas saw it too, whatever it +was, I suppose it was in more than one; but there doesn't seem to be +anything about it here. Silly old paper! I wonder what Mrs Purchas +meant by talking about Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster--and why Dorothy +looked as if she were going to have a fit when she did." Thus +wondering, holding the paper in front of her, her eye was caught by +something which she had not observed before--"Racing at Newcaster." +"Why, of course, that's where the races are. I thought I'd heard the +name before;--how stupid I am! But what can Dorothy have had to +do----" + +She stopped, her eye caught by something else--a name in a sentence. + +"Few men were better known on Newcaster Heath than George Emmett. His +tragic fate, on the eve of the meeting at which he had been such a +prominent figure for so many years, was the theme of general +conversation." Then the writer proceeded to give some facts about +George Emmett. Miss Vernon took them in with her eye without at all +appreciating their meaning. One fact she did grasp--that the man +seemed dead. + +"George Emmett?--I am sure her guardian's name was Emmett; but +Strathmoira told mother that he'd brought her here because her +guardian wasn't very well; but this Emmett's dead, according to the +paper--it talks about his 'tragic fate'--I wonder in what way his fate +was tragic. It can't be the same man; why did Mrs Purchas associate +Dorothy with Newcaster?" + +Miss Vernon's glance passed down the racing columns, to be arrested by +a paragraph at the foot. + +"The historic inn, 'The Bolton Arms,' at Newcaster," it began, "was on +Monday night the scene of an occurrence which will probably hold a +prominent place in the future annals of the house." Then it proceeded +to give, in brief outline, and in the baldest possible language, the +story with which we already are familiar. It said that suspicion +pointed at the lady by whom Mr Emmett had been accompanied; that her +mysterious disappearance was certainly difficult to reconcile with +entire innocence; concluding with the pregnant sentence--"The police +are offering a reward for Dorothy Gilbert's apprehension." It was on +those words that Frances Vernon's eyes fastened. She read the +paragraph again and again, reading into it a deeper meaning with each +perusal; each time, the part of it which held her, whether she would +or would not, was the sentence at the end. + +When at last she lowered the paper, such understanding as had come to +her had brought bewilderment; although she had the printed words +nearly by heart, they were beyond her comprehension. Mr Emmett had +been murdered, and Dorothy--her Dorothy!--was suspected of having +killed him; was that what it meant? It was impossible--out of the +question--absurd. Yet--there were those last words--"The police are +offering a reward for Dorothy Gilbert's apprehension." Was that what +Mrs Purchas had meant by her reference to Dorothy Gilbert of +Newcaster? Was it why Dorothy had behaved so strangely? + +As she put to herself these questions, which she dared not answer, it +seemed to Frances Vernon that the world had changed all at once; as +if, as a child would have put it, something had gone wrong with the +works, so that it had suddenly got jarred, and was no longer just as +it was a few moments ago. For the first time in her short life she was +brought into contact with the tragedy of crime; so that, as it seemed, +she had to inhale its atmosphere into her lungs. It is a result of +such a training as she had received that, when crime did come to have +a personal application, the revelation of the existence of the thing, +from the knowledge of which she had been carefully screened, stunned +as it never would have done had she been brought up with her eyes wide +open. Murder? All she knew of murder she had learnt from the +commandments. Her guardian? Dorothy? She could have screamed aloud +because of the agony which came to her with the thought that there +could be any association between Dorothy's guardian, and Dorothy, and +murder. + +She stayed there, in a sort of stupor, longer than she knew; and was +only roused from it by her mother's coming into the room through the +open French window. + +"Frances! Where have you been? Do you know that all the people have +gone? If Dorothy has been keeping you, you ought not to have let her; +you ought to have been there to say good-bye." She perceived that +there was something unusual in her daughter's attitude. "Frances! What +is the matter with you? Why are you staring at me like that? What is +that you have in your hand? _The Times!_ Do you mean to say that you +have been reading the newspaper and forgetting what you owe to your +friends? What will your father say? Frances, speak to me! What is the +matter with the girl?" + +Frances did speak; or, rather, she tried to speak; seeming to find as +much difficulty in producing articulate sounds as Dorothy Gilbert had +done a little time before. + +"Mother, look--look at the paper!" + +She held it out stiffly, as some lay figure might have done. Not +unnaturally her mother observed her with surprise. + +"Frances, I insist upon your telling me what is the matter with you; +why should I look at the paper? You know very well that your father +doesn't like you to read newspapers." + +Frances said her four words over again: + +"Look at the paper!" + +"Why do you wish me to do so? What am I to look at?" She took the +paper from her daughter's outstretched hand. Frances pointed to a part +of it. Mrs Vernon began to read aloud: "'The historic inn, "The Bolton +Arms," at Newcaster, was on Monday night----' What stuff is this?" + +"Go on!" + +Mrs Vernon did read on; but to herself. Presently there broke from her +what seemed to be an involuntary exclamation; then another; then she +lowered the paper, with a face which was almost as white as her +daughter's. + +"Frances! It's--it's not true!" The girl said nothing; she went on: +"Emmett? Wasn't that the name of Dorothy's guardian? Frances! You--you +don't think that--that this--means Dorothy?" + +"How can I tell? You heard what Mrs Purchas said about Dorothy Gilbert +of Newcaster?" + +"Did she--do you think--she referred to this? If she did, then--others +may have known." + +"I believe they did--I believe Mr Denman knew--Jim's friend." + +"That boy! Do--do you think--Strathmoira knew?" The girl said nothing. +Mother and daughter were still staring at each other, in silence, when +Mr Vernon entered by the same route as his wife had come. Mrs Vernon +turned towards him. "Harold, read this in _The Times_; tell me what it +means." + +Mr Vernon put on his glasses with an air of deliberation for which his +wife, in her new state of nervous tension, could almost have shaken +him. By the time he had got the glasses to his liking he had lost the +place. + +"What is it I'm to read? Is it anything remarkable? Show me where it +is." She showed him again. "Races? What have I to do with races? Oh, +there!--I see!" He read the paragraph conscientiously through; then +looked over the top of the paper at his womenfolk. "Well? It's a +commonplace and disagreeable story; what special interest is it +supposed to have for me? You know I don't care to read about such +things. What is there about this that you should thrust it on my +attention?" + +His mental processes never were of the quickest. On occasions his +family had a feeling that his wits needed oiling; they seemed to be +moving slower than ever just then. His wife exclaimed: + +"Don't you see the names?" + +"Names? Emmett?--Emmett? I seem to have heard the name before; now in +what connection have I heard it?" + +"It's the name of Dorothy's guardian. Harold, read that paragraph +again, and then say if nothing about it strikes you as being of +interest to you." + +Mr Vernon did as he was told. On a second reading it dawned on him +what his wife alluded to--dawned on him with a sense of shock. + +"God bless my soul! You--you don't mean to say that you for one moment +imagine that anything about this painful story refers to Miss +Gilbert?--to our Miss Gilbert?--to Frances' Miss Gilbert?" + +Before his wife could answer, there came rushing into the room, with +that unceremonious haste with which some young men will rush into +rooms, his son--excitement writ large all over him; and a paper--which +was not _The Times_--in his hand. + +"I say, mater!--and dad!--this is a jolly pretty state of things! Have +you heard about it?--everybody else has!--it seems we're the only +people who haven't! I don't know what Strathmoira's thinking about! I +call it pretty thick!" + +Agitation made his meaning less clear than he appeared to think. + +"James," observed his father, "if you will cease bounding about the +room as if you were possessed; and will not bawl; and will be a little +less idiomatic, it is possible that your mother and I will get some +idea of what it is you are talking about." + +"But, dad, Dorothy Gilbert--Miss Gilbert's wanted for murder!" + +His meaning was clear enough then. + +"Jim!" + +His name came from his mother and sister in practically the same +instant. + +"It's no good you two looking at me like that! there's no getting away +from the truth!--look at this!" He pointed to a staring headline which +ran across two columns of the paper which he held in front of them: +"Where Is Dorothy Gilbert?" "That's a nice thing for me to find +glaring at me when I buy an evening paper to look at the cricket! I +never felt anything like what I felt when I saw that! Yes, where is +she? I can tell you this, there's scarcely a person who was here this +afternoon who doesn't know! I expect it's all over the place by +now!--at any moment you may have half-a-dozen policemen coming up the +drive!" + +"Jim, if--if you don't take care what you are saying I'll never speak +to you again." + +"Now, Frances, it's no use your putting on frills!--you simply don't +know what you're talking about. Here's her description--read it for +yourself; no one can read it and possibly mistake her. You told me +yourself her guardian's name was Emmett; well, he was murdered the +night before last--murdered, mind!--read about it yourself! the +story's a curdler!--and they say she did it!--I don't say she +did it----" + +"You'd better not!" + +"But they do; and they'll lock her up for it as sure as we are +standing here! Anyway you look at it. We've nothing to thank +Strathmoira for for getting us mixed up with a thing like this. My +hat! I'd like to talk to him!" + +"You talk to him! You don't know what you are talking about now! +You've not the slightest right to take it for granted that--that my +Dorothy has anything to do with the person in the papers." + +"Don't talk stuff and nonsense!--it's you who're talking through your +hat!--the whole thing's as plain as a pikestaff; do you suppose I +don't wish it wasn't?--that I want us to be dragged into a mess of +this sort? Oh yes, it's just the sort of thing I would like! Why, it +tells you here how Strathmoira came across her; and how it is that she +only knew him as Eric Frazer. He's been cruising about in that van of +his--you know, mater, that rotten old caravan of his?" + +"It's a rotten old caravan, is it, now? You were anxious enough to +'cruise about' with him in it!" + +"I daresay!--never again!--no thank you! When she--or someone--had +done for that poor beggar, Emmett, she bolted; she came on him in his +van on Newcaster Heath; he gave her shelter for the night." + +"Why shouldn't he? He's the most chivalrous of men!" + +"All right; who said he wasn't? He seems to have been more chivalrous +still next day, when he seems to have nearly killed a chap on his own +account." + +"My son, you let your tongue run away with you!" + +"My dear mater, here it is in black and white! The chap, who seems to +be something in the gipsy line, and rejoices in the name of Benjamin +Hitchings, overheard her--that's Miss Gilbert--telling him the whole +jolly tale--giving herself completely away in fact. Strathmoira--whom +the paper calls Frazer--caught him listening, and seems to have as +nearly as possible broken his neck for him--you know what a dab he is +at those ju-jitsu tricks; I expect he played one of those pretty +little capers off on Mr Hitchings. Anyhow, the police are after him as +well as her; warrants are out for both of them. No wonder he preferred +the middle of the night to dump her at our front door; goodness knows +I don't set up to be a prophet, but I should like to know what the +betting is that it's a good long time before we see or hear anything +more of the Earl of Strathmoira." + +"James, are you forgetting that the Earl of Strathmoira is a relative +of mine and of your own?" + +"That's what makes it too utterly too-too!--and Miss Gilbert is +Frances' particular friend! Oh, we're quite in the thick of it!" + +"Will you let me see the paper which you say contains that dreadful +story?" + +"Here it is, mater; you'll find it cheerful reading; there's a lot +more to it than I've told you. There's one thing I haven't told you, +and that is that unless we're uncommonly careful before very long +there'll be warrants out for us." + +"James, are you insane?" + +"For aiding and abetting, which is what harbouring amounts to! People +have been sent to penal servitude for covering a murderer." + +A modest tapping was heard; the room door was opened; Parkes, the +butler, entering, closed it softly behind him; there was perturbation +on his face and in his bearing. + +"Excuse me, sir; excuse me, madam; but there's a dreadful kettle of +fish in the servants' hall. I felt I had to come to you. Taylor +brought in an evening paper to look at the cricket; and in it there's +all about the Newcaster murder; and the servants will have it that, +from the description in the paper, Miss Gilbert upstairs is the young +woman who did it; and I must say myself that the description is +surprisingly like. I am very sorry, sir, and madam, and Miss Frances, +but they are going on so, and there's even some talk of some of them +not staying in the house. According to the paper there's a reward of a +hundred pounds offered for her capture; and West, who's talking of +getting married, says that if she had the hundred pounds she might get +married at once, and that she doesn't see, if anyone is to have it, +why it shouldn't be her; and, sir, and madam, and Miss Frances, I +don't know what will happen if something isn't done to stop her." + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + A FRIEND'S ADVICE + + +One of those sudden changes had taken place in the weather to which we +in England are so accustomed. With the day the glory had departed. +Evening was ushered in by leaden skies. Dorothy became conscious how, +all at once, shadows seemed to have gathered. She had no means of +telling what the time was; she had never possessed a watch, and in the +pink room there was no clock. The regatta seemed over; the garden had +emptied; the hum of people's voices, of laughter, which had floated in +to her through the open window, had ceased; silence reigned. To her +excited fancy there was something ominous in the sudden stillness, the +growing darkness. What was going on downstairs? It was odd that they +should have left her so long alone--with the ghosts which would press +on her even in the sunshine, but which pressed still closer with the +advent of the night. Why had she seen nothing, heard nothing, of +Frances? The people had gone. Was she forgotten?--or what? It was very +hard to sit there waiting, watching, listening. Why did not something +happen? She was so unnerved that, of her own volition, she seemed +incapable of doing anything. When she was a very small child, whenever +there was trouble in the air, if opportunity offered, she would +undress herself and get into bed, as if bed were sanctuary. She would +have liked to insinuate herself between the sheets then, though it was +scarcely night, but she was afraid; and she had a feeling that, for +her, the days when bed was sanctuary had gone. Why did not someone +come, if it was only to tap at the door and ask how she was? + +Someone did tap. The sound was so unexpected that it started her +trembling. It was such a curious tap; not at all the firm, pronounced +tap Frances might have given, but faint, furtive; almost as if the +tapper were anxious not to be heard. Indeed, in the silence which +followed, Dorothy was not sure that it was a tap--until it came again, +no louder, as if someone touched the panel of the door lightly, with +the tip of a single finger. Dorothy vouchsafed no invitation to enter. +She did not ask who was there. She felt sure it was not Frances, nor a +message from her; it was not the sort of tap which would be given by a +bearer of good tidings. + +The tap was not repeated. Instead, after an interval, the door was +opened, softly, slowly, with about its movement the same furtive +something which had characterised the tapping; a few inches, then a +pause; a few more inches, another pause; there was an appreciable +space of time before it was opened wide enough to permit of a person +entering. Then there slipped, rather than came, into the room, a young +woman, a servant, of about Dorothy's own age; in appearance her +antipodes--short, squat, with a square head and face, high +cheek-bones, skin the colour of old port when held up to a strong +light. Closing the door as stealthily as she had opened it she tiptoed +towards the centre of the room. Twisted half round on her seat, +Dorothy had sat and watched her in silence; now, as she approached, +she rose from her chair. + +"What do you want? Who are you?" + +The girl answered, speaking in a husky whisper, as if she feared that +the walls had ears: + +"Never mind who I am; don't ask me to tell you my name; then, if +anyone asks you, you can't tell them--see? You don't want to get me +into trouble, do you? Of course you don't." She put a stubby red +finger, in which the dirt was engrained, to her lips, with an air of +the utmost mystery. "I am a friend, that's who I am; and, placed as +you are, that's all you want to know about me, and as a friend I've +come to give you a word of advice, which is--bolt!" + +"I don't know what you mean! Why--why have you come to me like this? +Who has sent you?" + +"No one hasn't sent me--not much! Only they've found out all about you +in the kitchen; and West, she's the parlourmaid, she's after that +hundred pounds." + +"Which hundred pounds? What--what do you mean?" + +"Mean to say you don't know they've offered a hundred pounds for you?" + +"Who--has offered a hundred pounds?" + +"Why, over at Newcaster--I suppose it's them police--it generally is +the police what offers rewards, isn't it? Mean to say you didn't know +there was a reward out for you?" + +Dorothy shrank back. A sound came from her lips which might have been +"No." + +"Why, it's in all the papers; I expect there's thousands looking out +for it by now. That's what West says: someone's sure to get it, so it +might as well be her. So she went to put her hat on; meaning to start +off to them police; and if she didn't leave the key outside her +room--so I gave it a turn, and here it is." She produced a door-key +from a pocket in her skirt. "And there she is, locked in. Won't she be +in a tear when she finds out!" The girl grinned, as if enjoying the +mental picture she called up of the parlourmaid's rage when she +discovered she was prisoned. "They won't be so eager to let her out, +neither; there's none of them loves her. So if you're sharp you ought +to get clear off before she's even started after that reward." + +Dorothy made no attempt to deny the terrible imputation which the +speaker's words conveyed. The thing was so continually present to her +own mind that the idea did not occur to her of even pretending not to +understand. The question she put tacitly admitted the truth of the +whole tale of horror at which the other only remotely hinted. + +"Do--do the others know?" + +"You mean--the family? I should think by now they do; I know Mr Parkes +started off to tell 'em." + +"Perhaps--perhaps that's--why no one's been near me. + +"I daresay. I shouldn't be surprised if I was the only friend you'd +got in the house, truly! The truth is--though, mind you, there's no +one in the place so much as guesses at it--the truth is, I have had +trouble in my own family, so that gives me a sort of fellow-feeling--I +know from bitter experience what them police are; no one sha'n't get +into trouble if I can help it, I don't care who it is; so, if you take +my advice, off you go as far as ever you can; because it's no use +waiting till them police come before you start--not much it's not!" + +"Why--why should I go?" + +"Why? Well, if you don't know, I don't!--why!" + +"Mrs Vernon herself may have sent for the police." + +"Of course she may; I expect a hundred pounds is a hundred pounds to +her as well as to anybody else." + +"Then, if you think so, why shouldn't I let them come and find me +here? I'm tired of--of running away--of hiding!" + +"Don't be so silly. It makes me feel as if I'd got the rope round my +own neck to hear you talk. You don't know what hanging is--I do! My--a +relative of mine was hanged, he was; and my mother, she's told me, +often and often, that the last three months she was carrying me she +used to wake every night feeling that the rope was round her neck, and +she used to have to get it off quick for fear it choked her. It +happened just before I came--see? And before I was born she used to +wonder if I should feel it because she did--and I have; ever since I +was a small kid I have; and I shall again to-night. I lay I shall; I +shall be as nearly hanged to-night as I can be without being quite. +And that's why I say to you, don't be silly--you don't know what it +feels like to be hanged." The speaker paused; she would have laid her +hand on the other's arm, only Dorothy shrank back, shivering. She +noted the action, commenting on it in a fashion of her own. "You +needn't be afraid of me, miss; you needn't really. There's no harm +about me; not a morsel. I couldn't help what happened, it was before +my time; and I can't help feeling like that--can I?" She waited, as if +for an answer; when none came she went on: "What I was going to say +is--I'm told that Miss Frances is a friend of yours!" + +"We--we were at school together." + +"Were you now? Well, don't you think that by waiting for the police to +take you here you'll be doing her a good turn, or her mother, or her +father, nor yet none of them. You did 'em a bad enough turn by coming +here at all; you don't want to make it worse, as you would do if the +police was to take you in this house. It'll be all about it in the +papers--how you was staying here, and how they was friends of yours, +and no end; and gentlefolks don't like to have it known that they're +friends of such as you; it gives the place a bad name; I shouldn't be +surprised if nobody never came near it again--see?" + +Dorothy did see. The idea had been in her head from the first; the +speaker expressed it in a form which added to its force. + +"You're quite right; that's what I've felt all along; I'll go at +once." + +She moved towards the door, as if with the intention of putting her +words into instant execution. The girl caught her by the arm, this +time before Dorothy had a chance to prevent her. + +"Where are you going? What do you think you're doing?" + +"I am going to leave the house. Please--please let go of my arm." + +The girl only tightened her grip, until the pressure hurt. + +"What, down the stairs and through the front door--is that the way +you're going? Why, you might as well stay where you are as do that." + +"Which other way can I go? Please--please release my arm; you're +hurting me." + +The girl paid no heed to her request. + +"Why, if you was to go down the stairs someone would be sure to see +you, and as likely as not they'd stop you; it isn't many as would +throw away a hundred pounds like I'm a-doing. And if they was to let +you go out of the house it would be almost the same; if them police +was to ask them if they'd seen you they'd be bound to say they had. +Cause why? They might get into trouble themselves if they was to say +they hadn't; it's not easy to deal with them police in a job like +this; you don't know the risk I'm running in acting as your friend. +What you want is not to do the family a worse turn than you've done +'em already; so what you've got to do is to get off the place without +their knowing anything about it, nor anyone else neither; because, of +course, I don't count. Very well, then; the stairs is no good for +that, nor yet the front door; the only way's the window." Dorothy +thought of the window in that private sitting-room in "The Bolton +Arms." She shut her eyes, and shivered. The girl mistook the cause of +the other's evident disturbance. "Don't you be afraid, there's no call +for you to go shivering; why, I felt you right up my arm. It's no +distance from this window to the ground; why, it's nothing of a drop, +to say nothing of there being a flower bed, what's pretty nearly as +soft as a feather bed, for you to drop upon. If you haven't noticed +come here and I'll show you." + +She made as if she proposed to drag Dorothy to the window, _nolens +volens_, for she still retained her grasp on her arm. But Dorothy +stood fast. + +"Will you please to take your hand away? I don't like you to hold me. +I've already told you that you hurt." The girl looked at her a moment, +then withdrew her hand. Dorothy held out her arm. "Look at the marks +you have made." + +Although in the room it was nearly dark there was light enough to +enable them to see the imprints of the other's fingers on Dorothy's +white arm. + +"Sorry, miss, I'm sure. You must mark easy." + +"You are stronger than you think." + +"I am strong; I know I am stronger than some; still, I never should +have thought that I was hurting you. I was only going to show you that +the window's no distance from the ground." + +"I'm not afraid of dropping from the window; I am not such a coward as +that. Only what am I to do, and where am I to go, when I am down?" + +"That's what I'm a-going to tell you. You see if you was to bend down, +and keep as close to the hedge as you can, as likely as not you'll get +to the water without anyone seeing you; though, of course, that frock +you've got on does show up----" + +"I can change it; I'd rather." + +"No, there ain't no time for you to do that--you've wasted too much +time already. You do as I tell you and you won't be seen, not in this +light, especially as I expect they're all on the lookout for the +police on the other side of the house. When you come to the river bend +down again, and go along the bank till you come to where the boat's +tied up to the steps. You get into the boat and row yourself across to +the other side. The other side of the river's in another county. The +police what belongs to this county they can't touch you in another +county; so if you can get there you're safe as far as they're +concerned; and the family here--Miss Frances and that, you know--they +can't be made out to have anything to do with you if you are took in +another county--see?" + +Dorothy did see; or she thought she did--possibly her grasp of the +situation was as clear as the other's exposition. Rejecting the +other's offer of assistance she climbed, unaided, on to the sill; and, +without the slightest hesitation, dropped on to the bed of flowers +which was immediately below. The girl above, as if to assure herself +that no harm was done, waited for her to stand up straight; then, as, +in accordance with her directions, Dorothy, bent nearly double, began +to move quickly along in the shadow of the hedge, towards the river, +she withdrew her head; and, as stealthily as she had entered, she +passed from the room. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE MAN WHO DID IT + + +It was darker than it was wont to be at that season of the year. +Black, heavy clouds hung low in the heavens. The air was motionless, +hot, oppressive. One needed no keen perception to tell that a storm +was brewing. As Dorothy gained the river bank, in the distance was the +loud muttering of thunder. She stopped to look about her, still +keeping well in the shadow of the hedge. Apparently her flight had +been unnoticed. It struck her that, if she had liked, she might have +gone long ago, and been far away, ere this, without anyone being one +penny the wiser; and so have lessened the chance of "the family" being +associated with her ill-fame. As she looked back it seemed to her that +the house was badly lighted. There was light in one room on the ground +floor; with that exception the whole house was in darkness. Surely it +was not the Vernon custom to keep the whole house unlighted when the +night came on. There were lights in the windows of houses on the other +side of the stream, and there were lights on the river. Tinted lights +picked out the outlines of houseboats, making them orgies of colour. +Dorothy, who had never seen anything of the sort before, stared at +them in amaze, wondering what they were. Small craft, moving here and +there, carried Chinese lanterns, slung on cords, which swayed +mysteriously in the silent air. In the distance were many lights. The +regatta was to be followed by what dwellers by the river call a +Venetian Fête: there was to be a procession of illuminated boats, +which already was forming afar off. If they wished to keep their +procession dry they would be wise to start it soon. + +By degrees, as her eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, Dorothy became +aware that the river seemed to be alive with boats of all sorts and +kinds. She had expected to find it deserted; she was surprised to find +that it seemed to be more crowded even than it had been in the +daytime. Remembering the servant's recommendation to stoop, so that +her figure might not be too clearly visible against the skyline, she +made the best of her way to the steps, up which Frances had hurried, +out of the boat, when she first saw her on the lawn. For one to whom +the place was not familiar, in that light they were not easy to find. +She stumbled on them more by chance than anything else. She began, +cautiously, to descend them. She could not make out how many there +were; and had gone down six when, feeling for the seventh, she touched +the surface of the water with the sole of her shoe. Starting back just +in time to save herself from stepping into the stream, she sat down, +unintentionally, and with more force than was quite pleasant, on one +of the steps at her back. The unexpected nearness of the water +startled her; she did not know what she had escaped. Had she completed +that step she might have gone head foremost into the river. She tried +to make out where the boat was of which the servant girl had spoken, +and presently could see it dimly. It seemed to be a long way off, how +was she to get at it? Wholly unacquainted with riverine methods it did +not occur to her to look for the cord by which it was tied, and so +draw it towards her. Which was perhaps well; for, though she had never +been in a small boat in her life, how she was going to navigate one in +the darkness, all alone, was a problem she did not stay to +contemplate. + +As she still sat on the step of which she had so unwillingly made a +seat, dubious, fearful, the whole dark world was lit up by a vivid +flash of lightning; and in what seemed to her to be its sudden, +unearthly glow she saw, right in front of her, the face of the man who +had killed George Emmett; saw it for one astounding moment, with more +than normal plainness. Then, as suddenly as it came, it went, blotted +out by the returning darkness. Whether she had seen a vision, or been +the victim of an optical delusion, she had not a notion. For a moment +or two all was still. Then a voice came to her through the blackness. + +"Can you tell me whereabouts I shall find Mr Vernon's house?" + +It was the voice of the man. As she heard it every muscle in Dorothy's +body seemed to be attacked by a sort of tetanus. Whatever doubt she +might have had about the face, as to whether or not it was an optical +delusion, she had none whatever about the voice. She had heard it too +recently--under circumstances of too much import--not to be sure of +its identity when she heard it again. In it was a tone which had not +been in it when she heard it in that sitting-room in "The Bolton +Arms"; none the less was she sure that it was the same voice. + +She could not have answered the question if she had tried; she did not +try. She sat silent, rigid, waiting for the voice to come again. +Presently it came. + +"You must forgive me if I startled you, but that flash of lightning +revealed you so clearly that I was asking myself if you could have +been sent by Providence to help me in a difficulty I am in. I am +trying to make out which is the garden of Mr Vernon's house. The +directions I received were most explicit; but, in this light, for a +stranger, even the most explicit directions are hard to follow. Can +you tell me if I have nearly hit it?" + +As she listened, Dorothy began to realise that the speaker was in a +boat which was within a foot or two of where she was sitting. The boat +showed an inclination to move with the stream; he backed it with a +gentle movement of his scull. His face was turned towards her; but she +only saw it very vaguely. He seemed to be waiting for her to reply; +when she continued silent he spoke again. + +"Do I make myself clear? It is Mr Vernon's house I am looking for--the +Weir House, I believe it is called." + +With an effort she managed to speak, her voice sounding strange even +to herself. + +"Why--why do you want Mr Vernon's house?" + +There was a sound which might have been a chuckle; as if the man was +tickled, either by the girl's caution or by her curiosity. + +"Well, if you must know, I want to pay a call." + +"You!" + +"Yes, me; why not? Why do you say 'You' with such an accent?" + +Although she knew what this man had done she was not afraid of him at +all; even alone with him here in the darkness she was never for an +instant conscious of the least alarm. That sensation which had held +her rigid had had nothing in common with fear. And, although she could +hardly help being surprised at his unexpected sudden neighbourhood, +surprise soon passed; her dominant feeling was one of wonder as to +what he could want at Mr Vernon's house. Regardless of the hint +conveyed by his rejoinder she questioned him again. + +"Are--are you a friend of Mr Vernon's?" + +"May I ask why you inquire? Unless, indeed, this is the garden of Mr +Vernon's house, and you are a friend of his." A thought seemed to +strike him. "What an ass I am! Perhaps you're Miss Vernon. In which +case, Miss Vernon, pray pardon my stupidity, and let me assure you +that, though I am not a friend of Mr Vernon's, nor even an +acquaintance, I am given to understand that there is someone in his +house whom I am rather anxious to see; and, perhaps, if you are Miss +Vernon, you could help me." + +"Who is it you wish to see?" + +She had neither admitted nor denied that she was the person he had +suggested; but he seemed to have taken it for granted that her +avoidance of the point was tantamount to an admission. + +"The person I wish to see is a lady, a young one, Miss Gilbert--Miss +Dorothy Gilbert." The listener's heart stood still; she was +overwhelmed by that curious feeling of vertigo to which she seemed to +have grown subject of late. Probably the man in the boat +misinterpreted her silence; he went on to explain himself further. "I +have just been informed, Miss Vernon, that Miss Dorothy Gilbert is a +friend of yours, and that, at present, she is a guest of yours; I hope +my information is correct." + +The girl on the steps found her voice again; at anyrate, in part. + +"Do--do you know Miss Gilbert?" + +"It may sound odd, considering, but I don't; any more than I know Miss +Vernon. But I hope to find an open sesame to her acquaintance in the +fact that I did know her father intimately; to all intents and +purposes he and I were lifelong friends." + +"My father!--you knew my father!" + +The girl on the steps stood up. The full strength of her voice had all +at once come back. She spoke in tones which might have been audible on +the other side of the river. The man in the boat seemed to be as +startled by her words, and by her instant change of manner, as she had +been by the discovery of his identity. There was a sudden splashing, +as if, in his surprise, he had let the blades of his oars drop into +the water; then an exclamation, as he woke to the fact that the boat +had drifted from its original place. Presently he brought it back. + +"Your father?--did you say your father? Then, in that case, I suppose +you are Dorothy Gilbert--Harry Gilbert's daughter." + +"I am." + +"Are you sure. Why did you give me to understand that you were Miss +Vernon?" + +"I wanted to find out who it was you wanted to see; it was you who +said I was Miss Vernon; I didn't. Did you say you knew my father?" + +"Rather; no man knew him better. Then if you are Dorothy Gilbert, +perhaps it's just as well that I've come upon you in this queer +fashion; if you don't mind, I'll step ashore. I suppose this is Mr +Vernon's garden?" She told him that it was. "I can't quite make out +what kind of landing this is, but if you'll catch hold of the painter, +so as to make sure of the boat, I'll do the rest." She did not know +what the painter was, but she took the cord which he held out, and +kept it till she was able to transfer it to him when he also was +standing on the steps by her side. + +"The accommodation seems limited down here; suppose we get up higher." + +She ascended the steps; he followed; the cord was long enough to +permit of his retaining it in his grasp even when he stood on the +lawn. The moment they had reached the lawn she fired at him a +question. + +"What is your name?"' + +"Arnecliffe--Leonard Arnecliffe." + +"Then why did you say it was Gilbert?" + +"Gilbert?--I said my name was Gilbert?--What on earth do you mean?" + +"To the waiter at 'The Bolton Arms.'" + +"To the waiter--what the devil do you know about what I said to the +waiter at 'The Bolton Arms'?" She was still; not this time because she +could not have spoken, but because words surged up to her lips which +she had the greatest difficulty in keeping back. Whether he +misconstrued her silence as egregiously this time was not clear. His +words, when he spoke again, were odd ones. "I've been looking for you +all over Europe, and now that I've found you I'm hanged if I know how +to begin what I've got to say." She looked up at him, as he towered +above her in the gloom; she not only knew what she wished to say, but +how she wished to say it, only she was afraid. "Miss Gilbert, your +father and I were friends in quite an exceptional sense." + +"Wasn't he like you?" + +"In appearance? No; except that we both of us were tallish, and that +once he was dark, like me; but when he died his hair was as white as +snow. His was a strange story--did you know it?" + +"How could I? I scarcely remember having seen him; he never wrote me a +letter in his life; I don't think I ever saw my mother; I know nothing +about either my father or my mother." + +"So I gathered. I've been looking for you in order to tell you all +about both; only--luck, and a certain gentleman, has been against me." + +"How did you know that I was here?" + +"By one of those greatest flukes in the world, which are the +commonplaces of existence. I was at a friend's house on the other side +of the river when two youngsters came in who said that they had seen a +Dorothy Gilbert this afternoon at Mrs Vernon's garden-party; so, on +the off-chance of your being my Dorothy Gilbert, I came. I take it +that there is no doubt that you are my Dorothy Gilbert." + +"I am Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster." + +She uttered the words in a tone of defiance which seemed to startle +him. For a moment he was still. When he spoke again his voice was +lower. + +"That's what I don't understand." + +"What don't you understand?" + +"The stories which the papers tell about you." + +"I don't know what they may be, but I think it's very possible that I +should understand them if you were to tell me what they are." + +"But you had no hand in--in what took place at Newcaster." + +"Oh yes, I had." + +"Miss Gilbert! It's impossible!" + +"I saw you do it." + +"You saw me----" The man stopped; as if unwilling to complete the +sentence; then asked: "What do you mean--by you saw me?" + +"I saw--what you did to him." + +"Miss Gilbert!" + +"It was because--I saw you do it that I ran away; I didn't want them +to make me tell them what I'd seen." + +"Good God! what--what an extraordinary thing!" + +"Yes, you may well call it an extraordinary thing. Dorothy Gilbert, +you're my prisoner; I arrest you for murdering George Emmett. And you, +my lad, I don't know what your name is, but I arrest you too. You're +both of you my prisoners; and, if you take my advice, you won't make +any fuss, but you'll just come quietly; and to make sure you'll put +these on--there's a bracelet for each of you." + +The speaker was a policeman, in unmistakable policeman's clothes. So +engrossed had they been in their own affairs that to them it was as if +he had sprung out of the ground; but the explanation of his appearance +on the scene was sufficiently simple. West, the parlourmaid, having +succeeded in releasing herself from the trap in which Dorothy's +quick-witted sympathiser had temporarily secured her, had rushed off +to the police station the moment she was free; more set than ever on +effecting her purpose because of the trick of which she had been made +the victim. Not only had she given information at the station-house +itself; but on her homeward way she had encountered the individual to +whom she was engaged to be married, and who was himself a constable. +The hope of hastening her wedding-day by earning the hundred pounds +which was offered as a reward was the motive which had caused her to +act as informant; but in what seemed to her to be the fortunate +meeting with the object of her affections, she saw an opportunity of +enabling him to bring about his own advancement by managing so that he +should effect the arrest in person. Explaining her purpose, she +induced him to accompany her. As she was leading him to the servants' +entrance she saw what she jumped to the conclusion was the dim outline +of Dorothy's figure at the end of the lawn. On the instant she started +him on the chase. Doing as Dorothy had done, keeping under the shadow +of the hedge, taking advantage of their preoccupation, he was on them +before either of the pair had suspected his propinquity; and, with a +grin, was holding out a pair of handcuffs. + +"Now, my lad, your right hand, and, Miss Dorothy Gilbert, your +left--sorry to inconvenience you, but business is business." + +The speaker, however, was taking too much for granted in supposing +that, having surprised his prey, the rest would be perfectly easy; and +the way in which he learnt his error probably took him at least as +much by surprise as he had taken them. It took but an instant for +Dorothy's companion to grasp the situation; and even less for him to +decide upon a course of action. As the unsuspecting constable was +suggesting, with a grin, that they should hold out their hands to +permit of his handcuffing them together, the man took him by the +shoulder, whirled him round, and sent him spinning down the steep +bank, on the verge of which he had been standing, into the river. Ere +the noise of the splash which he had made as he entered the water had +died away someone came running towards them across the lawn. It was +Frances Vernon. She called out as she came: + +"Dorothy! Dorothy! some policemen are at the front door! Oh, Dorothy!" + +Nor was Miss Vernon alone. Behind her came another figure, also +feminine. It was the indignant and law-respecting West; who, as was +immediately made evident, had seen the treatment which had been +accorded her lover with feelings which were not too deep for words. + +"And there's been a policeman here!--and he's took her prisoner!--and +he was the first to do it!--she's his prisoner, that's what she +is!--only that great brute shoved him into the river. I saw him do +it!--and there he's drowning now for all he cares!--'Gustus! 'Gustus! +You great coward, why don't you jump in and pull him out!--he was only +doing his duty!--do you want to have him drowned before your eyes? +'Gustus! Is that you, 'Gustus?" + +Descending the bank with all possible care, the agitated West got as +near to the water's edge as she dared, peering into the murky stream +for some signs of the being she loved. There were sounds on the lawn +behind them. The man laid his hand on Dorothy's shoulder. + +"Down the steps!--into the boat! I don't mean to let them take us like +this; there's something which I must say to you first--quick!" How she +had got there she scarcely knew; but all at once the girl found +herself seated in a small boat, which wobbled portentously as the man +followed her into it. "Steady!" she heard him say. Whether he was +speaking to himself, to her, or to the boat, she was not sure. "Don't +move; keep perfectly still; we shall be all right. Damn the sculls! +Where the devil is that rowlock? I've got it!" The boat moved forward; +then stopped, with a jar. It seemed they had run into another +boat--the presence of which moved her companion to wrath. "Hollo!--who +are you?--what the deuce are you doing there? Get out of the way, if +you don't want me to run you down!" + +A voice replied--a voice which Dorothy knew well: + +"Gently! gently! Listen to me! Hug the shore for about two hundred +yards and you'll find a cut; go down it and, made fast to the opposite +bank, under the trees, you'll find a houseboat. It belongs to old +Vernon; it's empty now; go aboard; for the present you'll be safer +there than anywhere, I'll see to that; I'll put them off the scent. +I'll come as soon as ever I can; wait for me there till I come. Off +you go!" + +And off they went, just as burly figures began to appear on the edge +of the lawn. As they moved, almost noiselessly, through the water, the +man asked Dorothy: + +"Who was that spoke to us, and talked about a cut, and a houseboat? I +couldn't get a proper sight of him. Did you know him?" + +"I think," said Dorothy--as if she were not sure--"that it was Mr +Frazer." + +As if she had not recognised his voice with just as much certainty as +she had done her companion's! + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + AN INTERLUDE + + +With sensations which she would not have found it easy to describe, +Miss Frances Vernon felt a great hand grip her by the shoulder with a +degree of roughness to which she was unaccustomed, and heard a coarse +voice exclaim: + +"I arrest you! You're my prisoner?" The speaker seemed to be a little +short of breath; she realised that he had been running towards her +across the lawn; but shortness of breath did not prevent his +tightening his grip upon her shoulder until it was all she could do to +keep herself from crying out with pain. But she managed to keep still. +It dawned on her that she had been mistaken for Dorothy; and that the +longer the mistake continued the better start the girl would have. Her +captor was joined by someone else--evidently his superior officer. +"I've got her, sir--here she is." + +The new-comer seemed also to be having some trouble with his breathing +apparatus; words came from him in gasps. + +"What's--your name--young woman?" + +Frances hesitated; then, turning, as far as her captor would permit +her to do, she looked at as much of her questioner's face as she could +see in the darkness. + +"What business is it of yours what my name is? How dare you ask me +such a question?" + +But the officer was not to be put off like that. + +"It's no use your trying that tone with me. I've a right to ask you +that question, and I do ask it. Are you Dorothy Gilbert? If you +decline to answer I shall conclude that you are, and you're a +prisoner." + +"You may conclude what you like. While this coward keeps on hurting +me, as he is doing now, I'll answer no questions; if he removes his +hand from my shoulder I may, but while he continues torturing me I +certainly won't." + +"Are you hurting her, Jenkins?" + +"No, sir; I've just got hold of her tight enough to keep her from +getting away." + +"Let go of her shoulder! Take her by the arm. Now, young woman, no +nonsense. Are you Dorothy Gilbert?" + +A voice came from the bank below them; the agitated West had suddenly +woke to some consciousness of what was going on behind her. + +"Dorothy Gilbert! Who's Dorothy Gilbert? That's not her!' You great +stupids, that's not her! That's not her!" + +West appeared at the top of the steps--if anything, more agitated than +ever. + +"Who are you?" asked the officer. + +"Is that you, Sergeant Batters? Mr Batters, you know very well who I +am--I'm Eliza West, that's who I am. It was me who came to the station +and told you where Dorothy Gilbert was, and that hundred pounds reward +is mine. I've fairly earned it, I have; I call everyone to witness! If +you chaps hadn't been such slowcoaches you'd have her safe enough: +it's hardly a minute since she went off with another chap. My +'Gustus--his name's Carter, and his number 294--he took her prisoner, +she's his lawful prisoner, that's what she is; only the chap she's +gone off with he chucked my 'Gustus into the river, and there he is at +this moment, drowned for all I know." + +West's strident voice rose almost to a wail; but no sooner had she +ceased than another voice was heard, coming again from the bank below +them. + +"Easy, Eliza, easy!--it's not so bad as that! I've got as much water +inside me as I care to swallow, and my uniform's about done for; but +that's about the worst. Let alone that I can swim, he didn't throw me +in so deep; if it hadn't been for the weeds I'd have been ashore +before this, only I couldn't speak a word because of the water that +had got in my throat." A hatless figure came up the bank, whose owner +seemed conscious that, in his then condition, in that light, he might +be unrecognisable. "It's me, sergeant--Carter, two, nine, four. I have +to report that I arrested the girl, Dorothy Gilbert----" + +"That you did, 'Gustus, I saw you do it; and that hundred pounds is +mine--fairly earned!" + +"Now, Eliza, I'm talking; you mind your own business, and leave that +hundred pounds alone. I also arrested the chap who was with her; only, +just as I was going to put the handcuffs on the pair of them, he +chucked me into the river and that's how it is, sergeant." + +Still a third voice joined in the conference; in spite of its easy +suavity it was obviously one which was used to command. + +"Policemen here? What is the meaning of this?" + +The speaker came up the steps, on to the lawn. + +"Is this the man," inquired Mr Batters of Mr Carter, "whom you +arrested and who assaulted you?" + +Mr Carter shook his head. + +"No, sergeant, that's not the man; nothing like him." + +The new-comer approached. + +"Are you a sergeant of police? As Mr Vernon is a relative of mine, I +should like to know what you, and your men, are doing on his grounds. +I am the Earl of Strathmoira." + +"Beg pardon, my lord, but I've come here to arrest the young woman +who's wanted for the Newcaster murder, of which perhaps your lordship +may have heard." + +"Gracious! Are you looking for a person of that description on Mr +Vernon's premises?" + +"Fact is, my lord, I'm given to understand that she's a friend of the +people here, and that she was here hardly two minutes ago. This man +says he arrested her, together with a person who appears to have been +in collusion with her; whereupon her accomplice threw this man into +the river, and got off with her in a boat. If your lordship came by +the river they may have passed you; you may have noticed them." + +"My good sir, do you suppose that, on a night like this, when a big +storm is evidently very close at hand, and one's sole aim is to reach +shelter before it comes, that one has nothing better to do than notice +strangers who may happen to pass you on the river? There's a flash for +you! Why, if it's not my cousin, Miss Vernon. My dear Frances, I was +wondering who you were when that flash of lightning kindly showed me; +it has grown so dark that I doubt if I ever should have known you +without its aid. Pray tell me what these persons are doing here." + +Advancing to Frances, he took her hand in his, with a warmth of +greeting which she seemed scarcely inclined to reciprocate. She seemed +to find his presence not only unexpected, but something else as well; +as if in his calm, easy bearing, and soft, plausible speech, she +saw something which half-puzzled, half-frightened her. As, as if +tongue-tied, she stood before him as he continued to hold her hand, +the woman West said, speaking in tones which suggested that she was +possessed by an inward excitement which rendered her almost +inarticulate: + +"'Gustus--sergeant--he's diddling you--sure as you're standing there, +he's diddling you! Pretending that he don't know anything about +Dorothy Gilbert, or what you're here for! Why, he's her special +friend!--it was he who brought her here last night. I saw him with +her--with my own eyes I saw him! And I tell you something else about +him, sergeant: although it's true enough that he's the Earl of +Strathmoira, all the same for that his private name is Eric Frazer, +and he's wanted as well as her. There's a warrant out against him--I +see it in the paper--for half killing that young gipsy on Newcaster +Heath, who wanted to give her away to you chaps; and it's through him +that she got clean off, and it was he who brought her straight from +Newcaster here. So you take him prisoner, sergeant, before he does a +bolt like she's done; but, whether you do or whether you don't, I call +everyone to witness that I've given you the information, and that +hundred pounds is fairly mine--yes, and it's fairly mine twice +over!--twice over it's mine!" + +By the time she had finished, the woman had raised her voice to a +hysteric screech. Plainly the sergeant did not know what to make of +her. + +"What is the woman talking about? Carter, you seem to understand her +better than I do; what's she mean?" + +Mr Carter addressed the lady who loved him. + +"If you take my tip, Eliza, you won't let us hear so much about the +hundred pounds; it's all you can talk about." + +"Well!--what else have I got to talk about? If it hadn't been for the +hundred pounds, do you think I'd have said a word?--not me! And now, +because you policemen are such blockheads, it looks as likely as not +that I'm going to be done out of it after all; first you let the girl +go, and now you won't take the man who's hand and glove with her; all +the lot of you will let him fool you if he likes!--a pack of idiots +you policemen are!--you're all the same!" + +There was a diversion from the constable who had put his hand on +Frances Vernon's shoulder. + +"Excuse me, sergeant, but I think I know what she means; I saw about +it in the paper, what she says; it's right enough that there is a +warrant out for Eric Frazer, according to the paper." + +"But I can't act on a mere statement which you say you saw in a paper, +which may or may not be true. In the absence of official instructions +I can't accept responsibility for what a newspaper says." + +The Earl of Strathmoira applauded this explanation of the speaker's +point of view. + +"Precisely, sergeant; I am glad to find that there is one sensible +person present. This woman, who, I fancy, is one of Mr Vernon's +servants, is probably not quite right in her head; she is certainly +not worthy either of your attention or mine. Come, Frances, this +unpleasant scene has upset you; never mind! Let's go up to the house; +possibly they'll be able to tell us there what all this pother is +about." + +West laid her hand on Mr Carter's arm. + +"'Gustus, don't you let him fool you; don't you let him go--don't you +let him! If Mr Batters won't arrest him, you arrest him on your own; +you'll be blamed if you don't! You know I'm no fool--what I tell you's +gospel truth; he's wanted as much as she is--take him on your own." + +The faithful Carter hesitated. Drawing the woman close to him, he +looked her steadily in the face; apparently on the strength of what he +saw there he made the plunge, moving towards the object of the +discussion with the simple statement: + +"You're my prisoner, my lord." + +The earl eyed him; then laughed. + +"Your prisoner, my good man--are you joking?" + +"No, my lord, I am not joking, I must ask you to consider yourself +under arrest." + +"On what charge?" + +The woman cried out: + +"I charge him, if it comes to that! I charge him with aiding and +abetting Dorothy Gilbert to escape, and also with being her +accomplice--if you take him to the station, 'Gustus, you'll find that +you've done right." + +The earl turned to Mr Batters. + +"Sergeant, will you be so good as to recommend this man to be careful +what he say and does, before he has cause for serious regret." + +Instead, however, of doing as he was requested, the sergeant threw in +his lot with his subordinate. + +"I am sorry, my lord, to subject you to any inconvenience; but I am +afraid I must ask you to accompany us to the station till this matter +has been cleared up." + +"Accompany you to the station! But suppose I decline?" + +"I regret, my lord, that I cannot allow you to decline. This matter is +more serious than you appear to think. I myself say nothing either one +way or the other; but I notice that you have not attempted to deny the +statements which have been made against you; and I have no option but +to request you to come with me to the station to permit of their being +properly gone into." + +The earl addressed Mr Carter. + +"My man! take care! Let me strongly advise you not to presume to touch +me!" + +The sergeant interposed. + +"If your lordship will give me your word that you will accompany us +quietly to the station I, on my side, will undertake that you shall be +subjected to no personal indignity; only in so grave a matter we can't +take any risks; you must give me your word, my lord. Do you do so?" + +"Does he! No, he doesn't. Look out, 'Gustus--he's going to give you +the slip." + +This was West, in whom the instinct of the huntress seemed to be +preternaturally keen. The sergeant exclaimed: + +"None of that, my lord! Hold him, Carter!" But the sergeant's warning +came too late--to hold his prisoner was more that Carter could do, +since, before the warning came, he was already out of his sight. A +second time that evening he was to be disappointed of his prey. West +was right; his lordship gave him the slip. Running down the bank, he +had leapt into the water before they could stop him--indeed, so far +were they from stopping him it was all the sergeant and Mr Carter +could do to keep themselves from--quite unintentionally--going after +him. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE HOUSEBOAT + + +The boat hugged the shore as closely as Eric Frazer had advised; being +propelled with a skill, and swiftness, considering the difficulties +with which he had to contend, which at least showed that the person +who had stated that his name was Arnecliffe was engaged in a task with +which he was familiar. Presently its progress become slower; the +sculler was endeavouring, as best he could, to make out his +surroundings. + +"Curious how deceptive this light--if you can call it light--is; and +the lightning makes it worse. Have you any knowledge of this country?" + +"None; I saw it for the first time this morning." + +"There seems to be an opening here, which might be a cut, or +backwater--I believe it is. We'll try it. Look out! The trees hang +over the water, and the branches are low. What is that over there? +It's a houseboat; I wonder if it's the one to which your mysterious +friend referred. It's dark enough. Do you know what the name of +Vernon's houseboat is?" Dorothy knew nothing, and said so. "Anyhow +we'll pay a call. If it's the wrong one we can only apologise." He +brought the skiff alongside the sombre craft, which seemed to soar +above them into the darkness. The girl landed first. "Try that door," +he said. "That's it--right in front of you." + +She turned the handle. + +"It's open," she announced. + +"Good! Gross carelessness on somebody's part, to leave a houseboat's +front door unlocked, but good for us." Tying up the skiff, he landed +also. "Wait a minute: let me go in first, in case there's anyone +inside." He passed through the door which she had opened. "Hollo! +Anyone here?" None answered. "Seems empty; I think you may come in +without running much risk of intruding on somebody's privacy." She +went in after him. "I'll strike a match, so that we can see what sort +of place it is we're in." He held the flickering flame above his head. +"Seems to be a decent sort of apartment--living-room, I presume. If +this is his property it strikes me that Mr Vernon is a gentleman who +is possessed both of taste and money." + +The match went out. + +"Hollo! this won't do; we must have some light upon the subject. I +can't say to you what I want to say unless I see your face--not +comfortably, I can't; and I should like you to see mine as I'm saying +it." + +"I should like to see it too." + +"Should you? Then you shall; there's a hanging lamp in the centre +here; we'll see each other by its light. Now we'll pull down the +blinds--capital blinds these are; well fitting. If there should be any +suspicious characters about, they won't see us through these blinds; +they're pretty nearly as good as shutters. Now, Miss Gilbert, with +your very kind permission, I should like to see what you look like." +By the lamp's glow the man and the girl surveyed each other; she +standing very straight, and he stooping a little forward. He smiled; +the smile giving his mouth an odd effect of being twisted. "You're +like your father." + +"Am I? Am I like my mother?" + +"No; I don't think you are; not as I remember her." + +"Did you know her well?" + +"Very; once. But your resemblance to your father's weird. It isn't +only features; it's the altogether--the way you have of looking at +me--they might be your father's eyes; the way you have of holding +yourself--just a little stiffly; the way your head's poised on your +neck--as if it wouldn't bend; why, you've even got your father's +hands--I noticed it as you pulled down the blind. You're his feminine +replica." + +"I'm glad of that." + +"If he could only have heard you say that, before it was too late, +what a difference it would have made! What--what a curious chap he +was. If he could only come and see you now, he would see himself in +you; he could not help it; and any lingering doubts he had would have +gone for ever." + +"Why do you say that? What doubts had he?" + +He hesitated; as if he searched for words; then again came that wry +smile of his. + +"Miss Gilbert, it's not a pretty story I have to tell you; and it may +sound uglier than it might be made because, circumstanced as we are, I +am hardly in a position to pick and choose my phrases. Time is short; +I must get to the end of my tale by the shortest way. I don't know who +your mysterious friend who sent us here may be; but if, as he said he +was, he is coming here, he may come soon. And since, when he does +come, circumstances may arise which will render it difficult for me to +communicate with you on confidential matters, it would be well if what +I have to say to you were said quickly. So, if my story sounds even +less pleasant than it need do, will you forgive me--since time +presses?" + +"Of course I will forgive you--you know I will." + +"Thank you; I believe I do know it. I wondered what sort of person I +should find you; but now, I think that, if the Fates had been more +propitious, I might have been your friend, as I was your father's." +She said nothing, but her lips quivered; something flashed from her +eyes to his. "Won't you sit down? Compress it as I may, my story will +take some minutes; as I said, it's not a very pretty one; and--you +look tired." + +"I would rather stand; I couldn't sit still; I find it so hard to sit +still. Tell me about my mother." + +"Your mother? I'm afraid I haven't much to tell you about your mother; +my story is chiefly about your father. You see, there's disappointment +number one. I take it that your knowledge of this funny world is not a +very wide one; I fancy you don't see much of it in a convent; so what +I'm going to tell you may sound very strange--to you; but it isn't: +it's quite commonplace. It's a story which will be told over and over +again, with variations--and even the variations are not new--until the +crack of doom. Your mother and father were very much in love with each +other, before they were married, and when they married; but soon after +they were married they quarrelled. Not long before you were born they +separated, never to meet again." + +"Poor mother!" + +"Yes; you may well say it--Fortune used her ill. She died in giving +you birth." + +"Mother!" This time there was no prefix; the superlative was expressed +without it. Then she added: "What father must have felt!" + +Again the wry smile. + +"No doubt, when he heard of your mother's death, he felt many things; +but if among them were any feelings of sorrow he kept them hid. He +wouldn't go to you mother's funeral; he refused to see you." + +"What a wicked man he must have been; I am sorry I am like him." + +"There's the tragedy; because, you see, he doubted if you were his +child." The girl said nothing; but there came into her face an +eloquence which was beyond any form of words. The sight of it seemed +to occasion him pain; he went hurrying on: "You were brought up by +nurses. So far as I know the only time you ever saw him was when he +took you to that Brittany convent, where he left you till the other +day." + +"And you say he was my father?" + +"There again's the tragedy: he was. Your mother wasn't the wisest of +women--few people are altogether wise--but she was not the kind of +person he, in his haste, thought she was; in that sense, she was a +true wife to him. In very truth, and very deed, if ever a child was +her father's child, you are his. I never doubted it; not once; and now +it is as if the finger of God had written the truth all over you. If +he had only seen you, he would have seen God's finger--have known what +a foolish man he'd been." + +"But why did he never come to see me--or write to me--once?" + +"He was, as I have said, a curious man; and having made up his mind +finally, though on the most imperfect premises; he would have died +rather than unmake it; indeed, he did die. But although, as I have +told you, when your mother died he made no pretence at sorrow, her +death, the whole tragedy of his marriage, changed the whole aspect of +the world for him: he was never the same man again; his whole life was +spoiled. He did many foolish things, and very few wise ones--he did +nearly all the foolish things a man could do. He lost money; he made +it; he lost it again. There were times when he had scarcely a +shilling; there were others when he had thousands of pounds. Did he +ever send you money?" + +"Never; not so much as a franc. I believe that often he didn't pay my +bills at the convent; I think that sometimes the Sisters were afraid +that he never would pay." + +"Those, I apprehend, were the times when he was without a shilling. As +years went on, I have a theory that he began to be haunted--haunted by +thoughts of what might have been. I believe that he grew to love your +mother more and more." + +"Love her! When he had treated her like that! What did he understand +by love?" + +"This is a curious world, and men contain, in themselves, the most +singular contradictions. I doubt if he had ever ceased to love her, +even when he was most bitter against her; more, I believe that it was +because he loved her so much that he was so bitter. Can't you +understand how that might be?" + +"I think--I think I can." + +"It was for love of her he died." + +"How--how can that be?" + +"It was so. He was an old man before his time. Each year his +constitution failed more and more. During one of his periodic attacks +of bad health, when his strength was at its lowest ebb, he came upon +some papers, of whose very existence, by one of those diabolical +mischances which Fortune loves to deal us, he had been ignorant, +through all those years. They were some letters of your mother's; and +they proved, even to him, what an injustice he had done her. The shock +killed him. They found him dead, with her letters in his hand. Had he +cared nothing for her he would have been little moved by the discovery +of her written words; but his heart had been breaking for years; the +revelation of how unjust he had been to her broke it altogether. That +is why I say that, for love of her, he died." + +"Poor father!" + +"Yes; you may well say that also; it was 'poor father' as well as +'poor mother'--life's little ironies! His history was one of the +strangest with which I have been personally acquainted. Not the least +strange part of it is the fact that, not long before he died, he would +persist in embarking in what seemed to me to be some wild-cat +speculations, which, by an astounding series of accidents, turned out +amazingly well; with the result that, though he had been a needy man +for years, at the moment of his death he was actually rich. His will +was found written on one side of a sheet of notepaper. It was dated +only a few weeks before the end; so that he must have drawn it up as +soon as he learnt that a turn of Fortune's wheel had brought him +wealth. By it he left every farthing he possessed to you, absolutely, +to do with it what you choose. So that--you're an heiress." + +The girl's glance had never once left his face; it was as if she had +been trying to read on it more than his words conveyed. Now she stared +at him with amazement in her eyes. + +"But--I don't understand. When Mr Emmett came to the convent he said +that my father had not left a penny; that he had died owing him a +large sum of money, and that it was only out of charity he paid what +the Sisters were owed." + +Once more his lips were twisted by that wry smile. + +"Mr Emmett? Oh yes, I'm coming to Mr Emmett now; and--there's the +rub." + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + WHY HE KILLED HIM + + +Something in the speaker's face, in his voice, his air, prompted the +girl to make a suggestion. + +"You are tired. Won't you act on the advice which you gave me. Won't +you sit down and rest?" + +He shook his head. + +"I admit I'm tired; I've been tired for quite a while, yet, I can +manage to keep on, and, like you, I doubt if I'd be rested by trying +to sit still. How the storm has come up; we were lucky to get here in +time. I'm afraid it's spoilt the procession of boats; they were +forming just as I was starting in search of you. What with the noise +the rain makes clattering on the roof--I hope there's nothing on it to +spoil; and the wind among the trees, and the rending thunder-claps, I +shall soon have to speak louder if I want you to hear me." + +"You need not. I shall hear every word you say, even though the noise +grows greater." + +Throughout they had been standing by the table, which occupied the +centre of the cabin, almost within a foot of each other. Her girlish +figure erect, and, as he put it, a little stiff; her hands at her +sides, her head erect upon her pretty neck, her eyes fixed on his +face. He, with his broad shoulders, and a trick of stooping which +detracted from his unusual height; his right hand resting on the +table, his left used now and then to point his words; his queer face, +with its suggestion of whimsical humour blended with what she now saw +was a look of pain. The man had appealed to her when, from behind the +sheltering draperies, she had seen him first; now he appealed to her +still more. Although he was so much the elder, she had an odd feeling +that she would like to comfort him. At the moment he appeared to be +unconscious of her gaze, but held his head a little on one side, as if +he were listening for something, in the hurly-burly of the storm. +Then, with a gesture which suggested weariness more than ever, he +turned and looked her again in the face, drawing himself, with what +seemed to be an effort, a little straighter. + +"George Emmett? Oh yes, I was coming to George Emmett." He did not +seem to be in any hurry to go on with him; she waiting in silence with +what seemed understanding of his mood. When he went on it was more +slowly than before; as if his thoughts were hardly in sympathy with +his words; as if, indeed, he were deliberately trying to find words +which only gave imperfect expression to his thoughts. "George Emmett +was not a person whom one would care to offer as a fair example of +humanity. It's easy to say that we should speak no ill of the dead; +but it's not easy to speak well of George Emmett; and I have to speak +of him. His lines ran more or less parallel with mine for a good many +years; and I never knew him forget himself sufficiently to do anything +of which he had any cause to be proud. Miss Gilbert, he was not a nice +man." + +"I know he wasn't." + +"Then you did know him?" + +"Of course I knew him; you know I did." + +"Do I? I'm not sure what I know on that point; later, I may come to +you for information. At least, it seems, you knew him well enough to +be aware that he was not, in all respects, a nice man." + +"Indeed! He was like a nightmare to me from the first moment I saw +him. As I grew to know him better I don't know if I hated or feared +him more." + +"You seem to have reproduced your mother's feelings towards George +Emmett." + +"Did my mother know him?" + +"To her sorrow. He chose to think himself in love with her--he did +choose, now and then, to think himself in love." Dorothy recalled the +fashion of his wooing her; and shuddered. "Because she preferred your +father--who, compared to him, was as Hyperion to a satyr--he chose to +consider himself aggrieved; and when George Emmett had a grievance he +invested it, and drew the interest, and waited for a time when he +could realise at a thumping profit. He was a bad friend; but a worse +enemy. When your mother declined his advances he promised her that he +would make her smart for it; she herself told me of his promise. He +kept his word. He spoilt her life, and your father's also." + +"But how? You told me just now it was because they quarrelled." + +"He was the provocative influence. When your father was a young man he +owed George Emmett money; nearly everyone who came in contact with +Emmett did owe him money; even your mother. He used his influence with +your father to breed in his mind suspicion of your mother; which would +not have been an easy thing to do had not your mother, in her hatred +of the man, actually gone out of her way to help him. It was a case of +two simpletons and a blackguard--they were like putty in his hands. +It's a long and a tangled tale; but the end was as I've told you. +Emmett's grievance against your mother didn't die with her. It lived +on. For years, financially, your father was always more or less in his +toils; and Emmett never lost an opportunity of fostering in him the +feeling of resentment at what he supposed was your mother's treachery; +it was as if someone had been continually dropping an irritant on an +open sore; the result was a festering horror. At last, even your +father realised that the thing had become past bearing. He did what, +if he had been another man, he might have done years before: he +strained every nerve--such nerves as he had left--to rid himself of +the incubus. And he succeeded. And though, when all was done, he was +practically a beggar, his freedom was cheap even at the price which he +had paid. The odd thing was that, scarcely was he beggared, when +Fortune, in one of her most fantastic moods, tossed wealth into his +hands--so that he was a rich man when he died. I was abroad at the +time of his death; but, as soon as I heard the news, I hurried home. I +found his will; I found his fortune; I found that he had left the +whole conduct of affairs in my hands; and, also, for the first time I +learned your address. I had never known it before; he was the only +person who had known it. I believe it was the only secret he ever +kept; and, for keeping it, I find it hard to forgive him even now. Had +I only been acquainted with your whereabouts I should have +communicated with you, both at regular and irregular intervals. I +should have asked you to regard me as a deputy father." + +"I could not have done that, ever." + +"No; I suppose you couldn't." But he meant one thing; and, in her +heart, she meant another. He went on: "So soon as I did know your +address I tore off by the very next boat and train to see you. I can +give you no idea of what were my feelings of amazement when the good +ladies at the convent told me that you had gone." + +"But didn't you know that I had gone?" + +"Didn't I know that you had gone! Did I know that the heavens had +fallen! I have had some curious moments in my life; but I verily +believe that the one in which I learnt that you had left the convent +with Mr George Emmett was the most singular of them all." + +"But had he no right to take me away?" + +"Right! That--that--we must not speak ill of the dead, so I will +say--that gentleman!" + +"But he said he was my guardian." + +"So those ladies told me. If the dead have any knowledge of what takes +place in this world, I wonder what your father's feelings were when he +became informed of his assumption of that--delicate office; I should +think he nearly jumped out of his grave. Especially as he must have +been conscious that the fault was again his own. Emmett was within +easy distance of the place at which your father died. He got there +before I did; and he gained access to your father's papers. +Fortunately he was interrupted before, as was supposed, he had an +opportunity to work any material mischief; but not, apparently, before +he had obtained at least two pieces of information. I have no doubt +that he found out how much money your father had left; obviously, +also, your address; and on that information he promptly acted. He +never lacked audacity; but when he carried you off in that fashion his +courage must surely have been at its highest." For the first time the +speaker showed signs of restlessness; beginning to move about the +cabin as if constrained to find relief for his feelings in motion of +some sort. "The most astounding part of it was, that he had duped +those innocent females with a completeness which was bewildering; no +one had the dimmest notion where he had gone, with you; he had left no +tracks behind him. A man with an unknown motor car, who knows the +highways and byways of Europe better than some people know their back +gardens, is not always an easy object to trace. I got wind of him +again and again; but I believe some occult sense warned him of my +pursuit; more than once it was as if he had slipped through my +fingers; till at last I could get no news of him at all. It was as if +he had vanished into space. So far I had chased him singlehanded; +feeling that this was an account which I should like to settle with +him singlehanded; but, in the end, I retired, beaten; resolved to +employ those resources of civilisation which, hitherto, I had +slighted; and, on the very day on which I had finally so resolved, I +found him." The man was working himself into a state of excitement +which was communicating itself to his listener; as was plain from the +strained eagerness with which she was hanging on his every word. "You +remember Billson?" + +"Oh yes, I remember Billson; I shall not easily forget him." + +"I also remembered Billson--luckily. I had been visiting a friend when +I saw, outside a tavern door, a motor car, with a chauffeur standing +by it whom I seemed to recognise. For a second I hesitated; then I had +it; it was Billson, Emmett's chauffeur. At the same instant he +recognised me and, scrambling into the car, would have been off if I +hadn't stopped him. The fellow had been drinking." + +"It seemed to me that he always had." + +"Like his master." + +"The master used to get more horribly drunk than the man." + +"Pleasant society for you to be alone in." + +"It wasn't--nice." + +The word came from her with a little gasp; which, as he noticed it, +seemed to increase Arnecliffe's restlessness. + +"I couldn't get anything out of him at first. It was only when I made +it quite clear that if he didn't tell me what I wanted to know I +should hand him over to the nearest policeman that he began to tell me +things, for some of which I could have twisted his neck off his +shoulders, then and there, only I refrained. Finally, he informed me +that his master's address, for at least that night, was 'The Bolton +Arms Hotel,' Newcaster. As to whether or not you were in his company +he professed ignorance, and, possibly, he did not know. Within +half-an-hour I was being borne as fast as an express could carry me to +Newcaster. It was latish in the evening when I got there. When I +reached 'The Bolton Arms' they told me Mr Emmett was dining. I said to +the waiter that my name was Gilbert. I hardly know why; I had a sort +of hazy idea that he would come rushing down to see what Gilbert it +could possibly be. Then I called the waiter back, and, scribbling 'A +messenger from Harry Gilbert' on a scrap of paper, sent him up with +that instead. When Emmett came down he was inclined to bluster, but +the house was crowded. Many of those who were there I fancy knew him, +either by sight or reputation. He was quick enough at appreciating the +odds on any given event; he saw that here was a case in which bluster +wouldn't pay. He took me upstairs to his private sitting-room; we +found it empty. I had a notion that finding it empty was a surprise to +him. The dinner-table was laid for two; I had a strong feeling that he +had expected to find whoever it was he had been dining with still at +table; that the discovery of his, or her, absence came upon him with +something of a shock. I asked him with whom he had been dining. He +said with his wife. 'Your wife!' I cried. He laughed, and said that he +was perhaps a little in front of events in speaking of her as his +wife; but that she ought to be his wife; and that, if she behaved +herself, before long she should be. She came of a bad stock, he added, +and his treatment of her entirely depended on her own behaviour. +Knowing that he had been tearing about Europe with you; thinking of +what Billson had told me; his suggestiveness, his words, his tone, his +manner, these things were pretty hard to bear. Oh, I'll go into a +court of justice, and admit that I'd have liked to have taken him by +the throat and have choked the life out of him then and there. I asked +him where you were. He looked me up and down, evidently inquiring of +himself how much I knew, and then said that you were in safe-keeping +hundreds of miles from Newcaster." + +"But I was there, in the room!" + +Mr Arnecliffe stared. + +"There, in the room? But how could that have been possible?" + +She explained. He stared still more. + +"Did he know?" + +"I couldn't say; it was not easy to tell what he knew. I wondered +then, and I've wondered since." + +"Then you heard all that was said?" + +"I heard, without understanding. You've no idea what a state of mind I +was in; I was more than half out of my wits. I don't remember a single +word either of you said; you might have been talking in a foreign +tongue. I didn't seem to hear your words then. You see, I didn't know +who you were; I didn't even know who he was, except that he said he +was my guardian; that I seemed wholly at his mercy; and that I was in +mortal terror of him. All that you have said about my father, and +mother, and everything is strange to me. In that room at 'The Bolton +Arms' I was the most ignorant, helpless, friendless, miserable +creature in the world!" + +"What had taken place between you?" + +"He wanted me to marry him; he had wanted to before. He said I should +have to marry him, and it seemed to me I should, and I would rather +have died." + +"You saw what took place, if you didn't hear?" + +"Oh yes, I saw; and--and----" + +"That was the worst?" + +"No, no; that is not what I was going to say; nor was that what I +felt. I didn't know who you were; I didn't know what your quarrelling +with him was about; yet, I felt that you were my friend." + +"By what instinct?" + +"I can hardly tell you; I suppose it was an instinct of +self-preservation. You see, I was half paralysed with fear; all my +remaining senses were bound up in the desire to escape from him--that +was the only thing for which I cared--to escape." + +"Then you did not hear what was the actual provocation?" + +"No; I think I heard you say he was a thief; but I am not sure; even +that may have been only in imagination." + +"I did say he was a thief. He was trying to steal your money; he had +stolen you; he had stolen many things in his time; he was a thief many +times over. But I said more than that." He paused; again his mouth was +twisted by that whimsical smile. "All these things which I am saying +to you I should not say--at least, in such a shape--were it not that, +placed as I am, I must take the fullest advantage of the only +opportunity which is ever likely to offer. You and I are meeting for +the first time and the last; we shall never see each other again." + +"Why?" + +Again the pause, and the smile. + +"In courts of justice, out of England, sentimental reasons sometimes +prevail; but, in England, no. The stronger the motive, the greater the +crime. As when you and I bid each other, presently, good-bye I shall +entrust myself to the safe-keeping of our excellent police, it is not +unlikely that, in the book which contains my story, the last page is +practically finished, and that the colophon is all that remains to be +added." She was still; but not with the stillness which signifies +acquiescence. He went on: "I say this in order that you may understand +why it is that I think it desirable that you should be placed in +possession of certain facts which you ought to know; even though I may +have to do it with what seems brutal brusqueness. That, also, is why +I'm anxious to take advantage of the only chance which I am ever +likely to have to assure you that I did not do what I did without what +seemed to me then, and seems to me still, to be sufficient +provocation. He made a certain definite, hideous statement regarding +your mother, and regarding you; and when I warned him to be careful, +and withdraw it, he said that, so far from withdrawing it, he would +proclaim it publicly wherever he went; and because, knowing the man, I +believed that he would do so I killed him." + +"I should not have blamed you if you had done so; I think I would have +done it myself if I had dared; but--you didn't kill him." + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + THE TELEGRAM + + +Mr Arnecliffe regarded the girl, in silence, for a second or two, as +if puzzled; when he did speak it seemed, from the question he put, +that he had not grasped her meaning. + +"Then, from your post of vantage, you did not see all that occurred?" + +"I saw you hit him." + +"And with that blow I killed him. If, by your words, you mean that +this was a case in which killing was no murder--that's another story. +Should I be asked, in the dock, if my intent were homicidal, I doubt +if, even with the rope dangling in front of me, I should be able to +say that it was not. With a clear conscience I could not confidently +assert that the design to kill him did not come into my heart the +moment Billson told me that he was at 'The Bolton Arms Hotel.'" + +"All the same, you did not kill him." + +"You say that, having seen me? I am not afraid to bear the +consequences of what I did; I am even not ashamed of what I did. I +will certainly not seek salvation by attempting to conceal plain +facts." + +"But you have your facts all wrong. You know only half the story; I +know it all. I doubt if I'm not as much responsible for his death as +you are." + +"Child, you're dreaming. How can that be, since, when I found him he +was alive, and when I left him he was dead?" + +"In the first place, I believe I knew, all along, that you were going +to kill him; I had, in a way I can't describe, a premonition of what +was going to happen." + +"So, even from behind your curtain, you perceived, from the first, my +homicidal intention--which makes it bad for me." + +"But still worse for me; because I might have saved him had I chose; +but I didn't choose. My one feeling was that you were going to help me +to escape; and--I was glad." + +"Is that what you meant when you said that part of the responsibility +was yours, you fantastic child?" + +"No; I will tell you what I meant, if you will listen--and you will +see that I'm not fantastic." + +She told him what had happened after he left the sitting-room, having +propped George Emmett up in his chair. Of how the supposed dead man +had been laid on the table; of how, when she was left alone with him +in the darkness, she had heard sounds which unmistakably showed that +he was coming back to life; and of how, in his struggles, he had +fallen from the table on to the floor. He heard her with growing +amazement; interrupting her now and then with exclamations. When she +had finished he was silent; as if he were turning over what she had +said in his mind; then, looking her very straight in the face, he +asked her, with that queer smile of his: + +"Are you quite sure that imagination played no part in this strange +story; and that you've not told it me in the hope that it might do me +a service?" + +As she answered him her manner was disdainful. + +"In other words, you are asking if I have not deliberately told you +what I know to be false. It is no use your pretending that is not what +you asked; because, as you're very well aware, that's what your +question comes to. It so happens that there's a sequel to what you +call my strange story which may perhaps convince even you. That person +in the boat who just now advised us to take refuge here was the one +who took me from Newcaster to Mrs Vernon's house. It was he who gave +me shelter when at last I escaped from 'The Bolton Arms.'" + +"Then in that case he's a man I should very much like to know. What is +his name?" + +"He told me, Eric Frazer; but it seems that, really and truly, he's +the Earl of Strathmoira." + +She spoke as if she felt that such a style and title only ought to be +uttered in tones of reverential awe--but it was not with any show of +reverence that he heard it. + +"Strathmoira? I know something of the man. He's an eccentric." + +"Pray what do you mean by that?" + +This sterner manner suggested something very like indignation; as if +she resented what she suspected might be an imputation. He laughed at +her. + +"I assure you that I mean nothing to his disadvantage; only that he's +a person who has ideas of his own, and who puts them into practice." + +"Well, and why shouldn't he? If the ideas are not bad ones?" + +"Why shouldn't he--indeed! If more of us followed his example we might +be both happier and wiser. But--what's that sequel you were speaking +of?" + +She eyed him as if she were still in doubt as to whether or not he +hinted depreciation of the absent Mr Frazer. + +"I'm coming to it, if you'll have a second's patience. Yesterday +morning, early, he went into Newcaster, and there he learnt not only +that Mr Emmett had fallen from the table to the floor--in fact, and +not in my imagination only--but also that it was the fall which had +actually killed him, and not your blow at all." + +"How came Strathmoira to discuss the subject with you?" + +"He knew all; and I told him everything." + +"Wasn't that rather a risky thing to do?" + +"I didn't tell him anything till he had found out for himself all that +I had to tell. Besides, are you hinting that he might have betrayed +me? You say you know something of him; you can't know much! So far +from betraying me he nearly got himself into the most frightful +trouble through trying to keep me what he thought safe. I don't know +what he wouldn't have done rather than let any what he would have +called harm come to me. It frightens me when I think of it now." + +"Lucky man!" + +"I don't know why you say that. It seems to me that he was very +unlucky ever to have come across me--I bring ill-luck to everyone! It +is I who am lucky altogether beyond anything I deserve. However, I +didn't mean to discuss Mr Frazer--I mean the Earl of Strathmoira--it +seems such an extraordinary thing that an actual earl should have done +all that he did for me." + +"It does!" + +"Yes, it does! I don't know what you mean, but it is an extraordinary +thing! You can laugh at me." + +"But I wasn't!" + +"You were very nearly--however, I don't care. I was about to say that +the point is that you can see for yourself that, since it was the fall +from the table which was the cause of Mr Emmett's death, it's quite +plain that, as I said, you didn't kill him." + +"Miss Gilbert, you would make an excellent lawyer." + +"You are laughing at me again. Pray why now?" + +"I assure you that I am not doing so in any opprobrious sense. Only, +while I quite see your point, it seems to me that it's one rather for +lawyers than for a plain man." + +"Why? It is a plain statement of a plain fact!" + +"Still, the fact remains--doesn't it?--that if it had not been for the +blow I struck him he would not have died?" + +"It doesn't follow; if they hadn't put him on the table he might have +been alive now." + +"Who might have been alive now? Excuse me if I startle you; but you +were so interested in each other's conversation that, in the din of +this orchestral display with which the elements are favouring us, my +modest knocking went unnoticed. I knocked even twice; then, as I was a +little damp, I thought it possible that you might forgive me if I came +in out of the wet." + +The speaker was the _soi-disant_ Eric Frazer, whose tapping, in the +heat of their discussion, had gone unnoticed. Not alone was he, as he +put it, a little damp; he was obviously soaking wet. His clothes stuck +to him as if they were glued to his skin; looking the more remarkable +because, originally, they had been very nice clothes indeed--the +cherished productions of a fashionable tailor. His hair and moustache +were plastered to his head and face. Water trickled from him in +rivulets on to the pretty carpet which covered the cabin floor. At +sight of the spectacle which he presented Dorothy gave a cry of +dismay. + +"Oh, what has happened?" + +The new-comer looked at her with that twinkle in his eyes which she +had already found it so difficult to meet. In spite of the singularity +of his appearance, his manner was as imperturbable as ever. + +"My dear Miss Gilbert, the greatest joke. I have always wondered what +it would feel like to swim in your best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, +and now I've had such a chance of finding out. Only you can take it +from me that, in the water, patent-leather buttoned boots are a +mistake. I had to take mine off. And as I'm not quite sure where I +left them, I must beg you to forgive me if, for the moment, my feet +are only concealed from your sight by socks. May I ask you to do me +the honour of making me known to this gentleman, and this gentleman to +me." + +Dorothy looked as if she did not know what to make of him; one had a +notion that she had not once known what to make of him, since the +moment of their first meeting. + +"But you--you look as if you had been nearly drowned." + +"Not at all; merely moistened. Between ourselves, I am not sure +whether, on a night like this, it is drier in the river, or out of it. +What did you say was this gentleman's name?" + +"This is Mr Arnecliffe." + +"And I am the Earl of Strathmoira. May I take it, Mr Arnecliffe, that +you are an old friend of Miss Gilbert's?" + +"I am an old friend of her father's; and I should have hoped, if +time had permitted, to have become also a friend of his daughter's; +but--time doesn't permit." + +"Doesn't it? Is that so? Why doesn't time permit?" + +Dorothy burst out, with sudden warmth: "I wish you wouldn't talk like +that! I wish you wouldn't!" + +Strathmoira glanced from one to the other. "If Miss Gilbert wishes you +wouldn't talk like that, why do you, Mr Arnecliffe? And what might be +the meaning of your cryptic observation, anyhow?" + +"Referring to what I see the papers speak of as 'the Newcaster +tragedy'; Miss Gilbert informs me that you are already acquainted with +part of the story; her part. If I supplement it with my part, you will +find that my observation at once ceases to by cryptic." + +Strathmoira regarded the speaker as if he were endeavouring to find +out what kind of man he was; then he shook his head. + +"A cryptogram is so often spoilt by the solution; it ceases to be +mysterious directly you know what it means; and it generally means so +little. With your sanction, Miss Gilbert, I think I will hang my coat +over the back of a chair; I fancy it may dry more quickly off me than +on. I imagine, Mr Arnecliffe, that your supplement merely amounts to +the fact that you're the bottle man." + +"Practically; so you will perceive for yourself in what sense time, +for me, is limited." + +"I'm dull, Mr Arnecliffe, dull. I don't see." + +"Then I will try to make myself more explicit. As I propose, +presently, to hand myself over to the custody of the police, I am not +likely to be able to do much more in the way of making friends." + +Dorothy made as if to speak; but the earl stopped her. + +"Pardon me, Miss Gilbert, but--may I conduct what promises to be this +pleasant little discussion with Mr Arnecliffe? Why, sir, do you show +this predilection for the society of the police? And as I am rather +disposed to put myself, at the earliest possible moment, into some of +the garments which I am hopeful Mr Vernon, or his son, keeps somewhere +on the premises, will you be so good as to make your answer brief, and +to the point?" + +"You know what is the charge against me; why should I run away?--why +shouldn't I face it?" + +"You take something for granted; because, it so happens, that I don't +know there is a charge against you. I know that there is a charge +against Miss Gilbert; and also another, rather a droll one, against +me." + +"Against you!" cried the girl. "What is the charge against you?" + +His lordship waved his hand airily. + +"My dear Miss Gilbert, the police, on occasion, are such humorists, it +is not a matter of the slightest consequence. Rest easy in your mind; +I am in danger neither of penal servitude nor of execution. What I +wish to explain is, I am not aware that Mr Arnecliffe has been +explicitly mentioned in the matter at all; therefore, as I have +already remarked, it appears to me that he takes a good deal for +granted." + +"Doesn't what you have yourself said more than justify the course I +propose to pursue?" + +"How? Pray how? Do, sir, explain!" + +"You admit that a charge of complicity is being made against Miss +Gilbert, of which she is entirely innocent." + +"I am not entirely innocent! I am not!" + +"'Ssh, Miss Gilbert, 'ssh! please permit the gentleman to continue; +and we'll take the lady's innocence for granted, sir." + +"But that's just what you sha'n't do--that's just what I won't have--I +know that I'm not innocent!" + +"Very good; since the young lady apparently prefers it, we will take +her guilt for granted, Mr Arnecliffe. I don't suppose that a little +trifle of that sort will seriously affect the line of reasoning you +were about to follow. Pray, Miss Gilbert, suffer the gentleman to make +his meaning clear--I do so want to get into a suit of somebody else's +clothes. Now, Mr Arnecliffe, you were saying?" + +"If I go to the nearest policeman, and say, as I intend to do, I am +the man who murdered George Emmett, so far as Miss Gilbert is +concerned, the matter will be at an end." + +"Your reason is based upon more than one fallacy, really. Consider--a +warrant has been issued for Miss Gilbert's arrest--good! or, if you +prefer it, bad. Do you suppose the police won't execute that warrant, +if they get a chance, merely because you say she's innocent? They'll +keep her under lock and key until there is some more substantial proof +of her innocence than your bare word; if it can be avoided you surely +don't wish to subject her to the inconvenience of spending even a few +hours in jail. There is another point. From what I can gather she is +the only material witness of your guilt; yet she assured me that, +though they put her in the witness-box, she wouldn't give evidence +against you." + +"I wouldn't--I'd die first!" + +"You hear? There's a refractory position to take up! From what I have +seen of the young lady I shouldn't be surprised if she kept her word, +to the extent of defying judge and jury--conceive the pains and +penalties which your inconsiderate action would bring down on her +devoted head." + +"What do you suggest? You know that she has already been arrested +once, and that she only escaped----" + +"Through your dropping the unfortunate policeman into the river--I +know." + +"He is hardly likely to let the matter rest where it is in +consequence." + +"Poor man! he was so wet! I've a sort of idea that I'm beginning to +get dry." + +"The probability is that the whole countryside is looking out for her +at this moment; if she manages to evade pursuit to-night the odds are +that she will be taken again in the morning. Do you suggest that I +shall stand by, and suffer her to be taken, and keep silent?" + +"Mr Arnecliffe, I have not yet touched on the point which tells most +against the course of action you are proposing to pursue. You say you +are going to tell the first policeman you are so fortunate as to +encounter that you're the man who murdered George Emmett. Let me tell +you, sir, that in making that statement you will be incurring a very +grave responsibility; since it is by no means certain that you did +murder George Emmett." + +"That's what I said! That's what I told him! That's what I was trying +to explain to him when you came in!" + +"Am I to understand that you hesitated to give Miss Gilbert's +statement the weight it deserved?" + +Arnecliffe laughed. + +"You surely don't propose to associate yourself with Miss Gilbert in +splitting hairs!" + +"Splitting hairs, sir? No! That is a process in which I propose to +associate myself with no one. If you will have the goodness to permit +me to finish what I have to say it will shortly become quite clear +that nothing is farther from my mind than any species of equivocation. +You will probably have heard that that genius of a local doctor was +prepared to certify that the man was dead when he wasn't." + +"Of course he heard; I told him--I suppose that's what he calls my +hair-splitting." + +"Then, Miss Gilbert, in that case he is a singular person; unless we +can put it down to mere ignorance of the meaning of his own +language--because, sir, the man was not dead. On the contrary, he was +so much alive that he contrived, shortly afterwards, to throw himself +off a table on to the floor. There, face downwards, on the floor they +found him; whereupon, it seems, a second local genius decided that he +had been killed by the fall--in spite of which pronouncement, let me +assure you, quite between ourselves, that it is by no means sure that +he is dead even yet." + +"Mr Frazer! I mean----" + +What the girl did mean she did not herself seem to be certain. +Arnecliffe eyed the speaker as if he were searching for outward and +visible signs that he was indulging in some recondite jest; then +asked: + +"Are you serious?" + +"When I was in Newcaster yesterday morning I made all possible +inquiries; I was in Newcaster again to-day, and inquired still +further. I honestly believe, without being, I think, unduly conceited, +that I have nearly as much medical knowledge as the local sawbones. I +put two and two together. I returned to town; then, this afternoon, I +saw the man who, so far as I know, is the greatest surgeon living. I +told him the whole story, as I knew it; and, also, as I suspected it. +Without pledging himself in any way, he agreed with me in thinking +that it was at least possible that the last diagnosis was as defective +as the first--he has gone down to Newcaster to find out. I meant to +say nothing till I had heard from him, one way or the other; but my +hand has been forced. He has promised to let me have a telegram, +directed to Mr Vernon's house, so soon as he himself is certain. It +may come at any moment; it may have come already. I would suggest to +you, Mr Arnecliffe, that you do nothing, except sit tight, until we +know what the contents of that promised telegram are. It was with that +idea in my mind that I sent you here; and, before starting to join +you, I managed to convey a hint that, if a telegram did arrive for me, +it was to be brought to me here, with the least possible delay." As he +finished speaking the door was opened--to admit Jim Vernon. "Why," +exclaimed Strathmoira, "I shouldn't be surprised if this is the bearer +of tidings. Jim, you're kindly welcome to the family houseboat; +especially as I'm hopeful that, somewhere on board, you've some sort +of a suit which you can lend me." + +The new-comer stared at the speaker in undisguised amazement. + +"My hat, what a sight you are! Why ever have you been trying to drown +yourself, rigged out like that?" + +"My dear Jim, suit first; questions afterwards. What is that I see in +your hand?" + +"You've been and let us in for no end of a jolly nice thing--they're +in a pretty state of fluster round at our place--the police seem to +have taken the whole house into custody--I'd no end of a job to get +away, I can tell you that. I left the mater in hysterics on the couch; +the pater waltzing about like a tiger in a fit; and Frances using +language hot enough to singe your hair--you can bet your life there's +no place like home to-night!" + +"I think I asked you what that is you're holding in your hand." + +"This? So far as I know it's a telegram; but as it's addressed to you +I haven't opened the envelope to inquire, so you can look for +yourself." + +Jim handed the yellow envelope to Strathmoira, who promptly tore it +open, glanced at its contents, then held the slip of pink paper above +his head, with the somewhat singular exclamation, which suggested--if +it suggested nothing else--that, at last, even his imperturbability +was moved: + +"What ho, she bumps!" + +"Hollo!" observed Jim. "Does she? What's up now?" + +"Nothing's up, my dear Jim, nothing whatever." He turned to Arnecliffe +and the girl. "This is the telegram which, as I told you, I expected +to receive from that famous surgeon. It's brief, and to the point. +This is what he says; and it's all he says: 'The dead man is still +alive." As you will notice, he seems to be a man who economises +words." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE SURGEON AND THE LAWYER + + +A room in a house not a hundred miles from Newcaster. In it Mr and Mrs +Vernon, looking as if they were somewhat in doubt as to what they were +doing there; their son, Jim, who was manifestly enjoying himself much +more than he had any notion of; their daughter Frances, who, +obviously, had no doubt whatever that this was an occasion on +which she was a young lady of importance. Also present, Dorothy +Gilbert--very white, very anxious, and much prettier than she +suspected. Miss Gilbert was Miss Vernon's especial and particular +charge--it was that fact which made her conscious that she was a +person of importance. She kept quite close to her, as if desirous of +giving her the comfort and assurance of her near neighbourhood; +sometimes holding her hand, sometimes with her arm about her +waist--and in that position a pleasanter picture than those two girls +presented it would not be easy to imagine. There also was the Earl of +Strathmoira, in a dark grey suit, which became him; and with that calm +air of positively graceful assurance, which became him even better. +And Mr Leonard Arnecliffe was there, offering such a complete contrast +to the handsome earl--carelessly dressed; with about him such an +appearance of having been buffeted by life's tempests; and with, on +his queer face, that humorous, tender something which made it almost +beautiful. + +These are the persons of our drama, with whom we already are familiar; +but there were still two other persons in that room, whose +acquaintance we have yet to make. One was Sir Derwent Dewsnap, whose +surgical fame, one hardly need remark, was world-wide. Few men have +performed more operations than Derwent Dewsnap; few have done more +cutting and carving on the outside and inside of the human frame--and, +as a cynic once observed, he looked it. But, while his knowledge and +experience of general surgery was great, his skill in dealing with the +human cranium, and especially that part we call the brain, it has been +stated, was almost superhuman. Nowadays every great surgeon is a +specialist, and Dewsnap's speciality was brain. Not, of course, in a +mental sense; he was not a mental pathologist at all; but in +operations on the brain he was _facile princeps_. + +He was shortly going to perform one of the most delicate operations on +the cranium which even he had ever undertaken; and these persons were +gathered together to receive from him an expression of opinion as to +his probabilities of success. + +The other person to whom we have yet to be introduced was +Plashett--Alexander Plashett; a name which has only to be mentioned in +order to conjure up a vision of one of the greatest criminologists who +ever made a practical study of the law. What Plashett did not know +about crime and criminals was not worth knowing. He had caused so many +scoundrels to reap the just reward of their ill-doings, and so many +more to get off scot free, that it was actually whispered, where those +things are whispered, that on whichever side Plashett was the +gentlemen of the jury were. Of course that was not a whisper which was +to be taken precisely at the foot of the letter; but it undoubtedly +was a fact that counsel would rather be briefed by Plashett than +against him. + +He was there in that room to represent the interests of certain +persons who might find themselves in a very uncomfortable position +indeed if there was an unfortunate termination to the operation on +which Sir Derwent was so shortly to be engaged. Thus, while no one +cared a button for the person on whom the operation was about to be +performed, everybody hoped that he would come well out of it--which +seeming paradox is explained by the fact that the person in question +was Mr George Emmett; and that if he died in Sir Derwent Dewsnap's +hands one of the individuals in that room would quite possibly be +hanged for him. Therefore, when the Earl of Strathmoira put a question +to the great surgeon his reply was anxiously awaited. + +"So it seems, Sir Derwent, that, to perpetrate what sounds like a +bull, the odds are even?" + +Sir Derwent was a precisian even in words, as he immediately made +plain. + +"Odds, my lord, are never even; nor does a wise surgeon express a +positive opinion as to the result of even the simplest operation: so +many considerations enter into the matter of which a layman has no +idea. As regards the case of Mr Emmett, I have only to mention that +the operation which I am about to attempt has, so far as I am aware, +never hitherto been performed to show how worse than futile, and also, +how unprofessional, it would be for me to pose as a prophet." + +"Hear, hear! Exactly." + +This encouragement came from Mr Plashett, to whom the word +"unprofessional" apparently appealed. Thus supported, Sir Derwent went +on, with that pedagogic air for which he was renowned: + +"I should not wish, on such an occasion, and before such an audience, +to enter into those details which could only be properly touched on in +an operating theatre; but I may remind you that the subject has +already been twice given over as dead, and I can assure you that that +is not so strange as to the lay mind it may seem. The conditions were +all compatible with death: the motionless pulse and heart; the absence +of any movement of the lungs, of any signs of respiration. But it so +happens that, in the course of my wide experience, once, and only +once, I encountered a similar case, and the knowledge I obtained then +I was able to apply now. It was the case of a man who, falling from a +fourth-floor window on to the pavement below, fractured the cranial +bones almost precisely as Mr Emmett's had been fractured." There were +those among his auditors who were disposed to feel that, in spite of +what he had said, he was entering into details which were a trifle too +technical. But Sir Derwent, having warmed to the subject, went +heedlessly on: "In that case also the patient was pronounced to be +dead, and he was actually placed in his coffin before it was learned +that he wasn't. To put it shortly and popularly, pressure on the +_medulla oblongata_, caused by contact of a minute fraction of bone +with one of the cranial arteries, had produced that extraordinary +simulation of death. Had that state of things been discovered in time +an operation might have been possible; but it wasn't. The coffin was +placed in the hearse, and the hearse was on the road to the cemetery, +when one of the undertaker's men, who was walking beside it, heard a +sound proceeding from within, which so startled him that the hearse +was driven straight back to the house, and the coffin opened, when it +was found that its occupant had turned right over on his side, and had +killed himself in doing so. There was no mistake about his being dead +that time; and it was only dissection which showed what the cause of +death had been, and how he might possibly have been saved. So you see +how nearly on all fours the two cases are: Emmett pronounced dead, +and, as was supposed, really killing himself by a fall off a table. +Found, after all, to be alive, I am now about to attempt the operation +which might have been attempted in what I will call Case No. 1. Under +such circumstances I can hardly be expected to offer a confident +prognostication either on its success or failure. I will, however, go +so far as to say that, if it fails, Mr Emmett will hardly be any worse +off than he is already; while, if it succeeds, he may be restored not +only to life, but to long life, and almost, in a degree, to his primal +vigour. Beyond that purposely vague statement I must beg you, my lord, +not to press me to go." + +No one did press him. It was possibly felt that he had said quite +enough, without pressure; and that, if they were not heedful of their +ways, he might pile horror on to horror. The earl transferred his +attention to the lawyer. + +"And if Sir Derwent meets with the success which we all anticipate, +knowing his superlative skill, how will the matter stand then, Mr +Plashett? That is, should George Emmett be restored to the health +which he doesn't deserve, what action will the police be able to take +against anyone with whom he may have had, say, a little difference of +opinion?" + +"I should say none. With Emmett dead, or nearly dead, then the police, +representing the Crown, are compelled to act. But with Emmett alive +and kicking, then the onus lies with him; it is only on his initiative +that action can be taken, since it is only on his sworn statement that +it can be alleged that an offence has been committed. If a man has his +head broken, say, for argument's sake, with a bottle, he may have +reasons of his own for not wishing to say anything at all about it; +and there is no power vested in the police to make him say anything if +he doesn't want to. Emmett dead is to be feared; but alive, not at +all--that is, if I apprehend the statements which have been made to me +correctly. I know something of the gentleman, and I am quite sure--I +am not often sure of anything, but I am quite sure of what I am about +to say--I repeat that I am quite sure that he will not be disposed to +go into the witness-box and complain to a magistrate, or to a judge, +that his head was broken under the circumstances under which it was +broken; since, if he were so foolish, the verdict would undoubtedly +be--And serve you right!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + TIDINGS + + +There was a garden to that house. Jim Vernon and Dorothy Gilbert were +walking side by side down one of the paths. Sir Derwent Dewsnap had +gone over to Newcaster, to perform that operation; and Mr Plashett had +gone with him, in order that he might be close at hand, and ready for +any eventuality. It was an hour which seemed big with fate to Dorothy; +and the youth would whistle. She bore with the sound till it could be +borne no longer. Had he been an observant youth he would have seen +what she was suffering; but observation of that kind was not his +strongest point. So at last she was constrained to drop him a hint. + +"I should be so much obliged if you wouldn't make that noise." + +"Noise? What noise?" + +"I suppose you call it whistling." + +"Suppose I call it whistling? It is whistling, isn't it?" + +"Then, if it is, please don't. If you only knew how I keep thinking of +what that man is doing." + +"What man?" + +"Sir Derwent Dewsnap." + +"Isn't he a freak? My hat, I shouldn't care to have him cut chunks off +me; it gave me the creeps only to hear him chatter." + +"If his hand were to slip; if anything were to happen; if he were to +make the least mistake; life would be all over for me; and I'm only +just beginning to understand what it means." + +"Tuppence!" + +She looked at him in righteous indignation. + +"Pray what do you mean by saying that?" + +"That's about the value of the remark you made; if it's worth as much. +It won't make one farthing's worth of difference to you if Dewsnap +cuts him into six good-sized pieces. Why should it?" + +"You don't understand." + +"That's where you're wrong--you don't understand; I do. The only +person it might affect is Arnecliffe--and I wouldn't mind getting +three months myself if I had a chance of doing what he did." + +"I am sorry to hear you talk like this." + +"You're not--really? Why, robbing a bank is nothing compared to what +Emmett did. He stole a nice, clean, simple little girl; all because of +her money--and, all because of her money, he tried to jockey her into +marrying him--and all he got for it was a crack on the head with a +bottle. If he chooses to croak in consequence that's his fault, nobody +else's. Don't you see that yourself?" + +"I certainly do not see what you pretend to." + +"I say, are you liverish?" + +"Not that I'm aware of." + +"Then, take my tip, and don't feign a vice if you haven't got it. +Strikes me that you take yourself, and every other jolly thing, too +seriously. You mayn't guess it, but I'm betting that in about five +years' time you'll be looking back at this episode as if it were a +regular rare old spree. People do have so few real adventures +nowadays. Look at me! I haven't had one in the whole of my life--and +you've had one already!--a tip-topper, too! It's an asset--mind you, +it's an asset; something you can put in the bank and draw upon. Why, I +consider that little tiddley-bit, when you were behind the curtain, +and saw the whole jolly show, was worth no end." + +"It only proves that you haven't the least idea what you're talking +about." + +"That remark only proves that you don't know where you are. Why, +you're only--I don't know what your age is." + +"Never mind my age." + +"Well, there can't be much of it to mind. I believe Frances is older +than you, and she's only a kid." + +"Mr Vernon----" + +"You needn't call me Mr Vernon; you can call me Jim." + +"Thank you; I prefer to call you Mr Vernon." + +"Very well, Miss Gilbert. I was about to observe, when you interrupted +me, that, already, at your age, you're set up with a stock of A1 +stories which will last you the rest of your life; you'll only be able +to appreciate what that means when you arrive at years of discretion. +When you've married--if you ever do marry; and a girl with your money +is pretty nearly sure to find someone who'll have her--you'll be able +to tell your grandchildren----" + +"My grandchildren!" + +"Or someone else's, it makes no odds--you'll be able to tell them tale +after tale, and they'll love you for it; children always love +grandmothers who tell them stories; and yours needn't be lies either, +because they're such first-class ones in themselves that they'll need +no embroidering. What an advantage that will be in your declining +years you've no conception, or you'd be more truly grateful for what +has lately happened to you than at present you are." + +"I think you're the most ridiculous person I ever met; and the rudest. +Are all boys like you?" + +"Boys? Well! You're younger that I am." + +"I shouldn't have thought it possible that anyone could be that." + +"My dear Miss Gilbert, in knowledge of the world, compared to you, I'm +a grandfather. You ought to treat me with respect." + +"Ought I? Do the other boys with whom you associate?" + +"Miss Gilbert, you misunderstand the situation. I am at the +university; and so are most of the men of my acquaintance." + +"Is that so? I didn't know they took them so young." + +He looked at her as if he could have said a great deal; but he said +nothing--he drew a long breath instead. Presently he began again to +whistle. She bore it in silence for a second or two; then she asked +innocently: + +"Do all the other boys you know make a noise like that, and call it +whistling?" + +He looked at her again, but he attempted no reply; he continued to +whistle. Presently Frances came towards them, down one of the side +paths. Dorothy waited for her; Jim strolled on, whistling as he went. +When she came to Dorothy, Frances glanced at his back, as he went +whistling on. + +"Has Jim been entertaining you?" + +"Very much--more even than he meant." + +"Isn't he droll?" + +"Extremely--I never thought anyone could have been so droll." + +Frances surveyed her friend with doubt in her eye. + +"Have you and he been having a discussion?" + +"I don't know that it can be called a discussion; he's so droll. +Frances, are all boys like Jim?" + +Frances looked round as if she were afraid of eavesdroppers; then +said, in lowered tones, as if she were delivering herself of an +announcement of the most mysterious and amazing significance: + +"Dorothy, I'm beginning to think that they are." + +"How odd! and at the convent we used to think that they were such +heroes." + +"I'm inclined to think that they assume more heroic proportions when +they're at a distance." + +"But when do they cease to be boys?" + +"I'm commencing to wonder. None of Jim's friends are as old as that." + +"Your cousin's not a boy." + +Frances glanced at Dorothy; but Dorothy happened at that moment to be +looking in an entirely different direction, so their glances didn't +meet. + +"You mean Strathmoira? No, he's a dear." + +"What do you mean by 'he's a dear'?" + +"Well--hasn't he been a dear to you?" + +"If you mean that he's been kind, no one could have been kinder. What +would have happened to me if it hadn't been for him I dare not think. +I don't know how I ever shall repay him." + +"Oh, you'll find it easy, with all that money. Fancy your being a +millionairess after all!" + +"I'm not a millionairess." + +"You've got heaps and heaps of money--because Mr Arnecliffe as good as +told me so; and as he really and truly is your guardian he ought to +know." + +"I suppose your cousin's very rich." + +"Lord Strathmoira, my dear, is my mother's cousin; not mine. He's not +poor; but then earls, my dear, are not like common people. You need +such a deal of money if you want to play the part properly, if you are +an earl; and I shouldn't be a bit surprised if he could do with more. +Is Mr Arnecliffe rich?" + +"I haven't a notion." + +"There's been a story in his life." + +"How do you know?" + +"I can see it in his face." + +"Oh! How can you see it in his face?" + +"Dorothy?" + +"Yes." + +"How are you going to repay him?" + +"He doesn't want repaying." + +"Doesn't he?" + +"He's not that kind." + +"Isn't he? He seems to have done a good deal for your family." + +"Oh yes; a good deal." + +"I wonder how old he is. He must be pretty old if he was your mother's +friend. His hair is turning grey." + +"He doesn't seem old to me. I like hair--that shade." + +There was silence for some seconds; then Frances said: + +"Do you know, Dorothy, I've come to the conclusion that you're going +to be a beautiful woman." + +"Frances! How can you be so absurd? Please don't be silly!" + +"And do you know, at the convent I never even guessed you were going +to be pretty. It never dawned on me till that morning when I saw you +standing on our lawn. Then I said to myself: 'I do believe that girl's +going to be beautiful'; and now I'm sure of it." + +"If I'm going to be--I notice you use the future tense--pray what are +you now?" + +"Oh, I'm pretty; I know exactly what I am; I've no delusions. I once +heard mother say to an aunt of mine--she didn't know I heard, but I +did--'Frances is the sort of girl to make a good man happy'--and +that's exactly what I am: prettiness of my kind runs in the family; +Jim's a pretty boy. But you--yours is going to be the kind of beauty +men rave about; and I don't call it fair." + +"I never imagined you could be so ridiculous. What don't you call +fair?" + +"That a girl should have both beauty and gold. One or the other, but +not both. Think of the quantities of quite respectable girls who have +neither. Why, I myself know heaps--plain and penniless. Dorothy, it's +tragic for a girl to be like that; you mayn't know it, but it is. +Fortune ought to share out her gifts with a more equal hand: she +shouldn't give one person so much more than her proper share." + +"I'm not in a mood for jesting. Your brother said I was a simple +girl." + +"He did! How dare he! That Jim!" + +"But I assure you I'm not quite simple enough to credit the kind of +stuff you're talking. I didn't know you thought I was a positive +imbecile." + +"Very well. Would you like me to ask Strathmoira what he thinks of +your appearance?" + +"Frances! How dare you! Do you mean to say that it was because he +thought---- I won't say it." + +"You needn't. And I don't mean to say that it was because he saw you +were going to be beautiful that he showed himself a friend in need, in +the first instance. He's the sort of person who would help a lame dog +over a stile, no matter how ugly it was. But, having helped you over, +he, so to speak, walked across the field with you because--well, +because he did think so; and I haven't the slightest doubt that he +would be willing to walk round this garden now because he thinks so +more than ever. I've heard mother say that Strathmoira is a +connoisseur where a woman's concerned. If you'd had freckles and a red +nose he'd never have bought you a hat to shade them. My dear Dorothy, +it's not the slightest use your being annoyed with me because you're +going to be lovely. It's not my fault. For all I've had to do with it +you might have been a quite ordinary-looking girl. Still, one is bound +to admit that, from the merely ornamental point of view, a lovely girl +is more interesting than the other sort; and I've a vague suspicion +that some men are of that opinion to quite an appreciable extent. I +believe you're like your mother." + +"Frances! What makes you think so? Mr Arnecliffe says I'm like my +father." + +"Yes, I daresay; possibly you are. A child may resemble both its +parents. Anyhow, I believe you're like your mother." + +"But what makes you think it?" + +"Well, for one thing I can see it in Mr Arnecliffe's eyes." + +"Frances! What a provoking person you are! How can you possibly see a +thing like that in--in anybody's eyes?" + +"Perhaps you can't; I can." + +"How can you?" + +"I've a theory, which amounts to conviction, that Mr Arnecliffe +regarded your mother as if she were a goddess, and that he adored her; +so, when you happen to be within his line of vision, I can see from +the look which comes in his eyes that he thinks you're like her. + +"Frances!" + +It seemed that that was all Miss Gilbert could say. She stood still; +her cheeks crimsoned; for some cause she seemed to have all at once +grown tremulous. Miss Vernon went glibly on, as if she saw nothing +unusual in her friend's demeanour: + +"Of course I may be wrong; I'm not always right; but as I understand, +from one or two observations which Mr Arnecliffe has let drop, that +your mother was something quite superior to look at, I thought you +might care to know that I believe you're like her. You might ask Mr +Arnecliffe; I daresay he'd tell you if you did. Here is Mr Arnecliffe; +you'll have a chance of asking him at once. And Strathmoira! I +shouldn't be surprised if a message has come from Newcaster." + +The Earl of Strathmoira and Mr Arnecliffe were walking together down +the centre path which led from the house. The two girls stood still to +await their coming. The crimson had gone from Dorothy's cheeks as +suddenly as it had come--embarrassment had given place to anxiety. + +"If--if it's bad news!" she said. + +"If I were in your position I don't know what I should call bad news." + +"Frances! I--I wish you wouldn't talk like that!" + +"But I don't. If he's dead it'll be no loss, the world will be well +rid of such a creature; and if he's not dead, it's just as well that +he should keep on living, in order that he may be punished as he +deserves." + +There was no mistaking, from Lord Strathmoira's manner as he came up, +what was the nature of the tidings which he brought. + +"Dewsnap's done it!" he exclaimed. "He's snatched that unhallowed +scoundrel from the grave. The operation's been successful beyond his +most sanguine expectations. Five minutes after it was over the patient +turned round, and, looking at him, was heard to mutter: 'Who the devil +are you?'--which sounds as if George Emmett were himself again. +Dewsnap says that there's no reason, if the most elementary +precautions are taken, why, so far as that tap on the head is +concerned, George Emmett shouldn't live for ever. So the tragedy's a +comedy after all." He was looking at Dorothy, but her glances were all +for Arnecliffe; who, on his part, seemed to have eyes for nothing and +no one but her. When they began to move she fell in, as of course, at +Arnecliffe's side; presently, when they came to a bypath, they turned +into it together; while Miss Vernon and Strathmoira went straight on. +When they had gone a little way his lordship smiled, as if in the +enjoyment of some private jest, and he said: "I congratulate you, +Frances, on the taste you have shown in choosing your friend; she is +one of whose friendship anyone, under any circumstances, might be +proud." + +Miss Vernon's tone, as she replied, was demure: + +"Thank you very much." + +After an interval he continued: + +"You're not to tell your mother, and you're not to tell her or anyone; +I daresay you'll laugh, but I don't mind telling you that I'd ideas +about her myself. They came to me when I saw her standing bareheaded +in the morning sunshine, outside my caravan door--from nowhere, there +and then. But this fellow's put them out of joint. It seems to me that +theirs is a case of Kismet." + +They had gone several more steps when she put to him a question which +seemed to have very little to do with what he had just been saying: + +"You are a good man--aren't you?" + +"I don't know why you ask; have you any particular reason for +supposing that I am worse than the crowd?" + +"No; none at all. Only--I was wondering if it wasn't possible that you +might find another girl who could be--trusted to make a good man +happy." + + + + + + + THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Coward Behind the Curtain, by Richard Marsh + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40347 *** |