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diff --git a/57295-0.txt b/57295-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28d668c --- /dev/null +++ b/57295-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4971 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57295 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: The Internet Archive + https://archive.org/details/underlockkeystor02spei + (Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) + + + + + + +UNDER LOCK AND KEY. +--------- +VOL. II. + + + + + + +UNDER LOCK AND KEY. + + + +A Story. + + + + +BY +T. W. SPEIGHT, +AUTHOR OF "BROUGHT TO LIGHT," "FOOLISH MARGARET," +ETC. + + + + +IN THREE VOLUMES, +VOL. II. + + + + +LONDON: +TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND, +1869. +[_All rights of Translation and Reproduction are reserved_.] + + + + + + +LONDON: +SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, +COVENT GARDEN. + + + + + + +CONTENTS +OF +THE SECOND VOLUME. + +CHAP. + I. JANET IN A NEW CHARACTER. + II. THE DAWN OF LOVE. + III. THE NARRATIVE OF SERGEANT NICHOLAS. + IV. COUNSEL TAKEN WITH MR. MADGIN. + V. MR. MADGIN AT THE HELM. + VI. MR. MADGIN's SECRET JOURNEY. + VII. ENTER MADGIN, JUNIOR. + VIII. MADGIN JUNIOR'S FIRST REPORT. + IX. LOST AS SOON AS FOUND. + X. THE CONFESSION. + XI. THE CONFESSION CONTINUED. + XII. MADGIN JUNIOR'S SECOND REPORT. + XIII. ROOM NUMBER FOUR IN THE CORRIDOR. + XIV. AT THE CURTAINED DOOR. + XV. THE LITTLE PACKET FROM LONDON. + XVI. MADGIN JUNIOR'S THIRD REPORT. + + + + + + +UNDER LOCK AND KEY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +JANET IN A NEW CHARACTER. + + +On entering Lady Pollexfen's room for the second time, Janet found +that the mistress of Dupley Walls had completed her toilette in the +interim, and was now sitting robed in stiff rustling silk, with an +Indian fan in one hand and a curiously-chased vinaigrette in the +other. She motioned with her fan to Janet. "Be seated," she said, in +the iciest of tones, and Janet sat down on a chair a yard or two +removed from her ladyship. + +"Since you were here last, Miss Holme," she began, "I have seen Sister +Agnes, who informs me that she has already given you an outline of the +duties I shall require you to perform should you agree to accept the +situation which ill health obliges her to vacate. At the same time, I +wish you clearly to understand that I do not consider you in any way +bound by what I may have done for you in time gone by, neither would I +have you in this matter run counter to your inclinations in the +slightest degree. If you would prefer that a situation as governess +should be obtained for you, say so without hesitation, and any small +influence I may have shall be used ungrudgingly in your behalf. Should +you agree to remain at Dupley Walls your salary will be thirty guineas +a year. If you wish it, you can take a day for consideration, and let +me have your decision in the morning." + +Lady Pollexfen's mention of a fixed salary stung Janet to the quick; +it was so entirely unexpected. It stung her, but only for a moment; +the next she saw and gratefully recognised the fact that she should no +longer be a pensioner on the bounty of Lady Pollexfen. A dependent she +might be--a servant even, if you like; but at least she would be +earning her living by the labour of her own hands, and even about the +very thought of such a thing there was a sweet sense of independence +that flushed her warmly through and through. + +Her hesitation lasted but a moment, then she spoke. "Your ladyship is +very kind, but I require no time for consideration," she said. "I have +already made up my mind to take the position which you have so +generously offered me, and if my ability to please you only prove +equal to my inclination, your ladyship will not have much cause to +complain." + +A faint smile of something like satisfaction flitted across Lady +Pollexfen's face. "Very good, Miss Holme," she said, in a more +gracious tone than she had yet used. "I am pleased to find that you +have taken so sensible a view of the matter, and that you understand +so thoroughly your position under my roof. How soon shall you be +prepared to begin your new duties?" + +"I am ready at this moment." + +"Come to me an hour hence and I will then instruct you." + +In this second interview, brief though it was, Janet could not avoid +being struck by Lady Pollexfen's stately dignity of manner. Her tone +and style were those of a high-bred gentlewoman. It seemed scarcely +possible that she and the querulous shrivelled-up old woman in the +cashmere dressing-robe could be one individual. + +Unhappily, as Janet to her cost was not long in finding out, her +ladyship's querulous moods were much more frequent than her moods of +quiet dignity. At such times she was very difficult to please; +sometimes, indeed, it was utterly impossible to please her not even an +angel could have done it. Then, indeed, Janet felt her duty weigh very +hardly upon her. By nature her temper was quick and passionate--her +impulses high and generous; but when Lady Pollexfen was in her worse +moods she had to curb the former as with an iron chain, while the +latter were outraged continually by Lady Pollexfen's mean and miserly +mode of life, and by a certain low and sordid tone of thought which at +such times pervaded all she said and did. And yet, strange to say, she +had rare fits of generosity and goodwill--times when her soul seemed +to sit in sackcloth and ashes, as if in repentance for those other +occasions when the "dark fit" was on her and the things of this world +claimed her too entirely as their own. + +After her second interview with Lady Pollexfen, Janet at once hurried +off to Sister Agnes to tell her the news. "On one point only, so far +as I see at present, shall I require any special information," she +said. "I shall require to know exactly the mode of procedure necessary +to be observed when I pay my midnight visits to Sir John Pollexfen." + +"It is not my intention that you should visit Sir John," said Sister +Agnes. "That portion of my old duties will continue to be performed by +me." + +"Not till you are stronger--not till your health is better than it is +now," said Janet earnestly. "I am young and strong; it is merely a +part of what I have undertaken to do, and you must please let me do +it. I have outgrown my childish fears and could visit the Black Room +now without the quiver of a nerve." + +"You think so, by daylight, but wait till the house is dark and +silent, and then say the same conscientiously--if you can." + +But Janet was determined not to yield the point, nor could Sister +Agnes move her from her decision. Ultimately a compromise was entered +into by which it was agreed that for one evening at least they should +visit the Black Room together, and that the settlement of the question +should be left till the following day. + +Precisely as midnight struck they set out together up the wide +old-fashioned staircase, past the door of Janet's old room, up the +narrower staircase beyond, till the streak of light came into view and +the grim nail-studded door itself was reached. Janet was secretly glad +that she was not there alone, so much she acknowledged to herself as +they halted for a moment while Sister Agnes unlocked the door. But +when the latter asked her if she were not afraid, if she would not +much rather be snug in bed, Janet only said: "Give me the key, tell me +what I have to do inside the room, and then leave me." + +But Sister Agnes would not consent to that, and they entered the room +together. Instead of seven years, it seemed to Janet only seven hours +since she had been there last, so vividly was the recollection of her +first visit still impressed upon her mind. Everything was unchanged in +that chamber of the dead, except, perhaps, the sprawling cupids on the +ceiling, which looked a shade dingier than of old, and more in need of +soap and water than ever. But the black draperies on the walls, the +huge candles in the silver tripods, the pall-covered coffin in the +middle of the room, were all as Janet had seen them last. There, too, +was the oaken _prie-dieu_ a yard or two away from the head of the +coffin. Sister Agnes knelt on it for a few moments, and bent her head +in silent prayer. + +"My visit to this room every midnight," said Sister Agnes, "is made +for the simple purpose of renewing the candles, and of seeing that +everything is as it should be. That the visit should be made at +midnight, and at no other time, is one of Lady Pollexfen's whims--a +whim that by process of time has crystallized into a law. The room is +never entered by day." + +"Was it whim or madness that caused Sir John Pollexfen to leave orders +that his body should be kept above ground for twenty years?" + +"Who shall tell by what motive he was influenced when he had that +particular clause inserted in his will? Dupley Walls itself hangs on +the proper fulfilment of the clause. If Lady Pollexfen were to cause +her husband's remains to be interred in the family vault before the +expiry of the twenty years, the very day she did so the estate would +pass from her to the present baronet, a distant cousin, between whom +and her ladyship there has been a bitter feud of many years' standing. +Although Dupley Walls has been in the family for a hundred and fifty +years, it has never been entailed. The entailed estate is in +Yorkshire, and there Sir Mark, the present baronet, resides. Lady +Pollexfen has the power of bequeathing Dupley Walls to whomsoever she +may please, providing she carry out strictly the instructions +contained in her husband's will, it is possible that in a court of law +the will might have been set aside on the ground of insanity, or the +whole matter might have been thrown into Chancery. But Lady Pollexfen +did not choose to submit to such an ordeal. All the courts of law +in the kingdom could have given her no more than she possessed +already--they could merely have given her permission to bury her +husband's body, and it did not seem to her that such a permission +could compensate for the turning into public gossip of a private +chapter of family history. So here Sir John Pollexfen has remained +since his death, and here he will stay till the last of the twenty +years has become a thing of the past. Two or three times every year +Mr. Winter, Sir Mark's lawyer, comes over to Dupley Walls to satisfy +himself by ocular proof that Sir John's instructions are being duly +carried out. This he has a legal right to do in the interests of his +client. Sometimes he is conducted to this room by Lady Pollexfen, +sometimes by me; but even in his case her ladyship will not relax her +rule of not having the room visited by day." + +Sister Agnes then showed Janet that behind the black draperies there +was a cupboard in the wall, which on being opened proved to contain a +quantity of large candles. One by one Sister Agnes took out of the +silver tripod what remained of the candles of the previous day, and +filled up their places with fresh ones. Janet looked on attentively. +Then, for the second time, Sister Agnes knelt on the _prie-dieu_ for a +few moments, and then she and Janet left the room. + +Next day Sister Agnes was so ill, and Janet pressed so earnestly to be +allowed to attend to the Black Room in place of her, and alone, that +she was obliged to give a reluctant consent. + +It was not without an inward tremor that Janet heard the clock strike +twelve. Sister Agnes had insisted on accompanying her part of the way +upstairs, and would, in fact, have gone the whole distance with her, +had not Janet insisted on going forward alone. In a single breath, as +it seemed to her, she ran up the remaining stairs, unlocked the door, +and entered the room. Her nerves were not sufficiently composed to +allow of her making use of the _prie-dieu_. All she cared for just +then was to get through her duty as quickly as possible, and get back +in safety to the world of living beings downstairs. She set her teeth, +and by a supreme effort of will went through the small duty that was +required of her steadily but swiftly. Her face was never turned away +from the coffin the whole time; and when she had finished her task she +walked backwards to the door, opened it, walked backwards out, and in +another breath was downstairs, and safe in the protecting arms of +Sister Agnes. + +Next night she insisted upon going entirely alone, and made so light +of the matter that Sister Agnes no longer opposed her wish to make the +midnight visit to the Black Room a part of her ordinary duty. But +inwardly Janet could never quite overcome her secret awe of the room +and its silent occupant. She always dreaded the coming of the hour +that took her there, and when her task was over, she never closed the +door without a feeling of relief. In this case, custom with her never +bred familiarity. To the last occasion of her going there she went +the prey of hidden fears--fears of she knew not what, which she +derided to herself even while they made her their victim. There was a +morbid thread running through the tissue of her nerves, which by +intense force of will might be kept from growing and spreading, but +which no effort of hers could quite pluck out or eradicate. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE DAWN OF LOVE. + + +Major Strickland did not forget his promise to Janet. On the eighth +morning after his return from London he walked over from Tydsbury to +Dupley Walls, saw Lady Pollexfen, and obtained leave of absence for +Miss Holme for the day. Then he paid a flying visit to Sister Agnes, +for whom he had a great reverence and admiration, and ended by +carrying off Janet in triumph. + +The park of Dupley Walls extends almost to the suburbs of Tydsbury, a +town of eight thousand inhabitants, but of such small commercial +importance that the nearest railway station is three miles away across +country, and nearly five miles from Dupley Walls. + +Major Strickland no longer resided at Rose Cottage, but at a pretty +little villa just outside Tydsbury. Some small accession of fortune +had come to him by the death of a relative; and an addition to his +family in the person of Aunt Felicité, a lady old and nearly blind, +the widow of a kinsman of the major. Besides its tiny lawn and +flower-beds in front, the Lindens had a long stretch of garden ground +behind, otherwise the major would scarcely have been happy in his new +home. He was secretary to the Tydsbury Horticultural Society, and his +fame as a grower of prize roses and prize geraniums was in these +latter days far sweeter to him than any fame that had ever accrued to +him as a soldier. + +Janet found Aunt Felicité a most quaint and charming old lady, as +cheerful and full of vivacity as many a girl of seventeen. She kissed +Janet on both cheeks when the major introduced her; asked whether she +was _fiancée_; complimented her on her French; declaimed a passage +from Racine; put her poodle through a variety of amusing tricks; and +pressed Janet to assist at her luncheon of cream cheese, French roll, +strawberries, and white wine. + +A slight sense of disappointment swept across Janet's mind, like the +shadow of a cloud across a sunny field. She had been two hours at the +Lindens without having seen Captain George. In vain she told herself +that she had come to spend the day with Major Strickland, and to be +introduced to Aunt Felicité, and that nothing more was wanting to her +complete contentment. That something more was needed she knew quite +well, but she would not acknowledge it even to herself. He knew of her +coming, he had been with Aunt Felicité only half an hour before--so +much she learned within five minutes of her arrival; yet now, at the +end of two hours, he had not condescended even to come and speak to +her. She roused herself from the sense of despondency that was +creeping over her, and put on a gaiety that she was far from feeling. +A very bitter sense of self-contempt was just then at work in her +heart: she felt that never before had she despised herself so utterly. +She took her hat in her hand, and put her arm within the major's, and +walked with him round his little demesne. It was a walk that took up +an hour or more, for there was much to see and learn, and Janet was +bent this morning on having a long lesson in botany, and the old +soldier was only too happy to have secured a listener so enthusiastic +and appreciative to whom he could dilate on his favourite hobby. + +But all this time Janet's eyes and ears were on the alert in a double +sense of which the major knew nothing. He was busy with a description +of the last spring flower-show, and how the Duke of Cheltenham's +auriculas were by no means equal to those of Major Strickland, when +Janet gave a little start as though a gnat had stung her, and bent to +smell a sweet blush-rose, whose tints were rivalled by the sudden +delicate glow that flushed her cheek. + +"Yes, yes!" she said, hurriedly, as the major paused for a moment; +"and so the duke's gardener was jealous because you carried away the +prize?" + +"I never saw a man more put out in my life," said the major. "He shook +his fist at my flowers, and said before everybody, 'Let the old major +only wait till autumn, and then see if my dahlias don't----.' But +yonder comes Geordie. Bless my heart! what has he been doing at +Tydsbury all this time?" + +Janet's instinct had not deceived her: she had heard and recognised +his footstep a full minute before the major knew that he was near. She +gave one quick, shy glance round as he opened the gate, and then she +wandered a yard or two further down the path. + +"Good morning, uncle," said Captain George, as he came up. "You set +out for Dupley Walls so early this morning that I did not see you +before you started. I am glad to find that you did not come back +alone." + +Janet had turned as he began to speak, but did not come back to the +major's side. Captain George advanced a few steps and lifted his hat. +"Good morning, Miss Holme," he said, with outstretched hand. "I need +hardly say how pleased I am to see you at the Lindens. My uncle has +succeeded so well on his first embassy that we must send him again and +often on the same errand." + +Janet murmured a few words in reply--what, she could not afterward +have told; but as her eyes met his for a moment, she read in them +something that made her forgive him on the spot, even while she +declared to herself that she had nothing to forgive, and that brought +to her cheek a second blush more vivid than the first. + +"All very well, young gentleman," said the major, "but you have not +yet explained your four hours' absence. We shall order you under +arrest unless you have some reasonable excuse to submit." + +"The best of all excuses--that of urgent business," said the captain. + +"You! business!" said the laughing major; "why, it was only last night +that you were bewailing your lot as being one of those unhappy mortals +who have no work to do." + +"To those they love, the gods lend patient hearing. I forget the +Latin, but that does not matter just now. What I wish to convey is +this--that I need no longer be idle unless I choose. I have got some +work to do. Lend me your ears, both of you. About an hour after you, +sir, had started for Dupley Walls I received a note from the editor of +the _Tydsbury Courier_, in which he requested me to give him an early +call. My curiosity prompted me to look in upon him as soon as +breakfast was over. I found that he was brother to the editor of one +of the London magazines, a gentleman whom I met one evening at a party +in town. The London editor remembered me, and had written to the +Tydsbury editor to make arrangements with me for writing a series of +magazine articles on India, and my experiences there during the late +mutiny. I need not bore you with details; it is sufficient to say that +my objections were talked down one by one, and I left the office +committed to a sixteen-page article by the sixth of next month." + +"You an author!" exclaimed the major. "I should as soon have thought +of your enlisting in the marines." + +"It will only be for a few months, uncle,--only till my limited stock +of experiences shall be exhausted. After that I shall be relegated to +my natural obscurity, doubtless never to emerge again." + +"Hem," said the major, nervously. "Geordie, my boy, I have by me one +or two little poems which I wrote when I was about nineteen--trifles +flung off on the inspiration of the moment. Perhaps, when you come to +know your friend the editor better than you do now, you might induce +him to bring them out--to find an odd corner for them in his magazine. +I wouldn't want paying for them, you know. You might just mention that +fact; and I assure you that I have seen many worse things than they +are in print." + +"What, uncle, you an author! Oh, fie! I should as soon have thought of +your wishing to dance on the tight-rope as to appear in print. But we +must look over these little effusions, eh, Miss Holme? We must unearth +this genius, and be the first to give his lucubrations to the world." + +"If you, were younger, sir, or I not quite so old, I would box your +ears," said the major, who seemed hardly to know whether to laugh or +be angry. Finally he laughed, George and Janet chimed in, and all +three went back indoors. + +After an early dinner the major took rod and line and set off to +capture a few trout for supper. Aunt Felicité took her post-prandial +nap discreetly, in an easy-chair, and Captain George and Miss Holme +were left to their own devices. In Love's sweet Castle of Indolence +the hours that make up a summer afternoon pass like so many minutes. +They two had blown the magic horn and had gone in. The gates of brass +had closed behind them, shutting them up from the common outer world. +Over all things was a glamour as of witchcraft. Soft music filled the +air; soft breezes came to them as from fields of amaranth and +asphodel. They walked ever in a magic circle, that widened before them +as they went. Eros in passing had touched them with his golden dart. +Each of them hid the sweet sting from the other, yet neither of them +would have been whole again for anything the world could have offered. +What need to tell the old old story over again--the story of the dawn +of love in two young hearts that had never loved before? + +Janet went home that night in a flutter of happiness--a happiness so +sweet and strange and yet so vague that she could not have analysed it +even had she been casuist enough to try to do so. But she was content +to accept the fact as a fact; beyond that she cared nothing. No +syllable of love had been spoken between her and George: they had +passed what to an outsider would have seemed a very commonplace +afternoon. They had talked together--not sentiment, but every-day +topics of the world around them; they had read together--poetry, +but nothing more passionate than "Aurora Leigh;" they had walked +together--rather a silent and stupid walk, our friendly outsider would +have urged; but if they were content, no one else had any right to +complain. And so the day had worn itself away,--a red-letter day for +ever in the calendar of their young lives. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +THE NARRATIVE OF SERGEANT NICHOLAS. + + +One morning when Janet had been about three weeks at Dupley Walls, she +was summoned to the door by one of the servants, and found there a +tall, thin, middle-aged man, dressed in plain clothes, and having all +the appearance of a discharged soldier. + +"I have come a long way, miss," he said to Janet, carrying a finger to +his forehead, "in order to see Lady Pollexfen and have a little +private talk with her." + +"I am afraid that her ladyship will scarcely see you, unless you can +give her some idea of the business that you have called upon." + +"My name, miss, is Sergeant John Nicholas. I served formerly in India, +where I was body-servant to her ladyship's son, Captain Charles +Pollexfen, who died there of cholera nearly twenty years ago, and I +have something of importance to communicate." + +Janet made the old soldier come in and sit down in the hall while she +took his message to Lady Pollexfen. Her ladyship was not yet up, but +was taking her chocolate in bed, with a faded Indian shawl thrown +round her shoulders. She began to tremble violently the moment Janet +delivered the old soldier's message, and could scarcely set down her +cup and saucer. Then she began to cry, and to kiss the hem of the +Indian shawl. Janet went softly out of the room and waited. She had +never even heard of this Captain Charles Pollexfen, and yet no mere +empty name could have thus affected the stern mistress of Dupley +Walls. Those few tears opened up quite a new view of Lady Pollexfen's +character. Janet began to see that there might be elements of tragedy +in the old woman's life of which she knew nothing: that many of the +moods which seemed to her so strange and inexplicable might be so +merely for want of the key by which alone they could be rightly read. + +Presently her ladyship's gong sounded. Janet went back into the room, +and found her still sitting up in bed, sipping her chocolate with a +steady hand. All traces of tears had vanished: she looked even more +stern and repressed than usual. + +"Request the person of whom you spoke to me a while ago to wait," she +said. "I will see him at eleven in my private sitting-room." + +So Sergeant Nicholas was sent to get his breakfast in the servants' +room, and wait till Lady Pollexfen was ready to receive him. + +At eleven precisely he was summoned to her ladyship's presence. She +received him with stately graciousness, and waved him to a chair a +yard or two away. She was dressed for the day in one of her stiff +brocaded silks, and sat as upright as a dart, manipulating a small +fan. Miss Holme stood close at the back of her chair. + +"So, my good man, I understand that you were acquainted with my son, +the late Captain Pollexfen, who died in India twenty years ago?" + +"I was his body-servant for two years previous to his death." + +"Were you with him when he died?" + +"I was, your ladyship. These fingers closed his eyes." + +The hand that held the fan began to tremble again. She remained silent +for a few moments, and by a strong effort overmastered her agitation. + +"You have some communication which you wish to make to me respecting +my dead son?" + +"I have, your ladyship. A communication of a very singular kind." + +"Why has it not been made before now?" + +"That your ladyship will learn in the course of what I have to say. +But perhaps you will kindly allow me to tell my story my own way." + +"By all means. Pray begin: I am all attention." + +The sergeant touched his forelock, gave a preliminary cough, fixed his +clear grey eye on Lady Pollexfen, and began his narrative as under:-- + +"Your ladyship and miss; I, John Nicholas, a Staffordshire man born +and bred, went out to India twenty-three years ago as lance-corporal +in the hundred and first regiment of foot. After I had been in India a +few months, I got drunk and misbehaved myself, and was reduced to the +ranks. Well, ma'am, Captain Pollexfen took a fancy to me, thought I +was not such a bad dog after all, and got me appointed as his servant. +And a better master no man need ever wish to have--kind, generous, and +a perfect gentleman from top to toe. I loved him, and would have gone +through fire and water to serve him." + +Her ladyship's fan was trembling again. "Oblige me with my salts, Miss +Holme," she said. She pressed them to her nose, and motioned to the +sergeant to proceed. + +"When I had been with the captain a few months," resumed the old +soldier, "he got leave of absence for several weeks, and everybody +knew that it was his intention to spend his holiday in a shooting +excursion among the hills. I was to go with him, of course, and the +usual troop of native servants; but besides himself there was only one +European gentleman in the party, and he was not an Englishman. He was +a Russian, and his name was Platzoff. He was a gentleman of fortune, +and was travelling in India at the time, and had come to my master +with letters of introduction. Well, Captain Pollexfen just took +wonderfully to him, and the two were almost inseparable. Perhaps it +hardly becomes one like me to offer an opinion on such a point; but, +knowing what afterwards happened, I must say that I never either liked +or trusted that Russian from the day I first set eyes on him. He +seemed to me too double-faced and cunning for an honest English +gentleman to have much to do with. But he had travelled a great deal, +and was very good company, which was perhaps the reason why Captain +Pollexfen took so kindly to him. Be that as it may, however, it was +decided that they should go on the hunting excursion together--not +that the Russian was much of a shot, or cared a great deal about +hunting, but because, as I heard him say, he liked to see all kinds of +life, and tiger-stalking was something quite fresh to him. + +"He was a curious-looking gentleman, too, that Russian--just the sort +of face that you would never forget after once seeing it, with skin +that was dried and yellow like parchment; black hair that was trained +into a heavy curl on the top of his forehead, and a big hooked nose. + +"Well, your ladyship and miss, away we went with our elephants and +train of servants, and very pleasantly we spent our two months' leave +of absence. The captain he shot tigers, and the Russian he did his +best at pig-sticking. Our last week had come, and in three more days +we were to set off on our return, when that terrible misfortune +happened which deprived me of the best of masters, and your ladyship +of the best of sons. + +"Early one morning I was roused by Rung Budruck, the captive's +favourite sycee or groom. 'Get up at once,' he said, shaking me by the +shoulder. The sahib captain is very ill. The black devil has seized +him. He must have opium or he will die.' I ran at once to the +captain's tent, and as soon as I set eyes on him I saw that he had +been seized with cholera. I went off at once and fetched M. Platzoff. +We had nothing in the way of medicine with us except brandy and opium. +Under the Russian's directions these were given to my poor master in +large quantities, but he grew gradually worse. Rung and I in +everything obeyed M. Platzoff, who seemed to know quite well what +ought to be done in such cases; and to tell the truth, your ladyship, +he seemed as much put about as if the captain had been his own +brother. Well, the captain grew weaker as the day went on, and towards +evening it grew quite clear that he could not last much longer. The +pain had left him by this time, but he was so frightfully reduced that +we could not bring him round. He was lying in every respect like one +already dead, except for his faint breathing, when the Russian left +the tent for a moment, and I took his place at the head of the bed. +Rung was standing with folded arms a yard or two away. None of the +other native servants could be persuaded to enter the tent, so +frightened were they of catching the complaint. Suddenly my poor +master opened his eyes, and his lips moved. I put my ear to his mouth. +'The diamond,' he whispered. 'Take it--mother--give my love.' Not a +word more on earth, your ladyship. His limbs stiffened; his head fell +back; he gave a great sigh and died. I gently closed the eyes that +could see no more, and left the tent crying. + +"Your ladyship, we buried Captain Pollexfen by torchlight four hours +later. We dug his grave deep in a corner of the jungle, and there we +left him to his last sleep. Over his grave we piled a heap of stones, +as I have read that they used to do in the old times over the grave of +a chief. It was all we could do. + +"About an hour later M. Platzoff came to me. 'I shall start before +daybreak for Chinapore,' he said, 'with one elephant and a couple of +men. I will take with me the news of my poor friend's untimely fate, +and you can come on with the luggage and other effects in the ordinary +way. You will find me at Chinapore when you reach there.' Next morning +I found that he was gone. + +"What my dear master had said with his last breath about a diamond +puzzled me. I could only conclude that amongst his effects there must +be some valuable stone of which he wished special care to be taken, +and which he desired to be sent home to you, madam, in England. I knew +nothing of any such stone, and I considered it beyond my position to +search for it among his luggage. I decided that when I got to +Chinapore I would give his message to the Colonel, and leave that +gentleman to take such steps in the matter as he might think best. + +"I had hardly settled all this in my mind when Rung Budruck came to +me. 'The Russian sahib has gone: I have something to tell you,' he +said, only he spoke in broken English. 'Yesterday, just after the +sahib captain was dead, the Russian came back. You had left the tent, +and I was sitting on the ground behind the captain's big trunk, the +lid of which was open. I was sitting with my chin in my hand, very sad +at heart, when the Russian came in. He looked carefully round the +tent. Me he could not see, but I could see him through the opening +between the hinges of the box. What did he do? He unfastened the bosom +of the sahib captain's shirt, and then he drew over the captain's head +the steel chain with the little gold box hanging to it that he always +wore. He opened the box, and saw there was that in it which he +expected to find there. Then he hid away both chain and box in one of +his pockets, rebuttoned the dead man's shirt, and left the tent!' 'But +you have not told me what there was in the box,' I said. He put the +tips of his fingers together and smiled: 'In that box was the Great +Mogul Diamond!' + +"Your ladyship, I was so startled when Rung said this that the wind of +a bullet would have knocked me down. A new light was all at once +thrown on the captain's dying words. 'But how do you know, Rung, that +the box contained a diamond?' I asked when I had partly got over my +surprise. He smiled again, with that strange slow smile which those +fellows have. 'It matters not how, but Rung knew that the diamond was +there. He had seen the captain open the box, and take it out and look +at it many a time when the captain thought no one could see him. He +could have stolen it from him almost any night when he was asleep, but +that was left for his friend to do.' 'Was the diamond you speak of a +very valuable one?' I asked. 'It was a green diamond of immense +value,' answered Rung; 'it was called _The Great Mogul_ because it was +first worn by the terrible Aureng-Zebe himself, who had it set in the +haft of his scimetar.' 'But by what means did Captain Pollexfen become +possessed of so valuable a stone?' Said he, 'Two years ago, at the +risk of his own life, he rescued the eldest son of the Rajah of +Gondulpootra from a tiger who had carried away the child into the +jungle. The rajah is one of the richest men in India, and he showed +his gratitude by secretly presenting the _Great Mogul Diamond_ to the +man who had saved the life of his child.' 'But why should Captain +Pollexfen carry so valuable a stone about his person?' I asked. 'Would +it not have been wiser to deposit it in the bank at Bombay till such +time as the captain could take it with him to England?' Said Rung, +'The stone is a charmed stone, and it was the rajah's particular wish +that the Sahib Pollexfen should always wear it about his person. So +long as he did so he could not come to his death by fire, by water, or +by sword thrust.' Said I, 'But how did the Russian know that Captain +Pollexfen carried the diamond about his person?' Said Rung, 'One night +when the captain had had too much wine he showed the diamond to his +friend.' Said I, 'But how does it happen, Rung, that you know this?' +Said Rung, smiling and putting his finger tips together, 'How does it +happen that I know so much about you?' And then he told me a lot of +things about myself that I thought no soul in India knew. It was just +wonderful how he did it. 'So it is: let that be sufficient,' he +finished by saying. Said I, 'Why did you not tell me till after the +Russian had gone away that you saw him steal the diamond? If you had +told me at the time I could have charged him with it.' Said Rung, 'You +are ignorant; you are little more than a child. The Russian sahib had +the evil eye. Had I crossed his purposes before his face he would have +cursed me while he looked at me, and I should have withered away and +died. He has got the diamond, and only by magic can it ever be +recovered from him.' + +"Your ladyship and miss,--I hope I am not tedious nor wandering from +the point. It will be sufficient to say that when I got down to +Chinapore I found that M. Platzoff had indeed been there, but only +just long enough to see the colonel and give him an account of Captain +Pollexfen's death, after which he had at once engaged a palanquin and +bearers and set out with all speed for Bombay. It was now my turn to +see the colonel, and after I had given over into his hands all my dead +master's property that I had brought with me from the Hills, I told +him the story of the diamond as Rung had told it to me. He was much +struck by it, and ordered me to take Rung to him the next morning. But +that very night Rung disappeared, and was never seen in the camp +again. Whether he was frightened at what he called the Russian's evil +eye--frightened that Platzoff could blight him even from a distance, I +have no means of knowing. In any case, gone he was; and from that day +to this I have never set eyes on him. Well, the colonel said he would +take a note of what I had told him about the diamond, and that I must +leave the matter entirely in his hands. + +"Your ladyship, a fortnight after that the colonel shot himself. + +"To make short a long story--we got a fresh colonel, and were removed +to another part of the country; and there, a few weeks later, I was +knocked down by fever, and was a long time before I thoroughly +recovered my strength. A year or two later our regiment was ordered +back to England, but a day or two before we should have sailed I had a +letter telling me that my old sweetheart was dead. This news seemed to +take all care for life out of me, and on the spur of the moment I +volunteered into a regiment bound for China, in which country war was +just breaking out. There, and at other places abroad, I stopped till +just four months ago, when I was finally discharged, with my pension, +and a bullet in my pocket that had been taken out of my skull. I only +landed in England nine days ago, and as soon as it was possible for me +to do so, I came to see your ladyship. And I think that is all." The +sergeant's forefinger went to his forehead again as he brought his +narrative to an end. + +Lady Pollexfen kept on fanning herself in silence for a little while +after the old soldier had done speaking. Her features wore the proud, +impassive look that they generally put on when before strangers: in +the present case they were no index to the feelings at work +underneath. At length she spoke. + +"After the suicide of your colonel did you mention the supposed +robbery of the diamond to any one else?" + +"To no one else, your ladyship. For several reasons. I was unaware +what steps he might have taken between the time of my telling him and +the time of his death to prove or disprove the truth of the story. In +the second place, Rung had disappeared. I could only tell the story at +secondhand. It had been told me by an eyewitness, but that witness +was a native, and the word of a native does not go for much in those +parts. In the third place, the Russian had also disappeared, and had +left no trace behind. What could I? Had I told the story to my new +colonel, I should mayhap only have been scouted as a liar or a madman. +Besides, we were every day expecting to be ordered home, and I had +made up my mind that I would at once come and see your ladyship. At +that time I had no intention of going to China, and when once I got +there it was too late to speak out. But through all the years I have +been away my poor dear master's last words have lived in my memory. +Many a thousand times have I thought of them both day and night, and +prayed that I might live to get back to Old England, if it was only to +give your ladyship the message with which I had been charged." + +"But why could you not write to me?" asked Lady Pollexfen. + +"Your ladyship, I am no scholar," answered the old soldier, with a +vivid blush. "What I have told you to-day in half an hour would have +taken me years to set down--in fact, I could never have done it." + +"So be it," said Lady Pollexfen. "My obligation to you is all the +greater for bearing in mind for so many years my poor boy's last +message, and for being at so much trouble to deliver it." She sighed +deeply and rose from her chair. The sergeant rose too, thinking that +his interview was at an end, but at her ladyship's request he reseated +himself. + +Rejecting Janet's proffered arm, which she was in the habit of leaning +on in her perambulations about the house and grounds, Lady Pollexfen +walked slowly and painfully out of the room. Presently she returned, +carrying an open letter in her hand. Both the ink and the paper on +which it was written were faded and yellow with age. + +"This is the last letter I ever received from my son," said her +ladyship. "I have preserved it religiously, and it bears out very +singularly what you, sergeant, have just told me respecting the +message which my darling sent me with his dying breath. In a few lines +at the end he makes mention of a something of great value which he is +going to bring home with him; but he writes about it in such guarded +terms that I never could satisfy myself as to the precise meaning of +what he intended to convey. You Miss Holme, will perhaps be good +enough to read the lines in question aloud. They are contained in a +postscript." + +Janet took the letter with reverent tenderness. Lady Pollexfen's +trembling finger pointed out the lines she was to read. Janet read as +under:-- + + +"P.S.--I have reserved my most important bit of news till the last, as +lady correspondents are said to do. Observe, I write 'are said to do,' +because in this matter I have very little personal experience of my +own to go upon. You, dear mum, are my solitary lady correspondent, and +postscripts are a luxury in which you rarely indulge. But to proceed, +as the novelists say. Some two years ago it was my good fortune to +rescue a little yellow-skinned prince-kin from the clutches of a very +fine young tiger (my feet are on his hide at this present writing), +who was carrying him off as a tit-bit for his supper. He was terribly +mauled, you may be sure, but his people followed my advice in their +mode of doctoring him, and he gradually got round again. The lad's +father is a rajah, immensely rich, and a direct descendent of that +ancient Mogul dynasty which once ruled this country with a rod of +iron. The rajah has daughters innumerable, but only this one son. His +gratitude for what I had done was unbounded. A few weeks ago he gave +me a most astounding proof of it. By a secret and trusty messenger he +sent me----. But no, dear mum, I will not tell you what the rajah sent +me. This letter might chance to fall into other hands than yours +(Indian letters do _sometimes_ miscarry), and the secret is one which +had better be kept in the family--at least for the present. So, mother +mine, your curiosity must rest unsatisfied for a little while to come. +I hope to be with you before many months are over, and then you shall +know everything. + +"The value of the rajah's present is something immense. I shall sell +it when I get to England, and out of the proceeds I shall--well, I +don't exactly know what I shall do. Purchase my next step for one +thing, but that will cost a mere trifle. Then, perhaps, buy a +comfortable estate in the country, or a house in Park-lane. Your six +weeks every season in London lodgings was always inexplicable to me. + +"Or shall I not sell the rajah's present, but offer myself in marriage +to some fair princess, with my heart in one hand and the G.M.D. in the +other? Madder things than that are recorded in history. In any case, +don't forget to pray for the safe arrival of your son, and (if such a +petition is allowable) that he may not fail to bring with him the +G.M.D. + + "C.P." + + +"I never could understand before to-day what the letters G.M.D. were +meant for," said Lady Pollexfen, as Janet gave her back the letter. +"It is now quite evident that they were intended for _Great Mogul +Diamond_; all of which, as I said before, is confirmatory of the story +you have just told me. Of course, after the lapse of so many years, +there is not the remotest possibility of recovering the diamond; but +my obligation to you, Sergeant Nicholas, is in no wise lessened by +that fact. What are your engagements? Are you obliged to leave here +immediately, or can you remain a short time in the neighbourhood?" + +"I can give your ladyship a week, or even a fortnight, if you wish +it." + +"I am greatly obliged to you. I do wish it--I wish to talk to you +respecting my son, and you are the only one now living who can tell me +about him. You shall find that I am not ungrateful for what you have +done for me. In the meantime, you will stop at the King's Arms, in +Tydsbury. Miss Holme will give you a note to the landlord. Come up +here tomorrow at eleven. And now I must say good morning. I am not +very strong, and your news has shaken me a little. Will you do me the +honour of shaking hands with me? It was your hands that closed my poor +boy's eyes--that touched him last on earth; let those hands now be +touched by his mother." + +Lady Pollexfen stood up and extended both her withered hands. The old +soldier came forward with a blush and took them respectfully, +tenderly. He bent his head and touched each of them in turn with his +lips. Tears stood in his eyes. + +"God bless you, Sergeant Nicholas! You are a good man, and a true +gentleman," said Lady Pollexfen. Then she turned and slowly left the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +COUNSEL TAKEN WITH MR. MADGIN. + + +After her interview with Sergeant Nicholas, Lady Pollexfen dismissed +Janet for the day, and retired to her own rooms, nor was she seen out +of them till the following morning. No one was admitted to see her +save Dance. Janet, after sitting with Sister Agnes all the afternoon, +went down at dusk to the housekeeper's room. + +"Whatever did you do to her ladyship this morning?" asked Dance as +soon as she entered. "She has tasted neither bit nor sup since +breakfast, but ever since that old shabby-looking fellow went away she +has lain on the sofa, staring at the wall as if there was some writing +on it she was trying to read but didn't know how. I thought she was +ill, and asked her if I should send for the doctor. She laughed at me +without taking her eyes off the wall, and bade me begone for an old +fool. If there's not a change by morning, I shall just send for the +doctor without asking her leave. Surely you and that old fellow have +bewitched her ladyship between you." + +Janet in reply told Dance all that had passed at the morning's +interview, feeling quite sure that in doing so she was violating no +confidence, and that Lady Pollexfen herself would be the first to tell +everything to her faithful old servant as soon as she should be +sufficiently composed to do so. As a matter of course Dance was full +of wonder. + +"Did you know Captain Pollexfen?" asked Janet, as soon as the old +dame's surprise had in some measure toned itself down. + +"Did I know curly-pated, black-eyed Master Charley?" asked the old +woman. "Ay--who better? These arms, withered and yellow now, then +plump and strong, held him before he had been an hour in the world. +The day he left England I went with her ladyship to see him aboard +ship. As he shook me by the hand for the last time he said, 'You will +never leave my mother, will you, Dance?' And I said, 'Never, while I +live, dear Master Charles,' and I've kept my word." + +"Her ladyship has never been like the same woman since she heard the +news of his death," resumed Dance after a pause. "It seemed to sour +her and harden her, and make her altogether different. There had been +a great deal of unhappiness at home for some years before he went +away. He and his father, Sir John--he that now lies so quiet +upstairs--had a terrible quarrel just after Master Charles went into +the army, and it was a quarrel that was never made up in this world. +He was an awful man--Sir John--a wicked man: pray that such a one may +never cross your path. The only happiness he seemed to have on earth +was in making those over whom he had any power, miserable. It was +impossible for my lady to love him, but she tried to do her duty by +him till he and Master Charles fell out. What the quarrel was about I +never rightly understood, but my lady would have it that Master +Charles was in the right and her husband in the wrong. One result was +that Sir John stopped the income that he had always allowed his son, +and took a frightful oath that if Master Charles were dying of +starvation before his eyes, he would not give him as much as a penny +to buy bread with. But her ladyship, who had money in her own right, +said that Master Charles's income should go on as usual. Then she and +Sir John quarrelled; and she left him and came to live at Dupley +Walls, leaving him at Dene Folly; and here she stayed till Sir John +was taken with his last illness and sent for her. He sent for her, not +to make up the quarrel, but to jibe and sneer at her, and to make her +wait on him day and night, as if she were a paid nurse from a +hospital. While this was going on, and after Sir John had been quite +given up by the doctors, news came from India of Master Charles's +death. Well, her ladyship went nigh distracted; but as for the +baronet, it was said, though I won't vouch for the truth of it, that +he only laughed when the news was told him, and said that if he was +plagued as much with corns in the next world as he had been in this, +he should find Master Charles's arm very useful to lean upon. Two +days later he died, and the title, and Dene Folly with it, went to a +far-away cousin, whom neither Sir John nor his wife had ever seen. +Then it was found how the baronet had contrived that his spite should +outlive him--for only out of spite and mean cruelty could he have made +such a will as he did make: that Dupley Walls should not become her +ladyship's absolute property till the end of twenty years, during the +whole of which time his body was to remain unburied, and to be kept +under the same roof with his widow, wherever she might live. The mean, +paltry scoundrel! Perhaps her ladyship might have had the will set +aside, but the would not go to law about it. Thank Heaven! the twenty +years are nearly at an end. Dupley Walls has been a haunted house ever +since that midnight when Sir John was borne in on the shoulders of six +strong men. And now tell me whether her ladyship is not a woman to be +pitied." + + +At a quarter before eleven next morning Mr. Solomon Madgin, Lady +Pollexfen's agent and general man-of-business, arrived by appointment +at Dupley Walls. Mr. Madgin was indispensable to her ladyship, who had +a considerable quantity of house property in and around Tydsbury, +consisting chiefly of small tenements, the rents of which had to be +collected weekly. Then Mr. Madgin was bailiff for the Dupley Walls +estate, in connexion with which were several small farms or "holdings" +which required to be well looked after in many ways. Besides all this, +her ladyship, having a few spare thousands, had taken of late years to +dabbling in scrip and shares in a small way, and under the skilful +pilotage of Mr. Madgin had hitherto contrived to steer clear of those +rocks and shoals of speculation on which so many gallant argosies are +wrecked. In short, everything except the law-business of the estate +filtered through Mr. Madgin's hands, and as he did his work cheaply +and well, and put up with her ladyship's ill temper without a murmur, +the mistress of Dupley Walls could hardly have found any one who would +have suited her better. + +Mr. Solomon Madgin was a little dried-up man, about sixty years old. +His tail-coat and vest of rusty black were of the fashion of twenty +years ago. He wore drab trowsers, and shoes tied with bows of black +ribbon. His head, bald on the crown, had an ample fringe of white hair +at the back and sides, and was covered, when he went abroad, with a +beaver hat, very fluffy and much too tall for him, and which, once +upon a time, had probably been nearly as white as his hair, but was +now time-worn and weather-stained to one uniform and consistent drab. +Round his neck he always wore a voluminous cravat of unstarched muslin +fastened in front with an old-fashioned pearl brooch, above which +protruded the two spiked points of a very stiff and pugnacious-looking +collar. A strong alpaca umbrella, unfashionably corpulent, was his +constant companion. Mr. Madgin's whiskers were shaved off in an exact +line with the end of his nose. His eyebrows were very white and bushy, +and could serve on occasion as a screen to the greenish crafty-looking +eyes below them, which never liked to be peered into too closely. The +ordinary expression of his thin dried-up face was one of hard worldly +shrewdness; but there was a lurking _bonhommie_ in his smile which +seemed to imply that, away from business, he might possibly mellow +into a boon companion. + +Mr. Madgin had to wait a few minutes this morning before Lady +Pollexfen could receive him. When he was ushered into her sitting-room +he was surprised to find that she and Miss Holme were not alone; that +a plainly-dressed man, who looked almost as old as Mr. Madgin himself, +was seated at the table. After one suspicious glance at the stranger, +Mr. Madgin made his bow to the ladies and walked up to the table with +his bag of papers. + +"You can put all those things away for the day, Mr. Madgin," said her +ladyship. "A far more important matter claims our attention just now. +In the first place, I must introduce to you Sergeant Nicholas, many +years ago servant to my son, Captain Pollexfen, who died in India. +(Sergeant, this is Mr. Madgin, my man of business.) The sergeant, who +has only just returned to England, told me yesterday a very curious +story which I am desirous that he should repeat in your presence +to-day. The story relates to a diamond of great value, said to have +been stolen from the body of my son immediately after death, and I +shall require you to give me your opinion as to the feasibility of its +recovery. You will take such notes of the narrative as you may think +necessary, and the sergeant will afterwards answer, to the best of his +ability, any questions you may choose to put to him." Then turning to +the old soldier, she added: "You will be good enough, sergeant, to +repeat to Mr. Madgin such parts of your narrative of yesterday as have +any reference to the diamond. Begin with my son's dying message. +Repeat word for word, as closely as you can remember, all that was +told you by the sycee Rung. Describe as minutely as possible the +personal appearance of M. Platzoff; and detail any other points that +bear on the loss of the diamond." + +So the sergeant began, but the repetition of a long narrative not +learnt by heart is by no means an easy matter, especially when they to +whom it was first told hear it for the second time, but rather as +critics than as ordinary listeners. Besides, the taking of notes was a +process that smacked of a court-martial and tended to flurry the +narrator, making him feel as if he were upon his oath and liable to be +browbeat by the counsel for the other side. He was heartily glad when +he got to the end of what he had to tell. The postscript to Captain +Pollexfen's letter was then read by Miss Holme. + +Mr. Madgin took copious notes as the sergeant went on, and afterwards +put a few questions to him on different points which he thought not +sufficiently clear. Then he laid down his pen, rubbed his hands, and +ran his fingers through his scanty hair. Lady Pollexfen rang for her +butler, and gave the sergeant into his keeping, knowing that he could +not be in better hands. Then she said:--"I will leave you, Mr. Madgin, +for half an hour. Go carefully through your notes, and let me have +your opinion when I come back as to whether, after so long a time, you +think it worth while to institute any proceedings for the recovery of +the diamond." + +So Mr. Madgin was left alone with what he called his "considering +cap." As soon as the door was closed behind her ladyship, he +tilted back his chair, stuck his feet on the table, buried his +hands deep in his pockets, and shut his eyes, and so remained for full +five-and-twenty minutes. He was busy consulting his notes when Lady +Pollexfen re-entered the room. Mr. Madgin began at once. + +"I must confess," he said, "that the case which your ladyship has +submitted to me seems, from what I can see of it at present, to be +surrounded with difficulties. Still, I am far from counselling your +ladyship to despair entirely. The few points which, at the first +glance, present themselves as requiring for solution are these:--Who +was the M. Platzoff who is said to have stolen the diamond? and what +position in life did he really occupy? Is he alive or dead? If alive, +where is he now living? If he did really steal the diamond, are not +the chances as a hundred to one that he disposed of it long ago? But +even granting that we were in a position to answer all these +questions; suppose even that this M. Platzoff were living in Tydsbury +at the present moment, and that fact were known to us, how much nearer +should we be to the recovery of the diamond than we are now? Your +ladyship must please to bear in mind that as the case is now we have +not an inch of legal ground to stand upon. We have no evidence that +would be worth a rush in a court of law that M. Platzoff really +purloined the diamond. We have no trustworthy evidence that the +diamond itself ever had an existence." + +"Surely, Mr. Madgin, my son's letter is sufficient to prove that +fact." + +"Sufficient, perhaps, in conjunction with the other evidence, to prove +it in a moral sense, but certainly not in a legal one," said Mr. +Madgin, quietly, but decisively. "Your ladyship must please to bear in +mind that Captain Pollexfen in his letter makes no absolute mention of +the diamond by name; he merely writes of it vaguely under certain +initials, and, if called upon, how could you prove that he intended +those initials to stand for the words _Great Mogul Diamond_, and not +for something altogether different? If M. Platzoff were your +ladyship's next-door neighbour, and you knew for certain that he had +the diamond still in his possession, you could only get it from him as +he himself got it from your son--by subterfuge and artifice. Your +ladyship will please to observe that I have put forward no opinion in +the case. I have merely offered a statement of plain facts as they +show themselves on the surface. With those facts before you it rests +with your ladyship to decide what further steps you wish taken in the +matter." + +"My good Madgin, do you know what it is to hate?" demanded Lady +Pollexfen. "To hate with a hatred that dwarfs all other passions of +the soul, and makes them pigmies by comparison? If you know this, you +know the feeling with which I regard M. Platzoff. If you want the key +to the feeling, you have it in the fact that his accursed hands robbed +my dead son: even then you must have a mother's heart to feel all that +I feel." She paused for a moment as if to recover breath; then she +resumed. "See you, Mr. Solomon Madgin, I have a conviction, an +intuition, call it what you will, that this Russian scoundrel is still +alive. That is the first fact you have got to find out. The next is, +where he is now residing. Then you will have to ascertain whether he +has the diamond still in his possession, and if so, by what means it +can be recovered. Only recover it for me--I ask not how or by what +means--only put into my hands the diamond that was stolen off my son's +breast as he lay dead; and the day you do that, my good Madgin, I will +present you with a cheque for five thousand pounds!" + +Mr. Madgin sat like one astounded; the power of reply seemed taken +from him. "Go now," said Lady Pollexfen, after a few moments. +"Ordinary business is out of the question today. Go home and carefully +digest what I have just said to you. That you are a man of resources, +I know well; had you not been so, I would not have employed you in +this matter. Come to me to-morrow, next day, next week--when you like; +only don't come barren of ideas; don't come without a plan, likely or +unlikely, of some sort of a campaign." + +Mr. Madgin rose and swept his papers mechanically into his bag. "Your +ladyship said five thousand pounds, if I mistake not?" he stammered +out. + +"A cheque for five thousand pounds shall be yours on the day you bring +me the diamond. Is not my word sufficient, or do you wish to have it +under bond and seal?" she asked with some hauteur. + +"Your ladyship's word is an all-sufficient bond," answered Mr. Madgin, +with sweet humility. He paused with the handle of the door in his +hand. "Supposing I were to see my way to carry out your ladyship's +wishes in this respect," he said deferentially, "or even to carry +out a portion of them only, still it could not be done without +expense--not without considerable expense, maybe." + +"I give you carte-blanche as regards expenses," said her ladyship with +decision. + +Then Mr. Madgin gave a farewell duck of the head, and went. He took +his way homeward through the park, like a man walking in his sleep. +With wide-open eyes, and hat well set on the back of his head, with +his blue bag in one hand, and his umbrella under his arm, he trudged +onward, even after he got into the busy streets of the little town, +without seeing anything or anybody. What he saw, he saw +introspectively. On the one hand glittered the tempting bait held out +by Lady Pollexfen; on the other loomed the dark problem that had to be +solved before he could call the golden apple his. + +"The most arrant wild-goose chase that ever I heard of in all my +life," he muttered to himself, as he halted at his own door. "Not a +single ray of light anywhere--not one." + +"Popsey," he called out to his daughter, when he got inside, "bring +the decanter of gin, some cold water, an ounce of bird's-eye, and a +clean churchwarden, into the office; and don't let me be disturbed by +any one for four hours." + + + + +CHAPTER V. +MR. MADGIN AT THE HELM. + + +Mr. Madgin's house stood somewhat back from the main street of +Tydsbury. It was an old-fashioned house, of modest exterior, and had +an air of being elbowed into the background by the smarter and more +modern domiciles on each side of it. Its steep overhanging roof, and +porched doorway, gave it a sleepy, reposeful look, as though it were +watching the on-goings of the little town through half-closed lids, +and taking small cognizance thereof. + +Entering from the street through a little wooden gateway of a bright +green colour, a narrow pathway, paved with round pebbles that were +very trying to people with tender feet, conducted you to the front +door, on which shone a brass plate of surpassing brightness, whereon +was inscribed:-- + + + Mr. Solomon Madgin, + _General Agent_, + _Valuer, &c_. + + +The house was a double-fronted one. On one side of the passage as you +went in was the office, on the other side was the family sitting-room. +Not that Mr. Madgin's family was a large one. It consisted merely of +himself, his daughter Mirpah, and one strong servant girl with an +unlimited capacity for hard work. Mirpah Madgin deserves some notice +at our hands. + +She was a tall, superb-looking young woman of two-and-twenty, and bore +not the slightest resemblance in person, whatever she might do in mind +or disposition, to that sly old fox her father. Mirpah's mother had +been of Jewish extraction, and in Mirpah's face you read the +unmistakable signs of that grand style of beauty which is everywhere +associated with the downtrodden race. She moved about the little house +in her inexpensive prints and muslins like a dis-crowned queen. That +she had reached the age of two-and-twenty without having been in love +was no source of surprise to those who knew her, for Mirpah Madgin +hardly looked like a girl who would marry a poor clerk or a petty +tradesman, or who could ever sink into the common-place drudge of a +hand-to-mouth household. She looked like a girl who would some day be +claimed by a veritable hero of romance--by some Ivanhoe of modern +life, well endowed with this world's goods--who would wed her, and +ride away with her to the fairy realms of Tyburnia and Rotten Row. + +And yet, truth to tell, the thread of romance inwoven with the +composition of Mirpah Madgin was a very slender one. In so far she +belied her own beauty. For a young woman she was strangely practical, +and that in a curiously unfeminine way. She was her father's managing +clerk and _alter ego_. The housewifely acts of sewing and cooking she +held in utter distaste. For domestic management in any of its forms +she had no faculty, unless it were for that portion of it which +necessitated a watchful eye upon the purse-strings. Such an eye she +had been trained to use since she was quite a girl, and Mirpah the +superb could on occasion haggle over a penny as keenly as the most +ancient fishwife in Tydsbury market. + +At five minutes past nine precisely, six mornings out of every seven, +Mirpah Madgin sat down in her father's office and proceeded to open +the letters. Mr. Madgin's business was a multifarious one. Not only +was he Lady Pollexfen's general agent and man of business, although +that was his most onerous and lucrative appointment, and the one that +engaged most of his time and thoughts, but he was also agent for +several lesser concerns, always contriving to have a number of small +irons in the fire at one time. Much of Mr. Madgin's time was spent in +the collection of rents and in out-door work generally, so that nearly +the whole of the office duties devolved upon Mirpah, and by no clerk +could they have been more efficiently performed. She made up and +balanced the numerous accounts with which Mr. Madgin had to deal in +one shape or another. Three-fourths of the letters that emanated from +Mr. Madgin's office were written by her. From long practice she had +learned to write so like her father that only an expert could have +detected the difference between the two hands; and she invariably +signed herself "Yours truly, Solomon Madgin." Indeed, so accustomed +was she to writing her father's name that in her correspondence with +her brother, who was an actor in London, she more frequently than not +signed it in place of her own; so that Madgin junior had to look +whether the letter was addressed to him as a son or as a brother +before he could tell by whom it had been written. + +As her father's assistant Mirpah was happy after a quiet, staid sort +of fashion. The energies of her nature found their vent in the busy +life in which she took so much delight. She was not at all +sentimental: she was not the least bit romantic. She was thoroughly +practical, and was as keen in money-making as her father himself. Yet +with all this Mirpah Madgin could be charitable on occasion, and was +by no means deficient of high and generous impulses--only she never +allowed her impulses to interfere with "business." + +Mr. Madgin never took any important step without first consulting his +daughter. Herein he acted wisely, for Mirpah's clear good sense, and +feminine quickness at penetrating motives where he himself was +sometimes at fault, had often proved invaluable to him in difficult +transactions. In a matter of so much moment as that of the Great Mogul +Diamond it was not likely that he would be long contented without +taking her into his confidence. He had scarcely finished his first +pipe when he heard her opening the door with her latch-key, and his +face brightened at the sound. She had been on one of those holy +pilgrimages in which all who are thus privileged take so much delight: +she had been to the bank to increase the little store which lay there +already in her father's name. She came into the room tired but +smiling. A white straw bonnet, a black silk mantle, and a muslin dress +small in pattern, formed the chief items of her quiet attire. She was +carefully gloved and booted; but to whatever she wore Mirpah imparted +an air of distinction that put it at once beyond a suggestion of +improvement. + +"Smoking at this time of day, papa!" exclaimed Mirpah. "And the +gin-bottle out, too! Are we about to retire on our fortunes, or what +does it all mean?" + +"It means, girl, that I have got one of the hardest nuts to crack that +was ever put before me. If I crack it, I get five thousand pounds for +the kernel. If I don't crack it--but that's a possibility I can't bear +to think about." + +"Five thousand pounds! That would indeed be a kernel worth having. My +teeth are younger than yours, and perhaps I may be able to help you." + +Mr. Madgin smoked in silence for a little while, while Mirpah toyed +patiently with her bonnet strings. "The nut is simply this," said the +old man at last: "In India, twenty years ago, a diamond was stolen +from a dying man. I am now told to find the thief, to obtain from him +the diamond either by fair means or foul--supposing always that he is +still alive and has the diamond still in his possession--and on the +day I give the stone to its rightful owner the aforementioned five +thousand pounds become mine." + +"A grand prize, and one worth striving for!" + +"Even so; but how can I strive, when I have nothing to strive against? +I am like a man put into a dark room to fight a duel. I cannot find my +antagonist. I grope about, not knowing whether he is on the right hand +of me or the left, before me or behind me. In fact, I am utterly at +sea; and the more I think about the matter the more hopelessly +bewildered I seem to become." + +"Two heads are better than one, papa. Let me try to help you. Tell me +the case from beginning to end, with all the details as they are known +to you." + +Mr. Madgin willingly complied, and related _in extenso_ all that he +had heard that morning at Dupley Walls. The little man had a high +opinion of his daughter's sagacity. That such an opinion was in nowise +lessened by the result of the present case will be best seen by the +following excerpts from Mr. Madgin's diary, which, as having a +particular bearing on the case of the Great Mogul Diamond, we proceed +at once to lay before the reader:-- + + + "EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF MR. SOLOMON MADGIN." + + +"July 9th, Evening.--After the wonderful revelation made to me by Lady +Pollexfen this morning, I came home, and got behind a churchwarden, +and set my wits to work to think the matter out. I shut my eyes and +puffed away for an hour and a half, but at the end of that time I was +as much in a fog as when I first sat down. Nowhere could I discern a +single ray of light. Then in came Mirpah, and when she begged of me to +tell her the story, I was glad to do so, remembering how often she had +helped me through a puzzle in days gone by--but none of them of such +magnitude as this one. So I told her everything as far as it was known +to myself. After that we discussed the whole case carefully step by +step. The immediate result of this discussion was, that as soon as tea +was over, I went as far as the White Hart tavern in search of Sergeant +Nicholas. I found him on the bowling-green watching the players. I +called for a quart of old ale and some tobacco, and before long we +were as cosy as two old cronies who have known each other for twenty +years. The morning had shown me that the Sergeant was a man of some +intelligence and of much worldly experience; and when I had lowered +myself imperceptibly to the level of his intellect, so as to put him +more completely at his ease, I had no difficulty in inducing him to +talk freely and fully on that one subject which, for the last few +hours, has had for me an interest paramount to that of any other. My +primary object was to induce him to retail to me every scrap Of +information that he could call to mind respecting the Russian, +Platzoff, who is said to have stolen the diamond. It was Mirpah's +opinion and mine, that he must be in possession of many bits of +special knowledge, such as might seem of no consequence to him, but +which might be invaluable to us in our search, and such as he would +naturally leave out of the narrative he told Lady Pollexfen. The +result proved that our opinion was well founded. I did not leave the +sergeant till I had pumped him thoroughly dry. (Mem.: an excellent tap +of old ale at the White Hart. Must try some of it at home.) + +"I found Mirpah watering her geraniums in the back garden. She was all +impatience to learn the result of my interview. I am thankful that +increasing years have not impaired my memory. I repeated to Mirpah +every word bearing on the case in point that the sergeant had confided +to me. Then I waited in silence for her opinion. I was anxious to know +whether it coincided in any way with my own. I am happy to think that +it did coincide. Father and daughter were agreed. + +"'I think that you have done a very good afternoon's work, papa,' said +Mirpah, after a few moments given to silent thought. 'After a lapse of +twenty years, it is not likely that Sergeant Nicholas should have a +very clear recollection of any conversation that he may have overheard +between Captain Pollexfen and M. Platzoff. Indeed, had he pretended to +repeat any such conversation, I should have felt strongly inclined to +doubt the truth of his entire narrative. Happily he disclaims any such +abnormal powers of memory. He can remember nothing but a chance phrase +or two which some secondary circumstance fixed indelibly on his mind. +But he can remember a great number of little facts bearing on the +relations between his master and the Russian. These facts, considered +singly, may seem of little or no importance, but taken in the +aggregate, and regarded as so many bits of mosaic work forming part of +a complicated whole, they assume an aspect of far greater importance. +In any case, they put us on a trail, which may turn out to be the +right one or the wrong one, but which at present certainly seems to me +worth following up. Finally, they all tend to deepen our first +suspicion that M. Platzoff was neither more nor less than a political +refugee. The next point is to ascertain whether he is still alive.' + +"Here again the clear logical intellect of Mirpah (so like my own) +came to my assistance. Before parting for the night we were agreed as +to what our mode of procedure ought to be on the morrow. This most +extraordinary case engages all my thoughts. I am afraid that I shall +not be able to sleep much to-night. + +"July 10th.--I owe it to Mirpah to say that it was entirely in +consequence of a hint from her that I went at an early hour this +morning to the office of the _Tydsbury Courier_ there to consult a +file of that newspaper. Six months ago the daughter of Sir John +Pennythorne was married to a rich London gentleman. Mirpah had read +the account of the festivities consequent on that event, and seemed to +remember that among other friends of the bridegroom invited down to +Finch Hall was some foreign gentleman who was stated in the newspaper +to belong to the Russian Legation in London. Acting on Mirpah's hint, +I went back through the files of the _Courier_ till I lighted on the +account of the wedding. True enough, among other guests on that +occasion, I found catalogued the name of a certain Monsieur H---- of +the Russian Embassy. I had got all I wanted from the _Tydsbury +Courier_. + +"My next proceeding was to hasten up to Dupley Walls, to obtain an +interview with Lady Pollexfen, and to induce her ladyship to write to +Sir John Pennythorne asking him to write to the aforesaid M. H----, +and inquire whether, among the archives (I think that is the correct +word) of the Embassy, they had any record of a political refugee by +name Paul Platzoff, who, twenty years ago, was in India, &c. I had +considerable difficulty in persuading her ladyship to write, but at +last the letter was sent. I await the result anxiously. The chances +seem to me something like a thousand to one against our inquiry being +productive of any tangible result. What I dread more than all is that +M. Platzoff is no longer among the living. + +"July 20th.--Nine days without a word from Sir John Pennythorne, +except to say that he had written his friend Monsieur H---- as +requested by Lady Pollexfen. I began to despair. Each morning I +inquired of her ladyship whether she had received any reply from Sir +John, and each morning her ladyship said: 'I have had no reply, Mr. +Madgin, beyond the one you have already seen.' + +"Certain matters connected with a lease took me up to Dupley Walls +this afternoon for the second time to-day. The afternoon post came in +while I was there. Among other letters was one from Sir John +Pennythorne, which, when she had read it, her ladyship tossed over to +me. It enclosed one from M. H---- to Sir John. It was on the latter +that I pounced. It was written in French, but even at the first hasty +reading I could make it out sufficiently to know that it was of far +greater importance than even in my wildest dreams I had dared to +imagine. + +"I never saw Lady Pollexfen so excited as she was during the few +moments which I took up in reading the letter. During the nine days +that had elapsed since the writing of her letter to Sir John she had +treated me somewhat slightingly; there was, or so I fancied, a spice +of contempt in her manner towards me. The step I had induced her to +take in writing to Sir John had met with no approbation at her hands; +it had seemed to her an utterly futile and ridiculous thing to do; +therefore was I now proportionately well pleased to find that my wild +idea had been productive of such excellent fruit. + +"'I must certainly compliment you, Mr. Madgin, on the success of your +first step,' said her ladyship. 'It was like one of the fine intuitions +of genius to imagine that you saw a way to reach M. Platzoff through +the Russian Embassy. You have been fully justified by the result. +Madgin, the man yet lives!--the man whose sacrilegious hands robbed my +dead son of that which he had left as a sacred gift to his mother. May +the curse of a widowed mother attend him through life! Let me hear the +letter again, Madgin; or stay, I will read it myself: your French is +execrable. Ha, ha! Monsieur Paul Platzoff, we shall have our revenge +out of you yet.' + +"She read the letter through for the second time with a sort of +deliberate eagerness which showed me how deeply interested her heart +was in the affair. She dropped her eye-glass and gave a great sigh +when she came to the end of it. 'And what do you propose to do next, +Mr. Madgin?' she asked. 'Your conduct so far satisfies me that I +cannot do better than leave the case entirely in your hands.' + +"'With all due deference to your ladyship,' I replied, 'I think that +my next step ought to be to reconnoitre the enemy's camp.' + +"'Exactly my own thought,' said her ladyship. 'When can you start for +Windermere?' + +"'To-morrow morning, at nine.' + +"After a little more conversation I left her ladyship. She seemed in +better spirits than I had seen her for a long time. + +"I need not attempt to describe dear Mirpah's delight when I read over +to her the contents of Monsieur H.'s note. She put her arms round me +and kissed me. 'The five thousand pounds shall yet be yours, papa,' +she said. Stranger things than that have come to pass before now. But +I am working only for her and James. Should I ever be so fortunate as +to touch the five thousand pounds, one-half of it will go to form a +dowry for my Mirpah. Below is a free translation of the business part +of M. H.'s letter, which was simply an extract from some secret ledger +kept at the Embassy:-- + +"Platzoff, Paul. A Russian by birth and a conspirator by choice. Born +in Moscow in 1802, his father being a rich leather-merchant of that +city. Implicated at the age of nineteen in sundry insurrectionary +movements; tried, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment in a +military fortress. After his release, left Russia without permission, +having first secretly transferred his property into foreign +securities. Went to Paris. Issued a scurrilous pamphlet directed +against his Majesty the Emperor. Spent several years in travel,--now +in Europe, now in the East, striving wherever he went to promulgate +his revolutionary ideas. More than suspected of being a member of +several secret political societies. Has resided for the last few years +at Bon Repos, on the banks of Windermere, from which place he +communicates constantly with other characters as desperate as himself. +Russia has no more bitter and determined enemy than Paul Platzoff. He +is at once clever and unscrupulous. While he lives he will not cease +to conspire.' + +"After this followed a description of Platzoff's personal appearance, +which it is needless to transcribe here. + +"I start for Windermere by the first train tomorrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +MR. MADGIN'S SECRET JOURNEY. + + +Mr. Madgin left home by an early train on the morning of the day +following that on which Lady Pollexfen had received a reply from Sir +John Pennythorne. His first intention had been to make the best of his +way to Windermere, and there ascertain the exact locality of Bon +Repos. But a fresh view of the case presented itself to his mind as he +lay thinking in bed. Instead of taking the train for the north, he +took one for the south, and found himself at Euston as the London +clocks were striking twelve. After an early dinner, and a careful +consultation of the Post Office Directory, Mr. Madgin ordered a +hansom, and was driven to Hatton-garden, in and about which unfragrant +locality the diamond merchants most do congregate. After due inquiries +made and answered, Mr. Madgin was driven eastward for another mile or +more. Here a similar set of inquiries elicited a similar set of +answers. Mr. Madgin went back to his hotel well pleased with his day's +work. + +His inquiries had satisfied him that no green diamond of the size and +value attributed to the Great Mogul had either been seen or heard of +in the London market during the last twenty years. It still remained +to test the foreign markets in the same way. Mr. Madgin's idea was +that this work could be done better by some trustworthy agent well +acquainted with the trade than by himself. He accordingly left +instructions with an eminent diamond merchant to have all needful +inquiries made at Paris, Amsterdam, and St. Petersburgh, as to whether +such a stone as the Great Mogul had come under the cognizance of the +trade any time during the last twenty years. The result of the inquiry +was to be communicated to Mr. Madgin by letter. + +Nest day Mr. Madgin journeyed down to Windermere. Arrived at Bowness, +he found no difficulty in ascertaining the exact locality of Bon +Repos, the house and its owner being known by sight or repute to +almost every inhabitant of the little town. Mr. Madgin stopped all +night at Bowness. Next morning he hired a small boat, and was pulled +across the lake to a point about half a mile below Bon Repos, and +there he landed. + +Mr. Madgin was travelling _incog_. The name upon his portmanteau was +"Jared Deedes, Esq." He was dressed in a suit of glossy black, with a +white neckcloth, and gold-rimmed spectacles. He had quite an episcopal +air. He did not call himself a clergyman, but people were at liberty +to accept him as one if they chose. + +Assisted by the most unimpeachable of malaccas, Mr. Madgin took the +high-road that wound round the grounds of Bon Repos. But so completely +was the house hidden in its nest of greenery that the chimney-pots +were all of it that was visible from the road. But under a spur of the +hill by which the house was shut in at the back Mr. Madgin found a +tiny hamlet of a dozen houses, by far the most imposing of which was +the village inn--hotel, it called itself, and showed to the world the +sign of The Jolly Fishers. Into this humble hostelry Mr. Madgin +marched without hesitation, and called for some refreshment. So +impressed was the landlord with the clerical appearance of his guest, +that he whipped off his apron, ushered him into the state parlour, and +made haste to wait upon him himself. He, the guest, had actually +called for a bottle of the best dry sherry, and when the landlord took +it in he invited him to fetch another glass, and come and join him +over it. Mr. Jared Deedes was a tourist--well-to-do, without doubt; +the landlord could see as much as that--and having never visited +Lakeland before, he was naturally delighted with the freshness and +novelty of everything that he saw. The change from London life was so +thorough, so complete in every respect, that he could hardly believe +he had left the great Babel no longer ago than yesterday. It seemed +years since he had been there. He had thought Bowness a charming spot, +but this little nook surpassed Bowness, inasmuch as it was still +farther removed and shut out from the frivolities and follies of the +great world. Here one was almost alone with Nature and her wondrous +works. Then Mr. Deedes filled up his own glass and that of the +landlord. + +"Perhaps, sir, you would like to stay here for a night or two," +suggested the host timidly; "we have a couple of spare beds." + +"Nothing would please me better," answered Mr. Deedes, with solemn +alacrity. "I feel that the healthful air of these hills is doing me an +immensity of good. Kindly send to the Crown at Bowness for my +portmanteau, and ascertain what you have in the house for dinner." + +After a while came dinner, and a little later on, Mr. Deedes having +expressed a desire to see something of the lake, the landlord sent to +borrow a boat, and then took his guest for an hour's row on +Windermere. From the water they had a capital view of the low white +front of Bon Repos. There were two gentlemen smoking on the terrace. +The lesser of the two, said the landlord, was M. Platzoff. The taller +man was Captain Ducie, at present a guest at Bon Repos. Then the +landlord wandered off into a long rambling account of Bon Repos and +its owner. Mr. Deedes was much interested in hearing about the +eccentric habits and strange mode of life of M. Platzoff, with the +details of which the landlord was as thoroughly acquainted as though +he had formed one of the household. Their row on the lake was +prolonged for a couple of hours, and Mr. Deedes went back to the hotel +much edified. + +In the dusk of evening he encountered Cleon, M. Platzoff's valet, as +he was lounging slowly down the village street on his way to the Jolly +Fishers. Mr. Deedes scrutinized the dark-skinned servant narrowly in +passing. "The face of a cunning unscrupulous rascal, if ever I saw +one," he muttered to himself. "Nevertheless, I must make his +acquaintance." + +And he did make his acquaintance. As Cleon and the landlord sat +hob-nobbing together in the little snuggery behind the bar, Mr. Deedes +put in his head to ask a question of the latter. Thereupon the +landlord begged permission to introduce his friend Mr. Cleon to the +notice of his guest, Mr. Deedes. The two men bowed, Mr. Cleon rather +sulkily; but Mr. Deedes was all affability and smiling _bonhommie_. He +had several questions to ask, and he sat down on the only vacant chair +in the little room. He wanted to know the distance to Keswick; how +much higher Helvellyn was than Fairfield; whether it was possible to +get any potted char for breakfast; and so on; on all which questions +both Cleon and the landlord had something to say. But talking being +dry work, as Mr. Deedes smilingly observed, brought naturally to mind. +the fact that the landlord had some excellent dry sherry, and that one +could not do better this warm evening than have another bottle fetched +up out of the cool depths of the cellar. Mr. Cleon, being pressed, was +nothing loth to join Mr. Deedes over this bottle. Mr. Deedes, without +condescending into familiarity, made himself very agreeable, but did +not sit long. After imbibing a couple of glasses, he bade the landlord +and the valet an affable good-night, and went off decorously to bed. + +Mr. Deedes was up betimes next morning, and took a three miles' trudge +over the hills before breakfast. He spent a quiet day mooning about +the neighbourhood, and really enjoying himself after his own fashion, +although his mind was busily engaged all the time in trying to solve +the mystery of the Great Diamond. In the evening he took care to have +a few pleasant words with Cleon, and then early to bed. Two more days +passed away after a similar quiet fashion, and then Mr. Deedes began +to chafe inwardly at the small progress he was making. + +Although he had been so successful in tracing out M. Platzoff, and in +working the case up to its present point in a remarkably short space +of time, he acknowledged to himself that he was completely baffled +when he came to consider what his next step ought to be. He could not, +indeed, see his way to a single step beyond his present stand-point. +Much as he seemed to have gained at a single leap, was he in reality +one hair's-breadth nearer the secret object of his quest than on that +day when the name of the Great Mogul Diamond first made music in his +ears? He doubted it greatly. + +When he first decided on coming down to Bon Repos he trusted that the +chapter of accidents and the good fortune which had so far attended +him would somehow put it in his power to scrape an acquaintance with +M. Platzoff himself, and such an acquaintance once made, it would be +his own fault if, in one way or another, he did not make it +subservient to the ambitious end he had in view. But in M. Platzoff he +found a recluse: a man who made no fresh acquaintanceships; who held +the whole tourist tribe in horror, and who even kept himself aloof +from such of the neighbouring families as might be considered his +equals in social position. It was quite evident to Mr. Deedes that he +might reside close to Bon Repos for twenty years, and at the end of +that time not have succeeded in addressing half a dozen words to its +owner. + +Then again he had succeeded little better with regard to Cleon than +with regard to Cleon's master. All his advances, made with a mixture +of affability and _bonhommie_ which Mr. Deedes flattered himself was +irresistible with most people, were productive of little or no effect +upon the mulatto. He received them, not with suspicion, for he had +nothing of which to suspect harmless Mr. Deedes, but with a sort of +sulky indifference, as though he considered them rather a nuisance +than otherwise, and would have preferred their being offered to anyone +else. Did Mr. Deedes, in conversation with him and the landlord, +venture to bring the talk round to Bon Repos and M. Platzoff; did he +hazard the remark that since his arrival in Lakeland several people +had spoken to him of the strange character and eccentric mode of life +of Mr. Cleon's employer--he was met with a stony silence, which told +him as plainly as any words could have done that M. Platzoff and his +affairs were matters that in no wise concerned him. It was quite +evident that neither the Russian nor his dark-skinned valet was of any +avail for the furtherance of that scheme which had brought Mr. Deedes +all the way to the wilds of Westmoreland. + +He began to despair, and was on the point of writing to Mirpah, +thinking that her shrewd woman's wit might be able to suggest some +stratagem or mode of attack other than that made use of by him, when +suddenly a prospect opened before him such as in his wildest dreams of +success he dared not have bodied forth. He was not slow to avail +himself of it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +ENTER MADGIN, JUNIOR. + + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said the landlord of the Jolly Fishers one +morning to his guest, Mr. Deedes, "but I think I have more than once +heard you say that you came from London?" + +"I do come from London," answered Mr. Deedes; "I am a Cockney born and +bred. I came direct from London to Windermere. But why do you ask?" + +"Simply, sir, because they are in want of a footman at Bon Repos, to +fill up the place of one who has gone away to get married. Mossoo +Platzoff don't like advertising for servants, and Mr. Cleon is at a +loss where to find a fellow that can wait at table and has some +manners about him. You see, sir, the country louts about here are +neither useful nor ornamental in a gentleman's house. Now, sir, it +struck me that among your friends you might perhaps know some +gentleman who would be glad to recommend a respectable man for such a +place. Must have a good character from his last situation, and be able +to wait at table; and I hope, sir, you will pardon the liberty I've +taken in mentioning it to you." + +Mr. Deedes was holding up a glass of wine to the light as the landlord +brought his little speech to a close. He sipped the wine slowly, with +his eyes bent on the floor; then he put down the glass and rubbed his +hands softly one within the other. Then he spoke. + +"It happens, singularly enough," he said, "that a particular friend of +mine--Mr. Madgin, a gentleman, I daresay, whose name you have never +heard--spoke to me only three weeks ago about one of his people for +whom he was desirous of obtaining another situation, he himself being +about to break up his establishment and go to reside on the Continent, +I will write Mr. Madgin to-night, and if the young man has not engaged +himself I will ask my friend to send him down here. He will have a +first-class testimonial, and I have no doubt he would suit M. Platzoff +admirably. I am obliged to you, landlord, for mentioning this matter +to me." + +Mr. Deedes went off at once to his room, and wrote and despatched the +following letter:-- + + +"My dear Boy,--I saw by an advertisement in last week's _Era_ that you +are still out of an engagement. I have an opening for you down here in +a drama of real life. It will be greatly to your advantage to accept +it, so do not hesitate for a moment. Come without delay. Book yourself +from Euston-square to Windermere. Take steamer from the latter place +to Newby-bridge. There, at the hotel, await my arrival. Bear in mind +that down here my name is _Mr. Jared Deedes_, and that yours is _James +Jasmin_, a footman, at present out of a situation. To a person of your +intelligence I need not say more. + +"Your affectionate father, + +"S. M." + + +"N.B.--This communication is secret and confidential. All expenses +paid. Do not on any account fail to come. I will be at the +Newby-bridge Hotel on Thursday morning at eleven." + + +This letter he addressed, "Mr. James Madgin, Royal Tabard Theatre, +Southwark, London." Having posted it with his own hands, he went for a +long solitary ramble among the hills. He wanted to think out and +elaborate the great scheme that had unfolded itself before his dazzled +eyes while the landlord was talking to him. He had seen the whole +compass of it at a glance; he wanted now to consider it in detail. +There was an elation in his eye and an elasticity in his tread that +made him seem ten years younger than on the previous day. + +He had requested the landlord to tell Mr. Cleon what steps he was +about to take with the view of supplying M. Platzoff with a new +footman. In these proceedings the mulatto acquiesced ungraciously. +Truth to tell, he was bored by Mr. Deedes and his friendly +officiousness, and although secretly glad that the trouble of hunting +out a new servant had been taken off his hands, he was not a man +willingly to acknowledge his obligations to another. + +Mr. Deedes set out immediately after breakfast on Thursday morning, +and having walked to the Ferry Hotel, he took the steamer from that +place to Newby-bridge. Mr. James Jasmin was at the landing-stage +awaiting his arrival. After shaking hands heartily, and inquiring as +to each other's health, the two wandered off arm in arm down one of +the quiet country roads. Then Mr. Deedes explained to Mr. Jasmin his +reasons for sending for him from London, and with what view he was +desirous of introducing him into Bon Repos. The younger man listened +attentively. When the elder one had done, he said:-- + +"Father, this is a very pretty scheme of yours, but it seems to me +that I am to be nothing more than a catspaw in the affair. You have +only given me half your confidence. You must give me the whole of it +before I can agree to act as you wish. I want to hear the whole +history of the case, and how you came to be mixed up in it. Further--I +want to know how much Lady Pollexfen intends to give you in case you +succeed in getting back the Diamond, and what my share of the +recompense is to be?" + +"Dear! dear! what a headstrong boy you are!" moaned Mr. Deedes. "Why +can't you be content with what I tell you, and leave the rest to me?" + +The younger man made no reply in words, but turned abruptly on his +heel and began to walk back. + +"James! James!" cried the old man, catching his son by the coat tails, +"do not go off in that way. It shall be as you wish. I will tell you +everything. You headstrong boy! Do you want to break your poor +father's heart?" + +"Break your fiddlestick!" said Mr. Jasmin, irreverently. "Let us sit +down on this green bank, and you shall tell me all about the Diamond +while I try the quality of these cigars. I am all attention." + +Thus adjured, Mr. Deedes sighed deeply, wiped his forehead with his +handkerchief, looked meditatively into his hat for a few seconds, and +then began. + +Beginning with the narrative of Sergeant Nicholas, Mr. Deedes went on +from that point to detail by what means he had discovered that M. +Platzoff was still alive and where he was now living. Then he told of +his coming down to Bon Repos and all that had happened to him since +that time. He had already told his son with what view he had sent for +him from London--that not being able to make any further headway in +the case himself, he was desirous of introducing his dear James, in +the guise of a servant, into Bon Repos, as an agent on whose integrity +and cleverness he could alike depend. + +"But you have not yet told your dear James the amount of the +honorarium you will be entitled to receive in case you recover the +stolen Diamond." + +"What do you say to five thousand pounds?" asked Mr. Deedes, in a +solemn whisper. + +The younger man opened his eyes. "Hum! A very pretty little amount," +he said, "but I have yet to learn what proportion of that sum will +percolate into the pockets of this child. In other words, what is to +be my share of the plunder?" + +"Plunder, my dear boy, is a strange word to make use of. Pray be more +particular in your choice of terms. The mercenary view you take of the +case is very distressing to my feelings. A proper recompense for your +time and trouble it was my intention to make you; but as regards the +five thousand pounds, I hoped to be able to fund it _in toto_, to add +it to my little capital, and to leave it intact for those who will +come after me. And you know very well, James, that there will only be +you and Mirpah to divide whatever the old man may die possessed of." + +"But, my dear dad, you are not going to die for these five-and-twenty +years. My present necessities are imperative: like the daughters of +the horse-leech, they are continually asking for more." + +"James! James! how changed you are from the dear unselfish boy of ten +years ago!" + +"And very proper too. But do let us be business-like, if you please. +The _rôle_ of the 'heavy father' doesn't suit you at all. Keep +sentiment out of the case, and then we shall do very well. Listen to +my ultimatum. The day I place the Great Mogul Diamond in your hands +you must give me a cheque for fifteen hundred pounds." + +"Fifteen hundred pounds!" gasped the old man. "James! James! do you +wish to see me die in a workhouse?" + +"Fifteen hundred pounds. Not one penny less," reiterated Madgin, +junior. "What do you mean by a workhouse? You will then have three +thousand five hundred pounds to the good, and will have got the job +done very cheaply. But there is another side to the question. Both you +and I have been counting our chickens before they are hatched. Suppose +I don't succeed in laying hold of the Diamond--what then? And, mind +you, I don't think I shall succeed. To begin with--I don't half +believe in the existence of your big Diamond. It looks to me very much +like a hoax from beginning to end. But granting the existence of the +stone, and that it was stolen by your Russian friend, are not the +chances a thousand to one either that he has disposed of it long ago, +or else that he has hidden it away in some place so safe that the +cleverest burglar in London would be puzzled to get at it. Suppose, +for instance, that it is deposited by him at his banker's: in that +case, what are your expectations worth? Not a brass farthing. No, my +dear dad, the risk of failure is too great, outweighing, as it does, +the chances of success a thousandfold, for me to have the remotest +hope of ever fingering the fifteen hundred pounds. I have, therefore, +to appraise my time and services as the hero of a losing cause. I say +the hero; for I certainly consider that I am about to play the leading +part in the forthcoming drama--that I am the bright particular 'star' +round which the lesser lights will all revolve. Such being the case, I +do not consider that I am rating my services too highly when I name +two hundred guineas as the lowest sum for which I am willing to play +the part of James Jasmin, footman, spy, and amateur detective." + +Again Mr. Deedes gasped for breath. He opened his mouth, but words +refused to come. He shook his head with a fine tragic air, and wiped +his eyes. + +"Take an hour or two to consider of it," said the son, indulgently. +"If you agree to my proposition, I shall want it put down in black and +white, and properly signed. If you do not agree to it, I start back +for town by this night's mail." + +"James, James, you are one too many for me!" said the old man, +pathetically. "Let us go and dine." + +The first thing Madgin junior did after they got back to the hotel was +to place before his father a sheet of note paper, an inkstand, and a +pen. "Write," he said; and the old man wrote to his dictation:-- + + +"I, Solomon Madgin, on the part of Lady Pollexfen, of Dupley Walls, do +hereby promise and bind myself to pay over into the hands of my son, +James Madgin, the sum of fifteen hundred pounds (1500_l_.) on the day +that the aforesaid James Madgin places safely in my hands the stone +known as the Great Mogul Diamond. + +"Should the aforesaid James Madgin, from causes beyond his own +control, find himself unable to obtain possession of the said Diamond, +I, Solomon Madgin, bind myself to reimburse him in the sum of two +hundred guineas (210_l_.) as payment in full for the time and labour +expended by him in his search for the Great Mogul Diamond." + +(Signed) "Solomon Madgin. + +"July 21st, 18--." + + +Mr. Madgin threw down the pen when he had signed his name, and +chuckled quietly to himself. "You don't think, dear boy, that a +foolish paper like that would be worth anything in a court of law?" he +said, interrogatively. + +"As a legal document it would probably be laughed at," said Madgin +junior. "But in another point of view I have no doubt that it would +carry with it a certain moral weight. For instance, suppose the claim +embodied in this paper were disputed, and I were compelled to resort +to ulterior measures, the written promise given by you might not be +found legally binding, but, on the other hand, neither Lady Pollexfen +nor you would like to see that document copied _in extenso_ into all +the London papers, nor the whole of your remarkable scheme for the +recovery of the Great Mogul Diamond detailed by the plaintiff in open +court, to be talked over next morning through the length and breadth +of England. 'Extraordinary Case between a Lady of Rank and an Actor.' +How would that read, eh?" + +"My dear James, let me shake hands with you," exclaimed the old man +with emotion. "You are a most extraordinary young man. I am proud of +you, my dear boy, I am indeed. What a pity that you adopted the stage +as your profession! You ought to have entered the law. In the law you +would have risen,--nothing could have kept you down." + +"That is as it may be," returned James. "If I am satisfied with my +profession you have no cause to grumble. But here comes dinner." + +Mr. James Madgin was first low comedian at one of the transpontine +theatres. The height of his ambition was to have the offer of an +engagement from one of the West-end managers. Only give him the +opportunity, and he felt sure that he could work his way with a +cultivated audience. When a lad of sixteen he had run away from home +with a company of strolling players, and from that time he had been a +devoted follower of Thespis. He had roughed it patiently in the +provinces for years, his only consolation during a long season of +poverty and neglect arising from the conviction that he was slowly but +surely improving himself in the difficult art he had chosen as his +mode of earning his daily bread. When the manager of the Royal Tabard, +then on a provincial tour, picked him out from all his brother actors, +and offered him a metropolitan engagement, James Madgin thought +himself on the high road to fame and fortune. Time had served to show +him the fallacy of his expectations. He had been four years at the +Royal Tabard, during the whole of which time he had been in receipt of +a tolerable salary for his position--that of first low comedian; but +fame and fortune seemed still as far from his grasp as ever. With +opportunity given him, he had hoped one day to electrify the town. But +that hope was now buried very deep down in his heart, and if ever +brought out, like an "old property," to be looked at and turned about, +its only greeting was a quiet sneer, after which it was relegated to +the limbo whence it had been disinterred. James Madgin had given up +the expectation of ever shining in the theatrical system as a "great +star;" he was trying to content himself with the thought of living and +dying a respectable mediocrity,--useful, ornamental even, in his +proper sphere, but certainly never destined to set the Thames on fire. +The manager of the Tabard had recently died, and at present James +Madgin was in want of an engagement. + +As father and son sat together at table, you might, knowing their +relationship to each other, have readily detected a certain likeness +between them; but it was a likeness of expression rather than of +features, and would scarcely have been noticed by any casual observer. +Madgin junior was a fresh-complexioned, sprightly young fellow of six +or seven-and-twenty, with dark, frank-looking eyes, a prominent nose, +and thin mobile lips. He had dark-brown hair, closely cropped; and, as +became one of his profession, he was guiltless of either beard or +moustache. Like Mirpah, he inherited his eyes and nose from his +mother, but in no other feature could he be said to resemble his +beautiful sister. + +Father and son were very merry over dinner, and did not spare the wine +afterwards. The old man could not sufficiently admire the shrewd +business-like aptitude shown by his son in their recent conference. +The latter's extraction of a written promise from his own father was +an action that the elder man could fully appreciate; it was a stroke +of business that touched him to the heart, and made him feel proud of +his "dear James." + +"But how will you manage about waiting at table?" asked Solomon of his +son as they strolled out together to smoke their cigars on the little +bridge by the hotel. "I am afraid that you will betray your ignorance, +and break down when you come to be put to the test." + +"Never fear; I shall pull through somehow," answered James. "I am not +so ignorant on such matters as you may suppose. Geary used to say that +I did the flunkey business better than any man he ever had at the +Tabard: I have always been celebrated for my footmen. Of course I am +quite aware that the real article is very different from its stage +counterfeit, but I have actually been at some pains to study the genus +in its different varieties, and to arrive at some knowledge of the +special duties it has to perform. One of our supers had been footman +in the family of a well-known marquis, and from him I picked up a good +deal of useful information. Then, whenever I have been out to a swell +dinner of any kind, I have always kept my eye on the fellows who +waited at table. So, what with one thing and what with another, I +don't think I shall make any very terrible blunders." + +"I hope not, or else Mr. Cleon will give you your _congé_, and that +will spoil everything. Further, as regards the mulatto, I have a word +or two to say to you. It is quite evident to me that he is the +presiding genius at Bon Repos. If you wish to retain your situation +you must pay court to him far more than to M. Platzoff, with whom, +indeed, it is doubtful whether you will ever come into personal +contact. You must therefore, my dear boy, swallow your pride for the +time being, and take care to let the mulatto see that you regard him +as a patron to whose kindness you hold yourself deeply indebted." + +"All that I can do, and more, to serve my own ends," answered the son. +"Your words are words of wisdom, and shall live in my memory." + +Mr. Madgin stopped with his son till summoned by the whistle of the +last steamer. The two bade each other an affectionate farewell. When +next they met it would be as strangers. + +Mr. Cleon and the landlord were enjoying the cool of the evening and +their cigars outside the house as Mr. Deedes walked up to the Jolly +Fishers. He stopped for a moment to speak to them. + +"I had a note this morning from my friend Mr. Madgin of Dupley Walls," +he said, "in which that gentleman informs me that the young man, James +Jasmin, will be with you in the course of the day after to-morrow at +the latest. He hopes that Jasmin will suit you, and he is evidently +much pleased that a position has been offered him in an establishment +in every way so unexceptionable as that of Bon Repos." + +The mulatto's white teeth glistened in the twilight. Evidently he was +pleased. He muttered a few words in reply. Mr. Deedes bowed +courteously, wished him and the landlord a very good night, and +withdrew. + +Late in the afternoon of the day but one following that of his visit +to Newby-bridge, as Mr. Deedes was busy with a London newspaper three +or four days old, the landlord ushered a young man into his room, who, +with a bow and a carrying of the forefinger to his forehead, announced +himself as James Jasmin from Dupley Walls. + +"Don't you go, landlord," said Mr. Deedes; "I may want you." Then he +deliberately put on his gold-rimmed glasses, and proceeded to take a +leisurely survey of the new comer, who was dressed in a neat (but not +new) suit of black, and was standing in a respectful attitude, and +slowly brushing his hat with one sleeve of his coat. + +"So you are James Jasmin from Dupley Walls, are you?" asked Mr. +Deedes, looking him slowly down from head to feet. + +"Yes, sir,--I am the party, sir," answered James. + +"Weil, Jasmin, and how did you leave my friend Mr. Madgin? and what is +the latest news from Dupley Walls?" + +"Master and family all pretty well, sir, thank you. Master has got a +tenant for the old house, and the family will all start for the +continent next week." + +"Well, Jasmin, I hope you will contrive to suit your new employer as +well as you appear to have suited my friend. Landlord, let him have +some dinner, and he had better perhaps wait here till Mr. Cleon comes +down this evening." + +When Mr. Cleon arrived a couple of hours later Jasmin was duly +presented to him. The mulatto scrutinized him keenly and seemed +pleased with his appearance, which was decidedly superior to that of +the ordinary run of Jeameses. He finished by asking him for his +testimonials. + +"I have none with me, sir," answered Jasmin, discreetly emphasizing the +_sir_. "I can only refer you to my late master, Mr. Madgin of Dupley +Walls, who will gladly speak as to my qualifications and integrity." + +"That being the case I will take you for the present on the +recommendation of Mr. Deedes, and will write Mr. Madgin in the course +of a post or two. You can go up to Bon Repos at once, and I will +induct you into your new duties to-morrow." + +Jasmin thanked Mr. Cleon respectfully and withdrew. Ten minutes later, +with his modest valise in his hand, he set out for his new home. He +and Mr. Deedes did not see each other again. Next day Mr. Deedes +announced that he was summoned home by important letters. He bade the +landlord and Cleon a friendly farewell, and left early on the +following morning in time to catch the first train from Windermere +going south. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +MADGIN JUNIOR'S FIRST REPORT. + + +Mr. Madgin, senior, lost no time after his arrival at home before +hastening up to Dupley Walls to see Lady Pollexfen. He had a brief +conference with Mirpah while discussing his modest chop and glass of +bitter ale; and he found time to read a letter which had arrived for +him some days previously from the London diamond merchant whom he had +employed to make inquiries as to whether any such gem as the Great +Mogul had been offered for sale at any of the great European marts +during the past twenty years. The letter was an assurance that no such +stone had been in the market, nor was any such known to be in the +hands of any private individual. + +Mr. Madgin took the letter with him to Dupley Walls. In her grim way +Lady Pollexfen seemed greatly pleased to see him. She was all +impatience to hear what news he had to tell her. But Mr. Madgin had +his reservations; he did not deem it advisable to detail to her +ladyship, step by step, all that he had done. Her sense of honour +might revolt at certain things he had found it necessary to do in +furtherance of the great object he had in view. He told her of his +inquiries among the London diamond merchants, and read to her the +letter he had received from one of them. Then he went on to describe +Bon Repos and its owner from the glimpses he had had of both. For all +such details her ladyship betrayed a curiosity that seemed as if it +would never be satisfied. He next went on to inform her that he had +succeeded in placing his son as footman at Bon Repos, and that +everything now depended on the discoveries James might succeed in +making. But nothing was said as to the false pretences and the changed +name under which Madgin junior had entered M. Platzoff's household. +Those were details which Mr. Madgin kept judiciously to himself. Her +ladyship was perfectly satisfied with his report; she was more than +satisfied--she was pleased. She was very sanguine as to the existence +of the diamond, and also as to its retention by M. Platzoff; far more +so, in fact, than Mr. Madgin himself was. But the latter was too +shrewd a man of business to parade his doubts of success before a +client who paid so liberally, so long as her hobby was ridden after +her own fashion. Mr. Madgin's chief aim in life was to ride other +people's hobbies, and be well paid for his jockeyship. + +"I am highly gratified, Mr. Madgin," said her ladyship, "by the style, +_pleine de finesse_, in which you have so far conducted this delicate +investigation. I will not ask you what your next step is to be. You +know far better than I can tell you what ought to be done. I leave the +matter with confidence in your hands." + +"Your ladyship is very kind," observed Mr. Madgin, deferentially. "I +will do my best to deserve a continuance of your good opinion." + +"As week after week goes by, Mr. Madgin," resumed Lady Pollexfen, "the +conviction seems to take deeper root within me that that man--that +villain--M. Platzoff, has my son's diamond still in his possession. I +have a sort of spiritual consciousness that such is the ease. My +waking intuitions, my dreams by night, all point to the same end. You, +with your cold worldly sense, may laugh at such things; we women, with +our finer organization, know how often the truth comes to us on mystic +wings. The diamond will yet be mine!" + +"What nonsense women sometimes talk," said Mr. Madgin contemptuously +to himself, as he walked back through the park. "Who would believe +that my lady, so sensible on most things, could talk such utter +rubbish. But women have a way of leaping to results, and ignoring +processes, that is simply astounding to men of common sense. The +diamond hers, indeed! Although I have been so successful so far, there +is as much difference between what I have done and what has yet to be +done as there is between the simple alphabet and a mathematical +theorem. To-morrow's post ought to bring me a letter from Bon Repos." + +The morrow's post did bring Mr. Madgin a letter from Bon Repos. The +writer of it was not his son, but Cleon. It was addressed, as a matter +of course, to Dupley Walls, of which place the mulatto had been led to +believe Mr. Madgin was the proprietor. The note, which was couched in +tolerable English, was simply a request to be furnished with a +testimonial as to the character and abilities of James Jasmin, late +footman at Dupley Walls. Mr. Madgin replied by return of post as +under:-- + + +"Dupley Walls, + +"July 27th. + +"Sir,--In reply to your favour of the 25th inst., inquiring as to the +character and respectability of James Jasmin, late a footman in my +employ, I beg to say that I can strongly recommend him, and have much +pleasure in so doing, for any similar employment under you. Jasmin was +with me for several years; during the whole time I found him to be +trustworthy, sober, and intelligent in an eminent degree. Had I not +been reducing my establishment previous to a lengthened residence in +the south of Europe, I should certainly have retained Jasmin in the +position which he has occupied for so long a time with credit to +himself and with satisfaction to me. + + "I have the honour, Sir, to remain, + + "Your obedient servant, + + "Solomon Madgin. + +"--Cleon, Esq., + Bon Repos, + Windermere." + + +After writing and despatching the above epistle, over the composition +of which he chuckled to himself several times, Mr. Madgin was obliged +to wait, with what contentment was possible to him, the receipt of a +communication from his son. But one day passed after another without +bringing any news from Bon Repos, till Mr. Madgin grew fearful that +some disaster had befallen both James and his scheme. At length he +made up his mind to wait two days longer, and should no letter come +within that time, to start at once for Windermere. Fortunately his +anxiety was relieved and the journey rendered unnecessary by the +receipt, next day, of a long letter from his son. It was Mirpah who +took it from the postman's hand, and Mirpah took it to her father in +high glee. She knew the writing and deciphered the post-mark. For once +in his life Mr. Madgin was too agitated to read. He put his hand to +his side, and motioned Mirpah to open the letter. + +"Read it," he said in a husky voice, as she was about to hand it to +him. So Mirpah sat down near her father and read what follows:-- + + + "Bon Repos, +July, some date, but I'll be + hanged if I know what. + +"My dear Dad,--In some rustic nook reclining, Silken tresses softly +twining, Far-off bells so faintly ringing, While we list the blackbird +singing, Merrily his roundelay. There! I composed those lines this +morning during the process of shaving. I don't think they are very +bad. I put them at the beginning of my letter so as to make sure that +you will read them, a process of which I might reasonably be doubtful +had I left them for the fag end of my communication. Learn, sir, that +you have a son who is a born poet!!! + +"But now to business. + +"Don't hurry over my letter, dear dad; don't run away with the idea +that I have any grand discovery to lay before you. My epistle will be +merely a record of trifles and commonplaces, and that simply from the +fact that I have nothing better to write about. To me, at least, they +seem nothing but trifles. For you they may possess an occult +significance of which I know nothing. + +"In the first place. On the day following that of your departure from +Windermere, I was duly inducted by Cleon into my new duties. They are +few in number, and by no means difficult. So far I have contrived to +get through them without any desperate blunder. Another thing I have +done of which you will be pleased to hear: I have contrived to +ingratiate myself with the mulatto, and am in high favour with him. +You were right in your remarks; he is worth cultivation, in so far +that he is all-powerful in our little establishment. M. Platzoff never +interferes in the management of Bon Repos. Everything is left to +Cleon; and whatever the mulatto may be in other respects, so far as I +can judge he is quite worthy of the trust reposed in him. I believe +him to be thoroughly attached to his master. + +"Of M. Platzoff I have very little to tell you. Even in his own house +and among his own people he is a recluse. He has his own special +rooms, and three-fourths of his time is spent in them. Above all +things he dislikes to see strange faces about him, and I have been +instructed by Cleon to keep out of his way as much as possible. Even +the old servants, people who have been under his roof for years, let +themselves be seen by him as seldom as need be. In person he is a +little withered-up yellow-skinned man, as dry as a last year's pippin, +but very keen, bright, and vivacious. He speaks such excellent English +that he must have lived in this country for many years. One thing I +have discovered about him, that he is a great smoker. He has a room +set specially apart for the practice of the sacred rite to which he +retires every day as soon as dinner is over, and from which he seldom +emerges again till it is time to retire for the night. Cleon alone is +privileged to enter this room. I have never yet been inside it. +Equally forbidden ground is M. Platzoff's bedroom, and a small study +beyond, all _en suite_. + +"Those who keep servants keep spies under their roof. It has been part +of my purpose to make myself agreeable to the older domestics at Bon +Repos, and from them I have picked up several little facts which all +Mr. Cleon's shrewdness has not been able entirely to conceal. In this +way I have learned that M. Platzoff is a confirmed opium-smoker. That +once, or sometimes twice, a week he shuts himself up in his room and +smokes himself into a sort of trance, in which he remains unconscious +for hours. That at such times Cleon has to look after him as though he +were a child; and that it depends entirely on the mulatto as to +whether he ever emerges from his state of coma, or stops in it till he +dies. The accuracy of this latter statement, however, I must beg leave +to doubt. + +"Further gossip has informed me, whether truly or falsely I am not in +a position to judge, that M. Platzoff is a refugee from his own +country. That were he to set foot on the soil of Russia, a life-long +banishment to Siberia would be the mildest fate that he could expect; +and that neither in France nor in Austria would he be safe from +arrest. The people who come as guests to Bon Repos are, so I am +informed, in nearly every instance foreigners, and, as a natural +consequence, they are all set down by the servants' gossip as red-hot +republicans, thirsting for the blood of kings and aristocrats, and +willing to put a firebrand under every throne in Europe. In fact, +there cannot be a popular outbreak against bad government in any part +of Europe without M. Platzoff and his friends being credited with +having at least a finger in the pie. + +"All these statements and suppositions you will of course accept _cum +grano salis_. They may have their value as serving to give you a rude +and exaggerated idea as to what manner of man is the owner of Bon +Repos; and it is quite possible that some elements of truth may be +hidden in them. To me, M. Platzoff seems nothing more than a mild old +gentleman; a little eccentric, it may be, as differing from our +English notions in many things. Not a smiling fiend in patent boots +and white cravat, whose secret soul is bent on murder and rapine; but +a shy valetudinarian, whose only firebrand is a harmless fusee +wherewith to light a pipe of fragrant Cavendish. + +"One permanent guest we have at Bon Repos--a guest who was here before +my arrival, and of whose departure no signs are yet visible. That is +why I call him permanent. His name is Ducie, and he is an ex-captain +in the English army. He is a tall, handsome man of four or +five-and-forty, and is a thorough gentleman both in manners and +appearance. I like him much, and he has taken quite a fancy to me. One +thing I can see quite plainly: that he and Cleon are quietly at +daggers drawn. Why they should be so I cannot tell, unless it is that +Cleon is jealous of Captain Ducie's influence over Platzoff, although +the difference in social position of the two men ought to preclude any +feeling of that kind. Captain Ducie might be M. Platzoff's very good +friend without infringing in the slightest degree on the privileges of +Cleon as his master's favourite servant. On one point I am certain: +that the mulatto suspects Ducie of some purpose or covert scheme in +making so long a stay at Bon Repos. He has asked me to act as a sort +of spy on the captain's movements; to watch his comings and goings, +his hours of getting up and going to bed, and to report to him, Cleon, +anything that I may see in the slightest degree out of the common way. + +"It was not without a certain inward qualm that I accepted the +position thrust upon me by Cleon. In accepting it I flatter myself +that I took a common-sense view of the case. In the _petite_ drama of +real life in which I am now acting an uneventful part, I look upon +myself as a 'general utility' man, bound to enact any and every +character which my manager may think proper to entrust into my hands. +Now, you are my manager, and if it seem to me conducive to your +interests (you being absent) that, in addition to my present +character, I should be 'cast' for that of spy or amateur detective, I +see no good reason why I should refuse it. So far, however, all my +Fouché-like devices have resulted in nothing. The captain's comings +and goings--in fact, all his movements--are of a most commonplace and +uninteresting kind. But I have this advantage, that the character I +have undertaken enables me to assume, with Cleon's consent, certain +privileges such as, under other circumstances, would never have been +granted me. Further, should I succeed in discovering anything of +importance, it by no means follows that I should consider myself bound +to reveal the same to Cleon. It might be greatly more to my interest +to retain any such facts for my own use. Meanwhile, I wait and watch. + +"Thus you will perceive, my dear dad, that an element of interest--a +dramatic element--is being slowly evolved out of the commonplace +duties of my present position. This nucleus of interest may grow and +develope into something startling; or it may die slowly out and expire +for lack of material to feed itself upon. In any case, dear dad, you +may expect a frequent feuilleton from + +"Your affectionate son, + +"J. M., otherwise + +"James Jasmin." + + +"P.S.--I should not like to be a real flunkey all my life. Such a +position is not without its advantages to men of a lazy turn, but it +is terribly soul-subduing. Not a sign yet of the G. M. D." + + +"There is nothing much in all this to tell her ladyship," said Mr. +Madgin, as he took off his spectacles and refolded the letter. "Still, +I do not think it by any means a discouraging report. If James's +patience only equal his shrewdness and audacity, and if there be +really anything to worm out, he will be sure to make himself master of +it in the course of time. Ah! if he had only my patience, now--the +patience of an old man who has won half his battles by playing a +waiting game." + +"Is it not possible that Lady Pollexfen may want you to read the +letter?" + +"It is quite possible. But James's irreverent style is hardly suited +in parts for her ladyship's ears. You, dear child, must make an +improved copy of the letter. Your own good taste will tell you which +sentences require to be altered or expunged. Here and there you may +work in a neat compliment to your father; as coming direct from James +her ladyship will not deem it out of place--it will not sound fulsome +in her ears, and will serve to remind her of what she too often +forgets--that in Solomon Madgin she has a faithful steward, who ought +to be better rewarded than he is. Write out the copy at once, my +child, and I will take it up to Dupley Walls the first thing to-morrow +morning." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +LOST AS SOON AS FOUND. + + +Janet's life at this time was a very quiet one; but the long years she +had spent in France had been so tame and colourless, so wanting in +home pleasures and endearments, that, by contrast, her days at Dupley +Walls were full of variety and of that sweet charm which springs from +a knowledge that you are at once appreciated and loved. + +Janet's love for Captain George was as yet a timid callow fledgling +that could do nothing but flutter in the nest where it was born. Very +pretty to look at, but not to be looked at too often, for fear lest +its hiding-place should be found out and some rude hand should take it +unawares. Her love for Sister Agnes was of a different texture, and +made up the real quiet happiness of her life. She felt like a plant +that has been lifted out of the cold corner in which it has found the +elements of a stunted growth and set to bask in a flood of gracious +sunshine. In such cases the result is not difficult to foretell. The +plant grows more and more beautiful under the sweet influence that has +been brought to bear upon it, and repays the sunshine with its most +fragrant blossoms. In such like was Janet's young life nourished and +enriched by the love that existed between her and Sister Agnes. Her +inner life developed itself unconsciously; her heart grew in wisdom, +and all the finer qualities of her nature began to unfold themselves +one by one as delicate leaves unfold themselves in the sun. + +Janet was kept very closely to her duties by Lady Pollexfen. Still, +each day brought its little interregnums--odd hours, or even +half-hours, when she was not wanted by her task-mistress--when her +ladyship was sleeping, or lunching, or discussing private matters with +Mr. Madgin, or what not. By far the greater part of these stolen +moments were spent with Sister Agnes. More would have been so spent +had not the invalid given strict injunctions that a certain portion of +each day should be set apart by Janet for out-door exercise. Sister +Agnes was far too weak to accompany her. As the summer days went on +she gathered not strength but weakness, and more and more clearly she +began to discern the end that was coming so surely upon her. But as +yet this was a solemn secret known only to herself and to her doctor. +By no one else within Dupley Walls was it even suspected. Outwardly +there was no change in her from day to day, or one so slight that +those who were in the habit of seeing her every few hours never +perceived it. + +Her window had a pleasant outlook across the park. Her couch was +wheeled close up to it, and there she lay from early in the forenoon +till late in the afternoon, a pale spiritual-eyed lady, slowly dying, +although neither by word nor look was there any betrayal of that fact +to those about her. Janet, we may be sure, had no suspicion of it. +Never a morning came but her first inquiry was as to whether Sister +Agnes felt any better. + +"A little better this morning, I think, dear," Sister Agnes would +smilingly say. "Or if not stronger, at least no weaker than I was +yesterday." And for the time being she would feel that her statement +was true. Later on in the day some small portion of vitality would +seem to fade out of her which the freshness and strength of the +following morning could not wholly replace. But Janet hoped with the +hopefulness of youth that when the hot languorous days of summer +should give place to the chastened heats of autumn health and strength +would come back to Sister Agnes; hoped it devoutly, although she knew +that should such be the case she herself would no longer be needed by +Lady Pollexfen, but that she should have to go out into the world and +fight for her daily bread with such small skill as there might be in +her. Meanwhile she waited on Sister Agnes, and ministered to her +simple needs as much as lay in her power to do so. To gather a fresh +bouquet every morning for the room of her she loved so dearly was one +of Janet's pleasantest occupations. Then there was always some new and +interesting book to read aloud, with frequent interludes of music and +conversation. Now and then an odd hour or two would be devoted to the +science of the needle. Happy days!--days such as Janet, if she were to +live to be a hundred years old, could never forget. + +Now that she had become more accustomed to Lady Pollexfen and her +peculiar ways, the duties of her position ceased to press so heavily +upon Janet. She found, to her surprise, that Lady Pollexfen's often +positively cruel speeches no longer wounded her feelings so deeply as +they did at first. The dislike and fear with which she had formerly +regarded the strange old woman began to give place to a gentler +feeling--to one of profound pity, and in this very pity she found an +armour of proof against all the slights and contumely with which she +was treated. One thing must be said in favour of Lady Pollexfen. +However capricious she might be in her own treatment of Janet, the +servants were given to understand that in all things Miss Holme was to +be regarded as a young gentlewoman, and not as one of themselves. +Sometimes her ladyship would be overcome by a fit of graciousness, +which, however, never lasted more than a day or two at a time; but +while it did last Janet felt that her life was a very pleasant one. +Such occasions were exceptional. Lady Pollexfen's normal mood was one +of mingled harshness and suspicion, just rubbed over with a sort of +cynical _laissez faire_-ism that to a girl of Janet's disposition was +peculiarly distasteful. Janet never answered her taunts and bitter +speeches, but now and then a flash of scorn from her beautiful eyes, +or a sudden rush of colour to her cheek, showed that the barbed words +had struck home. Janet's icy meekness had often the effect of +irritating her ladyship far more than any angry retort would have +done. At the latter she would merely have laughed, but Janet's +demeanour seemed suggestive of a fine though hidden contempt, and +betrayed an indifference to her taunts that robbed her of half her +pleasure in the utterance of them. As a consequence, there being no +real faults to lay hold of, she sometimes accused Janet of those +faults from which she was most free. + +"Who and what are you, Miss Holme," she one day asked, in her scornful +way, "that you should give yourself the airs of a _grande dame_ when +in my presence? Judging from your demeanour, you and not I might be +the mistress of Dupley Walls. Pride ill becomes a dependent like +you--a mere nobody--a person who has eaten the bread of charity from +the day of her birth. If you had even the excuse of good looks! But +that is quite out of the question. If you are in any way remarkable, +it is for an incurable _gaucherie_, and for a stolidity of intellect +that would not discredit a ploughboy." + +It was only the teaching and example of Sister Agnes that kept Janet +on such occasions from breaking into open rebellion, and bidding +farewell for ever to Dupley Walls. But the gentle counsels of the sick +woman prevailed, and by degrees these bitter speeches lost much of +their sting. + +Sometimes, when her mood was more than ordinarily spiteful, her +ladyship would touch Janet's feelings in a different way. It was part +of Janet's duties to assist Lady Pollexfen with the use of her arm as +the latter walked from room to room, or on the terrace outside. As the +two were walking staidly along, the old lady would sometimes pinch +Janet's arm viciously between her thumb and finger. The first time +this happened, Janet started and gave utterance to a little shriek. + +"What is the matter, child?" said her ladyship, stopping suddenly in +her walk. "Have you seen a mouse, or what has frightened you? Pray try +to keep your nerves under better control." + +After that first time, Janet bore the infliction in stoical silence, +but her arm was seldom without two or three blue and black finger +marks as evidences of the petty torture she had undergone. To Sister +Agnes she made no mention of this fresh mode of annoyance. The +knowledge of it would only have jarred the sick woman's feelings still +more, and would not have spared Janet the infliction. + +Once every forenoon, between the hours of ten and twelve, Lady +Pollexfen marched in her slow and stately fashion, and leaning on +Janet's arm, from her own rooms on one side of the house to those of +Sister Agnes on the opposite side, there to make formal inquiry as to +the state of the latter's health. She never stayed longer than three +or four minutes at each visit, and she never sat down. She seemed to +regard these daily visits as a matter of duty, and as such she +conscientiously included them in each day's programme of things to be +done but she spent no more time over them than was absolutely +necessary. Sometimes Janet, on returning alone to the sick woman's +room, soon after one of these visits, would find Sister Agnes in +tears. Those were the only occasions on which her habitual serenity +seemed to be seriously disturbed. But at sight of Janet's loving face +her tears soon ceased to flow. + +About this time Father Spiridion began to be seen more frequently at +Dupley Walls. His visits were to Sister Agnes. Janet had contracted +quite a liking for the kindly old man. He was a strange mixture of +shrewdness and benignity, of prejudice and out-of-the-way knowledge. +He never met Janet without a smile and a few words of pleasant +greeting. She was too old now to have sweetmeats given her, so he gave +her his blessing instead. Now, as of old, one of her greatest treats +was to hear him play the grand old organ in the gallery. + +Slowly and almost imperceptibly Sister Agnes faded from day to day, +and those most about her suspected nothing. But at daybreak one +morning there was a ringing of bells, and Dr. Graile was sent for in +hot haste, and by-and-by it was reported through the house that Sister +Agnes had become suddenly worse, and that her life was in danger. +Janet was like one distracted. She was forbidden the room, and three +whole days and nights passed away before she saw again the face of her +she so dearly loved. She besieged the doctor and the nurse with +questions, but from neither of those functionaries could anything +beyond a grave shake of the head be elicited. How she got through her +routine of duties with Lady Pollexfen she could never afterwards +remember. Happily during those few days her ladyship was less exacting +than common--more silent and subdued, and given to long fits of +absorbing self-communion. + +On the fourth morning a message came to Janet that she was wanted in +Sister Agnes's room. She went tremblingly. As she put her hand on the +door it was opened from the inside, and Lady Pollexfen came out. Janet +had never seen such an expression on her face before. It was set and +colourless, and full of a deep frowning trouble. The trouble sprang +from her heart: the frown was a visible sign of her intense will--of +her unsparing determination to trample that trouble under foot and put +it away from her for ever. Her eyes were fixed straight before her, +but seemed to see nothing. Her tall thin figure looked as upright and +rigid as if east in bronze. She swept slowly past Janet without +appearing to have seen her. + +Janet passed forward into the little sitting-room. She saw with an +aching heart that this morning the sofa was without its occupant. +After a word of warning from the nurse, she was allowed to enter the +bedroom: then the door was closed behind her, and she and Sister Agnes +were left alone. + +Janet could not repress the low cry that sprang to her lips at the +first glimpse of the changed face before her. On it there now rested +the unmistakable seal of death. Janet flung herself on her knees by +the side of the bed in an agony of grief, and pressed to her lips the +worn white hand that was extended to greet her. + +"My poor darling--my poor Janet!" was all that Sister Agnes could +murmur. There were no tears in her eyes, but on her lips a smile of +heavenly contentment. + +Mindful of the caution that had been given her, Janet, after a few +minutes, contrived to subdue in some measure the outward signs of the +grief that was rending her heart. + +"Come nearer," whispered Sister Agnes; "let me clasp you in my arms; +let me feel for a little while that you are all my own. I have +something to tell you, and not much time to tell it in. Kiss me, +darling, and then listen to what I have to say without interrupting +me." + +When Janet had nestled to the side of the sick woman, and they had +kissed each other fondly, Sister Agnes spoke again. Her words were low +but clear; every syllable fell distinctly on her listener's ears. +Occasionally she had to pause for breath, but Janet never spoke a word +till she had done. + +"It is a strange confession, dear Janet, that I am about to make," she +began. "What I have now to tell you I bound myself by a solemn oath +many years ago never to reveal till my dying day. That day has come at +last. A few short hours will now end all. I have taken counsel with +Father Spiridion, from whom I have no secrets. He has given me leave +to speak. To-day is my last day on earth, and my oath is no longer +binding. I could not have died happy had I carried my secret with me +to the grave. But before I go any further, you must give me your +sacred word never to reveal to Lady Pollexfen, nor indeed to any one +else, what I am about to tell you, without having first obtained the +sanction of Father Spiridion and Major Strickland to your taking such +a step. Later on you will understand fully my reasons for asking for +such a promise." + +Sister Agnes paused, as if waiting for a reply. But Janet could not +speak. A long, lingering pressure of the arms was her only answer. But +it was an answer that satisfied the dying woman. She pressed her lips +fondly to the tear-stained, face that was nestling on her shoulder, +and then went on with her narration. + +"Dearest, the time has now come for me to lift from off your life the +weight of that mystery which has lain upon it ever since you were +little more than a lisping child,--since you first began to feel, +think, and understand, and to wonder why you were unlike other +children in having no mother nor home of your own. The secret of your +birth shall be to you a secret no longer. All these years, darling, +you have not been without a mother's love, though you yourself might +know it not. Janet, my darling! my daughter! it is your mother whose +arms are round you now. Hush, sweet one! do not speak. My little +strength will hardly serve to carry me to the end. Yes, dear one, I am +your mother, and Lady Pollexfen is your grandmother; I am her +ladyship's youngest and only living child. Why all these things have +been kept from you for so long a time, why you have lived +unacknowledged under the roof that should have held you as its +greatest treasure, will be duly revealed to you after my death. +Attached to this silver chain is a tiny key that will open a box which +will be given to you by Father Spiridion. Inside that box you will +find a paper written by me, which will tell you everything relating to +your birth and history that it is needful for you to know. The good +father and Major Strickland will be your counsellors; put yourself and +your cause implicitly into their hands, and leave the rest to a Higher +Power. Sweet one, I have now told you all that it is needful for you +to know while I am still with you--all that my strength will allow me +to say. We can be together but a brief while longer; let us during +that time forget everything save that we are mother and child." + +"Oh, mamma, mamma!" sobbed Janet, "are we brought together after all +these years only to part again in so short a time?" + +"Even so, dearest. And why should we grieve that such is the case? Our +parting is only for a time. No conviction was ever more deeply +impressed upon me than that is. As I stand now, earthly troubles and +sorrows have no power to touch me. Even the knowledge that I am about +to separate from my Janet cannot quench the solemn joy that fills my +soul. I am so close to eternity that a few years seem to me but as one +day. And when that brief, troubled day shall be at an end, I pray that +my daughter and I may meet again in that heavenly rest into which all +those shall enter who have guided their footsteps aright." + +But Janet could not be consoled. + +Later on in the day Sister Agnes sent for her again, and mother and +daughter spent more than an hour together in sacred communion. In the +dusk of evening Lady Pollexfen went again to her sick daughter's room. +What passed at that last interview was known to themselves alone. Lady +Pollexfen never again saw her daughter alive. Then Father Spiridion +administered the last offices of his church to the dying woman. About +nine o'clock the doctor drove up in his gig. But the time when he +could be of service was gone by. At last mother and daughter were left +alone together, and alone they remained all through the dark hours. At +daybreak Father Spiridion glided into the room. The fast-sinking woman +opened her eyes and smiled. + +"Play the _Jubilate_ for me," she whispered, "and open wide the +casement." + +The deep voice of the organ, exultant, yearning, solemn, thrilled +through the room; and on its wings, through the faint grey of the +autumn morning, the soul of Sister Agnes was borne away. + +"Forget not that we shall meet again," were her last words. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +THE CONFESSION. + + +Miss Holme, Father Spiridion, and Major Strickland were seated +together in the little parlour of the latter on a certain morning a +few weeks after the death of Sister Agnes. The major had been over to +Dupley Walls to beg a holiday for Janet, and had brought her back with +him. This was the day appointed for the opening of the box that had +been left in the father's charge. + +Janet in her black dress looked pale and worn, but very lovely. She +had been obliged in some measure to conceal the outward tokens of her +grief for fear of exciting the suspicions of Lady Pollexfen, and the +effort had lent a touch of sternness to her face such as it had never +worn before. The wound in her heart was as deep as ever it had been, +but she had learned already to control her emotions, and her demeanour +this morning was marked by a gravity and self-restraint that made her +seem older than her years. + +When they were all seated at table Father Spiridion produced the box, +a very small affair, made of cedar and hooped with silver. Janet +handed him the key and he proceeded to open it. + +"Before making an examination of the contents," he said, turning to +Janet, "it is requisite that I should enlighten you on one or two +points. At the request of Sister Agnes I have informed our friend, +Major Strickland, of the relationship that existed between you and +her; I have told him also that you are the granddaughter of Lady +Pollexfen--two facts with which he was previously unacquainted and +which are a source of great surprise to him. I have further informed +him as to the particular request of Sister Agnes that he should act +with me in this case as trustee or executor for the furtherance of +your interests in whatsoever direction those interests may seem to +lie. Of the contents of this box I have only a general knowledge. I +believe the chief article in it will be found to be a statement, +written out by Sister Agnes, in which will be given such details of +her early life as she has deemed needful for the complete elucidation +of the facts that she was desirous of submitting for our +consideration. Of those details I myself have no knowledge, but with +her relations towards you and Lady Pollexfen I was made acquainted +several years ago under the seal of confession. With your permission +we will now proceed to an examination of the contents of the box." + +Father Spiridion opened the box slowly and reverently as though he +could not forget that it had been last closed by the fingers of the +dead. Of the contending emotions by which Janet was agitated it would +be vain to attempt any analysis. She sat with one hand clasped rigidly +in the other, her large luminous eyes fixed steadfastly on Father +Spiridion, her bosom rising and falling rather faster than common, but +looking in other respects as cold and statuesque as though she had +been cut out of some beautiful stone. + +The first article produced by Father Spiridion from the box was a +miniature painted on ivory of an exceedingly handsome young man, with +initials in filigree silver at the back. The next article was a large +old-fashioned gold locket containing hair of two different colours +worked into the form of a true-lover's knot. Then came a worn +wedding-ring. Then a marriage-certificate the writing of which was +faded and yellow with age. Next two or three love-letters signed with +the same initials, E.F., as were on the back of the miniature. Last of +all came several sheets of paper stitched together, and folded across, +and endorsed: + + + "A Confession. + + "To be read by my daughter, Janet Holme; + by my old and faithful friend, Major Strickland; + and by my father-confessor, Father Spiridion; + by them and by no one else." + + +Each article as it was produced from the box was, after a cursory +examination, handed over to Janet. She gazed at the portrait and the +locket with no other sign of outward emotion than a closer knitting of +her brows. The wedding-ring she kissed passionately. The certificate +she read carefully twice over, and her face flushed as she read. Then +she refolded it and put it calmly down in its place on the table. The +love-letters were merely glanced at, and were then left for future +consideration. The Confession itself Janet took into her hands for a +moment. She recognised the writing at once. With a deep sigh she gave +it back to the priest. + +"Read it aloud, dear Father Spiridion, if you please," she said. + +The old man rubbed his spectacles slowly and solemnly, as befitted the +occasion, placed them carefully astride his nose, and after a +preliminary cough, took up the paper and read what follows,-- + + +"My darling Janet,--It is not intended that these lines shall meet +your eye till the hand that writes them is mingled with the dust from +which it came. I have been driven to write what is here set down by +some inward influence--by some occult power working through me, and +giving me no rest till I promised myself that it should be done. For +myself, I have done with the world and its active duties long ago. I +have no longer any interest in it except in so far as I may be +permitted to watch over your fortunes, to love you with the secret +love of a mother who dare not acknowledge her child, and to perform +such small works of charity among the sick and poor as my humble means +may allow of. But as regards you, the case is altogether different. +You are on the verge of womanhood, and life, with all its struggles +and temptations, is still before you. To lift up and clear away the +mystery that has enveloped your childhood and youth, to inform you +what your real position is in that great world into which you are +about to enter, is therefore an act of the simplest justice, and one +which ought no longer to be delayed. Unfortunately the revelation is +one which I am forbidden to make while I am alive, but I am advised +that in the form of a written confession it may be received by you +after my death. These remarks will be better understood by you +when you shall have read the whole of what I am now about to set down. + +"I was born at Dupley Walls, the youngest of three children. My +brother Charles, who died in India at the age of twenty, was two years +older, and my sister Eudoxia, who died when she was fourteen, was six +years older than me. When I was three years old I was sent for by my +father's half-sister, a rich maiden lady who lived at Beckley in +Cumberland. It was understood that I was to be regarded as her adopted +child, and that some day the great bulk of her fortune would come to +me. Of my father I remember next to nothing. I never saw him again +after going to live at Beckley. I have been told, and I have reason to +believe it true, that he disliked me, and was glad to be rid of me for +ever. In this respect my sister fared worse than I did. My father +disliked her almost as much as he disliked me, but poor Eudoxia had no +rich aunt to release her from a tyranny that was driving her slowly +into the grave. + +"My father, Sir John Pollexfen, was a man of strong passions; cruel +and unbending to a degree where he could be so with impunity. He and +my mother were ill-matched. Knowing as you do, what Lady Pollexfen is +now, how proud, stern, and unyielding, with yet occasional capricious +fits of kindness and generous feeling, you will readily understand how +her married life was one of perpetual discord and soul-fretting +unhappiness. At length she and my father separated in consequence of a +disagreement respecting my brother, and they never saw each other +again till my father lay dying. He carried his dislike of my mother +beyond the grave, in ordering that his body should be kept unburied +for twenty years; that it should remain under whatever roof my mother +might choose to make her permanent residence during that time; and +that my mother should visit it in person at least once a week during +the whole period of twenty years, should her life be spared for so +long a time. + +"In the seclusion of Beckley the items of news that reached us from +Dupley Walls were few and far between. I had never been encouraged to +write to either of my parents, and neither of them ever thought of +writing to me. A coldly-worded letter once every six months from my +aunt to her brother, and an equally cold reply a month or two +afterwards, were the sole links that bound me to those I would fain +have loved but could not. At the age of seventeen I knew or remembered +little more of my parents than I should have done had they died on the +day I left Dupley Walls. Had they really been dead I should have +cherished their memory, and thought tenderly of them; but since they +were alive, their cold neglect chilled me to the heart, and withered +every flower of love that ought to have flourished there. + +"But I was not unhappy. Although my life at Beckley was one of almost +conventual seclusion, and although my aunt was a woman of +unsympathetic nature and ascetic disposition, the springs of youth +were fresh within me, and who could tell what happiness the future +might not have in store? The situation of the house was a very lonely +one, and there being so little that was attractive to me within doors, +it cannot be wondered at that nearly the whole of my spare time was +spent among the glorious moors and fells by which we were shut in on +every side. My aunt never made any objection to my long solitary +rambles: solitude was congenial to herself, she loved best to be +alone, and to her it seemed only natural and proper that my +disposition in such things should bear some resemblance to her own. + +"It was on the occasion of one of these lonely rambles that I first +encountered Mr. Fairfax. He had been out fishing, and was crossing the +moor a little way behind me on his road to the nearest village, when a +sudden thunderstorm came on. In three minutes I should have been +drenched to the skin. Mr. Fairfax saw the emergency, hurried up, +apologized, introduced himself, and insisted on my acceptance of his +waterproof till the rain should have ceased. I loved him from that +first time of seeing him. We met again and again. If a man's oaths may +ever be trusted, he loved me in return. I listened and believed. He +asked me to elope with him, and I told him that if he would make me +his wife I would follow him to the end of the world. He said: 'It will +be my dearest happiness to make you my wife, only you must give me +your solemn promise never to reveal your marriage without having first +obtained my permission to do so. Family reasons compel me to ask this +sacrifice.' To make such a promise implied no sacrifice on my part; it +was not his family but him that I was about to marry, and to my mind +there was something very delicious in the thought of being a +participant in so important a secret. + +"But why go into details?--although I could linger over this part of +my story for years. It is sufficient to say that we eloped, and that +we were married the same day at Whitehaven, a few miles away. A friend +of Mr. Fairfax, named Captain Lant, gave me away. The only other +witness to our marriage was the old pew-opener. Immediately after the +marriage we bade farewell to Captain Lant, and went northward into +Scotland. After a happy month spent in the Highlands we came south. I +would fain have stopped to see the wonders of London, of which I had +heard so much at different times, but Mr. Fairfax would only agree to +pass one night there, after which we at once set out for the +Continent. Avoiding Paris and all the large towns, but lingering here +and there in some sweet country nook, we came at length to the borders +of the Lake of Lucerne. Half a mile inland, but overlooking the lake, +and out of the ordinary track of tourists, we found a tiny villa that +was in want of a tenant. Mr. Fairfax took it for a term of six months, +and there we settled down. + +"Before leaving Scotland my husband had allowed me to write to my +father and also to my aunt, informing them of my marriage, but +mentioning neither my husband's name nor the place where we were then +living. If any answers were sent, they were to be addressed to me +under my maiden name at one of the London district post-offices. When +we reached town my husband sent to the office in question. There was +only one letter for me. It was from my father, and contained, as +enclosures, my letters to himself and to my aunt. His reply was a +cruel one. In it he told me that he had disowned me for ever. That to +him and to my mother I was as though I had never lived; or rather, as +though I had died on my wedding morn. That they had put on mourning +for me, and looked upon me in all respects as one dead. Finally, he +forbade me ever to communicate with him again either by letter or in +any other way. + +"This letter cut me to the quick. In what way it affected my husband I +was unable to judge. He read it through in silence, and then tossed it +contemptuously on one side; nor did he ever allude to it in any way +again. + +"I had been so accustomed from childhood upward to exist on such a +very small modicum of love that the sting implanted by my father's +letter would have made no enduring wound had the great compensation of +a husband's enduring love been granted me in place of that which I had +lost. It is true that I was married, and that I had a husband who +loved me; but his love was not of that kind on which my heart could +rest as on a rock against which all the storms of life would beat in +vain. Mr. Fairfax, when he married me, meant that his love should be +of the strong and enduring kind; but by what magic at our command +shall we change freestone into granite, or chalk into marble? How +could I blame Mr. Fairfax for the non-possession of a quality which +Nature had utterly denied him? Constancy was a virtue that he might +dimly comprehend, but which he altogether failed to reduce into the +practice of his daily life. + +"The pretty castle I had built on my wedding-day proved to be of the +veriest mushroom growth. The enchanted prince who was to have dwelt +happily in it his whole life long, refused to be confined within such +narrow limits, and razed its golden walls to the ground with a sneer. + +"However much I might repine in secret for the loss of that which +could never be mine again, I made no complaint in words. I bore all in +proud silence: my husband never heard a single murmur from my lips. +The decay of his love was not a matter of a day or a week. It was +slow, gradual, sure. I sometimes found myself morbidly trying to +calculate how long a time would elapse before its last grains would +vanish as the million that had gone before had vanished, leaving +nothing but cold indifference behind. There was some slight touch of +comfort in after days in knowing that those few last grains were still +mine on that morning when I saw him for the last time. + +"We had lived nearly twelve months on the banks of Lucerne. During +that time my husband had made two journeys to London, on both +occasions going alone, and on both occasions being away from me +exactly fourteen days. He never said a word to me as to the nature of +the business which called him away, and I was too proud to ask him. +Although his wife, I knew absolutely nothing respecting his +antecedents, his actual position in society, or what relatives he had +and who they were. I had married him without asking to be enlightened +on such matters, and he took care afterwards that my ignorance should +remain undisturbed. I knew that there was some mystery in the case. He +had told me as much as that when asking me to swear not to reveal the +fact of our marriage to any one without his express sanction. More +than that I did not seek to know. What did it matter to me who or what +this man's relations were, when the love with which he had bound me to +himself was slowly breaking link by link? But what I did secretly +resent was the fact that all letters addressed to him were fetched by +himself personally from the nearest post-office; and that all letters +written by him were written furtively, as it were, so that not a line +of their contents should be seen by me, and were likewise posted by +himself so that no second pair of eyes should see how they were +addressed. + +"At length there came a day when Mr. Fairfax received a letter which +seemed to trouble him more than any he had ever received before during +the brief time I had been his wife. I had no means of judging by whom +it was written. He read it over at least twenty times, and each time +its perusal seemed to leave him more puzzled than he had been before. +Then he put it away, and I did not see it again. But during the two +days that followed before he answered it there was something in his +manner which told me how deeply that letter was centred in his +thoughts. Two or three days still later he announced to me that he was +going on a sketching expedition, and that he might be away for a +couple of weeks. It was not the first time he had made a similar +excuse for leaving me, but he had never before been away for so long a +time. Whenever Mr. Fairfax was absent, a certain Signora Trachini, the +widow of a poor Italian gentleman, came and kept me company at the +villa till his return. This time also she came with her needles, and +her immense balls of cotton, and her well-thumbed breviary. Then my +husband, having packed up all things requisite for his expedition, +bade me a more than ordinarily affectionate farewell, and left me. I +watched him down the winding road that leads to the lake, a peasant +trudging behind with his luggage. At the corner where the large orange +tree grows, he turned and waved his hand. And that was the last that I +ever saw of Edmund Fairfax." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +THE CONFESSION CONTINUED. + + +"My husband had been about three days gone when bad weather set in. +For several hours the lake was lashed by a wild storm of wind and +rain. Then the rain ceased, and fitful gleams of sunshine lighted up +the landscape, but the wind still blew in fierce troubled gusts, and +so continued for several days. On the sixth day after my husband's +departure I was surprised by a visit from Captain Lant, whom I had not +seen since my wedding-day. He was very grave, but there was nothing in +his looks from which I could augur that he was the bearer of ill news. +He was not a man whom I could ever have liked, but I bade him welcome +for my husband's sake. His first words told me that I had lost that +husband for ever. Mr. Fairfax had been drowned during the storm three +days before, while out sketching in a small boat on the Lake of +Zurich. His body had been recovered; had been recognised by Captain +Lant, in whose company my husband was making the excursion, but who +had not been on the lake; and had been buried the following morning in +the churchyard nearest the scene of the accident. In corroboration of +his story, Captain Lant brought me my husband's vest, his purse, his +ring, his watch, his pencil-case, and a small pocket-book, the whole +of which articles had the appearance of having been in the water for +several hours. I could not doubt the truth of his tale. + +"Captain Lant stayed with me, and did all that could be done to +facilitate my arrangements for leaving the villa and returning to +England. Among the luggage which my husband had not taken with him, +was found a pocket-book containing bank-notes to the value of two +hundred pounds. The notes were sealed up in an envelope that was +endorsed with my name, and had these words written below: 'In case of +any accident happening to myself.' This proof of my husband's +affectionate forethought touched me to the quick. He might have had a +presentiment of the terrible ending that was so soon to befall him. + +"Before Captain Lant and I parted we had a long conversation together. +I told him that I knew nothing whatever of my late husband's social +position, nor whether he had a single relative in the world. On these +two points I was desirous that Captain Lant should afford me some +information, but he professed to be as ignorant in the matter as I +was. Although Mr. Fairfax and he had been very good friends, their +friendship was only a thing of three years' growth, and of my +husband's antecedents he could say nothing with certainty. He himself +believed him to have been the son of a small farmer in the south of +England, and that his money had come to him from a rich uncle. Further +than that he professed to know nothing, and with this scanty +information I was obliged to rest satisfied. Captain Lant and I parted +at the diligence office. He was going forward to Rome, while all my +desire was to get back to England. + +"On feeling for my notes a few minutes after landing from the steamer, +I found that they had been stolen. I had omitted to take the numbers +of them, and the police could do nothing to assist me. Four sovereigns +and some loose silver was all the money I had in the world. After a +couple of days spent at a quiet boarding-house in London, I set out +for Dupley Walls. It was late in autumn, and the weather was +excessively cold. There was no railway in those days, and the coach by +which I had to travel was full inside. I travelled outside, and had to +be lifted down at Tydsbury, so benumbed was I with the intense cold. +No news from home had reached me during the time of my sojourn on the +continent, and now, at the Tydsbury hotel, I heard for the first time +that my father was dead. I heard it to all outward seeming as a +stranger might have heard it; none there knew who I was. + +"I parted with my last half-crown at the hotel, and then I set out +to walk the three miles to Dupley Walls. You must bear in mind +that I had not been at the hall since I was four years old, and that, +consequently, the way was entirely strange to me. I did not leave the +little town till dusk, and the snow was falling fast by the time I got +fairly out into the country lanes. I inquired at one or two cottages +by the way, but I must have wandered far out of the direct road, for +when I at length reached Dupley Walls, wet through and half dead with +cold and fatigue, the turret clock was just striking twelve. The house +loomed vast and dark before me, with nowhere a single ray of light to +bid me welcome. My heart grew faint within me. I lay down under the +portico and prayed that I might die. How long I had lain thus I cannot +tell, when I was roused to partial consciousness by hearing a sound as +if some metallic substance had fallen on to the flagged floor of the +hall inside. Then I heard faint sounds as if some one were moving +about in the darkness, and presently a dim thread of light shone from +under the door. As I afterwards learned, my mother had been to pay her +customary visit to the Black Room upstairs, and in returning across +the hall had dropped her lamp to the ground. On seeing the thread of +light I staggered to my feet, and beat with both my hands against the +door. Then a voice cried out, 'Who are you? and what do you want?' + +"'My name is Helen Fairfax,' I replied, 'and I want to see Lady +Pollexfen.' + +"There was a dead silence for full two minutes, then I heard the +rustle of a silk dress, and presently the great bolts were drawn one +by one, and then the door of my lost home was flung wide open, but not +for me to enter. On the threshold stood a tall figure, dark and +threatening, dark except for the white hands, gemmed with rings, one +of which held on high a small antique lamp, and the white face full of +wrath and menace. + +"'I am Lady Pollexfen,' said this phantom, in a cold, passionless +voice. 'Once more I ask, Who are you?' + +"'Your daughter, madam. Helena, your unhappy child.' + +"'My daughter Helena died and was buried long ago. You may be her +ghost for aught I know or care. In any case, this is no place for you: +within this door you can never enter: under this roof you can never +come. Go! I have no daughter. I am childless and a widow.' + +"'But, madam--mother, hear me! I am your daughter--I----' + +"'I tell you that I have no daughter,' she interrupted, in her cold, +imperative way. 'My daughter fell into shame, and then to me she +became as utterly dead as if the ocean were rolling over her bones: +dead in heart and dead in memory. You are an impostor. Go!' + +"'Oh! mother, listen to me. I am not an impostor. I am your own +daughter Helena. No shame clings to my name. My husband is dead, and +this is the only place in the wide world where I can ask for shelter +or a crust of bread.' + +"'Not so much as a crust of bread shall you ever have from me. You +know my will. Go at once and never darken this door again. When you +die, may you die uncared for and unknown! May your eyes be closed by +the hands of strangers, and may the hands of strangers lay you in your +grave! Go!' + +"Speaking thus, Lady Pollexfen faded back into the darkness. Slowly +and resistlessly the door was closed: slowly and deliberately the +great bolts were pushed into their sockets: the silk dress rustled; +the ribbon of light shone for a moment under the door; then all was +darkness and silence, and I was alone. + +"I crept away from the cruel door into the less cruel night. The night +and the snow seemed like friends that would wrap me round, and tend +me, and hush me into a sleep that should know no waking in this bitter +world. I was like one on whose soul sits some awful nightmare which +makes him seem, even in his own eyes, something other than himself. I +knew that the woman who had smitten me with those cruel words was my +mother, but I was past wondering at that, or at anything else. All +that had befallen me was only in the common course of events, and it +was quite right and proper that I should be walking there alone at +that hour, with my back turned to the roof that should have sheltered +me, and with no spot in all the wide world on which I could claim to +lay my head. In my heart there was no bitterness; only a dull, vague +longing for peace and rest and a deep winding-sheet of snow. There was +something within me that would allow me neither pause nor rest till I +had left the park of Dupley Walls behind. I had shunned the ordinary +lodge-entrance, and had gained access to the grounds through a stile +in a bye-lane, connected with which is a right of footpath across one +corner of the estate. I went back by the same road, and at length +recognised in a bewildered sort of way that I was out of the park and +had all the world before me where to choose. A light snow was still +falling, but the wind had died down, and with it had gone that +intensity of cold from which I had suffered before. I dragged myself +slowly onward, but more by a sort of instinct than by any exertion of +will. But beyond this point I have no clear recollection of anything. +I only know that when I woke up I found myself in the Home of the +Sisterhood of Good Works, to which place I had been conveyed by a +charitable carrier who had found me lying insensible in the snow. + +"There I lay very ill for a long time. During one part of my illness +my mind wandered, and from certain words I let drop at that time, +the Sisterhood were induced to write to Lady Pollexfen. She--my +mother--came. She saw me when I was unconscious of her presence, and +she saw me afterwards when I was slowly coming hack to life and +health. Then was the unwritten compact entered into by which it was +agreed that when sufficiently recovered I should go and live at Dupley +Walls, not as the daughter of its mistress, but, under the assumed +name of Sister Agnes, as Lady Pollexfen's paid companion and very +humble friend. + +"In the meantime you, my darling Janet, had been born. I nursed you +myself till you were six months old. Then Lady Pollexfen insisted on +your being put out, and on my going to live at Dupley Walls. But +previously to doing this her ladyship extorted from me a double +promise. First, never by word, look, or deed to reveal to any one the +fact of the relationship between herself and me. Secondly, never till +my dying day to reveal either to you or to any one else the fact that +you and I were mother and daughter. This double promise was not made +by me without first consulting those whose opinions I was bound to +revere. At that time I looked upon the promise as a penalty in part +for the errors of my life. Since that time I have often felt inclined +to doubt the wisdom of having made it. The penalty has been a far +heavier one than I thought it would be. To see you, my daughter, the +one sweet flower that has blossomed out of my withered life, to see +you and know you as my own, and yet not to dare to claim you as such, +surely that was too great a penance for one weak mortal to bear! + +"My narrative is nearly at a close. By the time you have read thus far +you will understand why you were brought up at Miss Chinfeather's +academy, and why you were sent from that place to Dupley Walls. Lady +Pollexfen's strange treatment will also in part be understood by you. +You were a disturbing element in that fossilized life to which she had +become accustomed. Still, if I have read her character aright, you, +her granddaughter, are far more precious in her sight than I, her +daughter, ever was. I am very very happy to think that such is the +case; and I have sometimes ventured to hope that after I shall be +gone, you and she may be drawn still more closely together. That the +withered ashes of her affections may yet derive some vital heat from +the generous impulses of your heart. That her pride may give way +sufficiently to induce her to place you in your proper position in the +world, and to allow your hands, as being those of the one nearest and +dearest to her, to tend her lovingly on that downward path which she +and I are alike treading; and of which the end can be no great +distance away. + +"I have necessarily left one of the most important points of my +narrative till the last. + +"When Captain Lant told me that he knew nothing positive as to the +antecedents of your father, but that he believed him to have been the +son of a small farmer in the south of England, and that his money had +been left him by a rich uncle, I believed him implicitly. But during +the long solitary years by which my life has been marked since that +time I have gone back in thought a thousand times to those few brief +wedded months, and have brooded over all the circumstances by which +they were surrounded. One result of this perpetual brooding has been +that I have learned in my own mind to distrust the statement made by +Captain Lant. I cannot believe that Mr. Fairfax was the son of a small +farmer. He was a gentleman, and had about him all the signs of one who +had been brought up among gentlefolks. From hints and odd words +dropped by him at different times and afterwards recalled by me in +memory, I gathered that he had travelled extensively, that he had been +at college, that he was a member of one or two West-end clubs, that he +had at one time kept his own hunters, and that he was personally known +to several people of rank. In all this there was nothing that betrayed +the farmer's son. + +"From this conviction--not arrived at in a day or a month--of +Captain Lant's untruthfulness, a suspicion has gradually forced itself +upon me--and at the present moment it is nothing more than a +suspicion--that the entire story of Mr. Fairfax's sudden death was +neither more nor less than a clever fabrication to get rid of a woman +for whom he no longer cared. It may seem cruel to you, my dear Janet, +even to hint at such a thing in connexion with a man whose memory you +ought to revere, especially as I have not the slightest atom of +positive proof on which to base such a suspicion. But now, if ever, +the whole truth must be told you. About all Captain Lant's statements +there was an air of unreality which did not strike me so forcibly at +the time as it did afterwards, when I went back in recollection over +the events of that terrible time. Sometimes the suspicion that I was +nothing more than the victim of a clever lie would deepen in my mind +till it almost assumed the proportions of a certainty. At other times +it would wither and lose all its vivid colouring, and seem nothing +more than the dream of a distempered brain. It might have been nothing +more than such a dream for any action I have taken in it to prove +either its truth or its falsity. My love for Mr. Fairfax died out long +ago, and nothing could revivify the cold ashes. If he were not really +dead, but merely wished to cast me off, he had attained his end, and +so enough. Had it been possible to lure him back to my side, the wish +to do so had long passed away. I coveted neither riches nor position: +my life had aims that were directed otherwhere. + +"But with you, my daughter, the case is entirely different. You hold +your position at Dupley Walls by a precarious tenure. Lady Pollexfen +is a woman of capricious temper and inflexible will. She might choose +to turn you adrift to-morrow: to cast you on the world, helpless and +alone. On the other hand, she may have made adequate provision for you +in the case of anything happening to herself. But this is a matter +respecting which I am entirely ignorant, and were I to speak to her +ladyship respecting it I should only be scouted for my pains. It is +true that you are nearer to her in blood than any one now living (I am +writing of myself as though I were already dead), but a woman of Lady +Pollexfen's peculiar disposition is just as likely as not to repudiate +any claim which might have its origin in that fact; and it must be +borne in mind that the absolute disposal of Dupley Walls, and any +other property she may be possessed of, is vested entirely in her own +hands. + +"Under these perplexing circumstances, and with a future on which your +foothold is so insecure, it has sometimes seemed to me that the wisest +plan with regard to your interests would be to endeavour to unravel +the mystery by which the antecedents and social position of your +father are surrounded. Behind the cloud with which Mr. Fairfax chose +to enshroud his life previously to our marriage, friends, relatives, +fortune, happiness, may all await you, his child. So at least my +dreams have run at times; and dreams at times come true. + +"The terms of my oath to Lady Pollexfen forbade me from making any +such inquiry on my own account, but in this matter you are entirely +unfettered. If, therefore, your friends and counsellors, Major +Strickland and Father Spiridion, think it desirable that such an +investigation should be made in your interests, place the matter +unreservedly into their hands, and leave them to deal with it in +whatever way they may think best. That its issue may prove to be for +your welfare and happiness is your dying mother's fervent prayer. + +"Further, should my vague suspicion that Mr. Fairfax did not meet his +death at the time and under the circumstances as told me by Captain +Lant, prove to have some foundation in fact, and should the story turn +out to have been merely an invention to get rid of a wife who had +become burdensome to him, in such a case your father is probably still +among the living. Should such prove to be the fact it is by no means +unlikely that the daughter of his discarded wife might be cherished +and welcomed by him as even the child of a happier marriage might not +be. Should the future give you a father--one who will welcome you with +open hand and open heart--go to him and be to him as a daughter. +Forget your mother's wrongs: on this point I solemnly charge you: let +the dead past bury its dead. Be dutiful and loving as a daughter ought +to be, and leave it for a Higher Power to set straight that which is +crooked, and to weigh the human heart aright. + +"You have been known all these years as Janet Holme, but your real +name, the one by which you were baptized, is Janet Fairfax. When you +were sent away to Miss Chinfeather's seminary it was necessary that +your name should be enrolled in the books of that establishment. My +mother would not allow you to go either by the name of Miss Fairfax or +Miss Pollexfen. My own name being Helena Holme Pollexfen, my mother +chose that you should be designated and known as Janet Holme, and in +this, as in every other matter, her wishes were acceded to. + +"I need hardly tell you that the miniature contained in the box in +which I shall deposit this paper is that of your father, nor that the +wedding-ring which you will find near it is the one he placed on my +finger the day he took me for his wife. The relics brought me by +Captain Lant as proofs of your father's death I was unfortunate enough +to lose during my journey back to England. + +"And now, dear Janet, my story is told." + + +[The few remaining pages of Sister Agnes's confession are omitted as +having no bearing on the history of the Great Mogul Diamond. They +consisted of tender confidences and loving advice, and as such are +sacred to the eyes of her for whom they were written.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +MADGIN JUNIOR'S SECOND REPORT. + + +"My dear Dad,--Your letter in reply to my first report reached my +hands a week ago. It had been lying three days at the post-office +before I had an opportunity of fetching it. I am glad to find that you +approve of my proceedings, and think, all things considered, that I +have not made bad use of my time. That you are sanguine as to the +ultimate result of my mission here shows a buoyancy of disposition on +your part that would not discredit any dashing young blade of twenty. +I hope that your opinion will be still further confirmed when you +shall have read that which I have now to put down. + +"I may just remind you that I have now been at Bon Repos a month all +but two days, and but for a fortunate accident the object for which I +was sent here would still be as far from its accomplishment as on the +day of my arrival. Even now it will rest with you to decide whether +what I have to communicate is of any real value, or advances even by a +single step the great end we have in view. Privately, I may tell you +that I think the same great end all fudge. My faith is very lukewarm +indeed as to the existence of the diamond. But even granting its +existence, the present possessor, whoever he may be, were he aware of +our petty machinations, would laugh them utterly to scorn. + +"Your reply to this would probably be that since the unknown possessor +of the diamond is not cognizant of our machinations, we have an +incalculable advantage on our side. To which I venture to observe that +we are tilting at shadows--that both the diamond and its owner are +myths, and have no foundation in fact. And now that I have made my +protest, and so eased my mind, I will proceed with my narration of +what has happened at Bon Repos since the date of my last report. + +"The fortunate accident of which I made mention a few lines above is +neither more nor less than the serious illness of Cleon. As a +consequence of this event I have been brought into closer relations +with M. Platzoff. Before entering into particulars, I may just add +that the stranger, Captain Ducie, is still here; but his visit, so +Cleon informs me, is now drawing to a close. As I informed you before, +Cleon, for some reason best known to himself, has contracted an +intense dislike for the captain, and before I had been a week at Bon +Repos he had set me to act as a spy on his actions. I have watched him +as far as it has been possible to do so with safety. What little I +have discovered is not worth setting down here; in fact, I may say +that I have discovered nothing more singular in the captain's mode of +life than would appear upon the surface of any ordinary life that was +closely watched by some one who lacked the key to the motives with +which its purposes were animated. I have, then, made no actual +discovery of facts as regards Captain Ducie. But for all that, a dim +suspicion has grown up in my mind, having birth I cannot tell how or +when, that the captain is not without certain private designs of his +own on M. Platzoff, although of what those designs may consist I have +not the remotest idea. Gentlemanly man as the captain is, there is +about him a certain faint _soupçon_ of the adventurer, and my first +suspicion of some design on Platzoff may have had its rise in that +fact. At all events, I have no better based facts to go upon,--nothing +that I can set down in black and white. For my own sake more than for +Cleon's, I have determined to still retain my watch on the captain. +Time only can tell whether or no my doing so will in any way advance +our interests. + +"Cleon had been ailing for some days, but kept going about his duties +as usual. One morning, however, he sent for me, and told me that he +was too ill to rise, and that such portion of his duties for the day +as could not be postponed must be gone through by me in his stead. +Such duties would chiefly be those arising from personal attendance on +M. Platzoff. I could see that he was terribly put about. + +"'My master is such a particular man,' he said. 'I have never missed +waiting on him a single day these twenty years. How he will like a +stranger to go through the little indispensable offices of the toilet +for him is more than I dare think of. However, in the present case +there is no help for it, and you may take it as a proof of the +confidence I have in you that I have selected you, a comparative +stranger, to act as my deputy for the time being.' + +"He then gave me a silver pass-key, which he told me would open the +whole _suite_ of private rooms occupied by M. Platzoff. He then +impressed certain instructions on my mind, a minute observance of +which, he said, would go some way towards reconciling M. Platzoff to +the temporary loss of his, Cleon's, services. 'The private +apartments,' he finished up by saying, 'consist of four rooms _en +suite_. The first of them is the smoking-room; the second the dressing +and bath room; the third the bedroom; lastly comes a small private +library or sanctum, the walls lined with books, which there will be no +need for you to enter. Take the pass-key and open the doors of the +smoking and dressing-rooms. When you reach the bedroom give three +separate taps at the door with the handle of the key. M. Platzoff will +then bid you enter. But before going in you must speak to him, and +tell him that I am ill, and that I have deputed you, with his +permission, to act in my stead. Even then do not go in till he bids +you enter. Were you to enter unannounced you might come to grief. M. +Platzoff always keeps a loaded revolver close by his pillow. In the +sudden excitement of seeing a strange face near him, he might +unfortunately make use of it. If he bid you not to enter, come back to +me, and I will consider what further must be done. On second thoughts, +I will write a line of explanation for you to take with you. It may +serve to allay any doubts M. Platzoff might feel as to the acceptance +of your services.' + +"I gave him pen and ink. Not without difficulty he wrote the following +words, which he read to me after they were written:--" + + +"'I am too ill this morning to rise from my bed. Unless this were +really the case, you may be sure that my customary services would not +be foregone. I am obliged to send you a stranger--that is, a person +who is a stranger to you. You may place implicit confidence in him. I +hope to be with you again to-morrow.' + +"'Cleon.'" + + +"The style seemed to me a strangely familiar one in which to address +his employer. But Cleon was not a man to do anything without a motive. +In the present case he doubtless knew thoroughly what he was about. + +"I took the pass-key, opened and went through the first and second +rooms, and knocked at the door of the third. 'Enter,' said the voice +of M. Platzoff from within. Then in the most respectful tone I could +summon for the occasion I repeated the formula composed for me by +Cleon. There was complete silence for full two minutes. Then M. +Platzoff spoke. 'Come in,' he said, 'and let me see who you are.' I +unlocked and opened the door, and then stood for a few moments on the +threshold. The room was nearly in total darkness. The venetians were +down and thick curtains drawn in front of them. A faint sickly odour +came through the doorway like that of some strongly aromatic drug. +'Come forward and open the blinds,' said a peremptory voice from the +bed. I obeyed, and let in the cheerful daylight. 'I have a line from +Mr. Cleon for you, sir,' I said, 'if you will kindly read it.' 'Give +it me here,' he said. 'Cleon ill! The world must be coming to an end. +I thought that fellow was made of cast-iron and could never get out of +order.' + +"I gave him the note. He opened it and read it with the assistance of +his eyeglass. I seized the opportunity for a quiet glance round. If I +were an upholsterer, my dear dad, which, thank goodness, I am not, I +would draw you up a brief inventory of the contents of M. Platzoff's +bedroom. As circumstances are, I can only say that it was by far the +most elegantly-fitted sleeping room which it had ever been my fortune +to enter. In parenthesis I may remark, that in passing through the +smoke-room I had been much struck with the richness and elegance of +its decorations. It is fitted up in a semi-Oriental fashion, and +except that everything in it is real and of the best quality, it looks +more like a theatrical apartment fitted up for stage purposes than a +real room in a country gentleman's house. Since that time I have +become familiarized with the entire _suite_, and have picked up one or +two ideas for interiors which may prove of service to my friend Davis +of the Tabard. + +"With an impatient 'Pish!' M. Platzoff tossed the note from him as +soon as he had mastered its contents. He cut quite a comical figure as +he lay there, his yellow skin looking yellower than ordinary in +contrast with the white bed-furniture. His wizened face puckered into +a scowl of perplexity. His blue-black chin-tuft rough and out of +shape, and his cheeks and upper lip grimy for want of a razor. A +conical nightcap like an extinguisher on his head, and his +_robe-de-nuit_ fal-lal'd with lace, as though he were some dainty +bride of twenty. I could have laughed outright, but I took care to do +nothing of the kind. + +"'What is your name, sir? and how long have you been at Bon Repos?' +he demanded, with a sort of contemptuous anger in his voice. + +"'My name is James Jasmin, sir, at your service; and I have been here +just one month.' + +"'One month! one month!' he shrieked. 'Then what, in the fiend's name, +does Cleon mean by writing that he has implicit confidence in you? Who +are you? and where do you come from? How can one have implicit +confidence in a man whom one has only known for four weeks? Cleon must +take me for a fool.' + +"'My name I have already told you, sir. Before coming here, I was in +service with Mr. Madgin, of Dupley Walls.' + +"M. Platzoff's face turned from yellow to green as I uttered these +words. 'From Dupley Walls, did you say?' he gasped; 'from Dupley Walls +in Midlandshire?' + +"'That is the place, sir.' He evidently knew something about Dupley +Walls, but how much or how little, was the question. I felt myself on +the brink of an abyss. Was I about to be kicked out of Bon Repos as an +impostor? + +"'But--but I have always understood that a certain Lady Pollexfen was +the owner of Dupley Walls?' + +"'Lady Pollexfen is the owner, sir, but she does not live at the hall, +but at a cottage in the park; the house has been let for several years +back to Mr. Madgin.' + +"'And how long have you been in the employ of this Mr. Madgin?' + +"'Since I was quite a boy, sir.' + +"'Then why have you left him?' + +"'Because he is about to reside on the Continent, and is about to +break up his English establishment.' + +"'Then you are acquainted with Lady Pollexfen?' + +"'Only from seeing her frequently, sir. I have never spoken to her. +She is very old now, and lives a very secluded life.' + +"'Has she any of her children living with her?' + +"'I am not aware that her ladyship has any children. I have heard speak +of one son who died in India many years ago.' + +"'Ah!' Then after a pause, 'Well, Mr. James Jasmin, I will accept your +services for the present, but I hope to goodness that Cleon is not +going to be laid up for any length of time. Ring the bell for my +shaving-water, and reach me that dressing-gown.' + +"Congratulate me, my dear dad, on the dexterity with which I +extricated myself from a difficulty that in more awkward hands might +readily have proved fatal. + +"It is not requisite that I should enter into any details of the minor +duties I had to perform for M. Platzoff. They were the ordinary duties +of a body servant, and it is sufficient to say that I got through them +without making any very egregious blunder. That I am still engaged in +the same capacity is a tolerable proof that M. Platzoff is not +dissatisfied with my services, for Cleon has not yet recovered, and +although somewhat better, is still confined to his bed. Platzoff is +not a difficult man to serve under. He does not treat his people like +dogs, as I have heard of many so-called gentlemen doing. Only attend +well to his minor comforts, and do not keep him waiting for anything, +and you will never hear a wrong word from him. + +"Midnight is, with certain exceptions, M. Platzoff's fixed hour for +going to bed. My instructions are to go every night at twelve +precisely; to give a low treble knock on the door of the smoke-room, +and then with the aid of the pass-key to go in. I then relieve M. +Platzoff of his pipe, generally a large Turkish hookah; accompany him +to his dressing-room, and take his instructions for the morning. After +that I put out the lights, and then my duties for the day are over. + +"But once, sometimes twice a week, M. Platzoff is in the habit of +smoking opium, or some drug so much like it that I cannot tell the +difference. Whatever it may be, he smokes it till he falls into a sort +of trance in which he is unconscious of everything going on around +him. My instructions are that when, on entering the smoke-room at +midnight, I find him in such a trance, not to disturb him, but to +watch by him till I see certain signs that the trance is abating. As +soon as these signs show themselves, I lift M. Platzoff bodily up and +carry him to bed, and so leave him till morning. One of Cleon's most +important duties was the charging of M. Platzoff's pipe when the +latter was going to have one of his opium séances; but that is too +nice an operation to be entrusted to my unskilled hands, and in the +absence of Cleon is, I presume, gone through by the Russian himself. + +"My bedroom adjoins that of Cleon, and on two or three occasions it +has happened that I have been summoned by him in the middle of the +night to answer M. Platzoff's private bell which rings in his room. On +answering this bell as Cleon's deputy, I have found that M. Platzoff, +not being able to sleep, has summoned me to read to him, or to assist +him on with his dressing-gown, and to light his pipe for him. + +"'But,' you will perhaps observe, 'what has all this rigmarole to do +with the question of the Great Mogul Diamond?' + +"I reply that, in all probability, it has nothing whatever to do with +it. But I think it requisite that you should know the details of my +life at Bon Repos. Secondly, you must let me say what I have to say +after my own fashion. And thirdly, the curious incident I have now to +record would hardly be comprehensible to you without the preliminary +details here given. + +"Last night, or rather about two o'clock this morning, came one of +those untimely summonses of which I have made mention above. I was +aroused by Cleon's tapping on the wall that divides our bedrooms. I +shuffled into a few clothes, anathematizing M. Platzoff and the whole +business as I did so, and then hurried into Cleon's room. As I +expected, M. Platzoff's bell had just rung, and it was requisite that +I should go and ascertain what was wanted. I took my pass-key and +went. I passed first through the smoking-room, next through the +dressing-room, and so into the bedroom, which, to my intense +astonishment, I found lighted up with a pair of wax candles, although +I had left it in utter darkness barely a couple of hours before. What +added to my surprise was the fact that the door between the bedroom +and the library was open, and that the latter apartment was also +lighted up. Having noted these things with a first intuitive glance +round, my second glance went to the bed in search of M. Platzoff. He +was not on it. On passing round the foot of the bed, I found him lying +with his face on the floor. I lifted him up and saw at once that he +was in some sort of a fit. I was frightened, but did not lose my +presence of mind. I had several times carried him out of the +smoking-room when he was in one of his opium trances, and I had no +difficulty now in lifting him up, and laying him on the bed. As I +turned round with the body in my arms I saw something reflected in a +large mirror opposite that nearly caused me to drop M. Platzoff to the +ground. What I saw was the reflection from the lighted-up library of +an oblong opening like a doorway in the bookshelves with which its +walls were lined--an opening which, had it been there, I should hardly +have missed noticing before, although I had not been above three or +four times in the room. As soon as I had laid the unconscious Russian +on his bed, I stole on tip-toe into the library. I had not been +mistaken. There _was_ an opening in the wall formed by the sinking +into a deep recess of a portion of the bookcase. In the recess thus +formed was an iron door, now shut. As I looked, this question, without +any consciousness on my own part, was put to me: _Can this be the +entrance to some secret room in which the Diamond is hidden?_ + +"I had no time to consider the probability or otherwise of this +question. Certain sounds from the other room drew me back at once to +the side of M. Platzoff. Signs of returning consciousness were +visible. I propped him up with the pillows, and sprinkled water +on his face, and chafed his hands. Slowly he came back to life. +'Better--better--all right now,' were his first words; then +turning his lack-lustre eyes on me, 'Who are you?' he said. 'Ah, I +remember--Jasmin,' he continued before I could reply. Then all of a +sudden a frightened look came into his face, and he began to fumble +nervously in the pocket of his velvet dressing-gown. 'What have you +lost, sir? Is it anything I can find for you?' I asked. 'No, no,' he +replied excitedly; 'only my key--only my key. Ah! here it is,' he +cried a moment later, as he brought into view from one of his pockets +a curiously-shaped key, the like of which I had never seen before. +With a great sigh of relief he sank back on his pillows. + +"'Go and wake up Wrigley, and tell him to give you some cognac,' he +said next minute. 'A little brandy is all I need at present.' + +"I left the room to carry out his request, and was not away more than +five minutes. As I handed him the cognac I glanced stealthily at the +mirror. The opening in the library wall was no longer visible. The +mirror reflected an unbroken array of shelves closely packed with +books. M. Platzoff had evidently felt himself strong enough to get out +of bed and fasten the secret door during my absence. + +"He drank a little of the brandy and then told me that I might go back +to bed. I proffered to sit up in the next room during the remainder of +the night. But he would not hear of it: only, he said, he would have +the lights kept burning. I had got my hand on the door when he called +me back. 'Look here, Jasmin,' he said. 'It is my particular wish that +not to any one shall you say a single word respecting what has +happened to-night. Not even to Cleon must you mention it. Obey me in +this, and you will find that I shall not forget you. Disobey me, and I +shall be sure to hear of it. What say you?' + +"Of course I promised all he asked, and he seemed tolerably easy in +his mind when I left him. I satisfied Cleon's curiosity with a +passable excuse, and then went back to bed. + +"M. Platzoff is lying later than usual this morning. Consequently I +have an hour or two to myself, which I now employ in finishing this +report. Write to me as soon as possible after receipt of it, and let +me have your opinion as to what my next step ought to be. Cleon will +be able to resume his duties in two or three days, and when that event +takes place I shall be relegated to my old position, and shall have +little or no personal communication with M. Platzoff. + +"Your affectionate Son, + + "J.M." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +ROOM NUMBER FOUR IN THE CORRIDOR. + + +It has now become requisite to return to Captain Ducie, whose +proceedings have been neglected for some time past. + +When we left him last he had just found on the floor of his host's +private library one of the tiny paper pellets which he had dropped +purposely from his pocket when blindfolded the previous night. The +finding of this pellet he looked on as proof-positive that the +entrance to the hiding-place of the Diamond must be in that room. His +discovery was an important one. It was his first step towards that +goal whither all his hopes and wishes now tended. It placed him at +once on a certain vantage ground. Still he was puzzled by the +consideration of what his second step ought to be. For some time he +could not see his way at all. + +On the pretence of wanting some particular volume from its shelves he +contrived once and again to visit the private library while Platzoff +was engaged elsewhere. But he could not visit it without first asking +permission, owing to the simple fact of its door being always kept +locked. The required permission was grudgingly granted by Platzoff--he +could see that, also that it would not be wise to court the privilege +too often. Indeed, it was a privilege that proved of little or no +service, either Cleon or Jasmin being sent with him to unlock and +relock the door, and evidently having secret instructions not to leave +the library so long as he was in it. While looking for the required +volume he could merely take a few careless glances around, and such +glances merely served to show him that the line of book-shelves was +unbroken except by the two doorways and the fireplace. He had not, +indeed, been sanguine enough to expect that such a casual examination +would reveal to him the secret entrance that led to the cavern. But he +had half hoped that by some faint sign, by some insignificant token, +which to those not in the secret would seem utterly meaningless, he +might be able to seize on the first hint of the wished-for clue. But +in so far he was doomed to disappointment. No sign nor token of the +faintest kind was visible to his quick-searching eyes. + +So day after day came and went till but two days remained before the +time fixed for his departure, and it seemed to him that he might just +as well have never heard of the existence of the Great Mogul Diamond, +much less have been favoured with the sight of it, for any use that he +could make of his knowledge. Turn the subject in his mind which way he +would, in this light and in that, there seemed no egress from the +difficulty in which he now found himself. But however much Captain +Ducie might be inwardly chagrined he betrayed no traces of it on the +surface. On the contrary, he had never striven more assiduously to +make himself agreeable to his host than he did during this period of +his deepest mortification. In every way that he could possibly think +of he tried to make himself indispensable to Platzoff--or, if not +indispensable, such a pleasant element, such a piquant seasoning to +the course of everyday life at Bon Repos, that the Russian should part +from him with regret, and nothing be wanting to secure another +invitation to the same roof in time to come. These exertions were not +without their reward--a more immediate reward than he had ventured to +hope for. On the morning of the day but one before that of his +departure, as he and Platzoff were sitting together in a summerhouse +that overlooked the lake, said the captain, after a pause in the +conversation:--"Three days hence, instead of having this pleasant +scene to gaze upon at will, I shall have nothing but London's dusty +streets with which to solace my eyes. But, in any case, I shall have a +store of pleasant recollections to take back with me." + +"Is the time of your leaving me so near?" said the Russian. "In the +pleasure of your society I had almost forgotten that such a time must +necessarily come. But why go, _cher ami?_ Why not extend your visit +till--till you are tired of us and our quiet life, if, indeed, you are +not that already?" + +Captain Ducie shook his head. "My sojourn at Bon Repos has been a very +pleasant one," he said, "and I am by no means tired of it. But other +engagements claim my attention, and I am afraid that I dare not make +any longer stay here." + +"See, then. You can do this to oblige an old man," said Platzoff. "Of +late I have not been well--in fact, I have never quite got over that +accident on the railway. My doctor down here does not seem to +understand what ails me, and I have had some thought of going up to +London for the sake of better advice. I cannot, however, go for three +weeks: there are certain matters that must be attended to before I can +leave Bon Repos even for a few days. See, now. You shall put off your +journey for three weeks, and then we will go up to town together. _Que +dites vous?_" + +Of course Captain Ducie could do nothing but accede as gracefully as +possible to his host's request. He was, in truth, very well pleased to +accede to it, even although the three weeks in question might do +nothing towards the accomplishment of his secret hopes. Bon Repos was +decidedly preferable to two stuffy rooms in a London back street, +especially at a season of the year when the hegira of the fashionable +world was just setting in. He would stay where he was as long as it +was possible to do so. + +There had been no conversation between Ducie and Platzoff respecting +the Diamond since the night they two had visited the cavern together. +Ducie had tried to broach the subject once or twice, but Platzoff had +fought so shy of it that the captain had not ventured to proceed, but +had turned the conversation into other channels. It seemed to Ducie as +if Platzoff half repented having taken him so fully into his +confidence. It was evidently not his intention to enlighten him any +further in the matter. + +The first week of the three had come to an end. According to custom, +Ducie and Platzoff were sitting together on a certain evening in the +smoke-room. It was one of the Russian's drashkil nights. He had been +smoking hard and fast, and was already in a state of coma, lost to all +outward influences. Ducie looked at his watch, debating within himself +whether it would not be wiser on his part to go off to bed than to +sit there any longer with his unconscious host. And yet it was only +half-past ten--rather early for bed. He sat staring at his host, and +toying absently with his watch-guard, when, clear and vivid as a shaft +of lightning, there flashed across his brain a thought that struck him +breathless for one moment, and the next startled him into the most +intense life. He rose noiselessly to his feet, and stood for a full +minute with his fingers pressed to his eyes, thinking, so it seemed to +him, as he had never thought before. + +That one minute sufficed to elaborate the scheme that had come to him +as suddenly and as startlingly as a veritable inspiration of genius. +Had his thoughts clothed themselves in words, they would have +expressed themselves somewhat after this fashion:-- + +"It is only half-past ten o'clock, and Platzoff has smoked himself +into a state of unconsciousness. On no account is he ever disturbed by +his valet till the clock strikes twelve: ergo, I have an hour and a +half before me safe from interruption. Platzoff always carries about +with him a silver pass-key that will open every door in the house, +unless it be those of the bedrooms of his guests and his servants. +Suppose I possess myself of that pass-key for the time being, and +penetrate by its assistance into the library. Once in the library with +a clear hour and a half to call my own, it will be strange if I cannot +succeed in making some discovery that will prove of service to me." + +The first thing to be done was to satisfy himself that Platzoff was +really and truly unconscious. Taking him by the arm, he shook him, +gently at first, and then with greater violence. But the Russian only +uttered a low, inarticulate moan of protest. Then Ducie ventured to +lift up one of his eyelids. The glazed, fishy look of the eye below it +was sufficient to convince him that from Platzoff himself he had +nothing to fear. Then with a light-fingered dexterity that would not +have discredited a professional pickpocket he began to search for the +silver key. He was not long in finding it. There it was, in a small +inner pocket of Platzoff's vest. He drew it out with a heart that beat +a little faster than common. So far all was well. He stood for a few +moments with the key in his fingers, listening intently. Not a sound +of any kind inside the house or out. As he stood thus, he bethought +himself of a little brass bolt on the inside of the door that, opened +into the corridor. By means of this bolt Platzoff could at will secure +himself even against the intrusion of Cleon. This bolt Ducie now shot +noiselessly into its socket. If Cleon--or rather Jasmin, now that +Cleon was ill--were inadvertently to come before his proper hour, he +would have to wait till the door was opened for him from within. +Having thus secured himself against any possible interruption, Ducie, +after taking a last glance at his host, walked boldly across the room, +and applying the key, opened the inner door and passed forward into +the dressing-room. From the dressing-room he gained access to the +bedroom, and from thence into the library. The latter room being in +entire darkness, he had to go back into the bedroom for a candle, two +of which were always lighted there at dusk and kept burning till M. +Platzoff went to bed. + +As already stated, the library had two doors opening into it, one that +gave from the bedroom, and another that faced you as you went in. A +brown curtain fixed by means of rings on a brass rod hung before this +second door. Ducie never remembered having seen this curtain more than +three parts drawn, leaving visible a small portion of the door. In +fact, it appeared to him, considering the matter, as though the +curtain were never touched, its exact position seemed so unaltered +from time to time. His first idea on his first visit to the library +after his sight of the Diamond, had been that through this second door +lay the secret entrance to the cavern. But it was an idea that found +no resting place in his mind. The Russian was not the sort of man to +adopt such a palpable expedient as an ordinary door to mark the +entrance to the secret staircase. Ducie had felt convinced at the time +that behind those ponderous bookshelves lay the hidden entrance, and +he was equally convinced of it to-night. Therefore, instead of taking +any notice of the second door, he at once proceeded, candle in hand, +to make an examination of the shelves. + +They were made of mahogany, substantial and old-fashioned, with +elaborate flutings between each compartment, and were crowned with +carved bosses of fruit and flowers intermixed. Every shelf was +completely filled with books, none of which were dummies, as Captain +Ducie took care to verify. Beginning at the right-hand corner, he went +completely round the room. The fireplace, too, came in for an amount +of critical examination such as had probably never been bestowed on it +before. The window that gave light to the library was in the outer +wall of the house, and looked on to the lawn. Like all the windows in +M. Platzoff's private suite it was crossed and recrossed by some +half-dozen iron bars artfully let into the woodwork so as not to be +visible from without. The outside walls of Bon Repos were of an +antique thickness, as though they had been built to last a thousand +years. They were, in fact, quite thick enough to allow of a narrow +staircase being hollowed out of their substance. It seemed, therefore, +to Ducie just as necessary to examine carefully that side of the room +as it did to examine the inner side. + +He examined both the sides and the ends, carefully, thoroughly; but +the result of his examination was that he was exactly as wise when he +left off as when he began. Not a crevice, not a cranny, not a +discoloration of the wood, not the faintest trace of a secret spring +was anywhere to be found. He tapped each panel and compartment +separately with his knuckles, but he was unable to trace any +difference in the dull dead sound given out by each and all. Then +he went down on his knees to examine the carpet. It was a sombre +velvet pile, and was nailed down at the edges with a number of small +tin-tacks driven through it into the floor. The corners of the carpet +had not been carefully swept, and the tiny indentations in it where it +was pressed down by the heads of the tacks were full of dust. "Now," +argued Captain Ducie with himself, "if the entrance to the cavern +where the Diamond is hidden is through an opening in the floor of this +room, then, in order to reach that opening this carpet or a portion of +it must be taken up. Is it likely that M. Platzoff, who by his own +account visits his Diamond at least once a week, would take up and +nail down his carpet every time he wishes to look on his wonderful +gem? Further: if the carpet had been lately taken up, the indentations +caused by the heads of the nails would not be full of dust as they are +now. The nails now in have not been touched for a month at the least." + +Captain Ducie rose from his unwonted position, and put down his candle +on the table with a muttered oath. He was baffled at every turn. He +felt ready to knock his head against the wall, so eaten up was he with +inward rage and mortification. But it was the cunning of the serpent +and not the rage of the lion that was needed in his case. He flung +himself into a chair, and in a few minutes had cooled down +sufficiently to consider what his next step ought to be. Was any other +step possible to him? he asked himself. + +And then he answered himself with a lugubrious shake of the head. Only +one thing remained to be tried, and that was the second door. It might +be just as well to ascertain, if it were possible to do so, on what +part of the house it opened. He had no recollection of having seen +such a door in his perambulations about the interior of Bon Repos. + +The brown curtain that hung before the second door was only half +drawn. Captain Ducie drew it impatiently on one side and inserted his +pass-key into the lock. It turned without difficulty, but on trying to +push open the door, he found that it stuck and did not readily give +way. This fact, slight as it seemed, proved to the captain that the +road to the hiding-place of the Diamond did not lie through that door. +The door when opened revealed a narrow and gloomy corridor thickly +carpeted with dust. One side of this corridor was formed by a bare +unbroken wall. On the opposite side, at intervals of a few feet, were +four doors, all now locked. There was yet another door at the end of +the corridor opposite to that by which Ducie had entered. This last +door was not merely locked but was further secured by some half-dozen +large screws drawn through the inner side and wormed deep into the +massive posts. + +When he had so far completed his examination, Captain Ducie turned to +the four side doors. In the case of these also he found his pass-key +available. Still carrying the light in his hand, he opened the first +door and found himself in a gloomy and shuttered bedroom which had +evidently not been occupied for a very long time. From this an inside +door opened into a dressing-room, also shuttered and thick with dust. +The second door in the corridor led also into this dressing-room. The +third door in the corridor opened into another bedroom, and the fourth +into its adjoining dressing-room. These two latter rooms, like the +first two, had apparently not been entered for years. + +To Captain Ducie it seemed plain enough why these rooms were kept +untenanted, and the door at the extreme end of the corridor nailed up. +M. Platzoff evidently did not choose that any one should come into too +close proximity to the room within which lay the secret of the hidden +door. For that the hidden door was in the library everything he had +discovered that night went indisputably to prove. He relocked the four +rooms, and went back to the library musing upon all he had seen. He +was just about to shut and fasten the curtained door when a sudden +thought struck him and caused him to pause. He stood musing for a few +moments, his face gradually brightening the while, and then taking up +his candle, he retraced his way to the fourth room in the corridor. He +went in, put down his light, and succeeded after some difficulty in +unfastening the shutters, which were strongly barred with iron. This +done, he shut up his candle for a while in an empty wardrobe, and then +proceeded to fold back the shutters. The night was a fine one, and the +stars afforded him sufficient light for what he wanted to do next. +Between the shutters and the window was a faded green blind, at +present drawn up about three parts of the way to the top. From this +blind depended a green cord that ended in a tassel. In this cord +Captain Ducie tied a simple slip knot. When this was done, he unhasped +the window, and tried whether the lower sash would work up and down +readily and without too much noise. Finding that the window worked +satisfactorily, he left it unfastened, and then proceeded to put back +the shutters, which also he left unbolted. Then he took his candle out +of its hiding-place and went back to the library, closing behind him +both the door that led into the corridor and the curtained door, but +leaving them both unlocked. + +Midnight was now close at hand, and it was necessary that he should +get back to the smoke-room. But even with more time at his command, +he could have done nothing more to-night. When he got back to the +smoke-room, he found Platzoff to all appearance precisely as he had +left him. He put back the pass-key into the pocket from which he had +taken it, and unbolted the outer door. Ten minutes later Jasmin, the +new valet, acting temporarily in place of Cleon, coming into the room, +found Captain Ducie quietly smoking beside the comatose body of his +master. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +AT THE CURTAINED DOOR. + + +At an early hour next morning, in fact long before M. Platzoff was out +of bed, Captain Ducie, cigar in hand, took a ramble round the exterior +of Bon Repos. While exploring the four rooms on the preceding evening +he was struck with the recollection of having on one occasion seen +their shuttered windows from the outside. A day or two after his +arrival at Bon Repos he had gone on an exploring expedition about the +grounds, and it was on that occasion that he had seen them. He had +taken them as ordinary unused chambers, and had had no further +curiosity respecting them. He remembered now that they looked--or +would have looked if their shutters had been open--into a very thick +bit of shrubbery, so dense, in fact, as to be all but impenetrable, +and looking as if it had not been pruned for years. And yet this +very bit of shrubbery was within a few feet of the delicious little +flower-studded lawn on to which the windows of Platzoff's private +rooms opened; indeed, the four shut-up rooms were merely a +continuation of the same wing in which the private rooms were situate. +It was evident that since the four rooms had been disused the +shrubbery outside them had been allowed to grow as thick and wild as +it chose, as though it were Platzoff's wish to screen them as much as +possible from observation. + +Captain Ducie having pierced this shrubbery, found himself within +sight of the four windows, and saw that he had not been mistaken as to +their position. Through the dusty panes of the last window of the four +he could just make out the knotted cord as he had left it over night. +He took a few quiet observations, unseen by any one, and then went +back indoors. + +That night, as usual, Captain Ducie accompanied his host to the +smoke-room. Drashkil was not introduced, and the two friends passed a +pleasant evening, smoking and conversing. As midnight struck, Jasmin +entered. Ducie rose, shook hands with Platzoff, bade him good night, +and retired. Having reached his own room, he locked the door. Then he +proceeded to dress himself in a suit of dark gray tweed. On his feet +he put a pair of Indian moccasins. His next proceeding was to produce +a coil of strong rope from one of his trunks, one end of which he tied +firmly to the top bar of the fire-grate. This done, he blew out the +candle, drew up the blind, and opened the window. The night was fine, +but overcast, and rather cold for the time of year. Having waited till +he heard the clock strike one, he lowered the other end of the rope +out of the open window. After listening intently for full two minutes +he let himself quietly down, sailor fashion, and landed safely on the +turf below. Then he paused again to listen. That part of the grounds +in which he now found himself was very quiet and secluded even by day, +but neither there nor in any other part of the little demesne was +there any likelihood that his proceedings would be observed at that +uncanny hour. The rule at Bon Repos was that all the servants, except +Cleon, should go to bed, and the house be finally closed, at half-past +eleven, and the time was now ten minutes past one. Still, Captain +Ducie was not a man to neglect any precaution that presented itself to +his mind. Keeping well under the deeper shadow of the trees, and +walking lightly on the soft turf, he was not long before he found +himself close under the window with the knotted cord. He had scanned +Platzoff's windows anxiously in passing, but they were so closely +shuttered and curtained that it was impossible to tell whether or no +the Russian had yet retired to rest. + +As previously stated, the whole of Platzoff's private rooms were on +the ground floor: equally as a matter of course, the four rooms that +opened out of the corridor were on the same level. A slight spring +sufficed to place Captain Ducie on the window-sill of the room he +wished to enter. Despite all his care, he could not prevent the +creaking of the window as he pushed up the sash; but he trusted to the +remoteness of Platzoff's bedroom not to be overheard. Then he pushed +open the shutters and stepped lightly down into the dark room. He had +noted the position of the furniture when there the previous night, and +he knew that there was a clear course to the door. Another pause, to +listen; then noiselessly across the floor; out by way of the door left +unlocked last night, and so into the corridor; then forward, silent as +a shadow, to the curtained door that opened into Platzoff's room. + +Captain Ducie was far from being a nervous man, yet it is quite +certain that his pulses beat by no means so equably as on ordinary +occasions as he stood in the dark corridor, all his senses on the +alert, his fingers on the handle of the door; dreading to take the +next step, which must yet be taken or all that he had hitherto done be +rendered nugatory; and stubbornly determined in his inmost heart that +it should be taken, happen what might. An indrawing of the breath, a +moment's pause, a turn of the handle, and almost before he knew that +he was there he found himself standing behind the curtain and on the +threshold of M. Platzoff's private rooms. + +Not the faintest sound of any kind. Ducie stretched forth a hand, and +little by little drew back the curtain sufficiently to enable him to +peer into the room. It was dark and empty; but he could see that a +faint light was burning in the bedroom beyond. Now that the curtain +was partly drawn aside he could hear the low, regular breathing of M. +Platzoff as that gentleman lay asleep in bed. Ducie knew what a light +sleeper Platzoff was when not under the influence of his favourite +drug, and he durst not venture a step beyond the spot where he was now +standing. Indeed, there was no reason why he should so venture. There +was nothing whatever to be gained by such a rash proceeding. It was +Platzoff's habit (so the Russian himself had given Ducie to +understand) to visit the Diamond once, sometimes twice a week. These +visits generally took place during the small hours of the morning when +Platzoff awoke, restless and uneasy, from his first sleep. All, +therefore, that Ducie had now to do was to wait quietly for one of +these occasions, and take advantage of it when it should come, in such +a way as might seem advisable to him at the time. + +This was the reason why Captain Ducie did not stir from his +hiding-place behind the curtain. This was the reason why he stood +there for two full hours to-night as patiently as if he had been +cast in bronze. But on this occasion his waiting was in vain. When he +had been there about an hour and a half, M. Platzoff woke up, took a +pinch of snuff, sneezed, spoke a few words aloud in some language +which Ducie did not understand, and then addressed himself to sleep +again. Ducie waited a full half-hour longer without stirring. Then +he went quietly back by the way he had come, shutting behind him the +two doors, the shutters, and the window, but leaving them all +unfastened--indeed, he had no means of fastening them, even had he +been so minded. He got back unseen to his own room. + +The same hour next night saw Captain Ducie behind the curtained door. +He knew that several nights might elapse before Platzoff should visit +the Diamond, and he was quite prepared to wait there night after night +till his perseverance should be crowned with success. It was just as +well, perhaps, that he had made up his mind to play a waiting game, +seeing that five nights passed one after another, on no one of which +did he fail in his watch at the curtained door, before Platzoff, +taking counsel with himself, made up his mind to again visit the +cavern. + +It was on a certain night--or rather morning, being about three +a.m.--after one of his drashkil debauches, that the Russian so made up +his mind. Ducie was in patient waiting. From his hiding-place behind +the curtain he heard Platzoff get out of bed. When he saw him put on +his dressing-gown and light a small lamp--the same that the Russian +had made use of on the night that Ducie accompanied him--then the +latter knew that his patience was about to be rewarded. + +As Platzoff advanced into the library, Ducie shrank back, and +noiselessly closed the door that led into the corridor. He thought it +just possible that Platzoff might lift the curtain to make sure that +there was no one in hiding. Standing with his hand on the door, and +listening intently, Ducie could hear Platzoff moving about the +library. Then he heard the click of a spring or bolt, and a sound like +the rolling back of a door or panel. Then all was still. + +After waiting for a couple of minutes, during which the silence +remained unbroken, Ducie slowly opened the door, and moved forward +till his face nearly touched the curtain. He could hear nothing save +the beating of his own heart. Drawing the curtain an inch or two on +one side, he peeped. The library was empty, and the secret door was +open. + +For a few seconds he felt like a man in a dream; he could hardly +believe in the reality of what he saw before him. But the thought that +in ten or twelve minutes at the farthest M. Platzoff would be back +again, and that now or never was his opportunity, quickened him into +action. His object tonight was to take such accurate note of the +position of the secret door, and the means by which it was opened and +shut, as would enable him in time to come to find it again without +much difficulty. Platzoff was in the cavern below, and till the sound +of his returning footsteps could be heard Ducie knew that he was safe. + +Moving noiselessly forward into the room, he went down on one knee, +and proceeded to make a careful examination of the secret door. Then +he took a measuring-tape out of his pocket, and proceeded to measure +the exact distance of the opening from the upper end of the room. Then +he took his penknife and cut away a couple of threads out of the +carpet close to the book-case, at those points precisely where the +secret door fitted into it when shut. Not less carefully did he +examine the spring, and the mode by which it was acted on when the +door was closed. There was nothing very complicated about it now that +its mechanism was laid bare. A very slight examination sufficed to +show Ducie its method of working, and where and how it was opened from +without. + +A faint noise from below warned him that his time was up. He glided +back as noiselessly as he had come, and disappeared behind the curtain +just as M. Platzoff began to ascend the steps that led from the +cavern. + +Captain Ducie stood with his hand on the door of the corridor for a +full hour before he ventured to take another step in retreat. Then +judging that Platzoff, who had gone to bed again, could not fail to be +asleep, he went quietly back by the way he had come. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +THE LITTLE PACKET FROM LONDON. + + +Next morning, immediately after breakfast, Captain Ducie shut himself +up in his own room on the plea of having several important letters to +write. The letters resolved themselves into one note, of no great +length, addressed to a friend in London--to the same friend, in fact, +to whom he had applied for a translation of the stolen cryptogram. +Although the note did not contain more than a dozen lines, Captain +Ducie was unusually particular as to its composition. He corrected and +re-wrote it several times before he was satisfied. Then he sealed and +directed it, and went down into the village and posted it himself. +Then he set himself to wait patiently for a reply. + +A reply came on the fifth day by post, in the shape of a tiny square +packet. Captain Ducie received the packet from Jasmin with apparent +indifference, but he did not open it till he was alone. The contents +consisted of a brief note from his friend, inside which was a small +square box made of very thin wood, which proved to be filled with some +dark, fatty-looking substance, from which exhaled a faint, sickly +odour that was far from pleasant. The following is a copy of the +note:-- + + +"My dear Ducie,--I send you a small quantity of the drug you ask for. +I daresay there will be enough to serve your purpose. It is an +exceedingly powerful narcotic, and very little of it must be used at +one time. I greatly question the advisability of using it at all in +the case of neuralgic pains such as you describe, but I presume you +are acting under advice. + +"Glad to hear that you are enjoying yourself so thoroughly. Town is +anything but pleasant at this time of the year, and to be strolling on +the banks of Windermere would suit much better the idiosyncrasy of + + "Your perspiring but devoted friend, + + "Geo. Bexell." + + +Captain Ducie, after taking one whiff at the contents of the box, put +it carefully away under lock and key. Nothing further could be done +till the next evening that his host might devote to drashkil-smoking. +For that occasion he had not long to wait. + +Ducie was now so far familiar with the process of drashkil-smoking and +its results, that from the first evening of Cleon's absence he had +taken upon himself the office of preparing M. Platzoff's pipe. This he +did in that easy good-natured way which sat so gracefully on him, and +made his simplest acts seem better than greater things done by +another. On the first "big smoke night" after his receipt of the tiny +packet from London, Ducie did not fail to proffer his services as +usual, and Platzoff was glad to accept them. This evening as he +charged the pipe out of the little silver box in which the preparation +was always kept, he turned his back on the Russian, who was lazily +reclining on the low cushioned seat that ran round the room, and +seemed longer than usual in filling it to his mind. Platzoff was not +heeding him at all, but was gazing with half-shut eyes on the lamp, of +Oriental workmanship, by which the room was lighted. + +"What strange patterns or weavings of life we often get," he said, +speaking more to himself than to Ducie, "when we are asleep, or in a +fever, or in any other state in which the vagaries of the brain are no +longer controlled by the force of reason, or no longer restrained by +what you would call the trammels of common sense. It is like looking +at life through a kaleidoscope--a strange jumble of many-coloured +differently shaped fragments, which yet shake themselves into curious +and unlooked for patterns that have oftentimes a beauty and coherence +of their own such as we seldom see in real life. Singular, too, that +behind many of these brain-weavings which at first sight seem so +purposeless and absurd there lurks an idea, sometimes a very subtle +one, and wholly dissociated from any waking thought that we can +remember. It is as if such an idea had found its way by chance into +one's brain, and was determined to make its presence known by +scratching a few quaint characters on the walls of its new domicile." + +"You fly too high for me to follow you," said Ducie, with a laugh. "It +is time you were ballasted with a pipe of your favourite drug. You +have a lot of cobweb fancies in your brain that want clearing away. +To-morrow you will be as practical and business-like as any Englishman +of us all." + +"I hope not. That is a level to which I do not aspire," answered +Platzoff. "There is not sufficient _far niente_ in the character of +you English. You lack repose, and the grace of inaction. You are the +world's plough-horses. It is your place to do the hard work of the +universe. Beyond that you are good for little. _Mais donnez-moi ma +pipe, monsieur, s'il vous plait. Voilà ma consolation pour tons les +defauts du monde_." + +He took the amber mouthpiece between his lips, and Ducie applied an +allumette to the bowl. Spirals of thick white smoke, emitted from the +Russian's mouth, began to ascend slowly in languid viperous wreaths +towards the roof. Soon a dull drowsy film began to thicken in his eyes +and to quench their light. Soon the muscles of his face began to +relax, and all expression save one of vacuous self-enjoyment, to fade +out of his features as daylight dies slowly out of a landscape at set +of sun. Ducie had filled for himself a pipe of cavendish, and now sat +down a yard or two removed from his host. + +"Ducie, _mon petit_," said Platzoff, speaking already in tones that +were strangely unlike his own, "there is a peculiar flavour about my +pipe to-night, such as I never remember to have experienced before. I +cannot understand it." + +"Is it a flavour that you like, or one that you dislike?" + +"I don't altogether dislike it," answered Platzoff. "But why is it +there at all?" + +"Can't say, I am sure," replied Ducie in his quiet way. "I filled your +pipe this evening out of a fresh lot of drashkil that Cleon mixed for +you this morning. Perhaps your taste is out of order." + +"Perhaps so. Anyway, the pipe is delicious, but terribly strong. I can +talk no more. _Bon soir, ami_, and pleasant dreams." + +"In another ten minutes he will be as firm as a rock," murmured Ducie +to himself. He looked at his watch. It was just eleven o'clock. + +Ducie sat smoking his cavendish and watching his host stealthily from +under his thick eyebrows. He had put a very small portion of the +contents of the little packet from London into Platzoff's pipe, and he +was curious to see how it would act. His intention was simply to send +Platzoff into a sounder sleep than usual, and so make sure that he +would not be disturbed by the unexpected waking of the Russian later +in the night. For he had made up his mind that this night of all +others he would steal the Great Mogul Diamond. In his own thoughts he +did not use such an ugly word as _steal_ in connexion with the affair. +He merely remarked as it were casually to himself, that to-night he +must appropriate the Diamond. He would retire at twelve o'clock as +usual. Later on, when the last sitter-up could hardly fail to be +asleep, he would come back as he had come so many times of late, +letting himself down by means of the rope from his own window; and so, +by way of No. 4 room and the corridor, reach M. Platzoff's private +rooms. Once there, he could easily deprive the unconscious Russian of +his pass-key, and now that he knew the secret of the hidden door, he +would have no difficulty in making his way direct into the cavern; +after which, to appropriate the Diamond would be the most natural +thing in the world. Returning by the way he had come, he would +carefully re-lock the cavern doors and shut the secret door. He would +replace the pass-key in Platzoff's pocket, and retire unseen to his +own room. Not improbably days would elapse before Platzoff again went +to look at his Diamond, and when he should find that it was gone--what +then? Why should he, Ducie, be suspected of stealing it any more than +any one else who might happen to be in the house? And even granting +the worst--that Platzoff suspected him of stealing the Diamond, even +charged him with stealing it? For the suspicion he did not care one +groat, and the charge was one that could not be proved. The only +result would be a quarrel between himself and M. Platzoff, and a +premature departure from Bon Repos. All this would not be difficult to +bear. The fact of the Diamond being his at last would act as a salve +for all the minor ills of life. + +So ran Captain Ducie's thoughts as he sat smoking and watching M. +Platzoff's faculties fade gradually out, like those of a very old man +who has outlived his proper age. To-night the process was swifter than +usual, thanks to the narcotic which he had put unseen into the +Russian's pipe. He looked on with a complacent smile, caressing his +moustache now and again. + +Platzoff passed quickly from stage to stage of the process, till, in +no long time, complete coma supervened, and he lived no longer save in +the opium-smoker's fantastic world. The light in his pipe died out, +the amber mouthpiece slipped from between his lips, his fingers +relaxed their hold on the stem, his head drooped, his jaw fell +slightly, a thin dark line marked the space between his imperfectly +closed eyelids. He sighed gently twice, and was gone. + +To all these signs Captain Ducie was now well accustomed, and he +regarded them entirely as a matter of course. He refilled his pipe, +and lay back, with his hands clasped under his head, gazing up at the +gaudy ceiling, and building pleasant castles in the air. As the clock +struck twelve, Cleon or Jasmin would enter, and he himself would go to +roost for a couple of hours. Then would come the time for his great +enterprise. + +He had been thus quietly engaged with his second pipe, for a space of +five or six minutes, when, finding that it did not draw to his mind, +he sat up with the view of ascertaining what was the matter with it. +In the act of opening his knife, he turned his eyes unthinkingly on M. +Platzoff. In the face of the silent man sitting opposite to him there +was something that caused his own face to blanch in a moment, as +though he had seen some unmentionable horror. He rose to his feet as +though moved by some invisible agency. Great beads of sweat burst out +on his brow; his lips turned blue; in his eyes was a terror +unspeakable. He staggered forward with a groan, and lifted the cold +hand that would never grasp his again. + +"My God! I have killed him!" + +He sank on his knees, and buried his face in his hands. He knew as +well as if twenty doctors had told him so, that M. Paul Platzoff, of +Bon Repos, was dead. On his forehead was stamped the Great Angel's +ineffaceable seal. Death had whispered in his ears, and he was deaf +for ever. + +That one minute which Ducie spent on his knees was, perhaps, the +bitterest of his life. What his feelings were he himself could not +have told. "As heaven is my witness, I did not intend to do this +thing!" he exclaimed aloud, as he rose to his feet. + +Then, in spite of the certainty which possessed him that Platzoff was +beyond all earthly aid, he bared one of the Russian's arms, and +pricked a vein with his penknife. But no blood followed, and with +another groan Ducie let go the fingers that were already growing cold +and stiff. + +His next impulse was to ring for assistance. But in the very act of +pulling the bell-rope he paused. For a minute or two the very +existence of such a bauble as the Great Mogul Diamond had passed +entirely out of his thoughts. But as his fingers touched the rope, +there came a whisper in his ear, "Now or never the Diamond must become +yours!" He paused, and sat down for a moment to think. + +Platzoff was gone past recovery. Of all men living he, Ducie, was +probably the only one to whom the existence of the Diamond was known; +or, at least, the place where it was hidden. Dead men tell no tales. +If he were to make the Diamond his,--and had he not a right to do so, +having paid such a tremendous price for it--who in all the wide world +would be one bit the wiser? If, on the contrary, he were to leave it +untouched, it might remain undiscovered in its dark home for +centuries, perhaps even till the end of time. Or if Platzoff's friend, +Signor Lampini, were sufficiently instructed where to find it, of +what use would it be to him except as a means for the propagation of +red-hot revolutionary ideas, among which, for aught he knew to the +contrary, assassination might be looked upon as a cardinal virtue? He +would be worse than a fool not to seize the last chance that would +ever be offered him of making the precious gem his own for ever. + +Once more he looked at his watch. It wanted exactly a quarter to +twelve. He had fifteen clear minutes that he could call his own, and +not one minute more. No suspicion would attach to him with regard to +the death of Platzoff; he felt no uneasiness on that score. But after +that event should be discovered, the pass-key would be claimed by +Cleon, and all access to the rooms denied him. Now or never was his +time. + +He hesitated no longer. With a shudder he put his hand into the dead +man's pocket, and drew forth the silver key. It was the work of a +moment to light the little hand-lamp, and pass forward into the +library. Then he went down on his knees to look for the marks he had +made on the carpet which were to point out to him the exact position +of the secret door. Having found them, together with an almost +invisible scratch which he had made on a particular part of the +polished panelling of the bookcase, he was guided at once to the +spring by which the secret door was acted upon, and in another moment +the narrow stone staircase opened darkly at his feet. Down the stairs +he went without pause or hesitation, carrying the lighted lamp in one +hand and the pass-key in the other. The door at the bottom of the +staircase opened without difficulty, and he found himself in the low +vaulted chamber at the further end of which was the door that opened +into the rock. The second door was passed as readily as the first, +and before him appeared the narrow passage that led to the cavern. +To-night the cold moist atmosphere of the place struck upon him with a +chill that made him shudder. He had trodden that passage but once +before, and then it was in company with the man who now lay cold and +dead in the room above. He gave a backward glance over his shoulder +half expecting to see the shade of Platzoff following silently in his +footsteps. But there was nothing save his own distorted shadow dogging +him like some monster at once ugly and grotesque. With a sneer at his +own timidity he entered the passage in the rock. In three minutes more +the great prize would be his. + +Slowly and cautiously he threaded the tortuous pathway that led to the +heart of the hill. He reached the end of it in safety, and the cavern +loomed dim and vast before him. He paused for a moment, and held the +lamp high above his head. There, fixed in the middle of the sandy +floor he could just make out the vague outlines of the Indian idol. +The great gem that flashed in its forehead caught a ray from the +feeble lamp held by Ducie, and flung it back intensified a +thousandfold. Dude saw the flash; and his breath came thick and fast. + +He advanced one step--a second. Then, before he knew what had +happened, he found himself stretched on the floor of the cave and in +utter darkness. He had stumbled over some inequality in the floor, and +had dropped his lamp in falling. Bruised and bleeding, and with a +curse on his lips, he rose to his feet. + +The predicament in which he now found himself was anything but a +pleasant one. That he could find the idol even in the dark, and make +himself master of the Diamond, he did not doubt. But the question was, +whether if he wandered so far away from the narrow passage by which +access was had to the cavern, he could find it again, and so get back +to the library before the clock struck twelve. If that could be done +all might yet be well. If it could not be done--but he would not stop +to argue the point. He would make a bold dash for the Diamond. He +would risk everything in one final throw, and trust that the good +fortune which had so far befriended his enterprise would not desert +him in this great crisis of his fate. + +A few seconds sufficed for him to weave these thoughts in his brain, +and almost before he had decided on what he would do he was advancing +deeper into the cavern; advancing slowly, step by step, with +outstretched arms, in the direction of the idol. By the light of his +lamp he had noted its position, and now that he was in the dark he +went to it nearly in a straight line. Suddenly it seemed as though the +idol had risen noiselessly from the ground. The palm of his left hand +smote its flat cold forehead. He lost not an instant in feeling for +the Diamond. The moment his fingers touched it he thrilled from head +to foot. + +The Diamond was held in its place in the forehead of the idol by a +small gold clasp which worked in the hollow of the skull. It occupied +Ducie some three or four minutes, first to find the clasp, and +afterwards to unfasten it. At length he succeeded in opening it, and +the Diamond dropped into his palm. His own at last! + +With a great sigh of relief and thankfulness he drew back his arm, and +having first kissed the gem, he put it carefully away into a safe +pocket, and then turned to retrace his steps. Taking the nose of the +idol as his starting-point, he calculated that a straight line from it +to the wall of the cavern would not land him very wide of the +entrance. But the difficulty was to keep a straight line in the dark, +and the darkness of the cavern was something that might almost be +felt. But there was no time for hesitation. If midnight had not struck +already it must be close on the point of doing so. The delay of a +single minute might be the cause of his discovery either by Cleon or +Jasmin. What the result would be in such a case he did not pause to +ask himself. Instead, he set himself with his back to the face of the +idol and stepped out slow and steady for the side of the cave. + +He had got about half way across the intervening space when a sound +fell on his ear that brought him on the instant to a dead stand. It +was the noise made by some one descending the stone stairs that led +into the vaulted room. All had been discovered, then! The death of +Platzoff, the secret door standing wide open, and his, Ducie's, +disappearance. The intruder must be either Cleon or Jasmin. Was either +of them aware of the existence of the Diamond, and that it had been +hidden in the cave? If not, then his presence there could be easily +excused on the score of simple curiosity to see so strange a place. If +they knew of the existence of the Diamond, they would suspect at once +that he had taken it, and would doubtless try to dispossess him of it +by force. Well: they should not take it from him without taking his +life also: on that point he was fully determined. Presently a thin ray +of light which cut the darkness like a sword, shone through the narrow +entrance to the cave. It broadened and brightened quickly. As it drew +nearer, Captain Ducie advanced to meet it. His face was pale, but +very set and determined. His eyes shone from under his heavy brows +with a light that boded no good to the intruder whoever he might be. +He was not left long in doubt. Another half-minute brought into view +the gaunt figure of Cleon, newly-risen from his sick bed. With haggard +face and bloodshot eyes, and with a snarl of the lips that showed his +long narrow teeth, the mulatto advanced slowly and warily. In one hand +he carried a lamp, held high above his head; in the other a gleaming +dagger. Ducie advanced towards him haughtily, with folded arms. As +Cleon emerged from the into the cave his eyes fell on the captain's +tall figure. He smiled a ghastly smile, and slowly nodded his head +twice. + +"Thief and villain! I have found you at last," he said. "Your heart's +blood shall dye the floor of this cave." + +He set down his lamp on a projection of the rock, and deliberately +turned back the cuffs of his coat. Captain Ducie said never a word in +reply, but kept his eyes fixed unswervingly on Cleon, as he would have +done on a tiger or other beast of prey. He was without a defensive +weapon of any kind, and was obliged to trust to the quickness of his +eye and the strength of his muscles for safety in the coming attack. + +Cleon's onslaught was exactly like that of a wild beast. It was a yell +and a spring, and it would in all probability have been fatal to Ducie +had not the latter been fully prepared for something of the kind. But +the very instant Cleon sprang at his throat, out went Ducie's right +arm, straight and true, like a sledge hammer, full in the mulatto's +face. Cleon dropped before it as though he had been shot through the +brain. But next instant he was on his feet again, his face streaked +with blood, and now looking more ghastly than before. He said +something Ducie could not understand, but if murder ever lurked in a +man's eyes, it peeped out of the mulatto's at that moment. He was not +at all daunted by his mishap: only rendered more wary. He made several +feints and false moves before he ventured on a second dash at the +captain. At last he thought he saw his chance, and in the twinkling of +an eye he had struck his dagger into the captain's shoulder. He had +aimed at the heart, but his enemy had proved too quick for him. His +dagger pricked into Ducie's shoulder, and Ducie's arms went round him +like a vice. The mulatto was active and sinewy, but in a close +struggle he was no match for the great strength of his opponent. His +arms were pinned to his sides, but his head was at liberty, and with +his long sharp teeth he fastened on Ducie's cheek and bit it through. +This roused Ducie's blood as half a dozen pricks with the dagger could +not have done. Lifting Cleon bodily up, he swung him once round, and +then dashed him with all his might against the side of the cave. The +mulatto rebounded from the rock, and came to the floor with a dull +heavy thud. He groaned twice, and then all was still except the heavy +beating of Ducie's heart. + +Ducie bent over the body for a moment. "His fate be on his own head!" +he muttered. Then, having made sure that the Diamond was still safe in +his possession, he took up the lamp and passed out of the cave. He +shut and locked the two doors behind him, and when he got back to the +library he also closed the secret door through the bookcase. As he +passed through the smoke-room he gave one hasty shuddering glance at +the dead body of Platzoff. The half-open eyes seemed to fix him with a +look of terrible reproach. He fancied that he saw the pallid lips +move. "Ingrate!" they seemed to say, "was it for this I took thee to +my bosom and called thee friend?" + +Ducie put his hand to his eyes and strode on. He found the door that +led into the corridor half open as it had probably been left by Cleon +in the horror of the sudden discovery he had made on entering the +smoke-room. Ducie closed it carefully behind him. That door locked up +a double secret, and it behoved him to get clear away from Bon Repos +before it could be brought to light. He carried his treasure with him, +and that would compensate for everything. + +The moment he turned into the corridor to go towards his own rooms he +began to feel faint from loss of blood. The first great excitement was +over, and now his wounds began to make themselves felt. Great heavens! +if he were to lose his senses at such a critical moment and be found +by the servants! They would perceive that he was wounded, and would +probably strip him, and then how would it fare with the Diamond? Just +as this thought was in his mind Jasmin came suddenly round a corner +and started back in alarm at sight of his pale face all streaked with +blood. + +"Sir--Captain Ducie--what is the matter? Are you wounded?" he cried. + +"A slight accident--a mere scratch," gasped the captain. "Lend me your +arm as far as my room, and--and don't leave me yet awhile." + + +The first message sent by the telegraph clerk at Oxenholme station +when he went on duty next morning, was as under: "From J. M., +Windermere, to Solomon Madgin, Tydsbury, Midlandshire. + +"Address no more letters to B.R. till you hear from me again. A grand +fracas. The Captain and I are on our way to town. Unless I am greatly +mistaken, we carry the G.M.D. with us." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +MADGIN JUNIOR'S THIRD REPORT. + + + "Button's Hotel. + "St. Helier, Jersey. + + +"My dear Dad,--My telegram from Oxenholme, followed by my brief note +from London, will have prepared you in part for the strange events +that have happened since the date of my last report. I now purpose +giving you, as succinctly as possible, a narrative of those events +from the point where my last report broke off. You will then +understand how it happens that my present communication is dated from +this pleasant little isle. + +"After the conclusion of Report No. 2 nothing of consequence happened +for a few days--nothing that would allow me to imagine that the +discovery of the secret door in the library would further our views in +any way. M. Platzoff was confined to his bed for a couple of days +after the fit in which I found him. After that time he got up as +usual, and everything at Bon Repos went on as before. Captain Ducie +was still with us. I understood from Cleon that he had been invited by +M. Platzoff to extend his visit. The health of Cleon kept improving +from day to day, and about a week after M. Platzoff's sudden attack he +announced to me that from that date he would resume those personal +duties about his master which during his illness had been delegated to +me. Then farewell to my last chance of ever seeing the Great Diamond, +I said to myself when he told me. + +"And truly, at that moment I despaired utterly of ever advancing one +step nearer the object that had brought me to Bon Repos. I was on the +point of giving notice there and then of my intention to leave, and of +writing you by the next post to inform you of what I had done. +Besides, I was getting tired of my occupation--tired of Bon Repos and +all in it. I began to hanker after my old way of life, in which a +fictitious character is never assumed for more than four hours at a +stretch. I had been acting the part of valet for more weeks than I +cared to count, and I was heartily tired of the assumption. However, +on second thoughts, I determined to delay giving notice for another +week. I would wait seven more days, and if nothing turned up during +that time to further our views, I decided that I would throw up the +situation without further delay and go back to town. Never had the +hunt after the Great Mogul Diamond seemed to me a more wildgoose +affair than it did at that moment. + +"It was in the afternoon that Cleon spoke to me. The evening was to be +devoted by M. Platzoff to drashkil-smoking--Cleon had been preparing a +fresh supply of the drug that very morning--and Cleon's resumption of +his duties was to commence at midnight, at which hour M. Platzoff +would doubtless require carrying to bed, and the mulatto decided that +that duty should be performed by himself. + +"Cleon had not yet felt himself well enough to resume his custom, +interrupted by illness, of going out every evening to smoke a pipe +with the landlord of the village inn. (Both the house and the landlord +will be well remembered by you.) This evening he had invited me into +his little sitting-room to smoke a cigar and join him over a glass of +grog--a most unusual condescension on his part. We were still sitting +over our tumblers when the timepiece chimed twelve. Cleon rose at +once. 'Had you not better let me go to-night?' I said. 'You are far +from strong yet, and M. Platzoff will most probably want carrying to +bed.' + +"'No no,' he said, 'I will go myself. I feel quite equal to the task. +Await my return here, and we will have one more weed before parting +for the night.' + +"He went, and I lighted a fresh cigar. I think he must have been gone +about ten minutes when he came back all in a hurry. His face was +livid, but whether from fear or some other emotion I could not tell. I +started to my feet and was about to question him, but he motioned me +back. 'Ask no questions,' he said, 'and do not stir from this place +till I come back--unless,' he added as a second thought, 'unless you +hear M. Platzoff's bell. In that case come without a moment's delay.' + +"I saw he was in no mood to be questioned, so I sat down quietly and +resumed my cigar. From a number of weapons that hung on the wall over +his mantelpiece he selected a long and ugly-looking Malay creese. He +felt its point with a grim smile, whispering something to himself as +he did so, and then he hurriedly left the room. + +"Now, it was all very well for Master Cleon to tell me to sit still +and await his return. I had no intention of doing anything of the +kind. I had a deeper interest in all that happened under that roof +than he suspected. + +"When he had been gone about a minute and a half, I laid down my cigar +and quietly followed him down the long corridor leading to M. +Platzoff's rooms. I had on the thin slippers which I usually wore in +the house. M. Platzoff liked all the arrangements at Bon Repos to be +as noiseless as possible. + +"The corridor ends in a landing: on this landing are several doors +that open into different rooms, one of them being the door that gives +access to M. Platzoff's private suite. The corridor and the landing +were both in darkness. + +"Much to my astonishment, on approaching M. Platzoff's door I saw by +the stream of light that poured from it that it was only partially +closed. I drew near on tiptoe and listened, ready at the slightest +sound of an approaching footstep to vanish into one of the empty rooms +on the opposite side of the landing. But no sound of any kind broke +the death-like silence. I listened till I was tired of listening, and +then I ventured to push open the door a few inches further, and look +in. The room was lighted as usual, and was filled with the faint, +sickly odour of drashkil, to which by this time I had become +accustomed. But Cleon was not there. There, however, was M. Platzoff, +not half sitting, half reclining, on the divan as was his custom when +in one of his opium sleeps, but stretched out at full length on the +cushions. + +"He lay with his eyes half open, and at the first glance it seemed to +me that he was watching me in that quiet, cynical way that I knew so +well, and I started like one suddenly detected in the commission of +some great offence. A second glance showed me that in those half-open +eyes there was no light nor knowledge of earthly things. I thought +that he had been taken with another fit, and without further +hesitation I pushed open the door and went in. + +"I took the inanimate body up in my arms, and was about to carry it to +bed, when something in the fall of the limbs and the expression of the +face struck a sudden chill to my heart, and I laid it gently down +again. I sought for the pulse, but could not find it; I laid my hand +on the heart, but it was still. + +"M. Platzoff was stone-dead! + +"How or by what means his fate had come thus suddenly upon him I had no +means of judging. Poor Platzoff! At that moment I could not help +feeling sorry for him. But presently came the thought--where is Cleon? +and for what purpose did he fetch that dagger from his room? There +were no tokens of murder about the dead man: he seemed to have died as +calmly as an infant might have done. + +"I pressed forward into the bedroom, which, as usual, was lighted up by +a pair of wax candles. I took one of these and went onward into the +library. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the secret door +in the book-case standing wide open. It opened on to a steep and +narrow staircase, at the bottom of which was another door, also open. +Further than that the faint light of my candle would not penetrate. + +"'Does this staircase lead to the hiding-place of the Diamond?' was the +question that flashed across my mind. Now or never was the time to +answer it. But to venture down that dismal staircase into the unknown +depths beyond was a task I did not care for. Suppose that, while I +were down there, someone were to come and lock me up. I might scream +and call for help till I died, yet never be heard by living man. +Besides, after all, the Diamond might not be hidden there. The game +was not worth the candle. + +"I turned to go back, but at that moment the silence was shivered by a +yell so utterly fiendish and unlike anything I had ever heard before, +that my blood chilled at the sound, and all the stories that I had +ever heard or read of Indian cunning and ferocity came rushing into my +mind. + +"I stood motionless, with the candle still in my hand, listening for a +repetition of the terrible cry. But none came. Instead, in a little +while I heard the noise of approaching footsteps. Then indeed I fled. +Anxious as I was to know the meaning of what I had seen and heard, I +had no desire to risk my life for the sake of gratifying my curiosity. + +"Leaving my candle where I had found it, I passed quickly through the +suite of rooms, and did not halt till I reached the dark corridor +outside. Here I waited and listened till I heard the footsteps coming +through the rooms. Then I turned up the corridor, waited behind the +first angle, and watched to see who should come out of the smoke-room. +I expected to see none other than Cleon. Instead, I saw Ducie come +staggering out, carrying a small lighted lamp in his hand, and having +his face all smeared with blood. Some weird tragedy had just been +enacted, and I should not have been my father's son if I had not +wanted to get to the bottom of it. + +"I retired a few paces, and then, calculating my time, I stepped +briskly forward as Ducie came up the corridor. We met face to face at +the corner, and we both started back in mutual surprise. There was a +wildness in the captain's eyes, and he looked as if he were about to +faint. + +"'Sir! Captain Ducie!' I exclaimed, 'what is the matter? Are you +wounded?' + +"'A slight accident, that's all: a mere scratch,' he gasped out. 'Lend +me your arm as far as my room.' + +"I assisted him to his dressing-room, and once there, he sank down on +the sofa with a deep sigh. + +"'Get me some brandy,' he whispered. 'Before you go, let me tell you,' +he added, 'that should I faint you must on no account summon any +further assistance, neither must you remove any of my clothes. Bear +those two points in mind, and also that you are not to leave me, nor +let anyone else approach me till I come round. Now go, and get back as +quickly as possible.' + +"I had only to go as far as Cleon's room for what I wanted. I found the +room just as I had left it. Cleon had not yet returned. 'Would he ever +return?' was the question I now asked myself. Had there not been some +terrible encounter between him and Ducie, and had not the mulatto had +the worst of it? Yet why should there be any encounter between the +two, if it were not to determine which of them should obtain +possession of the Diamond? + +"That the death of M. Platzoff was known to both of them could not be +doubted. Supposing, then, that the existence of the Diamond, and the +place where it was hidden, were equally well known, what more likely +than that there should be a struggle between the two, ending fatally +for one of them, for possession of the Diamond? Supposing Captain +Ducie to have been the victor in such an encounter, was it at all +unlikely that the Diamond was now about his person? Such a supposition +would account reasonably enough for the curious injunctions he laid +upon me just before I quitted his room. + +"Full of this great thought, I hurried back with the brandy. True +enough, the captain had fainted. He lay at full length on the sofa, +with not an atom of sense left in him. But the singularity of the +thing lay in the fact that Captain Ducie's right hand was deeply +buried inside his vest, and there grasped some small substance--I +could not tell what--with a tenacity that could not have been +surpassed had his hand not been opened for twenty years. So much I +discovered before I proceeded to apply any of the remedies usual on +such occasions. After a few minutes he came to his senses sufficiently +to know where he was and what I was about. But before his mind had +become quite clear on all points, he withdrew his clenched hand from +his waistcoat, stared at it wonderingly for a second or two, but +without opening it; then like a flash it seemed to come across his +mind what was hidden there, and with a deep 'Ha!' he thrust back his +hand, only to withdraw it, open and empty, half a minute later. 'He +has hidden away the Diamond in some inner pocket,' I said to myself. +From that moment I never doubted that the wondrous gem was in his +possession, and I could not help admiring the cool patience and the +indomitable pluck he must have displayed before he could call it his +own. All the same, I determined to try all I knew to cause it to +change hands once more. + +"The brandy revived Captain Ducie, and in a few minutes he was able to +sit up and tell me what he wanted. He told me that he had been wounded +accidentally in the shoulder, and bade me assist him off with his coat +and vest. The coat he flung carelessly aside. The vest he doubled up, +laid it on the sofa and sat down on it. Then I cut open his shirt and +laid bare the wound on his shoulder. It was not very deep, but there +had been a good deal of hemorrhage. With the coolness and knowledge of +an old campaigner the captain instructed me how to bathe the wound and +dress it with some salve which he produced from his dressing-case. +Then he put on some clean linen, washed the smears from his face, hid +the ugly gash in his cheek with a strip of court-plaster, and dressed. +All this was done with a silence and celerity that astonished me. + +"'So far, so good,' said Captain Ducie. 'I want you next to pack my +small portmanteau. Put into it my dressing-case and all my papers, and +as many of my clothes as it will hold. Then go and pack up a few +things of your own. I want you to go with me, and in ten minutes I +shall expect you to be ready to start.' + +"I made some faint objections on the score of leaving M. Platzoff in +such an unceremonious way. + +"'I will take the entire responsibility on my own shoulders,' he said. +'Your excuses to M. Platzoff shall be made by me. You have nothing to +fear on that score. As my shoulder is now, it is quite impossible for +me to go up to town alone. You need only be away forty-eight hours, +and I shall not forget to remunerate you for your trouble.' + +"In ten minutes I was ready to start. 'If Captain Ducie has got the +Diamond about him, as I fully believe he has,' I said to myself, 'then +is my occupation at Bon Repos gone, and I care not if I never see the +place again. My duty is evidently to accompany the gallant captain.' + +"When I had packed my own little valise, I stole quietly into Cleon's +room. It was still empty: the mulatto had not returned. Then I went +softly down the corridor, pushed open the door of the smoke-room and +looked in. No hand had touched the body of M. Platzoff since I left it +last. I whispered 'Farewell,' covered up the white face, and left the +room. I had one thing more to do. Taking a lighted candle in my hand I +went into the little gallery that opens out of the drawing-room. In +this gallery were several cases containing old coins, old china, rare +fossils, and various other curiosities natural and artificial. It was +one of these curiosities that I was in quest of. I knew where the key +was kept that opened the cases. I got it and opened the case in which +lay the object I was in search of. This object, to all appearance, was +nothing more than a bit of green glass, except that its shape was +rather uncommon. There was a small label near it, and this label I had +one day been at the trouble of deciphering. The writing was so minute +as almost to require a magnifying glass to read it by. After much +difficulty I had succeeded in making out these words: + +"'Model in paste of the G.M.D. by Bertolini of Paris.' + +"M. Platzoff was dead; Cleon, for aught I knew to the contrary, was +dead too. I was about to leave Bon Repos for ever--to leave it with +the man who had stolen the genuine Diamond from the man who had stolen +it from its rightful owner. Why should not I take possession of the +paste Diamond? As a simple curiosity it might be a gratification to +Lady P. to possess it. More than that: it seemed to me not impossible +that certain eventualities might arise in which the possession of an +exact model of the Diamond might be of service to us. Anyhow, I +dropped it quietly into my pocket." + + + + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Under Lock and Key, Volume II (of 3), by +T. W. Speight + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57295 *** |